IN IN - Salem, WhtMale UP16751, 75-85, alias "Bill Lee Hull", May'12

[creepedout]

This case looks very interesting and I'm not finding a thread on him. Apologies in advance if duplicate.

*morgue image at link*
Unidentified Person Case

This man known as "Bill Lee Hull" died on May 24, 2012. He had lived in Tucson with a woman for around 20 years, then moved to Salem, Indiana, four years before his death. The woman passed away two years after moving there; after that he lived with her grandson and the grandson's wife.

He had used someone else's SS# when he tried to sign up, and could provide no birth certificate or proof of ID. Namus suggests possible links to Arkansas and/or Fort Collins, CO, area. Sounds somewhat reminiscent of the Joseph Newton Chandler case. I'm finding very little info elsewhere on the web about him.

 

[madamx]

Oh wow creepedout good find. They mention Colorado. So the SS# went to a Bill Lee Hull. Or did he have a fake social with a fake name. That is where I got confused. Then also he was living for 20 years in the same place makes me wonder why he left? And I wonder how long he used the fake social?
Says no record of him in Arkansas or Colorado under that name.

 

[madamx]

He had a tattoo on left forearm that says PINKY

 

[creepedout]

According to Namus, "Bill Lee Hull" was the alias he went by, or at least, what the woman's grandson and his mom said he went by. He had tried to sign up for SS benefits, but the # he gave was somebody else's. He could not supply a birth certificate or his mother's maiden name.

For those reading with access to Ancestry.com, there are results on a variant of this name within the state of Indiana that may be of interest. Because it may be unrelated, I will not go into further detail for now.

And thanks Madamx for mentioning the tattoo, which I neglected to do.

 

[YaYa_521]

*WARNING - PM photo*
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
No exclusions.

 

[Grungster]

From his NamUs: AKA: "Bill Lee Hull" was found deceased in his residence on 05/24/2012. Mr. Hull lived in Tucson, Arizona with Bessie Fields for about twenty years, they moved to Salem four years ago. Bessie passed away a couple of years later, than he's lived with her grandson & wife, the last six months living in a garage converted to a living quarters behind the main residence on this property. Demographic information provided by the grandson and his mother does not add up. When he went to sign up for social security benefits, the SS# he'd been using was for someone else. Social security administration wanted him to apply for a new number, but he could not provide them with a birth certificate nor his mother's maiden name. We have checked with the vital records office of the county & state which he'd said he was born and lived. At this time we've been unable to positively identify him, through Larimer County Colorado and the State of Colorado. Arkansas Vital records for birth and any other records on Mr. Hull or any other of his possible family members. We did so on 06-01-2012, they could not find any records on him nor his family members. He is listed as a John Doe.

 

[Grungster]

I think NamUs has been updated, but I have no interest in looking at that morgue photo. Does anyone see anything updated?

 

[Grungster]

I feel I'm being selfish...it's just that's one of the only post-mortems I can't bear looking at. If I remember correctly, it was taken a while after his death and his eyes are open. His eyes being open makes me think he must have felt something when he died

 

[Grungster]

His grave, it's cool to see the flowers next to it, it shows that someone cared.

Bill Hull (1932-2012) - Find A Grave Memorial

 

[Grungster]

I accidentally saw his NamUs profile with the morgue image...I can't see anything visibly changed like I thought.

I'm not sure why that photo is still on there - I don't think it will help identify him and a searching family member who may stumble across it has done nothing to deserve to see it.

 

[MarziPanda]

I don't understand why the morgue photo, either. You're telling me, in the 20+ years he was with Bessie, no photographs were ever taken of him? Not one? At a wedding, or birthday, or Christmas? He didn't have a driver's licence? He'd been using someone else's SS number so you'd think he must have been using it for something, so it's possible that he'd have a driver's licence or some other form of ID. There has to be a living photograph of him that they could use, surely? I don't think anyone could look at that morgue photo and think 'hmm yes that's my brother/uncle/cousin/classmate'. It's just going to creep people out rather than helping to identify him.

