Identified! DE - Bear, WhtFem 16-25, UP7097, pregnant, in laundry bag, Mar'67 - NamUs removed

[CarlK90245]

If you ~just~ assume the Delaware area code of 302, and you ~just~ translate the EX into 39, the "phone number" turns into 302-394-5277. Note that I remember doing exactly that back in the early 60s when our phone number went from DA3-something to 323-something.

If you then plug that invented phone number into google, and look for a reverse number database, it comes up as a landline in Wilmington, DE.

If you ask google to get directions from Wilmington, DE to Bear, DE, you'll find that Bear is 12 to 15 miles south of Wilmington.

Just some tantilizing tidbits. I didn't go any deeper to see who answers that phone number...

If that was a valid number, it would be important info because even if we assume that the telephone number changed hands in the last 44 years, at least it would indicate that at least the "doctor" was not from out of state. Perhaps Miss X was though.

 

[Zanko]

I've modified the original composite. This is the best I can do. Tell me what you think. http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z99/Zanko123/DelawareJDUIDvs2.jpg

 

[CarlK90245]

I've modified the original composite. This is the best I can do. Tell me what you think. http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z99/Zanko123/DelawareJDUIDvs2.jpg

The dorsum of her nose is broader, and is not so concave. Miss X also has a slightly stronger and broader chin.

 

[Cubby]

I read something that it was called an Exchange Code in the 1960's. Are you sure that it stood for the first two numbers? If you google telephone exchange codes, you can find this site. I think its database was down, so I could not search it.

http://ourwebhome.com/TENP/TENproject.html

I have a theory though about the generic laundry bags. If you are a laundry business, how are you going to know which bag of laundry goes where? Not unless you mark the bag. While I think that American Laundry is the business who did the laundry, I bet the number on the bag were the individual businesses where they picked the laundry up. How else would you know where to drop off collected laundry or who it belonged to? Or am I wrong?

Thank you. I didn't remember the proper term was called telephone exchange code. From the above link you provided, I was able to search what is listed as our big data base, or the big data base. However, it lists 10 pages of cities or area's using the EX exchange. So we'd have to somehow see if we can find EX used with 4 as the 3rd digit.

http://rcrowe.brinkster.net/tensearch.aspx

I also wonder if we can enlist the site owner for help with determining where this particular EX4 exchange came from, or a list of all EX4 telephone exchanges.


ETA: It is likely while telephone numbers and area codes have been added since 1967 or the late 1960's it is unlikely any of those original telephone area codes and prefixes have been lost since. So we can work off that presumption as well.

 

[Cubby]

Also, I know little about the methods that were used for abortions when they were still illegal. Does anyone think the method in this UID's case, soap, and being found in a laundry bag has any connection? That stood out to me but I don't have enough knowledge to know if there is any relevency between the two.

Without getting too gruesome, does anyone have any knowledge of the chemical methods used for abortions before they were legal? I'd imagine anyone with any medical training of any kind would not use soap, but would have likely used a different safer chemical. Something about soap is standing out to me and is giving me reason to believe perhaps the person who performed the abortion on our Bear, DE Jane Doe did not have any formal medical training.

thoughts?

 

[MargotKidder]

I remember thinking that the laundry bag did not matter because I thought it was just a generic bag, but if you could trace it to a local franchise, could you not add or eliminate some possible suspects or at least research their backgrounds to see if they had any possible connections to someone else? I remember reading in alot of the articles about cases before Roe v Wade, and they would prosecute medical doctors who would do it and get caught and they would prosecute other women who would do it and get caught helping other women. Usually the causes of death, because I did look at some death certificates, were embolus sp?, but mostly it was sepsis or a secondary infection from what I assumed as non-sterile procedures. I do not know what the specific chemicals involved in a chemical abortion were, but it was some combination that would cause irritation to the uterus to expell the fetus. But off the top of my head and please feel free to correct me if I am wrong, I was thinking glycerin, the primary componant of soap? I'll have to look it up.

Btw--What would cause an embolus during the procedure?

 

[Cubby]

Can anyone find a directory of yellow pages from the mid to late 1960's? I know they exist somewhere as someone had found them for another case on the west coast ages ago. Do we have anyone with feet on the ground in the DE or surrounding area's that can go to a larger library and see if there are any yellow page directories available? I think the 394-5277 telephone number is likely correct for the laundry service, it's just a matter of finding the correct area code and a listing for American Laundry. American Laundry might have been a very common name as well, so it might be difficult to search unless we can match the name with the telephone number.

 

[mojave_red]

Having done a little more research into the laundry bag aspect, it looks like "American Laundry" these days is a supplier of laundry equipment (washing machines, dryers, laundry bags, plans for building laundry facilities, et cetera) and not in the business of transporting laundry / dry cleaning from thither to yon.

It looks like the laundry bag may have been purchased from American Laundry, not that it belonged to a laundry service / dry cleaner that actually did the cleaning of clothing.

Which sort of rules out the laundry bag being very useful...unless American Laundry has evolved from a laundry / dry cleaner to a supplier of equipment and materials.

 

[CarlK90245]

Which sort of rules out the laundry bag being very useful...unless American Laundry has evolved from a laundry / dry cleaner to a supplier of equipment and materials.

