NY NY - Ellery, Rte 17, WhtFem 30-37, UP15489 193UFNY, GSW, poss from Canada or Europe, note, clothes, Dec'83

[Bit of hope]

I agree it is far fetched.

But it can help explain some elements that don't make sense otherwise :
- listed as white for the US, but listed as coloured in SA
- in 1983, a SA political activist was assassinated in Paris because she knew too much. The shotgun in the mouth is in line with this type of motive
- 1983 was a hot year for the fight against apartheid : http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/apartheid-1980s-grade-12
- sexual assault & rape were mean of torture in those days. So, if the shot is indeed politically motivated, the guy could have assaulted her
- the kind of clothing found & the IUD
- no ID because most SA fleeing the country left their dompass at the hands of relatives
- many disappeared not found per the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Committee)
- Black & coloured missing reports were not accepted by the police in SA, so, no wonder the US police didn't know then
- SA anti apartheid political parties had ties with East Germany, which can explain the handwriting. East Germany was quite active against apartheid in those days
- her family might not know she had fled to North America, so was unable to claim her

I understand it is far fetched, but since our explored leads brought no results, we have to find other angles.

Checking with Telkom (the SA phone company) to find out what was phone numbers structure in those days.


I don't say that it's a 100% absolute correct theory, but it's a strong possibility to be explored. If it's not the right lead, be it, it's the wrong one and door is closed.
But at least, we get an answer with facts instead of only speculating.

If the straightforward path doesn't work, let take the problem the other way round is my motto for problem solving.

See what I mean ?

At this point I don't exclude an assassination for something she knew or witnessed, maybe even was a witness in court. Could totally be possible, but how does this explain the sexual assault. These murders happen swift without a lot of noise and mess.

 

[Bit of hope]

Another unusual theory.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Volpe

Paul "The Fox" Volpe (1927 – November 13, 1983), was an Italian-Canadian Toronto mob boss.

Volpe was born in Toronto in 1927 to Italian immigrants. In the late 1950s, Volpe begun operations in stock frauds, where he operated in Toronto and Hamilton, until he was run out by Hamilton mob figure Johnny Papalia.[SUP][1][/SUP] He started making strong connections with the Buffalo crime family and other syndicates, and started running a casino in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1963 until returning to Toronto in 1965.

In the early 1980s the Buffalo crime family also operated in Toronto and Hamilton, and hired former Satan's Choice MC hitman Cecil Kirby to kill Volpe and his driver Pietro Scarcella in an arrangement with Remo Commisso of the Commisso family of Toronto to gain more control of the market. However, the plot was foiled when Kirby turned Royal Canadian Mounted Police informant.[SUP][3][/SUP] However, on November 13, 1983, Volpe was murdered and found dead the next day in the trunk of his wife's BMW at Pearson International Airport; Scarcella is said to be the last one to see Volpe alive before his unsolved murder.[SUP][3]

The Buffalo crime family, also known as the Magaddino crime family and The Arm,[SUP][1][/SUP] is an Italian American Mafia crime family based in Buffalo, New York, United States. The family operated throughout Western New York, Ontario, Canada and Erie, Pennsylvania.

So maybe she is Paul's wife or somebody related to this.....Italian Camisole....
[/SUP]

 

[Giucy]

At this point I don't exclude an assassination for something she knew or witnessed, maybe even was a witness in court. Could totally be possible, but how does this explain the sexual assault.

If I stay on your theory, the sexual assault is a way to humiliate her even after death.

If I stay on the political motive, a mean of torture.

Your unusual theory might work, but Toronto is way too far from Erie. Montreal would be more plausible.

 

[Giucy]

Trying to check the phone numbering structure in South Africa in 1983 with Telkom, the SA telecom provider.
I was given a toll free number not working from overseas.

If someone has a clue how to get that info about phone numbers, please tell me. Thank you !

Speaking to someone is much easier said than done ! US & Canadian companies are a walk in the park compared to South African ones.

 

[Eddie99]

I'm not sure I'm following this correctly... but Toronto, is much closer to Erie, than
Montreal.

I dont think this South Africa / political theory is plausible either.

I'm betting if this is ever solved, it will be over business or money (legal or illegal) or some type of perceived betrayal.

 

[DaisyChains]

I think this woman simply was visiting the US from most likely Germany with someone who murdered her. I want to know WHAT PART of Germany and what specific company manufactured her German IUD. Would there be any way to track it? Also, would customs at JFK have a log of German passengers leaving back to Europe around the time this Jane Doe was found? Maybe a man returned back without his wife even though she had checked in with customs coming here? How did he obtain a gun while here?

