MO MO - Jackson Co, UnsUnc UnkAge, UP8850, Skull & teeth in cooler @ ME's office, Unk origin, avail for DNA sampling, Sep'01

[YaYa_521]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

NamUs #UP8850
NamUs Case Created June 13, 2011
ME/C Case Number 01-1338
Unsure, Uncertain
Date Body Found September 4, 2001
Estimated Year of Death--
Estimated PMI--
Location Found Jackson County, Missouri
Estimated Age Range--

Circumstances of Recovery - Skull &Teeth found in cooler at medical examiner's office. Unknown date of discovery, original medical examiner case number, original police report number, law enforcement jurisdiction or circumstances of discovery. Skull & teeth available for DNA sampling.

Circumstance Notes​

Contact Deputy Chief Investigator Tom Hensley

Not sure KCMO police generated report. I have e-mail correspondence dated 5-29-02 seeking assistance to help identify case information regarding unidentified, previously reconstructed skull.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

NamUs #UP8850
NamUs Case Created June 13, 2011
ME/C Case Number 01-1338
Unsure, Uncertain
Date Body Found September 4, 2001
Estimated Year of Death--
Estimated PMI--
Location Found Jackson County, Missouri
Estimated Age Range--

Circumstances of Recovery - Skull &Teeth found in cooler at medical examiner's office. Unknown date of discovery, original medical examiner case number, original police report number, law enforcement jurisdiction or circumstances of discovery. Skull & teeth available for DNA sampling.

Circumstance Notes​

Contact Deputy Chief Investigator Tom Hensley

Not sure KCMO police generated report. I have e-mail correspondence dated 5-29-02 seeking assistance to help identify case information regarding unidentified, previously reconstructed skull.

This is astonishing. This is like one of at least four or more similar cases you have just started threads for. What the heck is going on in MO?

 

[YaYa_521]

This is astonishing. This is like one of at least four or more similar cases you have just started threads for. What the heck is going on in MO?

Ii agree. I noticed that when I was posting the threads. I wondered if there's been a change of staff at the Jackson County ME's office recently. Makes me think someone is cleaning & organizing around there. It'd be nice to know if @othram has ever partnered with the ME and/or LE authorities in KC, MO. Although, even if they ID this skull and the victims in the other similar cases, investigators still may not know with which recovery case it's associated.
What a mess!

 

[carbuff]

That is weird.

I mean, it's not uncommon for medical examiners to keep the head for identification while allowing the rest of the remains to be respectfully interred, but losing all documentation, even the case number?

 

[cheemsg]

Any chance this is the original case? The skull found in Clay Co, MO was sent to the Jackson Co Medical Examiner's office. It could have got lost with miscommunication between departments.
concrete skull - Newspapers.com™

I suppose it could also be from the Bob Berdella investigation.

 

[iamshadow21]

Any chance this is the original case? The skull found in Clay Co, MO was sent to the Jackson Co Medical Examiner's office. It could have got lost with miscommunication between departments.
concrete skull - Newspapers.com™

I suppose it could also be from the Bob Berdella investigation.

That only works if the skull was originally discovered in 2001. I fear that the 2001 date is when they found it knocking around some closet, storage room or freezer, and went 'oop! our bad. no idea where this came from!' based on the rest of the information.

MOO

 

[cheemsg]

That only works if the skull was originally discovered in 2001. I fear that the 2001 date is when they found it knocking around some closet, storage room or freezer, and went 'oop! our bad. no idea where this came from!' based on the rest of the information.

MOO

True, but September could possibly be a date that was attached to the skull, like date of original examination? What a mystery.

 

[iamshadow21]

True, but September could possibly be a date that was attached to the skull, like date of original examination? What a mystery.

Then it would be a simple matter of crossreferencing records of examinations and records from LE for that date and working backwards. I think they genuinely have absolutely no idea where this skull came from and when. It's all nested in the description, but the way I read it, they have:

No date of discovery
No original medical examiner case number
No original police report number
No law enforcement jurisdiction
No circumstances of discovery

If they had any one of those things, they could have probably figured out the rest, but they don't.

This is similar to other cases we've seen where there's a body found at a decommissioned funeral home or crematorium, or where someone's found a skull in their relative's attic that said relative probably found in the woods as a teenager and brought home thinking it was ancient remains, not a hiker or murder victim. The context for the remains has been completely lost, and they're flying blind.

MOO

 

[iulia]

The NamUs page for this Doe has been removed.


Probably a stretch but I am wondering if this case could be related to the "work" of a medical examiner who used to be a contract medical examiner in Jackson County, MO until 1996. He was fired and lost his doctor's license in MO. He went on to work in Florida where he was charged in 2012 after organs and other specimens were found in a storage locker that he used to rent.

Former ME Charged After Human Remains Found In Storage Unit

A Florida panhandle man has been charged after police reportedly found crudely preserved brains, hearts, lungs and other organs and specimens were discovered in more than 100 containers in a storage locker he rented.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[HmmMysterious]

Another @othram solve maybe? After all, they identified Marie Young who was found in Jackson County, MO in 1998.

 

[HmmMysterious]

Another @othram solve maybe? After all, they identified Marie Young who was found in Jackson County, MO in 1998.

Yeah I was right, it WAS an @othram solve. Identified as Harlan L. Serene, born December 3, 1934. He was last known to have been living in the city of St. Joseph, Missouri in the 1980's. RIP Harlan

So, how did his skull and teeth wound up in the Jackson County Medical Examiner's Office? Is it possible Harlan donated his body after he died?

 

[othram]

Yeah I was right, it WAS an @othram solve. Identified as Harlan L. Serene, born December 3, 1934. He was last known to have been living in the city of St. Joseph, Missouri in the 1980's. RIP Harlan

So, how did his skull and teeth wound up in the Jackson County Medical Examiner's Office? Is it possible Harlan donated his body after he died?

View attachment 515724

Safe bet!