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

[Ciriii57]

I was just thinking about CW. So we know he was the President of his school's Future farmer's of America group. We also know he was in the 4H club in which he won prizes. So ..an interest in agriculture?
When he left that halfway house in Memphis we don't know how much money he had. He had been working at Proctor & Gamble but I guess he wasn't planning to return there.
Is it possible he ended up in that remote spot because he had gone there for work? Fruit picking or a farmhand or something? This was all farmland and plantations afterall.
Now I have no idea what the growing season is in this part of Louisiana so someone local would have to tell me if this makes no sense.

In other news - If CW is not in fact BCJD then CW should be considered as being other John Does. I'm sorry to be so cryptic but I can't really say it any other way!

 

[BayouBelle_LA]

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?

This is what i was picturing but this one isn’t knit.
eta- This shirt was listed on ebay at one time but the image is from Pinterest. The description is - Vintage 60’s 70’s Puritan shirt stripe long sleeve button front tan blue. (I see maroon though)

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/77/1a/37/771a3709eb1686f83f9dd51e008b4a53.jpg

 

[Ciriii57]

This is what i was picturing but this one isn’t knit.
eta- This shirt was listed on ebay at one time but the image is from Pinterest. The description is - Vintage 60’s 70’s Puritan shirt stripe long sleeve button front tan blue. (I see maroon though)

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/77/1a/37/771a3709eb1686f83f9dd51e008b4a53.jpg

Haha I see salmon pink and blue, but that's not important. This looks alot like the drawing so I think it's a good bet he was wearing this style of shirt. Thank you

 

[carbuff]

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.

Those brands are what we used to call "preppy" style, which would be a little dressier than what the rest of us were wearing. Pretty sure Puritan was available through J Penneys or other big catalog. My brother had one.

In the 70s, it was common to make that style of shirt from knit material. Think disco shirts. Like this: Vtg 60s 70s ENVOY KNIT Beige/White MENS Slinky Soft Disco Dress Shirt - sz 15 | eBay

 

[Beekarina]

I worked for a company that was eventually purchased by P&G and at least in the era I was there, they paid fairly well. Now, this is decades later, but based on my own experience and the comments of his mother, I feel comfortable assuming CW was doing well financially for someone his age when he was employed by P&G, even assuming an entry level position.

 

[Beekarina]

OK without naming specifc names, I can share CW does have French Huguenot ancestry on one branch of his father's maternal line. This family lived in the Netherlands, and intermarried with locals in the mid/late 1600s as well I would need to dig more, but going too far beyond this point starts to become rather murky for our interests, I think.

Have no idea if his surname is directly tied to Clan Wallace yet, but the odds seem pretty high his relatives on that branch were Scottish, or at least from somewhere nearby. The Wallace family has very deep roots in Tennessee, but I will need to look a bit more to be able to see who the first Wallace from their line was to immigrate.(The first names are incredibly common ones, unfortunately!) I was able to trace other parts of his ancestry to England in the 1700s.

His mother also had strong ties for many generations to Tennessee. One of her lines also points to Scotland in the 1700s.

This was fun, but not sure how useful unless we learn BCJD had a strong chance of being from a Scottish background, maybe?

 

[Ciriii57]

OK without naming specifc names, I can share CW does have French Huguenot ancestry on one branch of his father's maternal line. This family lived in the Netherlands, and intermarried with locals in the mid/late 1600s as well I would need to dig more, but going too far beyond this point starts to become rather murky for our interests, I think.

Have no idea if his surname is directly tied to Clan Wallace yet, but the odds seem pretty high his relatives on that branch were Scottish, or at least from somewhere nearby. The Wallace family has very deep roots in Tennessee, but I will need to look a bit more to be able to see who the first Wallace from their line was to immigrate.(The first names are incredibly common ones, unfortunately!) I was able to trace other parts of his ancestry to England in the 1700s.

His mother also had strong ties for many generations to Tennessee. One of her lines also points to Scotland in the 1700s.

This was fun, but not sure how useful unless we learn BCJD had a strong chance of being from a Scottish background, maybe?

Wow thank you! Even if not directly useful I found it thoroughly interesting! Dutch, Scottish, English and French Huegenot. Well that would seem to cross out the Catholic connection with CW. The huguenots were Protestant emigrés and the other countries would all generally have Protestant majorities. Of course, the family could have become Catholic later so it's certainly not definite.

Also interesting to note that despite many of us seeing a southern Mediterranean look in our young man, CW's ancestry is northern European.

Of course these are not definitive in any way at all and prove nothing. But it makes you think.


Thanks for doing this....I don't suppose you'd consider something similar for Bayard Cousins? (I don't like to ask but you did such a good job!)

 

[carbuff]

Wow thank you! Even if not directly useful I found it thoroughly interesting! Dutch, Scottish, English and French Huegenot. Well that would seem to cross out the Catholic connection with CW. The huguenots were Protestant emigrés and the other countries would all generally have Protestant majorities. Of course, the family could have become Catholic later so it's certainly not definite.