Not completely useless. The phone number is a Wilmington DE phone number, so even if it was a supplier with many locations, the "doctor" probably obtained his supplies locally.

 

[Cubby]

Having done a little more research into the laundry bag aspect, it looks like "American Laundry" these days is a supplier of laundry equipment (washing machines, dryers, laundry bags, plans for building laundry facilities, et cetera) and not in the business of transporting laundry / dry cleaning from thither to yon.

It looks like the laundry bag may have been purchased from American Laundry, not that it belonged to a laundry service / dry cleaner that actually did the cleaning of clothing.

Which sort of rules out the laundry bag being very useful...unless American Laundry has evolved from a laundry / dry cleaner to a supplier of equipment and materials.

This makes sense expect for one thing. Why would the manufacturer or bag distributors name be printed on the bag rather than the name of the laundry service? I'd imagine bags would be ordered by size likely out of a catalog. It wouldn't make sense for the supplier of bags to various laundry services to print a telephone number on a bag that was of no use to the end user of laundry services.

If the EX4 5277 were a part number it probably would not be printed directly on the bag. It is possible, imo, the EX4 5277 number was a number of an institutional laundry service which provided their services to institutions such as hospitals or motel/hotel chains rather than the general public. In which case if they made their services available to a multiple state area in and around DE it might not help us narrow down an area.

 

[Cubby]

Another thought. thinking outloud. Even if we were able to identify the individual who performed this abortion what are the chances our UID gave her real name? How many people seeking criminal abortions in the 1960's would have given a real name? I just don't see someone giving their real name.

 

[CarlK90245]

Another thought. thinking outloud. Even if we were able to identify the individual who performed this abortion what are the chances our UID gave her real name? How many people seeking criminal abortions in the 1960's would have given a real name? I just don't see someone giving their real name.

If it was an illegitimate operation, they probably didn't care or keep any record of what her name was.

 

[webrocket]

Ancestry.com has a collection of old phone books in their databases and this morning I was trying to find a match.

so far nothing. I was looking primarily at Delaware but even when able to search for the 7 digit number nationwide, I saw nothing that matched a laundry service.

does not mean the information is not there, but there would have to be a directory that contained the company name at a time when it held the phone #, not an easy task.

 

[Zanko]

The dorsum of her nose is broader, and is not so concave. Miss X also has a slightly stronger and broader chin.

I agree, that helps. I'll give it another go.

 

[MargotKidder]

I really want to pack my bags and go to Wilmington. This case is driving me crazy!

 

[CarlK90245]

This girl's initials are CD - Neptune HS (Neptune NJ) Class of 1961

Her senior portrait is not as compelling, but in this cheerleading team photo, she sure looks like a younger version of Miss X. She was the co-captain of the cheerleading team.

Here's her senior portrait:

 

[Cubby]

The UID's hair looks likes more black, the CD's hair appears to be at best more on the brown side. By this I mean the almost black hair seen with full blooded Italian or Greek ancestry. I'm not seeing that in CD but it might be explained by the black and white photo.

also, CD's jawline looks very different than the UID's. CD's being at much more of a V shaped angle and I don't see that in the UID. I'm seeing two very different shapes, hard to describe. but that might be explained by the position of the UID when her photo was taken.

the eyebrow shapes look to be different too.

CD has a really long neck. I don't see that in our UID.

Can you do a close up side by side on the teeth?

 

[CarlK90245]

The UID's hair looks likes more black, the CD's hair appears to be at best more on the brown side. By this I mean the almost black hair seen with full blooded Italian or Greek ancestry. I'm not seeing that in CD but it might be explained by the black and white photo.

Her hair appears much lighter in the senior portrait than in the cheerleader photo. I suspect it was lightened in the portrait. And her eyebrows look darker and thicker in the cheerleader photo also.

And BTW, she has an Italian surname.

Can you do a close up side by side on the teeth?

This was the main thing that caught my attention, in addition to the nose. For both Miss X and CD, the bottoms of upper left lateral incisors (#10) are above the bottoms of the adjacent central incisors (#9), but the bottoms of the upper right lateral incisors (#7) are approximately even with the bottoms of the adjacent upper right central incisors (#8)

(You can't clearly see the bottoms of Miss X's upper teeth though, because they are obscured by her tongue.)

 

[CarlK90245]

Also, she apparently has a sister HD-R (with R being her married name), one grade younger, who also was on the cheerleading team.

I found HD-R listed in Classmates. However, CD is not listed. I also found an HR listed in Veromi.net who is the right age, and is listed as living in Greer SC. I found a few CD's in Veromi.net, but none who are the right age (i.e. about 68).

 

[Cubby]

the teeth are really close, however the UID's teeth appear to be slightly digging into her tongue so kind of hard to tell. Regardless they are still close enough I think to look into this further.

Even with the Italian surname, she could have only one Italian Parent, and even then it's possible that parent wasn't born from two full blooded Italian parents. From experience I've noticed those who come from full blooded Italian ancestry on both sides of the family almost always have almost black hair. The UID to me, looks like she came from a full blooded ancestry due to how dark her hair is. It appears almost black to me.