Identified! NV - Washoe Co., WhtFem 156UFNV, 25-35, Sheep's Flat Trail, Jul'82 - Mary Edith Silvani

[Charlie99909]

Hello all,

My name is Tom Green and I supervise the Washoe County Cold Case Unit. I wanted to extend a law enforcement thank you to all the members of this site. Additionally I want to offer any answers I can answer in this case.

We have some reason to believe Jane Doe could be of European descent or at least spent time there. This is based on some dental work that, according to the forensic odontologist, that looks European. She also has a large inoculation scar that was consistent with vaccinations in Europe during the time she would have been immunized. This not a for sure, however this theory lends to her not being identified.

She also had a cesarean scar, indicating she had delivered a child. Of course we do not know if that was a live birth.

The original detectives did everything they could to identify her, including work permits, local motels/hotels and teleptypes.

She had not been dead long, maybe 24-48 hours. There was fly larvae present, however they were freshly hatched. She was shot and there were no belongings left at the site. She walked to the site willingly and her shoes were taken off at the site of her death. There is no evidence of a struggle and it appears as if she was shot without knowing her death was imminent.

We are currently having another dentist look at her teeth and we are reaching out to networks in Europe to ensure her details are being posted there as well. Her prints were again sent to FBI to ensure any and all databases are checked. Her DNA is on file.

Please post any questions or ideas, we would love to hear them.

Lt. Tom Green

Lt. Green, so many questions and I know that there could only be so many answers due to it still being an active case. But a few things I was curious of.

-Exactly where on the trail was she found? Was in deeper into the trail of almost at the beginning? I've walked the trail once when I originally started researching. It was a June day. I remember it being quite busy with foot traffic, but at the same time the feeling of solitude was suffocating. I imagine even more so when she was found due to the standing snow, even in July.

-Was it ever establish how recent her scaring seemed to be? I.E. Had she given birth in the previous 5 years?

-Any known sightings of her in the time before the murder? It seemed that she was dressed for a day at the beach, given the swim suit and light clothing.

Thank you again for joining the boards and welcome!

 

[Tomgreen1164]

Hi Tomgreen, and thanks for joining.

Would there be any way at this point to look at Visa overstays that date back to prior to July 1982 and were never resolved?

We are looking into that. Thank you for the idea.

 

[Tomgreen1164]

Lt. Green, so many questions and I know that there could only be so many answers due to it still being an active case. But a few things I was curious of.

-Exactly where on the trail was she found? Was in deeper into the trail of almost at the beginning? I've walked the trail once when I originally started researching. It was a June day. I remember it being quite busy with foot traffic, but at the same time the feeling of solitude was suffocating. I imagine even more so when she was found due to the standing snow, even in July.

"She was found almost straight across the meadow in the tree line. At the time, there was a trail that went directly from the parking area in the flats to the south. She was facedown next to a fallen log. There was snow, in fact that year the Mt Rose campground was still closed due to heavy snows. She was not in the snow, however she was in the shade of trees and not visible from the road."

-Was it ever establish how recent her scaring seemed to be? I.E. Had she given birth in the previous 5 years?

"I see nothing in the autopsy report that indicates age of the scar. That was one of our questions to the current ME, however based on the reporting at the time I am unsure we will know the answer to this one."

-Any known sightings of her in the time before the murder? It seemed that she was dressed for a day at the beach, given the swim suit and light clothing.

"None that are in the reports. She was found in the later afternoon and by the time they processed the scene it was dark. The went the next day to Incline and surrounding areas without any success. "

Thank you again for joining the boards and welcome!

"Glad to be here"

 

[CarlK90245]

Hi Tomgreen, and thanks for joining.

Would there be any way at this point to look at Visa overstays that date back to prior to July 1982 and were never resolved?

We are looking into that. Thank you for the idea.

To expand on that thought, you might want to also check for visa stays where a husband and wife visited on a visa, and only the husband returned.

 

[Charlie99909]

Lt. Green,

-Any indication in her autopsy as to what and when her last meal was? Anything that might not be readily available in the Tahoe/Reno area?

-Do you know of any possible palynology testing that could be done on her clothes?

-Due to the remote location of the crime, she would have had to have known her killer. I mean, no one is just going to walk out into the flats with a stranger. Is there anything that stuck out as odd or even supporting of her knowing her killer?

Have there been any surprising breaks or developments in the case in the 32 years that can be made public?

 

[Tomgreen1164]

According the report it appeared to be salad. The investigators theorized she had eaten within 2-4 hours of her death.

Not sure on the testing of the clothing. All of her clothing was American style. Her t shirt was widely sold in California. I will ask about the forensic testing on her clothing, not sure we do that and I am not familiar with what we would expect to get.

We agree that she knew the person, she willing went with him to the spot she was killed.

Not really that we will release. There is evidence that would tie the killer to her, if we could ID her.

 

[Tomgreen1164]

And we had the current forensic odentologist look at her teeth last month. She opines there is nothing to support European dentistry. Lots of gold and high quality work.

 

[velocitygirl]

Kathleen Durst? High profile case now, i think they look similiar.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/d/durst_kathleen.html

 

[Sleuthster]

Kathleen Durst? High profile case now, i think they look similiar.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/d/durst_kathleen.html

Victim was found in July and died less then 24 hours prior. They do look simular but the time is way off.

 

[Charlie99909]

Not sure on the testing of the clothing. All of her clothing was American style. Her t shirt was widely sold in California. I will ask about the forensic testing on her clothing, not sure we do that and I am not familiar with what we would expect to get.

