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

[pjclover]

The Gosnell angle is definitely an interesting one. Although chances are he didn't personally perform the abortion (although one never knows...) it's possible that he knows of doctors who were performing them in the area at the time. It seems to be that someone doesn't just graduate from medical school, work legitimately for a few years, and then open a clinic performing abortions. He would likely have to learn the procedure from somewhere and gain the knowledge to own and operate a clinic. That being said, the chances of Gosnell ever admitting that he's culpable for a crime he hasn't even been accused of is slim to none. He denies the current charges against him and won't admit that severing the spinal cords of viable fetuses is murder. I think that any information he may be aware of regarding illegal abortion operations in the Philadelphia area - ones he was involved in or not - will stay with him to the end.

It's definitely not a stretch to think that the attempted abortion could have been performed in Philadelphia and that the UID was from one of the surrounding areas. I share Hal's belief that she wasn't from Delaware, but there are several big cities within a few hours drive or less - Philadelphia, Baltimore, DC, and even NYC is only about 2.5 -3 hours away. I don't know why, but it strikes me that she may have died in a city or large suburban type area north of the area she was found. This is *totally* gut instinct thinking, but there are areas that are much more rural not far at all from the site where she was found. If she died somewhere either South or West of where she was found - like the Eastern shore of Maryland or further down in Virginia or even areas west of Philadelphia, whoever transported her would have had to travel through and past much more rural areas that would be better at concealing someone. Someone traveling from the Northern areas would have come down I-95 through the urban areas of Philadelphia, Chester, and Wilmington and then hit about a 12 mile stretch of I-95 that is clearly not urban. In fact, prior to the construction of a large mall visible from the highway in the late 1970s there was very little between Wilmington and the Rt. 896 exit. It might be that whoever brought the UID to Bear felt that it was the first rural enough place to get away with dumping a body.

Another thing I thought of - traveling south from Philadelphia and points beyond on I-96, Rt. 896 is the last Delaware exit before approaching Maryland - and a tollbooth. Could be that someone was nervous to drive through the toll with Miss X in the car.

Of course, that's total conjecture.

 

[pearly]

Pearly, Did Hal ever get back to you about this one?

So sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this one, the last email I have is from 11 February saying:

Just a brief update... Actually, this case still remains a potential match.

The problem, is that we can't “forensically” exclude Mary Shotwell Little, because Atlanta PD doesn’t have any forensic identifiers (dental, DNA, fingerprints, etc.).

We have been strongly encouraging Atlanta PD detectives to try and obtain some family reference DNA samples!

All the best, -Hal

I will follow up & let you know.

 

[pjclover]

The Little connection seems like a stretch to me, only because of the timeframe. It seems like Little met with foul play during or immediately after her she went missing in 1965. For her to be our Doe, there would be roughly a year and a half unaccounted for, during which time she was relatively well cared for to the point of receiving routing dental work. Not impossible, surely, and I'm glad that it's being looked into.

I wish we knew a little more about our Doe's condition when she died. From everything I've read it seems like she lived a relatively "normal" life until her botched abortion. Then again, the lack of a missing person match thus far puzzles me. Totally just my thoughts, but here are some things I've considered regarding her situation and the fact that LE never found a link to women reported missing around the time she was found:

1. She left home and family years before and lost contact with anyone who may have wondered where she was. This one doesn't sit right with me because there isn't any indication she lived a transient lifestyle. Of course, that could be due to the fact that there was a lack of clothing and belongings with her, but I don't see someone who was a drifter receiving regular dental care. Even someone who had left home within the past six months to a year would be missed by someone, somewhere. At least I like to think so.

2. This piggybacks on #1. Although I don't believe she was a Delaware girl, maybe she was new to the area. It's worth noting that the Rt. 13/40 corridor, to which Porter Road is in extremely close proximity, has long been a hot spot for prostitution. We have no evidence to assume Doe was involved, I'm not speaking ill of her, and I don't think this is a strong contender. Just throwing that out there. She may have been so new to the area that people just didn't recognize her.

3. Family/boyfriend/husband involvement. If I go with my gut and assume that Doe didn't live in the margins of society, but lived a "normal" life until a botched abortion took her life, the issue I run into is that (as far as we know so far) she wasn't reported missing. There are a lot of scenarios that I can imagine where family members become aware of the means of her death and conceal it, or are later told of the causes of her death and don't report it. Unwanted pregnancy and dying from a botched abortion would have been taboo in 1967. As a parent, I can't imagine ever dumping my daughter's body in some brush, but there could be other scenarios. Maybe, for example, a husband or boyfriend was assisting his wife with the procedure and freaked out when she passed, didn't want to be implicated in a crime, and made a really bad decision. We know our Doe had a dark complexion. Maybe she or her family were immigrants and didn't feel they were able to go to law enforcement because of a language barrier or maybe they feared her death would impact the rest of their family.

