NY NY - NY, UnsFem 18-25, UP15099, dismembered skeleton in boiler, no skull, Jul'89

[Romulus]

NamUs UP 15099

https://www.identifyus.org/en/cases/15099


Unidentified Unsure Female

Found July 24, 1989 in New York County, NY
Body Condition: Not recognizable - partial skeletal parts only
Probable year of death: to


Vital Statistics
Estimated age: 18-25
Approximate Height: cannot estimate
Approximate Weight: cannot estimate
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Scars and marks: nothing

Clothing & Accessories

Clothing: No clothing found with body

Jewerly: nothing
Footwear: nothing
Accessories: nothing

Identifiers
Fingerprints: Fingerprint information is not available
Dentals: Dental information / charting is available and entered
DNA: Sample submitted - tests not complete

Case History: Skeletal remains were found by demolition crew inside a boiler that was being removed from its foundation. Remains are highly fragmentary and show signs of dismemberment. Anthropological analysis suggests the remains are likely to be female. Ancestry could not be determined.

 

[Moosebegoose]

Could it be the body of Robert Durst's first wife, Kathy?

His second victim was dismembered, so it's possible.

I know her age range doesn't match (she's 29) but this just stood out to me.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/560dfny.html

 

[WyomingSkyAngel]

Could be. If I recall correctly Durst's friend Susan ran around with mob ****s & might have know a few tricks about body disposal that other people usually don't.......

Unfortunately NY state is populous so it could be another poor soul who's been gone a long time.

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

*Bump*

There seems to be nothing to be found about this poor woman. The only thing I was able to find came from madamx in Sharaun Cole's WS thread, which places Jane Doe's discovery at 143 W 142nd st in Harlem off of Lenox Ave (now named Malcolm X). Did you manage to find out more about this UID, @madamx ?

 

[victoriarobinson642]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
Both seem like possibilities, but there's so little information.

 

[madamx]

*Bump*

There seems to be nothing to be found about this poor woman. The only thing I was able to find came from madamx in Sharaun Cole's WS thread, which places Jane Doe's discovery at 143 W 142nd st in Harlem off of Lenox Ave (now named Malcolm X). Did you manage to find out more about this UID, @madamx ?

Sadly Mrs Badcrumble I actually have found nothing more. I have looked and unless Passed it by or missed it somehow x

 

[madamx]

I just came across this today .... again.. it’s so haunting and such little details. I wish they gave an approximate date on how long that boiler that was being removed had been there. There usually is a chart in the boiler room by the boiler that is signed each time the boiler was serviced or changed.

Then we would have some idea. I have looked for any information and have found nothing. Reminds me of Midtown Jane doe..
it’s just weird.. like didn’t anyone at any point smell burning flesh in the building?

 

[madamx]

Here is a map and a photo of the building

 

[Bit of hope]

I wonder about a lot in this case...how and when can you put a body in a boiler?

According to this info A Look Inside Your Building's Heating System - The Heat is On
"Even in a small building, producing enough heat to keep everybody comfortable takes quite a bit of fuel. That fuel can be oil, gas, or electric. The vast majority of New York City’s buildings are steam-heated, meaning that oil or gas is heated in a boiler and, the resultant steam distributed throughout the building".

Is it possible to put a body in a working boiler? My gut feeling says no, steam gives pressure so in my mind you can't open it just like that...You probably have to do this taking of the pressure first....Is the boiler also working in the summer?....sounds stupid, but I really don't have a clue. I saw pictures of huge boilers used in NYC buildings, they look big enough to put a body in...but...who has access to a boiler room anyway? I can't see that every random person living in the building go's in and out a boiler room just like that.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Poor soul. Does it say if they were able to get a DNA profile anywhere? Maybe I missed that. This case could possibly still be solved.

 

[Bit of hope]

Poor soul. Does it say if they were able to get a DNA profile anywhere? Maybe I missed that. This case could possibly still be solved.

It seems that when this thread was made (2017) identifiers in Namus where still up...DNA submitted, tests not yet complete...I don't know were they went from there. Also there seems to be dental info....that could be off help, but noting specific about that. It's a chance maybe, if DNA didn't work out.

 

[madamx]

I wonder about a lot in this case...how and when can you put a body in a boiler?

