MA MA - Rory Gene Kesinger, 24, Plymouth, 27 May 1973

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Gardener1850

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Rory Gene Kessinger
Nickname/Alias Kessinger, Jennifer Marie Lynn, Linda Lynn Koch, Penny Susan Johnson
Plymouth County, Massachusetts
24 year old white female

Height (inches)
Weight (pounds)

[TD="class: view_field"]63.0[/TD]

[TD="class: view_field"]118.0[/TD]

Brown Hair
Blue Eyes

Kesinger escaped from the Plymouth County Correctional Facility.


Dental information / charting is currently not available

DNA Status: Sample is currently not available

Fingerprint information is available and entered

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/26809/
 
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Rory Gene Kessinger
Nickname/Alias Kessinger, Jennifer Marie Lynn, Linda Lynn Koch, Penny Susan Johnson
Plymouth County, Massachusetts
24 year old white female

Height (inches)
Weight (pounds)

[TD="class: view_field"]63.0[/TD]

[TD="class: view_field"]118.0[/TD]

Brown Hair
Blue Eyes

Kesinger escaped from the Plymouth County Correctional Facility.


Dental information / charting is currently not available

DNA Status: Sample is currently not available

Fingerprint information is available and entered

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/26809/

I'm surprised Rory didn't already have a thread? She has a DNA sample somewhere, she was compared to the Lady of the Dunes and ruled out. Goodness knows where it is, though.

This theory was later discarded, as DNA from Kessinger's mother compared to that of Lady of the Dunes' bone marrow did not match.[2][15][21][23]
http://research.omicsgroup.org/index.php/Lady_of_the_Dunes
 
I'm surprised Rory didn't already have a thread? She has a DNA sample somewhere, she was compared to the Lady of the Dunes and ruled out. Goodness knows where it is, though.


http://research.omicsgroup.org/index.php/Lady_of_the_Dunes

I searched for one and didn't find it in the 70's missing forum. However, she has been compared or suggested in quite a few UID threads. If you come across an older missing thread for her please alert the mods to merge this into her existing thread. Thanks!
 
Posted Mar 26, 2000 at 12:01 AM Updated Jan 11, 2011 at 6:50 PM
[h=1]‘Body in the sand’ is exhumed[/h]
“I haven’t seen flowers here for a while, though,” Gonsalves said.

Nonetheless, the bones that lay beneath his feet -- zipped in a plastic body bag and set inside a cheap, steel casket -- are far from forgotten.
What has been known for 26 years simply -- and cryptically -- as the “Body in the Dunes” was exhumed for the purpose of taking genetic samples.

Law enforcement sources say they are trying to match the victim’s DNA to a saliva sample given to investigators by a woman in Colorado who may be the mother.
Investigators have suspected since the late 1980s that the unidentified woman was Rory Gene Kesinger, who ran away from home at 15, robbed banks, used five aliases, took hard drugs and escaped from prison in Plymouth. But until now, they have been unable to verify that.

One police source said the woman in Colorado is the mother of Rory Gene Kesinger, who has been missing since 1974, when she was 25 years old.
The body, between 5-foot-6 and 5-foot-8, matched Kesinger’s height. The decomposed corpse was determined to be dead in the dunes anywhere from five days to three weeks. Forensic tests put her age between 25 and 35.
Although there is no direct evidence linking the dead woman to convicted killer Hadden Clark, investigators say he may have been on the Cape at the time she was killed.
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/article/20000326/News/303269958
 
It was 18 years ago that they collected Rory's mother's DNA to compare to the Lady in the Dunes UID. It didn't turn out to be her and YET Rory doesn't have DNA in NAMUS today. Why? :sigh:
 
It was 18 years ago that they collected Rory's mother's DNA to compare to the Lady in the Dunes UID. It didn't turn out to be her and YET Rory doesn't have DNA in NAMUS today. Why? :sigh:

If I come across her thread, I will alert the mods.

I know Rory was discussed on the OakHill (the Allenstown victims) blog as a potential match for the adult female but I don't think it went anywhere.

I was wondering about her DNA sample status, but it predates NamUs, so it's possible it's being held locally. At least we know it's out there somewhere, but it really should be in CODIS for posterity.
 
Found a little more information about Rory not included on her NamUs page:

Per Oak Hill Research:
"...At 15, she [Rory Kesinger] ran away from home -- police won't say where that home was -- and already had a record in several states when she landed in Massachusetts. She was allegedly a drug user involved in running guns and drugs, tied in with bank-robbing accomplices, police said...

She was only 24, an attractive young woman, when Pembroke Police Lieutenant Willard Boulter came upon her in January 1973. Boulter was assisting Stoughton Police in delivering notice of a traffic violation to a home in Pembroke, when Kesinger and several others scurried out the back door into the woods.

He caught Kesinger when she tripped and fell. The woman, wearing only lingerie, claimed she had just been raped, but when Boulter took her back to the house, she tried to steal his gun.

He pushed her away and led her in the house, and as he called for help, Kesinger turned off the lights and slipped into another room. Boulter flicked on the lights to find Kesinger with a gun in hand.

"I'm sorry, but I have to kill you," she said.

He dove for her, pushed the gun to the side, threw her on the floor, and handcuffed her. "You would just not think that a nice- looking girl like that would kill you in a heartbeat," he said.

Police took Kesinger to the hospital, where she ended up stealing another officer's weapon. "Die, you {expletive} pig," she hollered, aiming at the officer. Again, she was thwarted: He flung up his hand and was able to keep the gun from firing.

She was charged with two counts of assault with intent to murder and sent to Plymouth County jail, said Sheriff Peter Forman.

