LA LA - Belle Chasse, WhtMale 16-17, UP88342, hanged, suicide note, Feb'75 #2

[summergirl1]

Charles Wallace's hair does look lighter than the John Doe's in that picture I've seen of him on here.

 

[Ciriii57]

Charles Wallace's hair does look lighter than the John Doe's in that picture I've seen of him on here.

Definitely. But I'm not sure how reliable an ink/pencil drawing is for our Doe. I mean, how do you make hair look blonde with a black pen or pencil? It woukd be interesting to see the reconstruction drawing done in colour with lighter hair and see what we have.

 

[Sweetluv]

When religion was asked about...Wallace's dads obit reads he was a member of a Baptist church..I'm not finding anything on Cousins.

 

[Sweetluv]

Also, his hair color on Doe Network is listed as brown. So I agree with Ciriii57 that because it's a black and white sketch, it looks dark black.

 

[Ciriii57]

When religion was asked about...Wallace's dads obit reads he was a member of a Baptist church..I'm not finding anything on Cousins.

Thanks. So, I would assume the whole family were Baptists?

I did a little very basic research. So nowadays none of this applies at all, but back in 75 it may have depending on the Priest, the family and the situation. It seems that suicide could cause issues both morally, ethically and with the burial of followers of Catholicism, Judaism, Latter Day Saints and Greek and Russian Orthodoxy...however it must be said that I have no idea how rigidly any of this was followed and it might have just been more of a warning type thing.

There is every chance this boy could have been the child of immigrant parents too, perhaps they'd be less willing to report or even less believed if they did? If his parents were immigrants then they probably came over just after world War 2. Where was immigration into the US heaviest from in this period, does anyone know? Eastern Europe?

 

[Romulus]

There is every chance this boy could have been the child of immigrant parents too, perhaps they'd be less willing to report or even less believed if they did? If his parents were immigrants then they probably came over just after world War 2. Where was immigration into the US heaviest from in this period, does anyone know? Eastern Europe?

As Tony said that area of Louisiana it was full of Italians, this guy could also be an Italian-American or second or third generation Italian.

 

[Himako14]

On mobile at the moment, but if he is Italian/Italian heritage, most likely to be Roman Catholic. I can’t speak for other religions, but rules about suicide and Catholic started changing during Vacatian 2, so 1962 I think but weren’t published until 1976-8 in the states, can’t remember exact year.

 

[carbuff]

On mobile at the moment, but if he is Italian/Italian heritage, most likely to be Roman Catholic. I can’t speak for other religions, but rules about suicide and Catholic started changing during Vacatian 2, so 1962 I think but weren’t published until 1976-8 in the states, can’t remember exact year.

Vatican 2 caused a lot of consternation among my Catholic classmates in college. The recommendations were widely rejected by more traditional believers.

I'd like to say he looks more Central European to me, but I'm terrible at faces and ethnicities.

 

[Himako14]

Vatican 2 caused a lot of consternation among my Catholic classmates in college. The recommendations were widely rejected by more traditional believers.

I'd like to say he looks more Central European to me, but I'm terrible at faces and ethnicities.

Yeah, I wasn’t alive for it but most of the older people in my church disliked it.

I’m good with ethnicities, but my sister is better. I’m going to show it to her tonight. I mentioned Italian because a large amount of Italians moved to LA right after the civil war I think. He could be Central European. I’ll check with my sister about it.

 

[Ciriii57]

I don't think a conclusion on ethnicity can be made based on a black and white pencil sketch. His hair looks dark black when we know it was brown (which in itself has a huge range of options), we don't know the natural shade of his skin or if his lips were swollen.
He looks very Maltese to me, that would make him ethnically Arabic-italian but he also looks like college friends from England.

I had never heard of Vatican 2 so thank you for that, i went to research. Seems like it wasn't very popular at first!

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Article clipped from The Post-Crescent

Clipping found in The Post-Crescent published in Appleton, Wisconsin on 3/27/1975.

www.newspapers.com

 

[Romulus]

The knit shirt seems unique, obviously I guess we don't have labels or brands right?