According to this info A Look Inside Your Building's Heating System - The Heat is On
"Even in a small building, producing enough heat to keep everybody comfortable takes quite a bit of fuel. That fuel can be oil, gas, or electric. The vast majority of New York City’s buildings are steam-heated, meaning that oil or gas is heated in a boiler and, the resultant steam distributed throughout the building".

Is it possible to put a body in a working boiler? My gut feeling says no, steam gives pressure so in my mind you can't open it just like that...You probably have to do this taking of the pressure first....Is the boiler also working in the summer?....sounds stupid, but I really don't have a clue. I saw pictures of huge boilers used in NYC buildings, they look big enough to put a body in...but...who has access to a boiler room anyway? I can't see that every random person living in the building go's in and out a boiler room just like that.

From my knowledge of old nyc cast iron boilers (no I am not an expert, I just grew up around them my whole life (my dad was a porter/super of 2 buildings) and as a kid we all used to go explore the neighborhood buildings basements until you got kicked out.. it was normal.

The boilers are usually found dark concrete stone or cinderblock dirty room in the basement. They are like some creepy dark oven thing that makes menacing sounds by itself ha!

You can open a little door of the boiler in the front and it’s like a little fire pit. When it turns on the fire pit goes on. You hear go in like poof almost like the sound of a fire ball. Some have it opened on the bottom where you can see the flames.

As a child watching it and hearing was super creepy. You could feel the heat coming from it. It was like the doors of hell.. no joke. And there was always a red rusted bucket of water next to the boiler in case the fire got out. We were never allowed to touch it.

Those were the boilers which ran with oil. Prior to that they had Furnaces which you used coal. Some people switched later on to natural gas but you still had the boiler in use.

And to your question does the boiler go on in the summer. Yes, if a building is run by oil the boiler will turn on for the hot water usage. It will be on less in the summer than the winter. If the building has gas then you have a hot water heater next to the boiler.

So is it possible to chop a body in pieces and stick it in the boiler to burn.. absolutely.. can you put an entire body without cutting it up.. from the boilers I have seen I don’t think it could be done.

I think because I grew up exploring in city basements Iam so fascinated by Midtown Jane Doe
Tribeca lady under concrete in the basement
the guy in Brooklyn under concrete in the basement
and this lady in the boiler.. I always wonder how many more are in the basements.

 

[madamx]

*Bump*

There seems to be nothing to be found about this poor woman. The only thing I was able to find came from madamx in Sharaun Cole's WS thread, which places Jane Doe's discovery at 143 W 142nd st in Harlem off of Lenox Ave (now named Malcolm X). Did you manage to find out more about this UID, @madamx ?

I still keep thinking this Jane doe is Sharaun.. I have not seen any rule outs.

 

[Bit of hope]

From my knowledge of old nyc cast iron boilers (no I am not an expert, I just grew up around them my whole life (my dad was a porter/super of 2 buildings) and as a kid we all used to go explore the neighborhood buildings basements until you got kicked out.. it was normal.

The boilers are usually found dark concrete stone or cinderblock dirty room in the basement. They are like some creepy dark oven thing that makes menacing sounds by itself ha!

You can open a little door of the boiler in the front and it’s like a little fire pit. When it turns on the fire pit goes on. You hear go in like poof almost like the sound of a fire ball. Some have it opened on the bottom where you can see the flames.

As a child watching it and hearing was super creepy. You could feel the heat coming from it. It was like the doors of hell.. no joke. And there was always a red rusted bucket of water next to the boiler in case the fire got out. We were never allowed to touch it.

Those were the boilers which ran with oil. Prior to that they had Furnaces which you used coal. Some people switched later on to natural gas but you still had the boiler in use.

And to your question does the boiler go on in the summer. Yes, if a building is run by oil the boiler will turn on for the hot water usage. It will be on less in the summer than the winter. If the building has gas then you have a hot water heater next to the boiler.

So is it possible to chop a body in pieces and stick it in the boiler to burn.. absolutely.. can you put an entire body without cutting it up.. from the boilers I have seen I don’t think it could be done.

I think because I grew up exploring in city basements Iam so fascinated by Midtown Jane Doe
Tribeca lady under concrete in the basement
the guy in Brooklyn under concrete in the basement
and this lady in the boiler.. I always wonder how many more are in the basements.

Thanks for the story/explanation @madamx . Very interesting! As you said, it's a petty there isn't any indication how long the skeleton was in the boiler.

