NJ NJ - Jan Cotta, 19, Wall Township, 26 June 1973

DNA Solves
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DNA Solves
Could the remains possibly be those of Karen Lynn Zendrosky who went missing from Bordentown Township in New Jersey on October 23, 1979 (I know that the date is a little off etc. but it is a possibility, I guess)? Is it possible for LE to check into this as well? Has there been any update on the possible Cotta connection?
 
gardenmom said:
:waitasec: I wonder if Mandy is aware you are passing on privilaged information about a possible match? They kick people off Doe for that you know.




Are you saying that people can't go into the Doe network and look at the pictures to see if anyone matches up with someone that they know about and is still missing. Isn't that what the network is for? Otherwise it wouldn't really serve any purpose. I can't see why this poster would be doing a thing wrong. If I went into that network and saw someone that looked like someone that I knew was missing and resembled a person on doe network I would even contact LE in the town that the missing person was from and tell them to take a look at the person on the Doe network. It just makes sense to me.
 
Bobbisangel said:
Are you saying that people can't go into the Doe network and look at the pictures to see if anyone matches up with someone that they know about and is still missing. Isn't that what the network is for? Otherwise it wouldn't really serve any purpose. I can't see why this poster would be doing a thing wrong. If I went into that network and saw someone that looked like someone that I knew was missing and resembled a person on doe network I would even contact LE in the town that the missing person was from and tell them to take a look at the person on the Doe network. It just makes sense to me.
The Doe Network is a public database for the missing and unidentified. Anyone can use it for research purposes. If you are a member at doenetwork any information you come in contact with is considered confidential. By sharing information you have come in contact with as registered member at doenetwork with any other website is not allowed. Basically if you are participating in a discussion at doenetwork and talk about it on websleuths you are breaking the rules.
 
Has anyone seen the article in the Asbury Park Press re Jan's disappearance? What were the results of a possible match w/ an unidentified female? She was pregant...who was the father? Not that implicates him...just a question.
 
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070327/NEWS/703270311/1004/NEWS01

Jan Cotta

Can public help solve a 1973 mystery?

Wall woman, 19, disappeared
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 03/27/07
BY MICHELLE SAHN
STAFF WRITER

Post Comment
WALL — Jan Andre Cotta was 19 years old and pregnant when her younger brother and one of his friends saw her inside a barn tack house on her family's property in the Allenwood section of Wall.

That moment in 1973 was the last time anyone in her family saw the avid equestrian and oldest of eight children.

A little more than two years ago, the June 26, 1973, disappearance was reopened as a cold case. Monday would have been her 53rd birthday.

Now, after an investigation by local, county, state and federal law enforcement that included roughly 250 interviews in five states, police are asking for the public's help in solving the nearly 34-year-old missing persons mystery.

Cotta and her family had lived in Spring Lake Heights before they moved to Wall, where Cotta began participating in the 4-H Club. In 1971, she was elected vice president of the Jumping Brook Riders 4-H Club.

Horses were her passion. She rode for pleasure, was involved in competitions, went to training facilities. She attended the Morven Park International Equestrian Institute in Leesburg, Va., and the Princeton Riding Academy. She provided riding lessons at her family's property on Ridgewood Road.

"Jan lived for horses," said Wall police Detective Joseph Wilbert. "That was the love of her life."

Cotta was last seen by her brother, Brian Cotta, and his friend between 11:30 p.m. and midnight on June 26, 1973. Soon after, a vehicle was seen leaving the farm and family members said Jan vanished, Wilbert said.

The next day, Dorothy Cotta reported her daughter missing. An investigation into the disappearance was opened, and there was follow-up by police in the 1980s and 1990s.

In 1997, a private investigator hired by Cotta's family told the Asbury Park Press that Cotta, who was six months pregnant, wrote a letter to God before she left. She also gave away a few horses to a friend, he said.

"She apparently knew she was leaving," Glenn Patrick Kenny said in 1997. "She felt like she needed to get a new life somewhere, but something happened for her not to get in touch with her family again."

Police this week declined to talk about who the prospective father might have been.

Despite Kenny's investigations, the mystery remained unsolved.
 
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070327/NEWS/703270311/1004/NEWS01


latest investigation incorporated advanced technology, including computer searches and a DNA comparison of Cotta's genetic makeup to those of unidentified remains, he said. That search was done using CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System, a nationwide law enforcement database. The detective would not talk about any findings.

Hummmm.......
 
Anyone heard anything about the possible match of Jan to the Doe remains found in Atlantic Highlands NJ?

Thanks,
Kel
 
Unidentified White Female

* The victim was discovered on October 10, 1973 in Fort Indiantown Gap Military Reservation, Pennsylvania
* Estimated Date of Death: September 1973
* Decomposed from the waist up.

