MD MD - Upper Marlboro, WhtMale 15-20, UP4833, initials 'ELT' on jacket, Dec'73

[alreetlike]

He looks like an Elliot to me.

I know this is an older post, but I'm totally getting that too!

Maybe I'm just being influenced by the 'ELT' too much, or he might remind me of an actor or something.

He definitely looks the younger end of the age range to me.

 

[astridxx]

I'm reading a book called "Greyhound" about an 11 y/o boy who is sent off to live with his grandparents by his mom; he travels from CA to PA by himself. He was supposed to meet his aunt in CA at one of the stops before going cross-country but his aunt never showed up.... made me think of this kid. Maybe his mom sent him off to live with another family member who may be estranged from her and just didn't care enough to check up on him. After all, cell phones weren't around back then so how easy was it to lose sight of someone?

 

[astridxx]

Bump for this sweet boy


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[Richard]

...7. Location - I looked at Google earth of the area listed where he was found. Report states he was found in a wooded lot on Old Crain Road near Pennsylvania Ave. When looking at historical images of that location (only avail back to 1988) it shows a clearing in the woods near the intersection of OLD Crain and Penn Ave. Looks almost like a easy pull off stop for a trucker.

The intersection of Old Crane Highway and Route 4 (Pennsylvania Ave further north) is an odd one. Old Crane Highway crosses over Route 4 via over pass, but you can only get on to Route 4 headed North, and you can only get on Crane Highway from Route 4 when headed South on Route 4.

The turns are rather sharp at the top of the ramp. Also, it is not really a big trucking route. Unlikely that a trucker pulled over and dumped the boy, unless he intended to do two jack-knife turns at the top of the overpass and then go back in the opposite direction.

It is and was wooded on all corners of this intersection. Crane Highway leads directly into downtown Upper Marlboro - Prince Georges County seat - and it is easy walking distance. Maybe a mile at most.

The boy probably was not from the area, or he would have known to walk into Upper Marlboro and find warmer quarters to spend the night.

In two months, this case will be 40 years old.

 

[astridxx]

This case is older than me -_-; god love this little boy and bring him his name!!!


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[Alyssa2013]

This is a difficult case because we have so many details in certain areas but not enough in others. There is a good description of what he was wearing and where he lived but not much else. As it was stated above, there are no dental records, no DNA, no fingerprints, and nothing else that can be used to identify him except for clothing and initials that *might* belong to him. What struck me as odd is that it's been almost 40 years since his death and no family members have come forward to try and claim him. Some people have suggested that maybe he had just come out of a juvenile/detention center or was in a foster care, and both are strong possibilities in my opinion. I really wish there was an autopsy report on him that could be made public. So far we know that he died from pneumonia and that he was a possible drug abuser. All of this seems to fit but what about the scuff marks on his face? Looks like he was roughed up a bit before or after death.

 

[astridxx]

Yeah, it's literally been 40 years. This is inexcusable.

I think the strongest theory is he was a street kid / runaway who was also a drug abuser. It's been pointed out that the track marks on his arms could be related to a hospital stay, but when I spoke to the ME she said he was a suspected drug user. I've been in touch with a man who worked at CYF back in the 70s and he wouldn't give up any info on break-outs.

This case just breaks my heart.... he looks like such a sweet, young boy.

 

[carbuff]

Another possibility is that he was a throwaway -- in the late '60s and early '70's it was unfortunately not uncommon for families to throw teenagers out of the house to fend for themselves over issues ranging from free love and opposition to the war to drug use or homosexuality.

 

[Richard]

Yeah, it's literally been 40 years. ...
... I've been in touch with a man who worked at CYF back in the 70s and he wouldn't give up any info on break-outs.....

It has been over 40 years now since this boy died and he is still unidentified.

I wouldn't characterize a boy leaving Boys Village in the 1970's as a "break-out". Back then there weren't any fences or gates, simply a bunch of brick buildings and brick dormatories set way out in the country.

The boys were supervised and marched from one place to the other, but it would have been fairly easy for one or more of them to take off and run away (back then).

 

[astridxx]

It has been over 40 years now since this boy died and he is still unidentified.

I wouldn't characterize a boy leaving Boys Village in the 1970's as a "break-out". Back then there weren't any fences or gates, simply a bunch of brick buildings and brick dormatories set way out in the country.

The boys were supervised and marched from one place to the other, but it would have been fairly easy for one or more of them to take off and run away (back then).

I wonder if CYF would have covered something like a disappearance up, or if the boys who were sent there had families that cared or if it was through the court system... Surely someone had to know he was there (IF he was there)..