 

[madamx]

Thanks for the story/explanation @madamx . Very interesting! As you said, it's a petty there isn't any indication how long the skeleton was in the boiler.

No prob Bitofhope.. the explanation was kind of fun ha.. going down memory lane. I should see if I find photos of what the boiler might of looked like so you get more of an idea.

I know if there was any timeframe it could help.. all we know it’s Prior to 1989... sigh

 

[Bit of hope]

No prob Bitofhope.. the explanation was kind of fun ha.. going down memory lane. I should see if I find photos of what the boiler might of looked like so you get more of an idea.

I know if there was any timeframe it could help.. all we know it’s Prior to 1989... sigh

I did a search yesterday and there a two women supposed to be missing in NYC who would fit in the age range, but the likelihood of being a match is very much depending on how long ago the body was put in the boiler.

Judy ODonnell, missing since 1980, 19 years at the time (although it's doubtful she ever made it to NYC from Baltimore MD, she lived in the Greenwich Village area) The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
and
Audrey Nerenberg, missing since 1977, 18 at the time (last seen leaving her family's home in Brooklyn, NY)
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Looking at the distance between missing (last seen outside of her family's residence on Edgecomb Avenue in the New York City borough of Manhattan) and found, I think I can go along with Sharaun Cole, but I have some doubts about her age; 12 in 1983, would have been 19 in 1989. Sharaun Taree Cole – The Charley Project Not impossible all together.

Then there is Arlene Abbas, but she was already 36 years old when she went missing and wouldn't fit in the age range. About PMI She went missing in January 1989 (Arlene left the halfway house in Brooklyn on January 6, 1989 and was never seen again) If she was put in the boiler in wintertime, she would have been in there for half a year. Reading how a boiler (oven) works this is a possible IMO.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Updated NamUs link:

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Female
Uncertain
Date Body Found: July 24, 1989
Location Found: New York, New York
Estimated Age Range: 18-25 Years


Case Information

Case Numbers
NCMEC Number: --
ME/C Case Number: M89-06409

Demographics
Sex: Female
Race / Ethnicity: Uncertain
Possible First Name: --
Possible Middle Name: --
Possible Last Name: --
Nickname/Alias: --

Estimated Age Group: Adult - Pre 30
Estimated Age Range (Years): 18-25
Estimated Year of Death: --
Estimated PMI: --

Height: Cannot Estimate
Weight: Cannot Estimate

Circumstances
Type: Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found: July 24, 1989
NamUs Case Created: May 12, 2016
ME/C QA Reviewed: --

Location Found Map
Location: New York, New York
County: New York County
GPS Coordinates (Not Mapped): 40.819196, -73.939256
Found On Tribal Land: --

Circumstances of Recovery:
Skeletal remains were found by demolition crew inside a boiler that was being removed from its foundation. Remains are highly fragmentary and show signs of dismemberment. Anthropological analysis suggests the remains are likely to be female. Ancestry could not be determined.

Details of Recovery
Inventory of Remains: Head not recovered
Condition of Remains: Not recognizable - Partial skeletal parts only

Physical Description
Hair Color: --
Head Hair Description: --
Body Hair Description: --
Facial Hair Description: --
Left Eye Color: --
Right Eye Color: --
Eye Description: --

Distinctive Physical Features /
Clothing and Accessories
No Known Information


------------------------------------------------------

Dentals: Dental information / charting is available and entered

Yet Jane Doe was found without a skull.. So, was a mandible found, or is this just another NamUs error?

 

[madamx]

Omg I was looking for this Harlem boiler lady the other day OMg I could not find her. Thanks Mrs Badcrumble…for writing in the thread and bumping it!

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

You're welcome. I've been meaning to bump her thread with something for a long time now, but it's practically impossible to find anything about this poor Doe anywhere! Is there something we can do about this?

 

[Bit of hope]

@Mrs. Badcrumble It's frustrating. Thinking about how we could get more attention for this Jane Doe....some FB posts on groups about UID's? Unidentfied Wiki? The thing is there is so little to know and therefor very hard to find potential matches. Kind of a "spoiler" for most people, if you know what I mean.

@madamx. Do you know something about the history of the building? When it was built f.i.?

To answer this question I found this. 143 W 142nd Street, Manhattan, New York City - Urban History

Looks like they built already on this address in 1885. Doesn't mean this particular building was already up from then.

Trying to narrow the PMI down. If the building was already there in 1885, not much of help.