There are just so many things that bother me about this case, but you know what one of the things that always sticks out in my mind is? Her hair ribbon. The red ribbon. This is a woman who got up that morning and brushed her teeth and ate breakfast and tied her hair up in a ribbon even though she must have been terrified of what she was about to face. This was a woman who probably came in contact with dozens of people that day, none of them knowing how desperate she was and what fate she was about to fall victim to, and the whole time she kept this red ribbon in her hair. It just strikes me as something so innocent, even though she met such a horrible fate and has never found the solace of being given a name in death. No matter what scenario is true, someone out there has to recognize our Doe. I wish there was a way to give this case wider attention in the Eastern Seaboard and Northeast. Those pictures are so clear. Someone has to remember her. Someone has to know who tied that red ribbon into her hair that morning.

 

[Skigirl]

What about Mary Kathryn Greene, disappeared December 10, 1966 from Edgemere, Maryland, 34 years old. Listed as 5'8" 126 lbs. Not a perfect match because she's taller, heavier, and older, but her photo doesn't look much older to me than the photo of Jane Doe. Not set by rollers her hair would probably look like Jane Doe's. She was in the middle of a divorce. Perhaps she left him and didn't want another child with her soon-to-be ex-husband?

http://www.baltimorecountymd.gov/Agencies/police/homicide/unsolved_missing_persons/greene1966

 

[Bombshell]

Hi everyone! I am from the local area and very familiar with this case.

The laundry bag originated from American Laundry and Dry Cleaning Co. located at 328 Perry St in Trenton, NJ. The address was printed on the bag.

Early in the investigation, police received a tip that she was from the New England area and traveled to Delaware to have the abortion. This information was reprinted in most of the articles I could find on the case.

In the late 90s, a local newspaper ran an article on unsolved homicides and this Jane Doe received a brief mention. No new information, except that there were suspects and all are now deceased.

A new recon was created by The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. I am *attempting* to attach the image (lol), but here is a link just in case:

http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/PubCaseSearchServlet?act=viewChildDetail&caseNum=1184229&orgPrefix=NCMU&seqNum=1&caseLang=en_US&searchLang=en_US

 

[Skigirl]

Wow, welcome, Bombshell! What an apt name. All along they knew exactly where the laundry bag came from. That's interesting and totally news to me!

 

[dogperson]

The photo comparisons between the UID and Mary Shotwell Little are amazing and if it weren't for the time lag between the two I'd be tempted to believe it is her, and it still could be. I have read articles where it was insinuated that there were those in her family and among LE who believed Little was either still living somewhere or had lived for a period of time after her disappearance. Didn't Little's mother ask LE not to continue the investigation about a year or so later? Could it be she found out what really happened and didn't want it coming out? And if the family wanted the investigation discontinued I wonder if any of Little's relatives would be willing to submit DNA. The UIDs nose does look potentially swollen but there could be several causes for that, such as fluid accumulated in the face or maybe the abortionist even hit her across the face??? The line or scar across the nose of the UID and Little could also be caused by allergies, rubbing the nose upward with the hand which causes a little wrinkle across the top of the nose. That might also explain the nasal swelling if the UID was suffering from severe allergies.

 

[Skigirl]

The photo comparisons between the UID and Mary Shotwell Little are amazing and if it weren't for the time lag between the two I'd be tempted to believe it is her, and it still could be. I have read articles where it was insinuated that there were those in her family and among LE who believed Little was either still living somewhere or had lived for a period of time after her disappearance. Didn't Little's mother ask LE not to continue the investigation about a year or so later? Could it be she found out what really happened and didn't want it coming out? And if the family wanted the investigation discontinued I wonder if any of Little's relatives would be willing to submit DNA. The UIDs nose does look potentially swollen but there could be several causes for that, such as fluid accumulated in the face or maybe the abortionist even hit her across the face??? The line or scar across the nose of the UID and Little could also be caused by allergies, rubbing the nose upward with the hand which causes a little wrinkle across the top of the nose. That might also explain the nasal swelling if the UID was suffering from severe allergies.

