MD MD - North East, Elk River, WhtFem 50-59, UP1866, dental bridge, blue belt, earring, March '86

[SurrealisticSlumbers]

NamUs Case #1866
Unidentified White Female

Date of Discovery: March 19, 1986
Location: North East, Cecil County, Maryland
Postmortem Interval: Days prior
State of Remains: Decomposing and unrecognizable (all parts recovered)
Cause of Death: Unknown

Physical Description

Estimated Age: 50-59 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 113 lbs.
Hair Color: Brown, graying, straight, 3" long
Eye Color: Brown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Pierced ears

Identifiers

Dentals: Available - bridge present
Fingerprints: Available
DNA: N/A

Clothing & Personal Items

Clothing: Blue belt
Jewelry: One white earring
Additional Personal Items: N/A

Circumstances

The victim's remains were found in the water near the Turkey Point Lighthouse in Elk Neck State Park, which is where the Elk River and Chesapeake Bay meet.

Investigating Agency(s)

When calling, please reference ME/C Case #148650.

Maryland State Police
(410) 290-1620, extension 380

Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner
Point of Contact: Charlotte Romero
(410) 333-3225

This was former Hot Case #1478.

Links

Doe Network: http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1035ufmd.html
NamUs: https://identifyus.org/cases/1866

 

[SurrealisticSlumbers]

RULEOUTS

The following people have been ruled out as being this decedent:

- Anne Kirrane, b. 1930 (last known alive in PA)
- Sheila Lyon, b. 1962 (last known alive in MD)
- Nancy Snow, b. 1936 (last known alive in MD)
- Agnes Young (last known alive in PA)

 

[SurrealisticSlumbers]

I don't think that much is known about this Jane Doe. Eye color may have altered in death, and estimated age and vitals could be off due to time in the water. Was she really only dead for a few days prior to being found?

Lots of questions about this lady, few answers.

 

[madamx]

The Doe Network: Case File 837DFTX

Sue Woodrum Bean
Missing since December 21, 1985 from Silver Creek, Burnet County, Texas
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics

• • Date Of Birth: June 2, 1936
  • Age at Time of Disappearance: 49 years old
  • Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 64 to 67 inches; 135-145 lbs.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown eyes; black hair. She wears glasses.
  • AKA: Mary Sue Woodrum Bean
  • DNA: Available

Circumstances of Disappearance
Bean was last seen in Silver Creek, TX on December 21, 1985.

Foul play is possible.

 

[YaYa_521]

The Doe Network: Case File 837DFTX

Sue Woodrum Bean
Missing since December 21, 1985 from Silver Creek, Burnet County, Texas
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics

• • Date Of Birth: June 2, 1936
  • Age at Time of Disappearance: 49 years old
  • Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 64 to 67 inches; 135-145 lbs.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown eyes; black hair. She wears glasses.
  • AKA: Mary Sue Woodrum Bean
  • DNA: Available

Circumstances of Disappearance
Bean was last seen in Silver Creek, TX on December 21, 1985.

Foul play is possible.

Sue Woodruff Bean's NamUs profile.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[YaYa_521]

RULEOUTS

The following people have been ruled out as being this decedent:

- Anne Kirrane, b. 1930 (last known alive in PA)
- Sheila Lyon, b. 1962 (last known alive in MD)
- Nancy Snow, b. 1936 (last known alive in MD)
- Agnes Young (last known alive in PA)

Profile still shows only these four exclusions.

​

ETA photo.

 

[YaYa_521]

Bbm

According to her Doe profile:

Circumstances of Discovery
The decedent's remains were found at Turkey Point Elk Neck State Park in the water where Elk River and Chesapeake Bay meet.

In 2018, detectives announced they are investigating a potential link between the woman and Nancy Clavell, who vanished in 1984.

3486DFMD - Nancy Jean Clavell

 

[SurrealisticSlumbers]

Bbm

According to her Doe profile:

Circumstances of Discovery
The decedent's remains were found at Turkey Point Elk Neck State Park in the water where Elk River and Chesapeake Bay meet.