Vital Statistics

* Estimated age: 16-20 years old
* Approximate Height and Weight: 5'6"-5'8"
* Distinguishing Characteristics: Light brown/blonde hair.
* Dentals: Available
* Clothing: Nude. No jewelry
* Skeletal Findings: No previous fractures.
* Fingerprints: Available
* Dentals: Available
* DNA: Not Available

Case History
Remains were not buried but covered with tree branches, brush and a 48"x32.5" piece of plastic.
A white seal on the plastic read "National Sanitation Foundation, Testing Laboratory, Number "8505".


http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/609ufpa.html
 
Everything pretty much matches. Did you contact
Wall Township Police Department
Detective Joseph Wilbert
732-449-4500
 
Everything pretty much matches. Did you contact
Wall Township Police Department
Detective Joseph Wilbert
732-449-4500


No, I didn't.

And to be honest, I no longer believe that it could be Jan Cotta.

The Pennsylvania Missing Persons homepage states that the UID had extensive dental work and no previous fractures.
http://www.pennsylvaniamissing.com/hotcase45fortindgap.html

Jan Cotta had no dental work and had fractured her left wrist one or two years before her disappearance.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1654dfnj.html
 
Jan Andre Cotta
Missing since June 26, 1973 from Wall Township, Monmouth County, New Jersey
Classification: Missing

Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: March 26, 1954

Age at Time of Disappearance: 19 years old

Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'4"; 118 - 125 lbs.

Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; blue eyes.

Marks, Scars: She has a mole on lower right cheek. Crippled left foot, Included club foot. When Jan became tired her foot would turn left. Jan fractured her left wrist when she was 17 or 18 years-old when she fell from a horse.The fracture was described as not being severe, but it did require a cast. After a long day or when she was getting a cold her right eye would drop (Lazy eye).

Clothing: Blue Land Lubbers jeans, a white shirt with a blue design on it, brown loafers, and she was carrying a round tweed purse. Jewelry: A plain gold ring with the initials "JAC"; she also wears a gold ring with a blue topaz birthstone and 2 diamonds.

Medical: She was reportedly 5-7 months pregnant; she has asthma and possibly epilepsy. Jan had the measles that affected the hearing in her left ear. Prior to Jan's disappearance she used a hearing aid.She was approximately seven-years-old and used the hearing aid for about three months before she overcame deafness.

Dentals: Available. Jan had no dental work and her teeth were in very poor condition.

DNA: Available in CODIS

AKA: Jane Andrea Cotta


Circumstances of Disappearance

Cotta was last seen at her home in Wall Township, New Jersey on June 26, 1973.

She was an avid equestrian and was last seen at a barn tack house near the back of her family's property on Ridgewood Road.

Cotta and her family had lived in Spring Lake Heights before they moved to Wall, where Cotta began participating in the 4-H Club. In 1971, she was elected vice president of the Jumping Brook Riders 4-H Club. Horses were her passion. She rode for pleasure, was involved in competitions, went to training facilities.

She attended the Morven Park International Equestrian Institute in Leesburg, Va., and the Princeton Riding Academy. She provided riding lessons at her family's property on Ridgewood Road.

Cotta was last seen by her brother, and his friend between 11:30 p.m. and midnight on June 26, 1973. Soon after, a vehicle was seen leaving the farm and family members said Jan vanished.

The next day her mother reported Jan missing. An investigation into the disappearance was opened, and there was followup by police in the 1980s and 1990s.

Investigators

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Wall Township Police Department
Detective Joseph Wilbert
732-449-4500

Email: jwilbert@wallpolice.org

NCMEC #: NCMA1005685

NCIC Number: M-564535067

Please refer to these numbers when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
New Jersey State Police
Asbury Park Press 3/27/07
The Doe Network: Case File 1654DFNJ


LINK:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1654dfnj.html
 
Is her case featured on AMW?
I didn't remember her by name, but when I saw her picture, I automatically rememebed her case.
She's gorgeous, I wonder if she left of her own accord?
 
Jan's profile (see also http://doenetwork.us/cases/1654dfnj.html) has strong similarities in height, age, geographic location, and timeframe to a Jane Doe found in New Jersey in 1988: http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/20ufnj.html. The new computer reconstruction seems to resemble her fairly well.

According to Mandy O'Blenis of the Doe Network, this case has passed the Network's Possible Match Panel review and will be forwarded to law enforcement.
Did the person at the Doe Network say how they are accounting for the obvious gap in front incisors on the UID? The missing person does not have one and that is a bone strucure feature unless one is missing which is not the case according to the description. I am constantly trying to get a mindset of how these 'experts' are coming to the conclusion so many are 'matches' before the experts check it out.
Any thoughts on the dental description?
>>>"Dentals: Available. Decedant had signifigant tooth decay. Gap in the upper central incisors."

http://web.archive.org/web/20060930024719/www.doenetwork.us/cases/20ufnj.html
 

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