Identified! OH - Troy, Miami Co., 'Buckskin Girl' WhtFem 133UFOH, 15-25, Apr'81 - Marcia King

[MelmothTheLost]

Maybe he bashed her head in and she went to lie down, then he freaks out thinking she's dead and strangles her just to be sure she's dead?

I looked back at the DN entry quoted at the beginning of this thread, and noted it says:

"Homicide by strangulation, she also had suffered blows to the head and neck"

So no mention then of the liver injury. This makes me wonder if it had no bearing on her death and may have been inflicted post-mortem. From cursory reading on the subject it seems that liver lacerations are typically blunt trauma injuries so it's possible it was inflicted as a dismissive kick in the back when her body was dumped.

I wonder if this took place in a hotel room, since she wasn't wearing shoes and wasn't local.

In a hotel room or, as has been previously suggested, she took her shoes off while in a vehicle. The other possibility is that they were kept by her killer as some sort of trophy, but that seems less likely in view of the lack of sexual assault.

One argument against a hotel room as the place of death is that the killer would have run some risk in removing her body. No doubt there was much less CCTV in 1980 but there was always the danger that someone would see something out of the ordinary and question it.

Maybe she was a truck driver or had a truck driver boyfriend and traveled with him, so she spent long periods of time in the truck without shoes. I still don't think she was hitchhiking or on a random truck, and I do believe it was domestic violence.

If she was a truck driver herself that would place her towards the upper limit of the estimated age range. Two questions come to mind:

1. How common were female truck drivers in 1980; and
2. Was there a minimum age for truck driving at that time?

The truck driver boyfriend seems more likely, but wouldn't he/they have slept in the truck rather than a hotel/motel?

I agree about the domestic violence thing. It seems unlikely that a random killer truck driver would not have raped her.

Given her travels between the SW and the NE, including urban areas, have we discussed the possibility that she and her killer were running drugs across country?

 

[Springrain]

The liver laceration is fairly recent; I believe from the summer of 2016. IIRC, that was only cited in one article, the same article that mentioned the possible bar sighting. I may be wrong about that.

That's very true about the hotel room.

I think she was on the upper end age range anyway but that's just MOO. I could see her rejecting a truck driver, but I think he would've raped her anyway. Also, she was really clean (not that hitchhikers can't stay clean).

 

[Peppered_peach]

I totally agree with this being a domestic. I’m wondering if maybe she was in a plane. There seems to be several airstrips and airports relatively close. Not sure if any of these were in service when she was found. If anyone can find that info that’s further than I got. I couldn’t find any dates showing when anything was established.

I couldn’t find if she was found on north or south Greenlee Road (they are five minutes apart via google maps) but I’m assuming north from the description given as its closer to route 55.

Also Wright- Patterson Air Force base is about 35 minutes from where she was found. Maybe she moved around a lot because her significant other and possibly murderer was in the military.

 

[MOTORUNNER]

I'm p sure someone mentioned this before, but I'm wondering if she was put in those clothes. She was clean and had great dental hygiene, her brows were groomed, I'm imaging her being more of an upper-class looking girl that was in-fashion of the time. (not that cowgirls and bikers can't be in fashion and clean) but I think I'm imaging her as being more of a rough outdoors-woman, what if she wasn't at all? I wonder if she was trying to hide her own identity

 

[MelmothTheLost]

I'm p sure someone mentioned this before, but I'm wondering if she was put in those clothes.

It's not impossible, but it would have to be before rigor mortis set in. Even then, I imagine trying to dress a completely inert body with no muscle tone at all would be fairly tricky.

She was clean and had great dental hygiene, her brows were groomed, I'm imaging her being more of an upper-class looking girl that was in-fashion of the time. (not that cowgirls and bikers can't be in fashion and clean) but I think I'm imaging her as being more of a rough outdoors-woman, what if she wasn't at all? I wonder if she was trying to hide her own identity

That certainly makes it less likely, to my mind, that she was a complete drifter.

 

[MOTORUNNER]

It's not impossible, but it would have to be before rigor mortis set in. Even then, I imagine trying to dress a completely inert body with no muscle tone at all would be fairly tricky.



That certainly makes it less likely, to my mind, that she was a complete drifter.

Right, but what if it were while she were still alive? Like she were being held against her will and someone were saying "put these clothes on!" I know that probably makes 0 sense, the clothes just seem so out of place and weird to me

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Right, but what if it were while she were still alive? Like she were being held against her will and someone were saying "put these clothes on!" I know that probably makes 0 sense, the clothes just seem so out of place and weird to me

I can't comment on whether her clothes were "out of place and weird". They seem to have fitted her so it's a reasonable assumption that they were hers.

What do you think is "off" about them?

 

[MOTORUNNER]

I can't comment on whether her clothes were "out of place and weird". They seem to have fitted her so it's a reasonable assumption that they were hers.

What do you think is "off" about them?

It's probably just because I'm young, they just don't seem like a style of clothing a younger woman would be wearing in 1981? Or maybe those are totally stylish clothes for that time, again, I'm a young 'un so maybe it's just because I don't recognize the fashion for the time

 

[carbuff]

It's probably just because I'm young, they just don't seem like a style of clothing a younger woman would be wearing in 1981? Or maybe those are totally stylish clothes for that time, again, I'm a young 'un so maybe it's just because I don't recognize the fashion for the time

Several of us who were young women at the time report having had similar clothing. It might be a trifle out of date--more popular in the late 70's than in 1981--but otherwise not unusual for the west/midwest.