I guess to my mind the difference in eye color is a bit of an issue, unless someone knows if the iris can darken post-mortem.

 

[carbuff]

I guess to my mind the difference in eye color is a bit of an issue, unless someone knows if the iris can darken post-mortem.

Yes, it can. I don't know by how much, though.

 

[Fin]

The Namus page has been updated with the Dec 2012 recon from NCMEC. There are 10 rule outs now:

Ida Anderson 1937 Michigan
Linda Britton 1944 Ohio
Peggy Byars-Baisden 1941 Florida
Brenda Howell 1943 California
Johanna Johanna de Haas 1936 Delaware
Lynn Luray 1948 California
Pamela Nater 1946 Florida
Donnis Redman 1943 California
Mary Ann Switalski 1946 Illinois
Mary Ann Verdecchia 1951 Pennsylvania

https://identifyus.org/cases/7097

 

[fishman15]

Has anyone looked into the list of local temp's for 3/17 and 3/18 reported from the Dept of Commerce? I tried to nail down the location of where those temps were reported by NOAA (NOAA is under the Dept of Commerce) but I have not been able to come up with a exact location.

The piece of paper puzzles me because the first thing that comes to mind is who would document those numbers and why. The victim documented those temperatures even as she planned on that abortion that day. It must have been important for her to have those numbers. I thought who would need those numbers? A student maybe studying to be a meteorologist. Or someone who works outside...with animals or agriculture?
Also back in 1967 with no internet how would someone get those numbers? Those temps dated hour by hour readings. The last temperature recorded was at 10am on 3/18. How soon could anyone get those numbers? Seeing 10am would rule out her gettng them from any newpaper that morning, even if the newspaper gave hour by hour temps. Then I can only assume she got them from calling into the Dept of Commerce.

Anyway just some thoughts I'm sure you all have had but I'm not sure if anyone's looked into it.
Rick

 

[CarlK90245]

My understanding is that the air temperatures were logged by authorities as a means of determining time of death.

 

[fishman15]

My understanding is that the air temperatures were logged by authorities as a means of determining time of death.

Sorry about that, it seems I wasted a bunch of time on nothing. Thanks

 

[carbuff]

Sorry about that, it seems I wasted a bunch of time on nothing. Thanks

It was a good thought, and there are many cases where LE has not been as thorough.

 

[tatertot]

News article:

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2013/04/delaware_officials_look_to_tre.html#incart_m-rpt-1

This article states she died from septicemia (infection) and her death may not have been related to an attempt at abortion.

Maternal relatives have been found in Virginia and North Carolina, but they have no idea how they could be related to Jane Doe! This is really intriguing if scarce information; could Jane Doe or one of her ancestors have done something to earn disapproval and thus be one of those family members who was never spoken of again, meaning the relatives never got to know her?

 

[masnitram]

News article:

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2013/04/delaware_officials_look_to_tre.html#incart_m-rpt-1

This article states she died from septicemia (infection) and her death may not have been related to an attempt at abortion.

Maternal relatives have been found in Virginia and North Carolina, but they have no idea how they could be related to Jane Doe! This is really intriguing if scarce information; could Jane Doe or one of her ancestors have done something to earn disapproval and thus be one of those family members who was never spoken of again, meaning the relatives never got to know her?

Wow! That article is absolutely astonishing! This young lady will be getting her name back soon, I just know it.

 

[webrocket]

Wow! That article is absolutely astonishing! This young lady will be getting her name back soon, I just know it.

not necessarily. the maternal relatives that were found at ancestry sites might be far removed. if someone had been adopted out, then the connection to the name could be lost.

at least they have that much information and it does provide a ray of hope. interesting Hal Brown now says there was no abortion.

 

[carbuff]

News article:

http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2013/04/delaware_officials_look_to_tre.html#incart_m-rpt-1

This article states she died from septicemia (infection) and her death may not have been related to an attempt at abortion.

Maternal relatives have been found in Virginia and North Carolina, but they have no idea how they could be related to Jane Doe! This is really intriguing if scarce information; could Jane Doe or one of her ancestors have done something to earn disapproval and thus be one of those family members who was never spoken of again, meaning the relatives never got to know her?

Of course septicemia is probably the most common complication of an abortion (or of a miscarriage or pregnancy, for that matter).

 

[marycarney]

Of course septicemia is probably the most common complication of an abortion (or of a miscarriage or pregnancy, for that matter).

No, actually bleeding is the most common complication.

 

[carbuff]

No, actually bleeding is the most common complication.

Ah, yes, my bad...