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

[folieadeuxnola]

There is a hippie type of community that's been around awhile, not too awfully far from Troy. Town called Yellow Springs. It still has a name of being a hippie community, but back in the day, when this young lady passed, it was likely even more-so of a hippie type community.

Did some searching they were an alternative lifestyle community, that did not judge based on race, creed or sexual preference. Several newspaper articles on them, very interesting group based upon their articles

 

[rsd1200]

Yes exactly, not everyone out uses internet. More about preserving mother nature and such. Drove my 78 Camaro out there back in the day and got nasty looks because it was loud and probably didn't fit into their air. Don't get me wrong, it's an awesome place for trips but not my style of everyday life.

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That is what I've understood. I know about YS, but have not been there. Some family who lives not far from there, have said it is, well, "different". I don't mean that in a bad way, it is just, well, like you said. Sounds like a unique place to visit. Some of the folks who were there when she disappeared, may still be there, and would remember her, but thought she made it to Pittsburgh, just fine. Back then, it was still considered fairly safe to hitch, too.

 

[rosesfromangels]

Her feet were clean:

"her barefeet were clean, showing no indication of walking on dirt"

As trivial as it may seem, I think her clean feet are very important.
First, clean feet refute a hippie/follow the Grateful Dead lifestyle. It's hard to keep your hygiene as pristine as hers apparently was if you are living a hippie lifestyle.

Second, the clean feet strongly suggest she was most likely killed indoors, or inside a vehicle and picked up (not dragged) where she was dumped. This suggests a strong Perp, but doesn't rule out more than one Perp. While not a large woman, dead weight of 125-130 pounds would require strength to move.

For me, this is continuing to point squarely to domestic violence.

 

[Satchie]

Her braids continue to bother me, they're so remarkably unstylish for a 27 year old in 1981, they're like something a very young farm girl might have in the 1930's to milk the cows or something. Particularly when you see that new photo of her swirling her long beautiful hair. Her hair was also much darker when she was found, in the new photo it was previously auburn.

Hair is such an extremely important expression of a woman's identity.
It's not a minor thing for most women, and she evidently prized it in the past, to have shown it off in that photo. If she was in a relationship, she'd be even more likely, IMO, to wear her hair more loosely.

The style is not copying indigenous women's braids, a la Buffy St. Marie. Those start below the ear.

I wonder if she worked somewhere that required her to wear her hair up? I was thinking, perhaps she'd pull the braids back to make a kind of bun.

I agree the 'remarkable cleanliness' would rule out a hippy, deadhead lifestyle.

 

[Roselvr]

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

"However, the scene showed no signs of sexual assault, rape or other sexual activity, indicating that she had not been a sex worker."

According to wiki it came from doe net at some point but it's not on doe net now. We all know she was dumped where she was found so the scene wouldn't show signs of sexual assault. Whoever did this could have raped or had sex with her then pulled her pants back on.

Anyone can add content to wiki. I have never seen it mentioned whether she's had sex; as far as I know LE have never confirmed it either. We had asked Cali's LE about it but I'm not sure if we've asked BG's LE. They're not putting much info out, have always stayed tight lipped. If it wasn't for that one article with the lacerated liver being found we wouldn't know that either

Her feet were clean:

"her barefeet were clean, showing no indication of walking on dirt"

Do you have a link for that? Doesn't look like it came from her wiki. Sorry to be a pain but from what I recall they didn't tell us if her feet were clean or dirty just that she didn't have shoes

 

[rsd1200]

Her braids continue to bother me, they're so remarkably unstylish for a 27 year old in 1981, they're like something a very young farm girl might have in the 1930's to milk the cows or something. Particularly when you see that new photo of her swirling her long beautiful hair. Her hair was also much darker when she was found, in the new photo it was previously auburn.

Hair is such an extremely important expression of a woman's identity.
It's not a minor thing for most women, and she evidently prized it in the past, to have shown it off in that photo. If she was in a relationship, she'd be even more likely, IMO, to wear her hair more loosely.