Also interesting to note that despite many of us seeing a southern Mediterranean look in our young man, CW's ancestry is northern European.

Of course these are not definitive in any way at all and prove nothing. But it makes you think.


Thanks for doing this....I don't suppose you'd consider something similar for Bayard Cousins? (I don't like to ask but you did such a good job!)

Since Cousins has a Namus page, we might be able to make a match for him and have it followed up on, instead of just speculating. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[Ciriii57]

Since Cousins has a Namus page, we might be able to make a match for him and have it followed up on, instead of just speculating. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

He's already being looked into by Faces Lab. Just waiting for an update from thrm at this point.

 

[Beekarina]

I'm happy to do it for Bayard as well. Will see what I can find this evening.

Edited: and of course, these are paper trails, so it remains possible for anything to differ biologically. Gives a decent speculative sense though.

 

[Courtaine]

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?

I strongly doubt immigrant parents, his English is too good.

 

[Courtaine]

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

We do have the brands but it's a fools errand, nationally sold, does not advance the ball or make the area of origin smaller.

 

[Courtaine]

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.

Funny enough, I'm a Cousins, Wallace fan but if you told me to guess from photo only, I'll double down on Orin.

 

[Courtaine]

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.

It's fine, you can go ahead as long as you don't contact Wallace's still living siblings for a buckle swab, but anything you find on a genealogical site you can post here, I posted everything I found on the LDS site, most helpful.

 

[Courtaine]

OK without naming specifc names, I can share CW does have French Huguenot ancestry on one branch of his father's maternal line. This family lived in the Netherlands, and intermarried with locals in the mid/late 1600s as well I would need to dig more, but going too far beyond this point starts to become rather murky for our interests, I think.

Have no idea if his surname is directly tied to Clan Wallace yet, but the odds seem pretty high his relatives on that branch were Scottish, or at least from somewhere nearby. The Wallace family has very deep roots in Tennessee, but I will need to look a bit more to be able to see who the first Wallace from their line was to immigrate.(The first names are incredibly common ones, unfortunately!) I was able to trace other parts of his ancestry to England in the 1700s.

His mother also had strong ties for many generations to Tennessee. One of her lines also points to Scotland in the 1700s.

This was fun, but not sure how useful unless we learn BCJD had a strong chance of being from a Scottish background, maybe?

Sounds very promising that this is the right family to me!

 

[cenazoic]

Is it possible he ended up in that remote spot because he had gone there for work?

You know, I’m not at all convinced by the Wallace theory, but this is the best potential connection to Plaquemines Parish I’ve seen.

Creole tomatoes are grown in Plaquemines Parish and generally have a growing season through January.

The Truth About Creole Tomatoes

This sun-ripened treat is more controversial than you think

countryroadsmagazine.com

 

[Ciriii57]

You know, I’m not at all convinced by the Wallace theory, but this is the best potential connection to Plaquemines Parish I’ve seen.

Creole tomatoes are grown in Plaquemines Parish and generally have a growing season through January.

The Truth About Creole Tomatoes

This sun-ripened treat is more controversial than you think

countryroadsmagazine.com

In terms of Wallace, I just can't picture another reason for him being there. The fact that he was very active in agricultural groups seems to support it. There is of course the fact that he had passed his naval entry exam and there was a base at Belle Chasse - however in both Wallace's and Cousins' case I don't really buy the naval base connection as it seems like there would have been some input from them at some point.

Cards on the table - I am convinced by the Wallace theory, but since it cannot be proved at this point I am very open to anyone else.

@Courtaine I am with you there on Orin, if it was based on that photo alone I see a match.

 

[Romulus]

Has anyone ever thought it could be a murder disguised as suicide? I don't know, it's too isolated a place, in the end it's true that there is the note, but it's also true that if you wanted to commit suicide you could do it in a thousand other ways without isolating yourself, obviously it's done to keep the discussion active. Is another option?

 

[Ciriii57]

Has anyone ever thought it could be a murder disguised as suicide? I don't know, it's too isolated a place, in the end it's true that there is the note, but it's also true that if you wanted to commit suicide you could do it in a thousand other ways without isolating yourself, obviously it's done to keep the discussion active. Is another option?

Yes, in fact when I first started reading the thread that was my belief simply because I thought the note was so over the top and outrageous it was almost like "The lady doth protest too much" sort of thing....like "this is definitely a suicide and othin else!". Then I thought the additional note at the end to law enforcement was like someone realising that by addressing a note to mum and dad they would look for mum and dad and thought "damn...better tell police not to look" and that explains why there's a note to mum & dad, but then a note telling LE not to contact mum and dad....

But the more I read the thread, the more I though this sounded ridiculous. I mean this case is already mysterious enough without a murder angle, right haha

 

[Sweetluv]

Foul play did cross my mind...I thought if it was, a 4 page suicide note would be a little overboard..but I think back to a high profile case where a "ransom" note was written to throw off LE. That note, IMO, is highly suspect. I think, however, this UID did die from suicide .