FL FL - Fort Lauderdale, WhtMale 1176UMFL, 21-30, 'US Paratrooper' tattoo, May'84

DNA Solves
DNA Solves
DNA Solves

New Posts

Alleykins said:
I'm thinking his prints in NamUs hitting on the prints in his military records would depend on both sets of prints being digitized and put in the same db.
IIRC, from what Carbuff has said, a lot of military fingerprints were destroyed in a fire and most are still on cards, not in a db.

The FBI was stepping up their game and trying to catch up with inputting fingerprints. They are using new technology to enhance prints and have had some success with the updates.
Click to expand...

Unless he's older than the estimate, he would have served well after the fire, which was in 1973 and affected mostly discharge records from before 1964.

Here's a National Archives article about it: Archives Recalls Fire That Claimed Millions of Military Personnel Files

The FBI's digitization project was finalized a few years ago. I don't remember if that included military records or not.

Here's a fascinating article about fingerprint technology and the algorithms for matching. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/225326.pdf
 
After looking at the prints on his card on Namus, I'm going to hazard a guess that even if they have been digitized and uploaded, they aren't high enough quality to make a match from. They can probably confirm a match or rule it out using direct visual comparison if we find someone to compare.
 
Alleykins said:
Thanks for jumping in, @carbuff !
Since they're in viewable in a public database, could we contact the FBI and ask them to do their magic?
Click to expand...

I suppose it couldn't hurt. We might at least get some more information about the decedent.
 
apearn said:
View attachment 242645
I found this the other day and thought it looked a good deal like the Born To Fly Free tattoo.
Click to expand...

Wow, yeah. That is very close. And the similarities, like the lightning bolt, are hard to see being coincidence. I wonder if the tattoo design is what he remembered of a parental tattoo, maybe?

Another interesting factoid, or maybe absence of factoid: I can't connect the 33oth Troop Carrier Squadron to the Sewart AFB. The 330th seems to have been in the Pittsburgh area when they were disbanded in the 1950s.
 
Haven't been on this thread in a while. IMO, I think it's possible that the reason why he hasn't been ID'd as a deserter is that he had already separated from his military service.
This seems so solvable with having those tattoos. I'm saddened to think that a service member has been forgotten.
MOO, but I don't think the tattoos are for a family member. Usually when someone gets a tattoo of a relative's service, they include the relative's name and either their dates of service or if deceased, their birth and death dates. Again, just MOO as we are a huge military family.
 
I heard from the 82nd Airborne Division Association and they basically said he didn't look familiar. I was hoping to find some ad space in any of their newsletter or anything but my impression is that the person conversing with me was not interested,
 
apearn said:
I heard from the 82nd Airborne Division Association and they basically said he didn't look familiar. I was hoping to find some ad space in any of their newsletter or anything but my impression is that the person conversing with me was not interested,
Click to expand...

Well, thanks for trying. Too bad there didn't seem to be much interest.
 
Military is not my area of expertise, admittedly. But this missing person is wearing what looks like some type of military hat. His DLC is listed as being 5/30/1984 on NamUs, but 5/24/1984 (2 days before the UID was discovered) on Charley Project. I don’t think I see much of a resemblance (more so to the original black and white sketch), but he does look a bit different in each of his photos to me.

Gregory John Carter – The Charley Project
upload_2020-8-23_15-25-49.jpegupload_2020-8-23_15-26-6.jpegupload_2020-8-23_15-26-25.jpegupload_2020-8-23_15-31-44.jpeg

I’m happy to poke around on Ancestry, with a little guidance, if anyone thinks it would help!

ETA: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
 
carbuff said:
Hmmm.

5'6" for the UID versus 6 feet for Carter seems a bit much, but there's a lot of similarity.
Click to expand...
I tried finding any sort of military record for him, but there are a lot of Gregory John Carters! I figured it might help determine how accurate his listed height was. I think I’ve come across Ancestry records that have the enlisted person’s height. I had no luck even locating what branch he served in. If he even served. The DLC was also concerning, but according to the CBI he was last seen during the last week of May. So I suppose the exact date isn’t actually known. Colorado Cold Case Files - Case Detail: Gregory Carter
 
Yeah, the date is very uncertain.