At any rate she had one child at least at some point according to the medical examination. Since her child (who might have been a teen at the time she disappeared) isn’t looking for her (I assume) then I think a paternal element is deceptive. This was a personal shooting/attack. This person knew our Jane Doe and absolutely wanted to destroy her. is someone telling her child that she decided to stay in the US and not return to Germany as the GDR began to take hold and east Germany was dismantling its govt/social structure/JOBS? Or did that child eventually suffer a same fate as their mother?

 

[Bit of hope]

I think this woman simply was visiting the US from most likely Germany with someone who murdered her. I want to know WHAT PART of Germany and what specific company manufactured her German IUD. Would there be any way to track it? Also, would customs at JFK have a log of German passengers leaving back to Europe around the time this Jane Doe was found? Maybe a man returned back without his wife even though she had checked in with customs coming here? How did he obtain a gun while here?

At any rate she had one child at least at some point according to the medical examination. Since her child (who might have been a teen at the time she disappeared) isn’t looking for her (I assume) then I think a paternal element is deceptive. This was a personal shooting/attack. This person knew our Jane Doe and absolutely wanted to destroy her. is someone telling her child that she decided to stay in the US and not return to Germany as the GDR began to take hold and east Germany was dismantling its govt/social structure/JOBS? Or did that child eventually suffer a same fate as their mother?

Thanks....I'm pondering on the MO also. The IUD was not manufactured in Germany, but either in Finland, The Netherlands or Belgium, used in Canada but not exported to the USA. There is no info on that...serial numbers....stuff like that. Shooting someone in the face is either an anger "spontaneous" crime or a signature, sadistic act (still searching for killings alike) overkill. Shooting a few times, you want to make sure somebody is really dead. Also depending on the order of shots afflicted. Or killing in execution style..pffff I really would like to know what Lori Holder's theory's are on this. Still makes me think of a scenario of a sexual assault by a policeman, an army man or a Vietnam veteran gone wrong...Ellery having a big mouth...humiliating the offender. And I don't exclude a spouse. Still I don't see UID living a high risk life. More a decent married woman escaping an unhappy marriage and a controlling husband. Or just a woman meeting faith...wrong place, wrong time.....but what was she doing on the road, where was she heading etc.....Just thoughts....

 

[DaisyChains]

Thanks....I'm pondering on the MO also. The IUD was not manufactured in Germany, but either in Finland, The Netherlands or Belgium, used in Canada but not exported to the USA. There is no info on that...serial numbers....stuff like that. Shooting someone in the face is either an anger "spontaneous" crime or a signature, sadistic act (still searching for killings alike) overkill. Shooting a few times, you want to make sure somebody is really dead. Also depending on the order of shots afflicted. Or killing in execution style..pffff I really would like to know what Lori Holder's theory's are on this. Still makes me think of a scenario of a sexual assault by a policeman, an army man or a Vietnam veteran gone wrong...Ellery having a big mouth...humiliating the offender. And I don't exclude a spouse. Still I don't see UID living a high risk life. More a decent married woman escaping an unhappy marriage and a controlling husband. Or just a woman meeting faith...wrong place, wrong time.....but what was she doing on the road, where was she heading etc.....Just thoughts....

totally agreed on her not being a high risk victim before being murdered. She doesn’t seem like she was a sex worker or homeless. Someone is missing this woman.

thanks for more info on the IUD. Hm. I don’t think she was in Canada ever. I think she went from Europe to the US. JMO.

im thinking her killer knew her. I think they killed her in another country bc they knew it would bc more difficult to ID her and tie him back to the crime. IMO he was an abusive man who quite possibly sexually abused her as well as physically. And I think he wanted a way to get rid of her. I wonder if the overkill simply was bc the perp wasn’t very familiar with firearms. Had to make sure the deed was done.

bc of everything going on with the GDR at the time, was it common for people from East Germany to leave and try to start a new life? I think this is the bogus story being told to her child (if they weren’t also victimized).

bitofhope, being our EU sleuth here, do countries manufacture IUD’s used by medical professionals in other countries? Let’s say Germany sources them from Belgium? Just so is American folks can understand how that works there! I know it works that way with cars over there - but not so sure on IUDs!

