Identified! NH - Bedford, WhtFem 20-40, UP11273, hip-hugger dungaree cut-off shorts, Sz 7 sandals, Oct'71 - Katherine Alston

[rats]

NamUs: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) <MOD NOTE: Original link broken; edited to include current link as of October 8, 2022>

DoeNet: 710UFNH

FBI ViCAP: JANE DOE - BEDFORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE | Federal Bureau of Investigation

The Doe Network:
Case File 710UFNH

Reconstruction of Victim
Unidentified White Female

• 
  [*]The victim was discovered on October 6, 1971 in Bedford, New Hampshire
  [*]Estimated Date of Death: 1 to 3 months prior to discovery

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Vital Statistics

• 
  [*]Estimated age: 25 - 35 years old
  [*]Approximate Height and Weight: 5'1" - 5'5".
  [*]Distinguishing Characteristics: Possibly brown hair.
  [*]Clothing: size 7 sandals, dungarees cut to make them short or hip huggers, 32" waist, Maroon or red pullover blouse, laced at neck,
  [*]Fingerprints: Not available.
  [*]Dentals: Available
  [*]DNA: Not available. (NamUs says: Sample submitted -- tests not complete)

---

Case History
The victim was found October 6, 1971 on a logging road in the woods which was at the end of Kilton Road. Kilton Road has since been extended and is an on-ramp to Route 101 West ( a four lane divided highway at that point).

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Investigators
If you have any information about this case please contact:
Bedford Police Department
or
Chris Saragusa
They seem to all describe the shorts in a different way, and there are no rule outs as far as I can tell. NamUs doesn't list a local contact, but DoeNet does. NamUs has the widest age range (20-40), ViCAP (23-37) and DoeNet (25-35) have smaller ones.

Hopefully, 45 years after her death, we can help find her name.

 

[eekasaur]

Hmmm. I looked at charley project at all females 1971 and earlier in Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, of course. The only one that made any logical sense was Wanda Medeiros Reine – The Charley Project <MOD NOTE: Original link broken; edited to include current link as of October 8, 2022> The drive from East Falmouth, MA to Bedford, NH is just over 2 hours, almost a straightaway on the 93N. Thoughts?

There was also another young lady who seemed to fit quite well, and the timeline was better (missing September), but the clothing description was off and she was described to have braces. Since Namus states all body parts were recovered, and there was no mention of braces, I ruled that one out.

 

[CountEveryMoment]

reconstruction kind of looks like Donna Jean Michalenko. http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2443dfnd.html

 

[rats]

Bumping because today is the anniversary. 45 years today. Rest in peace. I hope you get your name back soon.

 

[Romulus]

reconstruction kind of looks like Donna Jean Michalenko. http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2443dfnd.html

Good find, bump for this case!

 

[Alleykins]

I had submitted a potential match for this case for Cathy Moulton, but the reply I received stated she had been ruled out, my guess is based on dental records.
Almost a year later, DNA is still not complete for these remains, according to NamUs

 

[Moosebegoose]

When you find one that's a great match, down to the clothing; but didn't go missing until two months later.

Back to the drawing board and fingers crossed this lady has her name back in the near future.

 

[Alleykins]

When you find one that's a great match, down to the clothing; but didn't go missing until two months later.Back to the drawing board and fingers crossed this lady has her name back in the near future.

Yep, that's very frustrating.
I'm thinking because of the way she was dressed that she may be an Alcala victim, as he was working at a summer camp in NH at the time.

 

[madamx]

Denise Sheehy went missing in 1970 but the stats seem in the ballpark she was from Queens NY

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/754dfny.html

Denise Marie Sheehy
Missing since July 7, 1970 from Woodside, New York.
Classification: Lost, Injured, Missing



Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: February 20, 1954
Age at Time of Disappearance: 16 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'3; 103 lbs
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; brown eyes. Sheehy has pierced ears.
Clothing: Blue shorts (size XS), a red and white top, and clog sandals (size 5 1/2).
Jewelry: Gold ring with the intitals DS; gold boys school ring.
Dentals: Available. Some restorations.




Circumstances of Disappearance
Denise was last seen leaving her house on July 7, 1970.
She and her mother argued at dinner and she ran out of the house in a huff. Nothing was missing to indicate she had anything planned.
She has not been seen or heard from since.

 

[theshadow45]

Not much to go on, but Irene LaRosa Irene Lanora LaRosa – The Charley Project <MOD NOTE: Original link broken; edited to include current link as of October 8, 2022> She was apparently LKA about 120 miles away in Ellington, Connecticut sometime in March 1971. At the time she was a little under the low end of the estimated age range at 17, had brown hair, and was 5'3" tall. She was not reported missing until 2016. Very little information available.

