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

[MargotKidder]

Carl, I do not think that this is the same person. There can be mistakes and mislabellings in yearbooks though. These two girls look completely different to me. The noses. The 11th grader on the right's nose looks bulbous almost, similar to the Jane Doe, but the young lady on the right's nose is slender. The young lady on the right's face is elongated toward the chin, I do not think that shape of the faces match. I think that there may be a mistake in the yearbook. Can you look for other pictures for the lady on the right?

 

[CarlK90245]

Carl, I do not think that this is the same person. There can be mistakes and mislabellings in yearbooks though. These two girls look completely different to me. The noses. The 11th grader on the right's nose looks bulbous almost, similar to the Jane Doe, but the young lady on the right's nose is slender. I think that there may be a mistake in the yearbook. Can you look for other pictures for the lady on the right?

Both photos in the 1961 book were labeled with the same name, and look like the same person. But you're right. The senior photo does look like a completely different person. Her hair is very straight compared to the unruly hair in the 1961 book.

I'll take a look again.

 

[CarlK90245]

Both photos in the 1961 book were labeled with the same name, and look like the same person. But you're right. The senior photo does look like a completely different person. Her hair is very straight compared to the unruly hair in the 1961 book.

I'll take a look again.

I looked through all the 1962 Senior portraits, and there is nobody else who resembles the two photos of BP from the 1961 book. I did notice that the other portraits are very heavily retouched, so it's possible that BP's facial features in her senior photo were softened.

Here are two more photos of BP from the 1962 book - One straight-on from a group-photo of the yearbook Committee, and the other, a side-view from a group-photo of the debating club.

Her nose in the straight-on shot is much more like the UID's nose.

 

[Zanko]

Often I find the reconstructions to make the victim look much older than they really were. I attempted to make a composite that looks younger. Let me know if this technique is helpful or not. http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z99/Zanko123/JaneDoeDelawareattempt1copy.jpg

I should add, please feel free to modify the image if you have more photoshop skills than I do and you feel any features are off.

 

[CarlK90245]

With the help of Cubby and MargotKidder, we were able to figure out quite a bit of the story on BP.

Cubby located an online obituary for a man RK who died in 2009 at the age of 67. He was a graduate of DuPont High in Wilmington DE, class of 1960. The obit indicates that he was preceded in death by his wife BPK (the BP being the same name that we have been discussing here). There is no mention of when BPK died, and a review of the Social Security Death Registry returns no record of her death. There was one entry for a B (first initial only) K with an Aug'46 birthdate who died in 1988. If this was our BP from Tatnall High, her 1962 HS graduation would have been around her 16th birthday.

The obit also indicated that RK had two children, a boy and a girl.

MargotKidder has an Ancestry.com membership, and determined that RK's daughter was born in Jun'68, and his son was born in Aug'69 They were both born after the Jane Doe was found.

There was no indication in any of our sources that BPK was the mother of RK's children, although the obit references only one wife. The online memory book connected to the obit includes a comment from an old friend who mentions his memories of RK's red Ford Falcon and going camping with RK and his wife, B-----.

Another tantalizing bit of info is that if you do a veromi.com query for the son, you find that one of his listed addresses is in Bear, DE.

That leaves us with only one remotely possible scenario: The only way that BP could be our Jane Doe is if the husband fathered the two children with another woman after the death of his wife. Under this scenario, RK and the mother would have remained unmarried, or divorced under unfriendly terms (which would explain why she was not mentioned in his obit).

Last night, I laid this all out in an e-mail to Hal Brown and asked him if he would be able to resolve this last little bit of wiggle room from his official sources. I told him that I don't like to let something go without squeezing out all of the uncertainty, and he agrees. He is going to have a member of his staff research this next week with the help of Wilmington PD.

 

[Cubby]

TY Carl. I agree with not leaving the last bit of wiggle room. I for one am much more comfortable with 100% accuracy versus 95% accuracy. I'm glad Hal is willing to go that extra mile to ensure with 100% accuracy BP can be ruled out as our jane doe.


eta. fwiw, I like the format/layout of veromi.net better than veromi.com

 

[webrocket]

Carl, not knowing the names, is there any indication for the BK who died in 1988 which state issued the SS#?