In 2018, detectives announced they are investigating a potential link between the woman and Nancy Clavell, who vanished in 1984.

3486DFMD - Nancy Jean Clavell

It's possible. Two years between the date Nancy was last seen and the discovery of this Jane Doe. Though with the state of the remains (decomposing) it is not outside the bounds of reason that the body remained fairly intact for two years in the water... I'm more skeptical about a very young woman (20 years old) having "graying" hair and a dental bridge present.

What also makes me skeptical that it's Nancy is the distance the body would have had to travel (granted, still possible over a two-year period) from where Nancy was last seen. If we operate under the assumption that her body was dumped somewhere near the confluence of Octoraro Creek with the Susquehanna River in Port Deposit, then it would have floated down the Susquehanna River, into the Chesapeake Bay, and then would've been spotted off of the peninsula comprising Turkey Point - if she was this Doe.

I know the area well, and it seems like the Coast Guard is pretty active around the Upper Bay, and would have likely spotted a body floating in the water before it got to Turkey Point. Maybe things weren't policed as well back in the '80s.

 

[YaYa_521]

Janet Marie Shuglie – The Charley Project
PA - PA - Janet Shuglie, 36, Somerset, June 30 1985

Could these be Janet's remains? I tend to think not but then so much makes me think it could be her. For example, her physical description, location 3.5hrs away from motel last seen, and the potential that she met with foul play at the hands of her husband. I wonder whether she had a dental bridge which may not have been reported. I also wonder where her class ring was found.

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Ted Caddell, "Body found in river still unidentified," Morning News [Wilmington, DE], 22 March 1986, A4.

Two workers at Elk Neck State Park found the body, naked but for a thin blue belt around the waist and one gold earring, floating close to shore about 11:15 a.m.

Sgt. Larry Meusel, a detective at the state police barracks in North East, said an autopsy uncovered no obvious cause of death. "There was some trauma" or bruising, Meusel said, "but that probably came from floating in the water. There was a lot of debris in the water."

Meusel noted that although the body was found in the Elk River near Turkey Point, it could have come from the Susquehanna River.

"The Conowingo Dam had 16 to 18 gates open last weekend," he said Friday. The floodgates are opened to release excess water whenever the reservoir becomes too full, and there's enough force to move boulders in the Susquehanna River, and more than enough to push a body downstream approximately 13 miles to Turkey Point, Meusel said.

"The medical examiner said she had been in the water 10 to 15 days," he said, "but we don't know where she went in."

 

[SurrealisticSlumbers]

Glad this case is still getting some attention.

The decomposing remains of this woman were found in the water off of Turkey Point in North East, MD.

Turkey Point is a peninsula. It juts out into the upper Chesapeake Bay. Driving in the direction of the body's location, there's some private residences. Then, it becomes pretty much uninhabited the further you drive out there. There is a place to park one's car that probably existed back in the '80s, and a walkable gravel trail which leads you down to Turkey Point Lighthouse at the very tip of the peninsula. You can hike and bike down there but cars are prohibited past a certain point, and probably were back when this body was found. As someone who has been hiking there many times, I can attest to it being a very high drop from the land to the water below... the cliffs are pretty steep, to where grievous injury or death would certainly occur, should someone either jump (or be pushed) off the edge to the rocks or water below.

The woman could have also fallen off of a boat and simply drowned - but as I've said before, the area is policed by the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and they are a constant presence. This may not have been the case back then... I feel that if any boaters or swimmers were in the area who were in distress, they would have been spotted / had cries of help heard by either local residents whose homes were on the water, or by the Coast Guard. Strongly possible her body floated from elsewhere... or, was dumped there at a time when there would have been few witnesses, perhaps late at night.

 

[sorcoy14]

I grabbed her Namus link- The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

She is still only listing four rule outs mentioned above.

 

[Beccalicious]

Bumping