The style is not copying indigenous women's braids, a la Buffy St. Marie. Those start below the ear.

I wonder if she worked somewhere that required her to wear her hair up? I was thinking, perhaps she'd pull the braids back to make a kind of bun.

I agree the 'remarkable cleanliness' would rule out a hippy, deadhead lifestyle.

If she were hitching, the braiding was most likely easier to maintain. She seems like a free spirit to me. Maybe she hitched on with a biker, and braided her hair to suit riding on back of a bike. The lower braids could have been to accommodate a helmet, or, maybe she rode helmet-free (unsure of helmet laws in Ohio back then). The double braids would not be uncommon, I'd think, if on a bike, especially back then, since hair gloves and wraps, were not as widely available as they are now.

 

[jessr927]

I agree, the braids were likely practical for riding on a motorcycle. They were low enough to fit under a helmet and, having long hair and having ridden on my stepdad's motorcycle, I know from experience you have to tie your hair down or back somehow in order to keep it from whipping across your face. My mom uses hair wraps, like a hair tie with a long string that winds around your ponytail. I simply tied mine back in a low ponytail. Maybe Marcia preferred to wear braids.

 

[Roselvr]

Her braids continue to bother me, they're so remarkably unstylish for a 27 year old in 1981, they're like something a very young farm girl might have in the 1930's to milk the cows or something. Particularly when you see that new photo of her swirling her long beautiful hair. Her hair was also much darker when she was found, in the new photo it was previously auburn.

Hair is such an extremely important expression of a woman's identity.
It's not a minor thing for most women, and she evidently prized it in the past, to have shown it off in that photo. If she was in a relationship, she'd be even more likely, IMO, to wear her hair more loosely.

The style is not copying indigenous women's braids, a la Buffy St. Marie. Those start below the ear.

I wonder if she worked somewhere that required her to wear her hair up? I was thinking, perhaps she'd pull the braids back to make a kind of bun.

I agree the 'remarkable cleanliness' would rule out a hippy, deadhead lifestyle.

Marcia was 21, not 27. I used to wear braids when riding my motor cycle or the times I was a passenger.

If she were hitching, the braiding was most likely easier to maintain. She seems like a free spirit to me. Maybe she hitched on with a biker, and braided her hair to suit riding on back of a bike. The lower braids could have been to accommodate a helmet, or, maybe she rode helmet-free (unsure of helmet laws in Ohio back then). The double braids would not be uncommon, I'd think, if on a bike, especially back then, since hair gloves and wraps, were not as widely available as they are now.

I'm not pony tail type person unless I'm on a motorcycle or gardening. I wish we knew if that's how she wore her hair or when she would tie it back. She looked so pretty with her hair out.

According to wiki it came from doe net at some point but it's not on doe net now. We all know she was dumped where she was found so the scene wouldn't show signs of sexual assault. Whoever did this could have raped or had sex with her then pulled her pants back on.

Anyone can add content to wiki. I have never seen it mentioned whether she's had sex; as far as I know LE have never confirmed it either. We had asked Cali's LE about it but I'm not sure if we've asked BG's LE. They're not putting much info out, have always stayed tight lipped. If it wasn't for that one article with the lacerated liver being found we wouldn't know that either



Do you have a link for that? Doesn't look like it came from her wiki. Sorry to be a pain but from what I recall they didn't tell us if her feet were clean or dirty just that she didn't have shoes

I was going to edit her wiki to take the info out but sent Gourami Watcher a message to discuss her wiki profile before I do anything because he's the one that put it there when he originally made her page.

 

[TieDyeJedi]

Stylish or not, braids are just a very practical thing to do with hair for just about anything, and if she was a bit of a hippie at heart that style would be right at home on her regardless of era. It's not really 'in' right now but I frequently have my hair in double braids because it's past the middle of my back and very thick; keeping it up in a ponytail or bun is uncomfortable. I honestly think as far as 'practical' hairstyling, braids in general never go out of fashion, whether or not you see them in *actual* fashion, if that makes sense.