 

[CarlK90245]

Carl, not knowing the names, is there any indication for the BK who died in 1988 which state issued the SS#?

Yes, it does indicate Delaware. There are several entries with that first initial and last name, but only one from Delaware.

 

[Zanko]

Where did the frontal autopsy photo come from? It wasn't on NAMUS or did I miss something?

 

[CarlK90245]

Where did the frontal autopsy photo come from? It wasn't on NAMUS or did I miss something?

It was there a few weeks ago, but it was removed for some reason. There was also a close-up color photo that is no longer there either. Fortunately, I saved both when I was working on the facial reconstruction.

Here they are:

WARNING - POSTMORTEM PHOTOS AT LINKS
http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums...em Photos/2277784470045078242S600x600Q851.jpg
http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums...em Photos/2556201650045078242S600x600Q851.jpg

 

[CarlK90245]

One thing to keep in mind when comparing this Jane Doe to possible matches is that her face, and particularly her nose might be swollen as a result of her pregnancy.

In pre-pregnancy photos, she might not have such a large nose.

I found this discussion in Yahoo Answers regarding nose swelling caused by pregnancy .
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/i...xqM09DZ97hR.;_ylv=3?qid=20081130220144AALF0f0

ETA: The same goes for the lips and breasts. They might also be swollen due to pregnancy.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090430211013AAVSsrY

This comment was sent to me by Hal Brown in response to an inquiry regarding possible bloating due to decomposition:

Breast development in Miss X was to a substantial degree impacted by pregnancy enlargement/engorgement. There was no bloating and virtually no decomposition. Very cold ambient temperature (I have the hourly readings) and she had been there just a matter of hours (not days). She was in essence “refrigerated”. -Hal

 

[Zanko]

Is there any remarks anywhere about the abrasions on her face? Were they post mortem?

 

[CarlK90245]

Is there any remarks anywhere about the abrasions on her face? Were they post mortem?

I can find no comments in that regard, I suspect she was thrown into the ditch from a vehicle.

 

[Zanko]

Is there any more information Hal can give us about this lady? Something that might help aim us arm chair detectives? Did she have manicured nails? Any signs of drug abuse? Any STDs or any indication that she was being prostituted? Was her hair dyed? I'm not sure any of the information would be helpful, but you never know. It might help to narrow the search to one area versus another.

Just some musings: I would imagine if Jane Doe was referred to someone that had a reputation for doing abortions, the individual would take her body outside of the area that the abortion was done so as not to draw attention to themselves. But why not leave some identification? Did she not have any? Why not put her clothes on? What about the possibility of someone driving her to the hospital and she dies on the way and they panic and dump her, that wouldn't explain being put in a laundry bag. It keeps coming back to the possibility that identifying Jane Doe will lead fairly quickly to who was involved in the procedure that resulted in her death.
If you were a young woman seeking an illegal abortion in 1967, you might go to an area that you weren't known, but how far? Drive a day? What States are within a days drive from Delaware? What college or University is within one days drive?

 

[CarlK90245]

If I was an illegal abortion doctor, I would not want to leave the body near where I was known to conduct business. Also, the laundry bag would suggest that he worked in a facility, rather than out of his home (or her home, for that matter).

When I started looking in yearbooks, I spent a bit of time looking in books from Western NJ schools. The location where she was dumped seemed conveniently close to I-95, and conveniently close to the bridge from New Jersey. If my objective was to dump the body out of state, either from NJ or PA, I would be looking for the first rural area I could find as soon as I crossed state lines. I wouldn't turn north toward Wilmington. I would turn south toward Bear.

One other thing that comes to mind - If she was being transported for several hours before being dumped, there would be lividity patterns in her skin indicating the resting position that she was in prior to being left in a different position on the roadside.

As for additional info, I'm not sure that I want to take his time looking through case-files for info unless I have a specific angle that I am pursuing.

 

[MargotKidder]

Carl, I am really anxious about information on this case. I can be patient and wait though, please update us when you find something out though. Thanks for your persistance.

 

[CarlK90245]

Carl, I am really anxious about information on this case. I can be patient and wait though, please update us when you find something out though. Thanks for your persistance.