 

[folieadeuxnola]

NH – UP11273, Cauca/Female, 20-40, Bedford, Hillsborough Co, 06 Oct 1971


Bedford Juliet Jane Doe


Date Discovered: Wednesday, October 6th, 1971
Discovery Location: Bedford, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire


Physical Description:
Race: Caucasian
Sex: Female
Age: 20-40, 25–35, 23-37 Years Old (Listed age varies)
Height: 5’3” (63”)
Weight: Cannot Estimate, 71’ & 93' News article reported 115-130 lbs.
Head Hair: Possibly Brown
Facial Hair:
Eye Color: Unknown
Clothing: Maroon/Red pullover blouse w/net fabric covered with lace around at the neck, cut off blue jean hip hugger dungaree style shorts Size w32”, Wonderbra underwire bra Size 34C (Not sold in the US in 1971), Size 7.5 brown leather sandals 2.5” heel (heel height marking was in CM), Maroon/Red socks, Gossard underwear Size 6
Jewelry:
Misc. Items:
Characteristics/Medical/Scars:
Condition of Remain: Not recognizable
Transportation:
Postmortem Interval: 1 - 3 Months
Estimated Year of Death: 1971
Cause of Death: Undetermined
Fingerprint Status: Not Available
Dental Status: Available, will be entered later (Noted as in good shape)
DNA Status: Samples Submitted, Test no complete

Circumstances:
The deceased female was found by a hunter partly covered by a brush pile off a bridle path in a wooded area at the end of Kilton Road near Route 101 by-pass in Bedford, NH (now the on-ramp from Rt 101 to Kilton Rd).

Per the autopsy due to advance stages of decomposition the manner of death at the time could not be determined. However, it was noted that her teeth were in good shape in which would help with identification and she had no bone fractures.

There have been various ages placed upon the deceased female; original news articles place her at 25-35 but possibly a little younger. Namus has her age estimate at 20-40 and the FBI has it listed as 23-37.

It was originally noted her body was suspected to have been it is location since early September however could have been there up to 3 months (July, Aug, Sept) prior to discovery due to the advance stage of decomposition.

She also has height variations listed original news reports as 5’3” along with NAMUS & FBI, Doe lists at 5’1” and NHDOJ lists at 5’1” – 5’5”.

The unidentified woman’s remains were exhumed in 1993 to have a forensic artist recreate her face. She was exhumed from a public plot at Pine Grove Cemetery, Plot # 470.

LE had a few suspects and one at the time of the article was incarcerated for murder in the western US he lived in Bedford at the time of the murder. The suspect had worked for a local family and tendered horses.

Several LE units in other parts of the country have made inquiries about the man’s possible connection to dead and missing women.

LE suspected that the woman came from some another part of the country and may have been brought her by whomever killed her.

News articles about the facial recreation noted that it was difficult as that the woman’s lower jaw was missing and that had there been teeth available it would have better determined the size of her mouth. At the same time a re-autopsy was performed and revealed a potentially lethal skull fracture however it could not be determined whether it happened before or after she died.

"Someone, somewhere has to know who these people are or say, 'boy it looks like somebody I used to know,' but is afraid to call because they don't want to look silly," Kelley said, referring to the clay model of a woman whose remains were found in Bedford in 1971.


Investigating Agencies:
New Bedford Police Department
55 Constitution Drive
Bedford, NH 03110
Tele: 603.472.5113
Web: https://www.bedfordnh.org/659/Police-Department

New Hampshire State Police
33 Haven Drive
Concord, NH 03305
Tele: 603.223.3856
Case # 078-93
Web: https://www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/nhsp/

New Hampshire Office of Chief Medical Examiner
246 Pleasant Street, Suite 218
Concord, NH. 03301
Contact: Kim Fallon, Medicolegal Death Investigator
Tele: 603.271.1235
Case # 078-93
Web: https://www.doj.nh.gov/medical-examiner/

Information Sources:
NAMUS
UID Case # UP11273: Unidentified Person Case
ME/C Case # 078-93
Case Manager: Lori Bruski
Tele: 817.718.7904
E-Mail: lori.bruski@unthsc.edu

Doe Network Case # 710UNH: 710UFNH

FBI ViCAP UID Alert # 2011-11-01: JANE DOE - BEDFORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE — FBI

NH DOJ: Unidentified Female in Bedford | Cold Case Unit | NH Department of Justice