 

[astridxx]

Update from NAMUS:

DNA : DNA Status changed from "none" to "available not submitted"

 

[jjohnston0827]

Is it possible that the initials are an acronym for a facility he was in, either a detention center, a hospital, even a homeless shelter? Maybe he was "assigned" the jacket by the facility and it was marked as being property of said facility? Any thoughts on this angle?

 

[astridxx]

Bump for my boy

 

[carbuff]

I wonder if CYF would have covered something like a disappearance up, or if the boys who were sent there had families that cared or if it was through the court system... Surely someone had to know he was there (IF he was there)..

Record keeping in youth organizations is a scandal and has been since I was old enough to be worried about being sent to one. I read recently a quote from somebody involved in the Massachusetts youth detention facility, who said in an interview on the radio she'd be surprised if they have records of more than a quarter of the children who passed through their facility.

 

[SurrealisticSlumbers]

I love what everyone has said here regarding the possibility of this young man having done time in a mental institution, and how that relates to his track marks (given that the mentally-ill often turn to illegal drug use). Really encouraging to see so much tireless research on such an old case.

May I contribute my two-cents (complete, utter speculation here)? I believe this young man to be of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry. I saw the post-mortem picture and reconstruction - not to be stereotypical, but those are Jewish features. It is well known that there are many, many Jewish people in the Baltimore/DC metro area (I live in Maryland). We have a very sizable Jewish population in MD, particularly the southern part of the state (think Montgomery Co., PG Co.). Is there any chance that he was involved in a drug deal gone bad, or tried to venture outside the mental institution to go get his next fix, and for whatever reason it went awry … and then his killer wrote "Shalom" mockingly on his pants leg? The Doe Network page says "Crudely written on the left leg of the trousers is "Shalom" and multiple other crude writings." What do you guys make of the use of the term "crude"? As in, offensive (i.e. "kike") - or just hard to make out? "Crude" can have several meanings, so I just don't know, and the Doe Network seems to overwhelmingly present case files in a rather sanitized way; I suppose they don't want anything too lurid or disturbing on there, which is why there's rarely a picture of the deceased. If we're lucky, there's a reconstruction sketch, but it's not 100% of the time.

I also see in the postmortem picture that he looks "roughed up." I know it has been mentioned already that he technically died of pneumonia, but I suspect some degree of foul play. Maybe he was beat up a little, got knocked unconscious (it wouldn't be hard to do with a boy of his age/size), his attacker freaked out and left him in the woods for dead, where he then froze to death?? I can personally attest to the fact that we have some very cold Decembers in MD, and this is before global warming got bad (sorry, don't mean to bring politics into it!) so you just know it had to be nippy out in those woods, at the very least, with a strong possibility of snow on the ground. Add to this, that he was in no way dressed for the weather conditions for that time of year. A real tragedy that he never got to open presents with his family members, like a normal kid his age around the holidays. Really, you guys are presenting very good theories regarding the strong possibility of mental illness and institutionalization…

I must say, this smacks of elements of a hate crime of some sort.

 

[astridxx]

I would say crude as in illegible, not crass.

But I do like your theory! He does look a bit roughed up.


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[carbuff]

Darren Hillis, missing March 1973 from the Norfolk area? He's taller, but everything else is close. He'd be almost 15, brown hair and hazel eyes. And the resemblance is in the ballpark.

 

[SurrealisticSlumbers]

I know what you mean. He looks a lot like the reconstruction. I think we can see the John Doe's teeth a little in the postmortem pic, so it would be nice if the pic of Darren showed him smiling so we could compare dentals. Also, both the recon and postmortem pics are black and white, so we can't exactly tell what our John Doe's hair color was. it is described as brown but what shade of brown? Darren's hair appears to be a lighter brown and of a slightly different texture too; it is rather straight, and I am also seeing a difference in his hairline - the forehead is higher. Otherwise, he does fit the bill.

 

[zelda_s]

Poor boy. To me he looks rather young. I think possibly he was kicked out of his home for being mentally ill and he met his demise while out and alone. To me he has a Celtic 'look' to him (I am Irish/Scottish/French American so I can kinda tell)

 

[Springrain]

This is sad. I agree about him being mentally ill as a theory, though I am completely unsure of his ethnic background, I'm not good at that kind of thing.

I noticed that NamUs says his DNA is currently available elsewhere, and his fingerprints and dentals are unavailable. So it could maybe strike a match with a MP if/when processed. We can all hope.

Also agree about him looking young. And like an Elliott as someone else said.