I know similar testing has been used to get pollen samples off of clothing to find out locations and travel patterns. Even used as diversely for the Shroud of Turin to figure out where it originated from.
The pollen gets trapped in the fabric and becomes a trail of bread crumbs so to speak.

Thank you Lt. Green. I look forward to speaking with you soon.

 

[Charlie99909]

Victim was found in July and died less then 24 hours prior. They do look simular but the time is way off.

Way different MO.

 

[Charlie99909]

Lt. Green,

I know this could be a sensitive question, but here goes. Is there any chance of possibly getting a profile picture of her face? A lot of the readily available pictures online appear to be pictures of Polaroids. Some have glare and other things obscuring details. But maybe something clearer of her face and profile that we might be able to use to get an accurate idea of her?

Charlie

 

[kemo]

Has forensic isotope analyst been done? It may not have been available in 1982 but it is now.

 

[CRNFACB]

Regarding the abdominal scar; a 10 cm incision is relatively small for a C Section. In the early 1980's (and prior to that) all kinds of female pelvic surgery was done through an incision similar in location to a C Section incision. Could have been an ovarian cyst, a surgery on a fallopian tube, etc. Nowadays of course, these surgeries are primarily done using a laparoscope. I don't recall whether stretch marks were mentioned. All this to say, she might not have had a child at all, living or otherwise.

 

[CRNFACB]

Now that I re read some of the earlier information I realize that the abd scar was 11 cm, not 10. Even so, my point was that the presence of the old incision could have been from a different surgery than a C Section. Unless I'm missing some other piece of info that points to her having had a baby at some point. FWIW.....

 

[Charlie99909]

Now that I re read some of the earlier information I realize that the abd scar was 11 cm, not 10. Even so, my point was that the presence of the old incision could have been from a different surgery than a C Section. Unless I'm missing some other piece of info that points to her having had a baby at some point. FWIW.....

For a long time I'd always asked if it was considered a c-section scar. Previous investigators that I have spoken to in the Sheriff office and the Coroner office had stated it wasn't. I believe it was Rudy who had stated it was, then once she was put into NamUs it was called a c-section scar. There must have been more physical evidence to support that she had carried a child at some point in her life.

 

[Silverdraco69]

Could someone also pull up the doenetwork composite for comparison?



Do you think it would be worth a shot to request additional postmortem pictures of scars or birthmarks or even an alternate view of her face for aid I'm identification.



As a Reno local I'll say this, Reno pd is not well known for their detective and crime fighting skills. Sparks pd is much more on top of their game.

I live in Reno as well by the Washoe Golf Course. I totally agree [emoji61] RPD sucks. I am extremely interested in this case. I have been researching this case for awhile. I lived in Carson City at that time and remembering seeing this on the news. Extremely sad that she has no name [emoji20] Message me if you want to compare notes.

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[Silverdraco69]

Ran out of time for edits. Would like to add one last thought:

6. If she was Eastern European, there is a good chance she was of the Orthodox religion. At that time, in this area, there was only ONE Eastern Orthodox Church. That would have been St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Church on Lakeside Drive. I know it well and have attended there many times. Do not let the term "Greek" throw you off. The Orthodox religion is the SAME, whether it is "Greek", "Russian" etc. The only difference is the main language that services are delivered in. If she was Orthodox, she might have checked in with the priest at St. Anthony's at that time. I am pretty sure it is the same priest who serves there NOW, Fr. George. Go see him and talk to him. He is a very nice man. I would be happy to help with this. I have met Fr. George and he is a good priest, with a wonderful memory.

I live down the street from that church. I agree that it is not the typical Greek Orthodox Church. Been there a few times myself for many different functions.

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[Charlie99909]

Anniversary bump.

 

[Hoosier952]

Tomgreen1164-

Could you give any information about the footprints leading in?Were they side by side, or one behind the other?Side by side suggests to me that they both agreed to go there together and she felt relatively safe.If she was walking behind him, I feel that she may have not been as comfortable with the situation as one could be. If he was walking behind her, I feel that he was likely urging her to go ahead.

I only mention this out of what I do personally. If my husband and I are hiking through the woods during the daytime, we typically walk side by side if the trail allows. At night, I follow behind him, because I'm scared of the dark and the boogeyman and coyotes and running into spider webs and limbs, and I'd rather he be the first to run into any of those things. I also tend to walk behind someone I don't know well. It lets me keep an eye on what they are doing. I would not want anyone walking behind me in the dark in a secluded area, not even my husband. I could just be super paranoid and this may not fit at all with the opinions of others.

Also, I wonder if the reason she had her shoes of was because of her bruised toe? Maybe the shoe pressing on the nail was getting painful after walking, so she sat down to take off her shoe and get some relief. And since she was resting, she took both shoes off. I know my feet get super sweaty when I'm not wearing socks, and taking off my shoes makes my feet feel like a million bucks.

I'm just a hair shorter (5'5) than this Doe and weigh about 112-115 depending on the day. I wear a size 4. I suspect we're built quite similar. I have a long thin neck, prominent collar bones, small waist, but wide hips and bigger behind. If it weren't for the stretchy material of modern jeans, I'd have to size up to at least a 6, if not an 8. I wore an 8 or 10 in jr. high and high school and I was even thinner then. Vanity sizing wasn't so ridiculous in the late 90's and early 00's.