 

[Beekarina]

The knit shirt seems unique, obviously I guess we don't have labels or brands right?

We do know the brand. It is mentioned several times in the original thread. Escapes me at the moment, but I was to say it is Puritan, or something along those lines. if you search it will come up. There was discussion about the brand being made on Cape Cod, but then also a Puritan brand bought at some point by Walmart. Seems to be two levels of garment as I still see Puritan brand on Cape Cod.

A bit higher end, but not exceptionally so--think a family with some means:

The Shirt Shop

puritancapecod.com

And then Walmart, which is for the "masses". I have no idea when the "Puritan" clothing began to be sold there, or if the two are related. Just showing you as I know you are outside the US. It costs about $10 vs $140. Hope this helps!

 

[Beekarina]

I spend a lot of time doing Genealogy and similar things where I look at random pics/recons, and if I had to venture a guess based on a sketch, I would say the BCJD has French ancestry of some kind. Clearly we are all just brainstorming when it comes to offering this kind of observation as it is a pencil sketch, and we only know Mrs Wallace remarked on his dark hair. Purely speculation on my part.

 

[Beekarina]

I'm not sure if it skirts the guidelines about families or if that just applies to crimes, but if not, it would be relatively easy to figure out what CW immediate ethnic background was given we have his father's obit and can go from there. If anyone knows/can clarify, good to know. I will not share anything I might learn without knowing if it is OK first.

 

[Rolypolyoly]

I wonder if Detective Verdi ever kept any copies of the file at home?. He has passed but his son is retired LE, he may have an interest in helping. Possibly.

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

The knit shirt seems unique, obviously I guess we don't have labels or brands right?

The shirt was Puritan and the pants were Arrow brands.

I recently went down the rabbit hole of looking at 1970’s Puritan shirts with maroon and burgundy.

ETA: In the doe drawing the shirt looks like a button down cotton rather than a knit. I wonder how accurate the drawing is in regard to the shirt.

 

[Romulus]

We do know the brand. It is mentioned several times in the original thread. Escapes me at the moment, but I was to say it is Puritan, or something along those lines. if you search it will come up. There was discussion about the brand being made on Cape Cod, but then also a Puritan brand bought at some point by Walmart. Seems to be two levels of garment as I still see Puritan brand on Cape Cod.

A bit higher end, but not exceptionally so--think a family with some means:

The Shirt Shop

puritancapecod.com

And then Walmart, which is for the "masses". I have no idea when the "Puritan" clothing began to be sold there, or if the two are related. Just showing you as I know you are outside the US. It costs about $10 vs $140. View attachment 487727 Hope this helps!

Thanks for info, Massachussets...Uhm...Today Hyannis has 14,000 inhabitants, in 1975 there would have been many fewer, assuming that this boy comes from there... But there are other possibilities, that the shirt was only purchased in that shop, and that it is also a paternal legacy, or grandfather.

 

[Ciriii57]

I'm not sure if it skirts the guidelines about families or if that just applies to crimes, but if not, it would be relatively easy to figure out what CW immediate ethnic background was given we have his father's obit and can go from there. If anyone knows/can clarify, good to know. I will not share anything I might learn without knowing if it is OK first.

I think it's perfectly OK to mention an ethnic background of his family. You don't to need to name names just to find the background. And it's all publicly available information from censuses so should be fine.
I'd be very interested in knowing though if you happen to learn

 

[Ciriii57]

The shirt was Puritan and the pants were Arrow brands.

I recently went down the rabbit hole of looking at 1970’s Puritan shirts with maroon and burgundy.

ETA: In the doe drawing the shirt looks like a button down cotton rather than a knit. I wonder how accurate the drawing is in regard to the shirt.

Haha me too. I couldn't find any knit shirts that matched. I didn't think to check cotton shirts, did you find a match?
I don't know the clothing brand as I'm not in the States but woukd I be right to say that he hadn't gotten dressed in his Sunday best to end his life, that these were pretty standard clothes of the period?