She didn't wait for trial. Sometime between the night of May 26, 1973, and the following morning, she escaped, using a hacksaw blade that someone had smuggled into the jail for her. She went to the window of the laundry room, tied together sheet after sheet, and hacked the bar of the window until she could squeeze herself through. Then she lowered herself to freedom.

Someone must have been waiting for her nearby in a car, Forman said. She was never seen again, but her mark was indelible.

"In the old prison, which is still up, you can still see the cut marks on the bars where she cut out," Forman said... "

According to this excerpt out of a book, Rory had been in a group wanted in numerous other states, including Kansas, California, Texas, and Alaska until she was arrested by Pembroke, MA Police, and later sent to the prison where she later escaped from.
 
Here's a photo of her

She seems very tough abd street smart, I wonder if that got her killed or if she was smart enough to escape and start life with a new identity?

Original
 
Although it has been stated that Rory Gene Kensinger has been ruled out as a match for the Lady of the Dunes by comparison of her mother's DNA, that DNA has apparently since become lost. It is interesting to compare her photo with the artist's conception of the Lady of the Dunes, and also some of her identifying features and circumstances.

"Lady of the Dunes"

One of the most recent reconstructions of Lady of the Dunes, created in 2010.
Born 1925 – 1954
Status Unidentified for 44 years, 9 months and 12 days
Died c. July 1974 (aged 20–49)
Cause of death Homicide by blunt force trauma
Body discovered July 26, 1974
Provincetown, Massachusetts, U.S
Resting place Saint Peters Cemetery, Provincetown, Massachusetts, U.S.
Other names "Provincetown Jane Doe"
Known for Unidentified victim of homicide
Height 5 ft 6.5 in (1.69 m) - 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)(approximate)
Weight 145 lb (66 kg) (approximate)
Lady of the Dunes (also known as Lady in the Dunes) is the nickname for an unidentified woman discovered on July 26, 1974 in the Race Point
 
Bringing this over from Irondequoit Jane Doe's thread:

I wonder if Rory Gene Kesinger had any contact with the Rochester mob, or was/became involved with them somehow?
According to her NamUs page, she disappeared in May 1973 after escaping the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Massachusetts. Could she have had connections with the mob, but then things went sour, and they decided to get rid of her?

Rory was clearly a troubled soul who ran with the wrong crowd; could she at some point after her escape have come across a crowd that eventually ended up causing her death?

As of 2018, Rory's identifiers in NamUs were just fingerprints, but a DNA sample from her mother was available elsewhere (I wonder if it has been submitted in system by now?); Irondequoit Jane Doe's identifiers are DNA and dentals, so unless Rory's DNA is submitted by now, there might not be an hit in the databases. Their stats are adding up (a few things are slightly off, but still within reach). The distance wouldn't be too much of a problem either since Rory "was wanted all across the country at that time". They seem to have the same kind of round face, too:



upload_2019-4-25_19-56-22-png.181102


Irondequoit Jane Doe's WS thread:
NY - NY - Irondequoit, WhtFem Skeletal 122UFNY, 14-23, in shallow grave, July'88
 
Anyone think she could be 1313UFCT?


Composite
Composite
Ring
NJ Phone bill
NJ Phone bill page 2

Composites of the victim based upon description to Trenton PD from an acquaintance; Victim's ring; Sketch of ring done by Balfour Jewelers; Clothing; Curler set; Case used in robbery; FBI Wanted Poster for Gustavous Lee Carmichael; List of phone numbers she was known to have called.


Date of Discovery: May 30, 1974
Location of Discovery: Stonington, New London County, Connecticut
Estimated Date of Death: 1970
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Near complete or complete skeleton
Cause of Death: Homicide


Physical Description​


Estimated Age: 18-30 years old
Race: White/Caucasian
Gender: Female
Height: 5'2"
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Brown or auburn
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown


Identifiers​


Dentals: Available. No maxilla due to gun shot. #30 has two separate occlusal amalgams. #17 is mesially inclined.
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Available


Clothing & Personal Items​


Clothing: Tan leather "wet look" vest, gold/tan sweater, brown tweed skirt, brown granny boots that go to the knees, and a yellow rain coat.
Jewelry: Class-like ring with the letters "JHNS" or "JNHS" and the initials "ILN" on the side of the ring and the year 1917 engraved inside. Also had a wood carved broach or pendant.
Additional Personal Items: Lady Clairol hair roller set.


Circumstances of Discovery​


The victim was found in a wooded area wrappped in a blanket. She had been known to have been driving around in a 1964 green Oldsmobile with either Massachusetts or Maine plates. The vehicle was found dumped in Hartford, Connecticut with a Maine inspection sticker.


She was last seen with a bank robber named Gustavous Lee Carmichael. Carmichael info here.


A New Jersey Bell telephone bill showing a list of numbers she was known to have called are provided in the images. Calls were made to Tennessee (Nashville), Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Langhorne, Bristol, Levittown), New Jersey (Hightstown, Riverside, Caldwell, Allentown, Burlington, and from Neward), Delaware (Wilmington), and New York (NYC, Buffalo).


She is thought to have relatives from Tennessee, West Virginia or the Carolinas.


Investigating Agency(s)​


Agency Name: Connecticut Office of Chief Medical Examiner
Agency Contact Person: Michelle Clark, Medicolegal Death Investigator
Agency Phone Number: 860-679-3980
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: NL-74-238


NCIC Case Number: Unknown
NamUs Case Number: UP8909


Information Source(s)​


Namus
Daily News Archive


Admin Notes​


Added: 9/4/16; Last Updated: 08/10/2022
 

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