NH NH - Concord, Fem Skull, 13-18, UP103482, discovered prior to 1942 in pond, kept at home as souvenir, turned over to police, May 2023

DNA Solves
DNA Solves
DNA Solves
That makes me wonder if it was really an obvious gunshot wound. In other words, is there any room to wonder if the person who kept it just thought that it’d been damaged in some other way.
I, personally, have not seen enough skulls with a gunshot wound in my life to make difference between a gunshot hole, a hole cause by a sharp object or even a hole that has occurred post mortem. Especially as there was also other damage. I mean it is possible he collected more skulls than one and had plenty of comparison, but I would not bet on it.

Additionally, if you find a skull with any wound in the 1930s (as a teenage boy), I have a feeling you are gonna be way less creeped about it than people nowadays are."Oh, an old Indian/cowboy/soldier skull". It's not like he had reasons to assume it was of a teenage girl.

All MOO.
 
I thought she was 15-18? Did they change her age estimate on Namus or something? Maybe I’m going crazy. I thought I remembered her being 15-18.
 
I, personally, have not seen enough skulls with a gunshot wound in my life to make difference between a gunshot hole, a hole cause by a sharp object or even a hole that has occurred post mortem. Especially as there was also other damage. I mean it is possible he collected more skulls than one and had plenty of comparison, but I would not bet on it.

Additionally, if you find a skull with any wound in the 1930s (as a teenage boy), I have a feeling you are gonna be way less creeped about it than people nowadays are."Oh, an old Indian/cowboy/soldier skull". It's not like he had reasons to assume it was of a teenage girl.

All MOO.
100% agree. Most teenagers probably don’t know what the difference between a man’s skull and a woman’s skull is. Possibly not even the pelvic differences. *cough * America… *cough* but still, yeah, oh probably just a man lost at war, got shot, etc. Just show it to LE and hope someone comes forward back in the day maybe. But it’s only now that they actually do examination on that skull that we find out it was a teenage girl. Who could have killed her is the question though. Was she dumped there? They probably can’t get much DNA out of her since she died like 90 years ago sadly. We struggle getting DNA out of 40 year old Does let alone a 90 year old one.
 
DNA doe has solved cases older than this

For example
100 years?! That’s absolutely incredible. Have you heard of Webb Hill John Doe? He was a teenage boy found in 1998 and they estimated him to have died in the 1910s or 1920s! Wonder if either one could work with his DNA.
Gives me hope for these really old cases.
 
Wonder if either one could work with his DNA.
Theres definitely a chance
Webb Hill John Doe
Heres his WS thread! If othram hasnt already been tagged I would recommend tagging them. (Type
@ othram (no space) and click the username when it pops up) they are super active on here

 
I checked the google map of Concord, New Hampshire and it looks like there are many ponds there, I just can’t imagine he found a skull with a bullet hole in it in the pond and never reported it. I wonder how old this man was at this time, he must have been himself a teenager or a young adult.
I found 2 ponds 1. Little pond. 2. Horseshoe pond. I looked up the GPS on the NAMUS and came up with Charles & Beacon St. which is in Ward 4. I put in a FOIA with the Medical Examiner She said they are not releasing any information and ask me if I had any information, I said all I know is what is in the NAMUS report. I contacted the records dept asked if they have birth records 1917-26 they said their records don't go back that far. I emailed the Det in charge of the file waiting for a reply. It would help if we had the widows name then we could track the husband's young life. I also check death records for Concord for Oct 2019 a male 85-90 still checking on that. She took the skull in Oct 30th, 2019, after he died.
 
Last edited:
Moo.. it would useful to know what residences where around that area, way back when. I do not think killers would worry to much about huge searches or body being identified back then. Did you even have to report a family death back then? Lots of teens-young women would be live-in help of some sorts in those days. Live-in since there was not a lot of Ubers or bus's around. Possibly grave robber's? Maids, daughters, wives were pretty easy to abuse and disappear......moo
 
Description:

In 2019, a woman turned over a human cranium to the New Hampshire State Police. She reported that her late husband had discovered the partial skull in the 1930s and had kept it his entire life.

The partial skull is believed to be from a young woman between 15-18 years old. Bomb pulse testing confirmed the young woman had likely died prior to 1942.

This case is in partnership with the New Hampshire State Police and the Forensic Anthropology Identification and Recovery Lab (F.A.I.R. Lab) at UNH.

Date Body Found:

2019

Race:

undetermined

Sex:

Female

Estimated Age:

15-18

Estimated PMI:

undetermined

Agency of Jurisdiction:

NH State Police
Detective Christopher Elphick
(603) 223-3856
christopher.elphick@dos.nh.gov

Has anyone found out which pond the skull was found in? Exact year? Name of the widow who brought in the skull. I looked into police reports 1930-38 1930 41 kids reported lost. 1931 32 kids reported lost. 1932 43 kids reported lost
1933 35 kids reported lost. 1934 54 kids reported lost. 1935 39 kids reported lost. 1936 23 kids reported lost. 1937 39 kids reported missing. 1938 26 kids reported lost. Thats 306 kids reported missing or lost in 8 yrs. ????? WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON?
 
Has anyone found out which pond the skull was found in? Exact year? Name of the widow who brought in the skull. I looked into police reports 1930-38 1930 41 kids reported lost. 1931 32 kids reported lost. 1932 43 kids reported lost
1933 35 kids reported lost. 1934 54 kids reported lost. 1935 39 kids reported lost. 1936 23 kids reported lost. 1937 39 kids reported missing. 1938 26 kids reported lost. Thats 306 kids reported missing or lost in 8 yrs. ????? WHAT THE HELL WAS GOING ON?
It's worth noting that it's really not that uncommon for kids to go missing, even back then. A child being reported missing doesn't mean they've been murdered or kidnapped or even that they're dead, it just means their parents don't know where they are. In an age where kids were out by themselves a lot and probably lost track of time, those are about the numbers I would expect.

The vast majority of those kids reported missing were probably found safe and well within a day or two.
 
Description:

In 2019, a woman turned over a human cranium to the New Hampshire State Police. She reported that her late husband had discovered the partial skull in the 1930s and had kept it his entire life.

The partial skull is believed to be from a young woman between 15-18 years old. Bomb pulse testing confirmed the young woman had likely died prior to 1942.

This case is in partnership with the New Hampshire State Police and the Forensic Anthropology Identification and Recovery Lab (F.A.I.R. Lab) at UNH.

Date Body Found:

2019

Race:

undetermined

Sex:

Female

Estimated Age:

15-18

Estimated PMI:

undetermined

Agency of Jurisdiction:

NH State Police
Detective Christopher Elphick
(603) 223-3856
christopher.elphick@dos.nh.gov

I contacted the records dept at the Concord Police because there are no FOIA forms they replied told me to forward my email to the Attorney General's office which I did. Stay tuned.
 
I contacted the records dept at the Concord Police because there are no FOIA forms they replied told me to forward my email to the Attorney General's office which I did. Stay tuned.
I replied and asked why they were directing me there and they said the Attorney General's office is working with the state police on this. So, I emailed them for information all I can do is ask.
 
I contacted the records dept at the Concord Police because there are no FOIA forms they replied told me to forward my email to the Attorney General's office which I did. Stay tuned.
You might as well save your breath. All of the records are at the Attorney's General's office and as of my last request, I can expect my files in seven months! And I live here!
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
164
Guests online
521
Total visitors
685

Forum statistics

Threads
608,455
Messages
18,239,634
Members
234,374
Latest member
Username4
Back
Top