I wouldn't want to identify the uniform specifically but it looks like the uniforms some of my friends wore in the Vietnam era. US Army dress blues. Which wouldn't rule out being a paratrooper or paratrooper-wannabe.

I think he's worth submitting.
 
A few questions.

Has there been any attempt to provide a reconstruction of the UID rather than the sketches shown? He looks very young, even feminine, in one.

Are the fingerprints the only ones taken? Nobody attempted to plump up the fingertips to get a better quality print? Why bother if the wrinkling of the fingertips negates any accurate record? Do we know if the body was cremated or buried?

If he was an active member of the military, isn't his hair a little long?

I find it curious that the paratrooper organizations that were contacted remained mum. You'd think any missing vet, active or discharged, would be of interest even if not a high priority. If he was in the military and he was dishonorably discharged would that matter to these organizations?

Did we ever get a copy of the ME's report? To see if he had water in his lungs or whether he was intoxicated?

I wonder why only drawings of the tattoos were released? If the deceased was only in the water a day, you'd think the tattoos would still be viable for getting getting decent photographs. Also, when I was reading the description of the tattoos, the author in one article said he had 'several'. One on his inner left forearm was described as a horse soaring over mountain tops and another tattoo as lighting bolts and clouds. Are they two separate tattoos? All images show as one tattoo.

I'd really like to see an image of the tattoos because the depictions look very amateurish to me. They don't resemble any of the similar images online. I'm not a fan of tattoos but I can certainly appreciate the artwork when done properly.

Is it possible he fell of a shrimping boat? The AR mentioned he'd had a meal of 'small' shrimp. Shrimp are running in SE Florida from October to June. There is a lot of recreational shrimping done in the intercoastal waterways in Florida.

As an interesting piece of trivia, for me anyway, one of the articles was written by one of my favourite authors, Michael Connolly, who writes all the Harry Bosch novels. He lived and worked in Fort Lauderdale at the time.
 
I just read this entire thread. The original sketch in the newspaper article appears more like a young male who hasn’t quite grown into his facial features yet. Maybe 20 years old or so. The one drawing is too feminine for sure.

Is there anything known about his dentals? I ask because if he is younger than expected, his wisdom teeth may not have descended yet. Or, they could be intact and the jaw had room for them to erupt.

He was found near a bridge wearing swim trunks, in May in SEFL, which makes me think he was fishing nearby. Maybe off the bridge with a cast net. If he was using bait and a pole, at least something would have been left on the bridge. Like a bait bucket, tackle box, etc. If he was fishing on the bank, he likely wouldn’t be using a cast net. He’s have to use a pole. JMO.

The tattoo with the Pegasus looks like a child’s drawing transferred to ink. Perhaps there was a younger sibling who he was close to and he wanted to combine the paratrooper theme with that drawing. Kinda out there but the military aspect doesn't seem be going anywhere.
 
PayrollNerd said:
I just read this entire thread. The original sketch in the newspaper article appears more like a young male who hasn’t quite grown into his facial features yet. Maybe 20 years old or so. The one drawing is too feminine for sure.

Is there anything known about his dentals? I ask because if he is younger than expected, his wisdom teeth may not have descended yet. Or, they could be intact and the jaw had room for them to erupt.

He was found near a bridge wearing swim trunks, in May in SEFL, which makes me think he was fishing nearby. Maybe off the bridge with a cast net. If he was using bait and a pole, at least something would have been left on the bridge. Like a bait bucket, tackle box, etc. If he was fishing on the bank, he likely wouldn’t be using a cast net. He’s have to use a pole. JMO.

The tattoo with the Pegasus looks like a child’s drawing transferred to ink. Perhaps there was a younger sibling who he was close to and he wanted to combine the paratrooper theme with that drawing. Kinda out there but the military aspect doesn't seem be going anywhere.
Click to expand...
The original sketch has always reminded me of some of the earlier recons of Pillar Point Doe. He does appear quite young.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

DNASolves

Who is Escambia County John Doe (1989)?

Members online

... and 204 more.
Total: 2,078 (members: 205, guests: 1,873)

Online statistics

Members online
205
Guests online
1,873
Total visitors
2,078
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
599,821
Messages
18,099,984
Members
230,933
Latest member
anyclimate3010
Back
Top