 

[cybervampira]

Maybe these braids were simply to get wavy hair? It‘s a common hairstyle trick, back in the 80s and nowadays.

 

[jessr927]

Maybe these braids were simply to get wavy hair? It‘s a common hairstyle trick, back in the 80s and nowadays.

I just came to say the same thing. At night, after washing my hair, I will often pull it back in a braid. Not only does it give waves to the hair, the braid is more comfortable to sleep in than a ponytail, because when I sleep with my hair loose, it gets in my face or gets knots in it.

 

[thesensitivechild]

Her feet were clean:

"her barefeet were clean, showing no indication of walking on dirt"

Maybe they were being borrowed. When he killed her he had already done that, might as well take his shoes with him too as she had no use for them and they were his?....Awful to think. Just thinking of alternative.


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[hayaletcatcher]

The Dna Doe Project page have just posted how it all worked their end on Facebook. Hope it's OK to post here.

Q: What did the DNA Doe Project do that led to the identification of “Buckskin Girl” as Marcia King?

A: When “Buckskin Girl’s” blood was sent to our lab, there was little hope that the sample would yield viable DNA because it had been stored unrefrigerated for 37 years in the anti-coagulant heparin. We were surprised to find that the compromised sample yielded enough DNA to allow for whole genome sequencing (WGS). WGS involves reading a genome many times to arrive at a file containing all 3 billiion base pairs (bps), or, in the case of degraded samples, whatever fraction of the genome has survived the degradation process.

Once sequencing was complete, our bioinformatics team created a new file that normally contains only the 600,000 or so loci (called SNPs or snips) used by most direct-to-consumer (DTC) testing companies. In “Buckskin Girl’s” case, we discovered that only about half of her genome remained. Even so, when we received the SNP file on the morning of March 28, we were able to upload the file to GEDMatch and it proceeded to batch. This is the process through which a new file is integrated with the already existing GEDMatch database. The process can take 12 hours or more to complete.

Once batching has completed, GEDMatch provides a list of DNA-cousin matches with an estimate of how closely related the tester is to each match based on how much DNA they share. Our DNA Doe Project volunteers watched this list populate in real time. Initially 2nd and 3rd cousins appeared, which we thought was promising.

After a few hours a new match popped up – a woman who appeared to be a half-cousin or a first cousin once removed to “Buckskin Girl.” This person either shared a single grandparent with our Jane Doe or was a first cousin to one of her parents. We felt this match was related closely enough to “Buckskin Girl” to lead to her identity. Around midnight our DDP volunteers put the coffee on.

Our first challenge was to figure out the match’s real name and whether she had posted her family tree online. We realized that having to create it from scratch would take time. Fortunately, we were able to track down her Ancestry identity and discovered she had posted her tree there. We started looking to see if the match could be our Doe’s half cousin by checking whether the match had a grandparent who had been married twice. Not having success, we began looking at the match’s first cousins to see whether any of them had children (and therefore would be the match’s first cousin once removed) who could possibly be identified as “Buckskin Girl.”

Because most public family trees that are available online do not provide names of living people, we normally have to fill in living family members by looking at census reports and other documents such as obituaries that might list descendants. With further searching this can help us to rule out cousins who are too old or too young to have the required relationship, or cousins who died prior to 1981 or who were known to be living after that time. In the case of large families this could take weeks.

With “Buckskin Girl” we got lucky. One of the cousins in the tree listed Marcia King as his daughter. Her birth date was about right. And Marcia’s date of death was given as “missing – presumed dead.”

We knew at that instant DNA Doe Project had identified our Jane Doe.

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[AggieLou]

Her braids continue to bother me, they're so remarkably unstylish for a 27 year old in 1981, they're like something a very young farm girl might have in the 1930's to milk the cows or something. Particularly when you see that new photo of her swirling her long beautiful hair. Her hair was also much darker when she was found, in the new photo it was previously auburn.