I'm quite anxious to receive an update also. I've looked at that overlay video hundreds of times now, and there are several points that are amazingly consistent between the two photos.

* The bridge of their noses, and the area above the bridge (glabella) are spot-on.
* The spacing and positioning of their eyes are alike.
* Their lower eyelids, particularly their right (viewer's left) eyelids match up perfectly.
* Their hairlines align perfectly.
* Their cheekbones and the contours between the eyes and temples are consistent (look at the diagonal contour between the corner of the right eye and the right eyebrow).
* The eye-to-temple margins are consistent.
* The positioning of her upper lip just below the nose, and distance between nose and upper-lip is spot-on.

There are very plausible explanations for the differences that I see. She was very thin in her senior year photos, but not particularly thin in her junior year photos. But her overall look in her junior-year photos is very consistent with the photos of Miss X. In the passage next to her senior portrait, it mentions a "lettuce sandwich" as her typical lunch meal. Perhaps she was anorexic, and was severely undernourished during those years. For a person whose metabolism is out of whack, a pregnancy (and an abortion) might be an extreme shock to her system.

Miss X appears to have more of a bulbous nose, fuller lips, and a more fleshy face than BP. But if she was experiencing excessive fluid retention (similar to that described by the woman in the Yahoo Answers links partially quoted below from post #71), that would account for the differences.

By the way, the woman in the following link discussing the change in her lips included links to her before & after photos in her post.

... I found this discussion in Yahoo Answers regarding nose swelling caused by pregnancy .
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/i...xqM09DZ97hR.;_ylv=3?qid=20081130220144AALF0f0

The same goes for the lips ... They might also be swollen due to pregnancy.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090430211013AAVSsrY

...

The minor differences in the sizes of their chins are explainable by (1) the possible fluid retention described above, and (2) Miss X's jaw is slightly slacked in the postmortem photos.

Miss X appears to have shaped eyebrows and BP does not, and Miss X's eyebrows are unnaturally raised from postmortem effects, but aside from that, the eyebrows are consistent.

 

[malaika]

Not to be the negative nancy, but I don't think this is her.

I have been looking back and forth trying to put my finger on what makes me think this, and I think it's the comparisons of teeth, chin, and jaw area. In the photos BP appears to have a very long, prominent chin that to me appears almost Jay-Leno-esque. It's different on Jane Doe. With Carl's youtube video of BP displayed on my main screen, and both the color and b/w autopsy photos minimized at the bottom of my screen, I see a rather significant difference in jaw/chin shape between these two ladies. If you have Windows 7 you should be able to do this as well. Unfortunately I don't have sophisticated-enough programs on my work computer [lol] to do a side-by-side of jaw/chin closeups...

I think there is also a difference in the teeth/mouth between the two girls...Jane Doe appears to me to have a slight overbite? I don't really see evidence of that in BP.

Also I think the distance from nose to mouth on Jane Doe is greater than on BP. I question the brow shape as well as the distance from eyelid-to-brow. Of course, that may be chalked up to having to use an old yearbook photo taken outside and from a distance, for comparison.

But ultimately though I agree there is initially a somewhat striking resemblance, but upon further examination I just see discrepancies.

Thoughts?

 

[CarlK90245]

I go back and forth on this in my own mind. But as I indicated before, I think the differences can easily be attributed to (1) fluid retention caused by the pregnancy and (2) the passage of 5-6 years between when BP's photos were taken, and Miss X's death.

Also, chins are difficult to compare from one photo to the other because the jaw is the only moving part on a skull. A chin on a slacked jaw looks different than it does if the person's teeth are closed together.

 

[malaika]

Re: Prev Post

Hi carl, I did read your comments regarding chin shape due to water retention, but IMO I think the difference is still too drastic to be attributed to this. Of course I'm just an amateur but it's my gut feeling.

I also think the eyebrows differ. Upon closer examination of the color morgue photo I think Jane Doe's brows are natural, are not waxed or plucked. They appear less thick than those of BP. BUT I might the h.s. pic is really bad for comparison on this. I very well could just be nitpicking at this point.

Were we able to determine that BP was in fact a missing person?