 

[Ubee0173]

Hi, this is my first post but I've been a lurker for years so I hope I have some idea of what to do... Anyway, i have had this case on my mind and I had a few moments to look around on namus and ran across this, but I'm not entirely sure how to submit her entry as a possible match.

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/show/28777

There's very little info in Brenda Black's file, but what is there seems like a match and she hasn't been excluded. Dna has been submitted so her family is or was around, but they don't have a single photo or even the exact date she went missing, which seems IMO deliberately cagey and could fit the domestic murder scenario. Said she had been to CA after highschool, so she traveled, but was reported missing in OH. height weight etc all seem to match. It feels logical despite the total lack of info on Brenda.

 

[Alleykins]

Hi, this is my first post but I've been a lurker for years so I hope I have some idea of what to do... Anyway, i have had this case on my mind and I had a few moments to look around on namus and ran across this, but I'm not entirely sure how to submit her entry as a possible match.

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/show/28777

There's very little info in Brenda Black's file, but what is there seems like a match and she hasn't been excluded. Dna has been submitted so her family is or was around, but they don't have a single photo or even the exact date she went missing, which seems IMO deliberately cagey and could fit the domestic murder scenario. Said she had been to CA after highschool, so she traveled, but was reported missing in OH. height weight etc all seem to match. It feels logical despite the total lack of info on Brenda.

They both have DNA in CODIS, so I'm thinking she's been ruled out by default. It's too bad there's no pictures of her.

 

[Truman]

Hi, this is my first post but I've been a lurker for years so I hope I have some idea of what to do... Anyway, i have had this case on my mind and I had a few moments to look around on namus and ran across this, but I'm not entirely sure how to submit her entry as a possible match.

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/show/28777

There's very little info in Brenda Black's file, but what is there seems like a match and she hasn't been excluded. Dna has been submitted so her family is or was around, but they don't have a single photo or even the exact date she went missing, which seems IMO deliberately cagey and could fit the domestic murder scenario. Said she had been to CA after highschool, so she traveled, but was reported missing in OH. height weight etc all seem to match. It feels logical despite the total lack of info on Brenda.

So glad you posted! This is a really interesting MP...I've never seen a missing person whose eye and hair color are listed as "presumed to be brown"...whether Brenda is Buckskin Girl or not, her story begs many questions. Brenda isn't even listed on Charley Project. [emoji26]

Thanks so much for bringing her to our attention.

 

[Alleykins]

So glad you posted! This is a really interesting MP...I've never seen a missing person whose eye and hair color are listed as "presumed to be brown"...whether Brenda is Buckskin Girl or not, her story begs many questions. Brenda isn't even listed on Charley Project. [emoji26]

Thanks so much for bringing her to our attention.

One of the requirements for an MP to be listed in Charley is there needs to be a photograph.

 

[Finders]

Very interesting that there is no picture of Brenda, but it says after high school she went to California. I presume that means she did attend high school and therefore anyone with a classmates account can look at the Vandalia, Ohio yearbooks and should be able to find a picture. JMO

 

[Alleykins]

Very interesting that there is no picture of Brenda, but it says after high school she went to California. I presume that means she did attend high school and therefore anyone with a classmates account can look at the Vandalia, Ohio yearbooks and should be able to find a picture. JMO

Oh, I agree. Someone should have a picture of Brenda Sue somewhere. There's a few MP's that don't have pictures, and I find it difficult to believe none exist. If Noel Davis's family can provide a picture of him from 1910, when cameras were scarce, there's no excuse for there to be no picture of a missing person who disappeared during the time of Brownies, 126 instamatics, Polaroids, 35mm and cell phone cameras.

 

[MOTORUNNER]

Very interesting that there is no picture of Brenda, but it says after high school she went to California. I presume that means she did attend high school and therefore anyone with a classmates account can look at the Vandalia, Ohio yearbooks and should be able to find a picture. JMO

Unfortunately I'm not seeing anything for Vandalia on classmates... maybe someone else will have better luck, though. There seems to be a lot of Brenda Blacks in Ohio

 

[carbuff]

Oh, I agree. Someone should have a picture of Brenda Sue somewhere. There's a few MP's that don't have pictures, and I find it difficult to believe none exist. If Noel Davis's family can provide a picture of him from 1910, when cameras were scarce, there's no excuse for there to be no picture of a missing person who disappeared during the time of Brownies, 126 instamatics, Polaroids, 35mm and cell phone cameras.

It's entirely possible that her family had stacks of photos and scrapbooks, but when they went to look for a good one for the missing page, they found them all faded, stuck together, and/or rotted. Ask me how I know...

 

[Alleykins]

It's entirely possible that her family had stacks of photos and scrapbooks, but when they went to look for a good one for the missing page, they found them all faded, stuck together, and/or rotted. Ask me how I know...

Oh, yeah. Been there, done that. Found a bunch in the basement, and I was like, how the heck did these get here? They were one big stack of stuck paper.

We had a house fire, too, that pretty much wiped out all our old family photos when I was a teen, but my mum managed to get most of them back by asking relatives for copies.

 

[AggieLou]

I'm not familiar with Brenda's case. What years are you checking for high school and graduation. Also is it possible she went to a local private high school in Dayton area? Ones I know of are Catholic. There is a Dayton Christian H. S. Also in addition to a couple of Catholic ones.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

there's no excuse for there to be no picture of a missing person who disappeared during the time of Brownies, 126 instamatics, Polaroids, 35mm and cell phone cameras.

No cellphone cameras in 1980. No cell phones.

Some people just don't like being photographed. Parents can usually get photos of children when they are small (though they'd not be much use for the present purpose) but some people refuse to be photographed as they get older and have some say in the matter.