 

[carbuff]

I won't get into the reasons, but a lot of the better quality IUDs are not available in the US and it's fairly common for US women, particularly from the northeast, to go to Canada to get them. Hamilton, Toronto, Montreal are all within a fairly easy drive of most of New York and New England, as well as Pennsylvania and Michigan. So it wouldn't surprise me if she's from the region.

Of course she might be a recent immigrant or a tourist. She might also have been a long-term resident who had been an immigrant at one time, or perhaps she was visiting family who had come here.

Also, somebody asked upthread about records of people leaving the US. I don't know if it's always been this way, but generally there isn't any record kept of people leaving the country, only entering.

 

[Giucy]

However, the modus operandi could also be political.

My theory is that she fled South Africa apartheid with her child. In those days, South Africa did import British medical devices, so we should know if IUD was available in UK in those days.
However, a person tied with SA police knew she lived there because she fled the apartheid. He wanted to be sure she was killed, and the sexual assault was typical of police in those days. See TRC hearings
Then, in SA, police denied knowing our JD fate to family when exilees went back in 1989-1990's & JD didn't come back, as it was common in enforced disappearances. They knew, but didn't want to say they knew.
It's only in 1989-1990's that the family could be suspicious of something being amiss, since exilees came back in that time. When an exilee didn't get back, it was very difficult for the family to know their love one's fate. Even nowadays, they didn't manage to account all the victims of such disappearances.
People missing in exile was actually very common in the 1980's.

The GDR lead seems plausible too. GDR police did commit enforced disappearance too.


I can't exactly explain why, but to me, something screams enforced disappearance in this case.

In such case, I wouldn't be surprised her daughter wouldn't had claimed her mother.

 

[Giucy]

An article about enforced disappearances in South Africa. http://www.saflii.org/za/journals/SPECJU/2015/5.html
For whom think TLDR, here is a Wikipedia page :
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forced_disappearance

Contrary to more classic MP cases, in enforced disappearances, the State won't even put the MP's case in a national file, let alone an international file !! Because the State authorities will do anything to prevent searching the person.

I rarely think at such hypothesis of enforced disappearance.
At first sight, there is no reason why someone of European or Canadian origin would be made disappear by a State. So, I understand why this hypothesis can be seen as impossible.

However, the modus operandi strongly suggestive of it + the IUD not available in the US + no one claiming her + she didn't match in any international database = too many elements together smelling the enforced disappearance hypothesis.
No element taken alone is enough for smelling enforced disappearance. OTOH, this accumulation of such elements can't be explained away by more usual hypothesis.

 

[Giucy]

Right back here.

I called Khulumani https://www.khulumani.net/khulumani/about-us.html?start=4.
This charity is specialized in the cases of human rights violations during the apartheid era.
The bulk of their cases are enforced disappearances and missing in exile.

The lady with whom I talked to was very helpful.

She told me that based on the elements about our JD I could tell her, it's a possible case of enforced disappearance of the apartheid era.

The fact that she was found in the US didn't detract her opinion about this possibility.

She also told me that in the cases she worked on, the gunshot in the mouth is in line with these type of cases, so is the sexual assault.

She wanted me to send her what I know about the case.

 

[Giucy]

I sent the case to her.

She told me that :
1) in 1983, IUD of European origin were quite common in SA actually
2) South African police had a strong network around the world. Being killed in a small city & dumped nearby a highway overseas is consistant with such a crime
3) the gunshot in her mouth is absolutely consistant : death squads abroad were brutal in such degree
4) Poisoning was the most common weapon. However, the fact that no toxic was found in her system does NOT rule out the apartheid killing
5) Sexual assault was a common form of torture for women
6) victims dead of apartheid crimes, in SA or overseas, are estimated at ca 15,000. However, only a few hundreds victims are currently accounted for. For the lady with whom I talked, our JD could absolutely be one of the unaccounted victims died in exile

 

[Bit of hope]

I sent the case to her.

She told me that :
1) in 1983, IUD of European origin were quite common in SA actually
2) South African police had a strong network around the world. Being killed in a small city & dumped nearby a highway overseas is consistant with such a crime
3) the gunshot in her mouth is absolutely consistant : death squads abroad were brutal in such degree
4) Poisoning was the most common weapon. However, the fact that no toxic was found in her system does NOT rule out the apartheid killing
5) Sexual assault was a common form of torture for women
6) victims dead of apartheid crimes, in SA or overseas, are estimated at ca 15,000. However, only a few hundreds victims are currently accounted for. For the lady with whom I talked, our JD could absolutely be one of the unaccounted victims died in exile

Maybe you already read it....very interesting in this context. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3185365/

 

[Giucy]

I did read a similar article at SAFLII : http://www.saflii.org/za/journals/SPECJU/2015/5.html

More current

 

[Giucy]

I spoke again with Khulumani. This time, the person was also a victim of apartheid-related kidnapping and torture by the SA military force while he was out of SA.