Hair is such an extremely important expression of a woman's identity.
It's not a minor thing for most women, and she evidently prized it in the past, to have shown it off in that photo. If she was in a relationship, she'd be even more likely, IMO, to wear her hair more loosely.

The style is not copying indigenous women's braids, a la Buffy St. Marie. Those start below the ear.

I wonder if she worked somewhere that required her to wear her hair up? I was thinking, perhaps she'd pull the braids back to make a kind of bun.

I agree the 'remarkable cleanliness' would rule out a hippy, deadhead lifestyle.

Way back here on BGs websleuth page it was stated her hair had been rebraided by the people doing the autopsy. So in that autopsy photo --- her hair was not originally braided like that. It has also been stated many times she was not sexually assaulted. As well as many times stated here that her feet were clean.
She is dressed like We used to dress in the 1970s. A d braids were common among girls and women who embraced that alternative counterculture. She was young to be following that in the 1970s but many young people turning late teens to early 20s in the 1980s embraced it also.

 

[Rajam]

Her braids do suggest she was riding, I ride and I always braid my hair. If I didn't my hair would be a knotted bug mess. Also sometimes I'll braid hair before bed just because I have long hair.

I do want to say this, I went out to my parents today and I brought up Marcia. I asked my parents now that pictures of her have been released while she was living, if she looked familiar. My mom said "You know she actually does to me, but she looks like anyone else around the area back then". My dad agreed, they saw pictures again on another news coverage where it was up longer. He mentioned to my mom she looked familiar but couldn't place it. But again she definitely looked like she would have blended here.

I think her pictures will get more people talking and thinking about her. I hope they can produce more pictures to help keep her going.



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[Jondalar45]

I think Marcia was inside a house when she was killed because she had clean feet. She was probably killed in Pittsburgh or Louisville and driven away to get the body away from scene of the crime. Keep in mind that Pittsburgh, PA is only about 4 hours away from Troy, Oh. Louisville is really close and only about an 2.5 hours. Not really that far at all. Also she wasn’t raped. I think she knew this person and I bet he was her boyfriend or wanted to be her boyfriend. Also I read somewhere that it looked like she had been laid in the ditch. It wasn’t like she was just thrown out and rolled there. I’m thinking she was killed by someone in Louisville who grew up in Troy and knew the back roads there because of where she was found. Louisville is just so close to Troy.

 

[Rajam]

I think Marcia was inside a house when she was killed because she had clean feet. She was probably killed in Pittsburgh or Louisville and driven away to get the body away from scene of the crime. Keep in mind that Pittsburgh, PA is only about 3 hours away from Troy, Oh. Louisville is really close and only about an 1 hour. Not really that far at all. Also she wasn’t raped. I think she knew this person and I bet he was her boyfriend or wanted to be her boyfriend. Also I read somewhere that it looked like she had been laid in the ditch. It wasn’t like she was just thrown out and rolled there. I’m thinking she was killed by someone in Louisville who grew up in Troy and knew the back roads there because of where she was found. Louisville is just so close to Troy.

Also have to keep in mind the Bridenbaugh house had been sitting empty, it was still listed as for sale in the papers. Someone knew that noone would be traveling that stretch of Greenlee Rd since that was the only house there.

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[Jondalar45]

It seems to me that most young ladies keep in contact with their mothers pretty constantly when they are away. Did she not call her mother and let her know where she was? Also, what type of personality did she have and what type of people did she hang around? Certainly her family members can give us some information about her so we can try to help solve the case.

 

[Jondalar45]

Also have to keep in mind the Bridenbaugh house had been sitting empty, it was still listed as for sale in the papers. Someone knew that noone would be traveling that stretch of Greenlee Rd since that was the only house there.

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That’s an excellent point.

 

[yogasleuther]

You can donate through Paypal or you can send a check to the address on here:

https://dnadoeproject.org/

Also if you want to donate to a specific case, you can click on the case and then the Donate button. But if you want to donate to a specific case, you can only donate through Paypal.

Ok I always do MS and breast cancer, this is a very worthy cause, hoping all cases can be as fast as this. Thanks!!