Is it possible there's another Bill Lee Hull and their SS numbers got mixed up when they were young or something like that? And that's his actual name? I don't really know how that system works.

 

[Grungster]

I don't understand why the morgue photo, either. You're telling me, in the 20+ years he was with Bessie, no photographs
were ever taken of him? Not one? At a wedding, or birthday, or Christmas? He didn't have a driver's licence? He'd been using someone else's SS number so you'd think he must have been
using it for something, so it's possible that he'd have a driver's licence or some other form of ID. There has to be a living photograph of him that they could use, surely? I don't think anyone could look at that morgue photo and think 'hmm yes
that's my brother/uncle/cousin/classmate'. It's just going to creep people out rather than helping to identify him.

Is it possible there's another Bill Lee Hull and
their SS numbers got mixed up when they were young or something like that? And that's his actual name? I don't really know how that system works.

You can’t just go twenty years living the life we know he did with Bessie without a single photo. Personally, I think Bill and Bessie may have been a couple - but I didn’t see him listed in the obituary for her.

 

[CountSnap]

You can’t just go twenty years living the life we know he did with Bessie without a single photo. Personally, I think Bill and Bessie may have been a couple - but I didn’t see him listed in the obituary for her.

Ok, so interestingly I actually had a conversation with the family on this guy, thinking he may have been Mel Wiley.
That turns out to be impossible because this man ("Bill Lee Hull") is less than 5'5'' tall.
Probably about 5'3".
The kind woman, did say that she did have more pictures of him. I'll reach out again as soon as I can to see about if that is possible again.
In addition, she had a lot of good things to say about the man. The story alone of how he and Bessie got together was interesting. Yes, they were a couple.
Was an interesting character with as you can imagine a dark and shadowy past that may also include parts of New Jersey or other areas similar. (Again, only a possibility. Not for sure. They were guessing because he wouldn't say much.)
So definitely sounds like he was running against some kind of grain, so to speak.
So, hopefully that helps, with the height, since I believe on NAMUS it says it couldn't estimate for some reason.

 

[Grungster]

Ok, so interestingly I actually had a conversation with the family on this guy, thinking he may have been Mel Wiley.
That turns out to be impossible because this man ("Bill Lee Hull") is less than 5'5'' tall.
Probably about 5'3".
The kind woman, did say that she did have more pictures of him. I'll reach out again as soon as I can to see about if that is possible again.
In addition, she had a lot of good things to say about the man. The story alone of how he and Bessie got together was interesting. Yes, they were a couple.
Was an interesting character with as you can imagine a dark and shadowy past that may also include parts of New Jersey or other areas similar. (Again, only a possibility. Not for sure. They were guessing because he wouldn't say much.)
So definitely sounds like he was running against some kind of grain, so to speak.
So, hopefully that helps, with the height, since I believe on NAMUS it says it couldn't estimate for some reason.

How did you contact them? Also, Mel Wiley is a cool name.

 

[Grungster]

I didn't know Mel Wiley was missing...but he does look like him.

 

[Grungster]

 

[Grungster]

Mel L. Wiley – The Charley Project

 

[CountSnap]

How did you contact them? Also, Mel Wiley is a cool name.

HAHA
That is funny Thanks for the laugh.
See if I can remember how that happened.
Think I tracked someone down through finding records about Bessie, and connecting it to Indiana through ancestry.com
Called up a phone number I found on whitepages and to my surprise, got the exact person I was trying to reach.
Was pretty stunning.
Very nice people who have always been a little curious as to who the man really was.
Said he never appeared dangerous in any way or anything of the sort. Just had a bit of a hole in the storyline.
So, this is an interesting case, as I suppose they all are.

 

[Grungster]

Your welcome...I just think it's a cool name, before I googled the name, I thought that's what his family thought his name was.

 

[Grungster]

The family Bill lived with*