He informed me that the whole MO is absolutely typical of apartheid assassination by the military force and the police.

1) gunshot in the mouth : absolutely typical MO. Military and police were adept at this MO. Forcing foreign objects to suffocate their victim was also one of their typical way of torture.
2) undetected poison is also absolutely typical. Detecting toxic substances on a victim of apartheid crime is the exception, not the rule.
3) sexual assault and taking away her shoes : again, it is absolutely typical of torture by military force and the police.


What compounds the matter is that the victim is unidentified, and she is out of South Africa.

 

[carbuff]

I finally made time to write down the numbers in an American style. I just printed out the note and copied the lines in my hand next to it. This is Western US handwriting from going to school in the 60's and 70's. If anybody else wants to add theirs, that would be interesting.

Surprising thing: there's another line of writing down at the extreme bottom right of the page. I'm not quite sure what it says.

 

[Eddie99]

It's important to note that even the hotel phone number, on the note pad is written in the 7 digit format. Which suggests to me, these are not phone numbers.

Also, I have scratched notes on pads from various businesses I've never frequented. She or her killer, or whoever penned this note, may have never been to this hotel, or anywhere near it.

To me the paper looks very flat, and "crisp" not folded or wrinkled. Which is odd. Where was it on her person, that it didnt get wrinkled up, during the murder/ disposal?

I tend to think this was linked to some other crime. The lack of effort to conceal the body, and not destroying teeth & fingerprints suggest they either had no connection to worry about if I'D was made, or they knew her well enough to know the prints wouldn't be on file. I'm not sure how much the average person knew about dental chart identification back then..... but it had to be a LOT harder than with current technology.

 

[Giucy]

It's important to note that even the hotel phone number, on the note pad is written in the 7 digit format. Which suggests to me, these are not phone numbers.

Actually, the numbers might be phone numbers. Either of a country with 5 digits numbers, either an exchanged number in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, Telkom, the SA phone company have no clues how many digits had SA phone numbers in 1983. This is what they told me in a Twitter DM. Weird ! Very weird !
The SABC library told me "7", but pamphlets in those days give numbers with 5-digits, some 7.... Not a satisfying answer for me.

Or, if we follow the apartheid crime theory, the phone numbers are abbreviated for the sake of safety, for herself & other people.

Also, I have scratched notes on pads from various businesses I've never frequented. She or her killer, or whoever penned this note, may have never been to this hotel, or anywhere near it.

The photo is such of poor quality that I can't say whetever I agree with you or not.

To me the paper looks very flat, and "crisp" not folded or wrinkled. Which is odd. Where was it on her person, that it didnt get wrinkled up, during the murder/ disposal?

Maybe a secret pocket ?

I tend to think this was linked to some other crime. The lack of effort to conceal the body, and not destroying teeth & fingerprints suggest they either had no connection to worry about if I'D was made, or they knew her well enough to know the prints wouldn't be on file. I'm not sure how much the average person knew about dental chart identification back then..... but it had to be a LOT harder than with current technology.

The findings of not destroying teeth & fingerprints is actually not incredible in apartheid murders overseas, especially in northern hemisphere countries.
The regime informers knew full well that fingerprints & dental records were impossible to be matched with international database, as the exilee's data were not available. Because the police would not had done anything in South Africa, and US police could not know of such cases easily..

The elements I could get points to an enforced disappearance case.
A disappeared can not be treated as more typical missing persons cases. I feel it needs much more specialized sleuthers than I am.

It looked like a typical UID of a typical MP, but the elements point towards a different kind of case.

Digging the rabbit hole

 

[Bit of hope]

I finally made time to write down the numbers in an American style. I just printed out the note and copied the lines in my hand next to it. This is Western US handwriting from going to school in the 60's and 70's. If anybody else wants to add theirs, that would be interesting.

Surprising thing: there's another line of writing down at the extreme bottom right of the page. I'm not quite sure what it says.

Thank you very much for this. I can see the differences now.