News/Blogs:
10/07/71 – Manchester Union Leader
10/07/71 – Nashua Telegraph
10/08/71 – Nashua Telegraph
06/05/93 – New Hampshire Union Leader
06/26/93 – New Hampshire Union Leader
05/17/98 – New Hampshire Union Leader (Article includes mentions of A4)
04/17/11 – New Hampshire Sunday News - http://professional.bu.edu/pdfs/bu-cpe-genealogy_jane_doe_1971.pdf
01/08/12 – Can you identify me? http://canyouidentifyme.blogspot.com/2012/01/bedford-new-hampshire-october-6-1971.html
09/28/12 – Bedford Journal - http://www.teresasantoski.com/former-chief-genealogist-continue-trying-to-solve-states-oldest-jane-doe-case/
09/28/12 – Nashua Telegraph
02/10/13 – New Hampshire Union Leader (Article includes mentions of A4)
Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unidentified_murder_victims_in_the_United_States#Bedford_Jane_Doe

 

[Alleykins]

Wonder how long her DNA status has been "Samples Submitted, Test not complete"

ETA:: I just found an old post of mine from June 2017 - DNA was pending then, too, LOL

 

[folieadeuxnola]

Wonder how long her DNA status has been "Samples Submitted, Test not complete"

ETA:: I just found an old post of mine from June 2017 - DNA was pending then, too, LOL

Good Question....
It has at least been since Jul 2016 based on the date Rats posted.
Why has it been hanging in limbo for so long and why has the dental chart not been entered. There are no ruleout exclusions listed all thou from a 93 article her dental chart was sent out across the country and many MP's had been excluded as being her..,... wish whomever was excluded was listed in NAMUS or at least the NHDOJ, LE or medical examiners office

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Clothing: Wonderbra underwire bra Size 34C (Not sold in the US in 1971),

This doesn't seem to have been picked up so far.

According to Wikipedia Wonderbra was originally Canadian brand but sold to a US company in 1968. The brand seems not to have been known outside of Canada in 1971 so it's very possible this woman was Canadian or had travelled to Canada in a manner that had required her to buy underwear while there.

Wonderbra - Wikipedia

 

[folieadeuxnola]

It was mentioned in the 2012 Beford Journal news article, agree there are a few possibilities of how the clothing was acquired.


“There are a lot of things that point to Canada as an origin,” she said. “She’s wearing a Wonderbra, which was not sold in the United States in 1971. She also has Gossard panties on.”

Then, there are the heels on Jane Doe’s sandals, Byrne noted, the height of which is marked in centimeters.

Byrne cautioned against using Jane Doe’s clothing as the entire basis for her place of origin, as the woman could have borrowed the clothing from someone else or gone shopping in Canada. Such clues, however, can provide a jumping-off point for further investigation."

Also interested in the possible suspect whom was incarcerated in the western days.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

It was mentioned in the 2012 Beford Journal news article, agree there are a few possibilities of how the clothing was acquired.

Thanks. I hadn't spotted that. It's obviously something that's been looked at but it's not clear how much effort has been put into doing so.

 

[folieadeuxnola]

Thanks. I hadn't spotted that. It's obviously something that's been looked at but it's not clear how much effort has been put into doing so.

Agreed, IMO she most likely was from an area that was in close proximity to the US/Canadian border or Canada all together.

Have been looking at MP's along the US/Canadian border from Maine to Washington as well as within Canada. Its def worth digging in a little deeper sometimes one will strike gold other times paved dirt but worth the time spent in any case.

 

[Nancy Drew RN]

I've looked over Canada's missing site, and while there are quite a few women missing from Canada 1969-1971, almost all are First Nations, which I assume one could tell from the bones. Of the two that are listed as white, one is elderly. Remaining is Marthe Turcotte, missing from Montreal in September 1971, at age 19. Her only other demographics seem to be brown hair and eyes, can't find anything about height and weight. I suspect much available information may be in French, as well.

Canada's Missing | Case details

 

[folieadeuxnola]

 

[Alleykins]

I've looked over Canada's missing site, and while there are quite a few women missing from Canada 1969-1971, almost all are First Nations, which I assume one could tell from the bones. Of the two that are listed as white, one is elderly. Remaining is Marthe Turcotte, missing from Montreal in September 1971, at age 19. Her only other demographics seem to be brown hair and eyes, can't find anything about height and weight. I suspect much available information may be in French, as well.

Canada's Missing | Case details

She's worth submitting to the RCMP, if you haven't already. They will check it out if they feel it worthwhile. It will take forever, but they'll do it.