OR OR - Oak Grove, Willamette River, WhtFem 30-59, 622UFOR, dismembered, in feed sacks, clothes, Apr'46

[anthrobones]

Unidentified White Female

• 
  [*]The victim was discovered on April 13, 1946 in the Wlliamette River, near Oak Grove, Oregon
  [*]Cause of Death: Blunt force injury to the head.
  [*]Estimated Date of Death: 2-4 weeks prior

Vital Statistics

• 
  [*]Estimated age: 30-50 years old. (Possibly older)
  [*]Approximate Height and Weight: 5'2"-5'4"; 115-160 lbs.
  [*]Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown and gray hair, in curlers and pins.
  [*]Clothing: A pair of brown slacks, a dark blue sweater, long underclothing, black dress material and a topcoat.
  [*]Dentals: Available. Upper teeth were false, but eight, lower teeth had fillings.

Case History

In the early morning hours of April 13, 1946, the fully clothed torso of an unidentified female was found floating in the Williamette River, 2.000 feet above the head of the Willamette falls locks and about six miles above the Wisdom Light boat moorage, by three fishermen. On April 14, 1946, the arms and legs were located in the river by five boatmen, approximately six miles from where the torso was found. Some of the men remember seeing the sack in the river at least 30 days earlier.
On October 13, 1946, the head was also found in the Williamette River in the Oak Grove area.
Her head, arms and legs were sawn off, neatly done by a person with a knowledge of anatomy. The body was then wrapped in feed bags, tied with a telephone, and weighted down with window, sash weights. A suspect has never been identified.



http://doenetwork.org/cases/622ufor.html

​

 

[scriptgirl]

Insane and sounds Dahlia-ish

 

[Kimster]

This is one river in the US that flows NORTH. FYI for anyone sleuthing :wink:

 

[scriptgirl]

I am betting that the this was not the first killing this perp ever did. Sounds like a crime of passion to me.

 

[Han-Tastic]

How awful that she has gone unidentified all this time! My gut says she was killed by someone close to her, like her husband or boyfriend.

 

[mtrooper]

Ok, maybe I am having a hard time with this because of a generational gap... But why would she have curlers in her hair and a dress and top coat on? I have a hard time believing that in the 40's a woman would be caught dead outside of her home with rollers in her hair (no pun intended). And dentures in her mouth makes me think this took place in the morning when she was getting ready to set her hair and head out the door. Am I off on this?

 

[masnitram]

Ok, maybe I am having a hard time with this because of a generational gap... But why would she have curlers in her hair and a dress and top coat on? I have a hard time believing that in the 40's a woman would be caught dead outside of her home with rollers in her hair (no pun intended). And dentures in her mouth makes me think this took place in the morning when she was getting ready to set her hair and head out the door. Am I off on this?

I don't know mtrooper, my Grandmother from my Fathers side who would have been 26 in 1946(when this tragedy happened) has a few photos of herself from that era with curlers in her hair outside talking to friends etc...like it was no big deal. I remember being a "horrified" teenager playfully jabbing her about "how awesome" that look was...LOL. At least in Wisconsin anyways...Grandma (R.I.P.) said it was rather common. I have also seen many photos of my great-Grandmother from my moms side in photos with curlers in etc...

 

[Kimster]

http://www.clackamas.us/sheriff/images/20080523.jpg

http://www.clackamas.us/sheriff/coldcases.jsp

 

[rats]

She actually has a NamUs page, despite it being just past the 70th anniversary of her death!

The case file doesn't have those pictures, but it does have dentals available! Which I find amazing, after all these years.

I wonder who she was...

 

[STANDREID]

I would think, going by the clothing sizes, they would be able to get the weight a little closer than a 45# span.

 

[GreenHairedGirlie]

I wonder if the "black dress material" was maybe part of something like a housecoat that she was wearing over her sweater and slacks to protect them while she was doing chores or her hair/makeup. Makes sense with the rollers.

 

[KaylaraOwl]

I think the book excerpt is about this case.
https://books.google.com/books?id=l...#v=onepage&q=wife missing oregon 1946&f=false

 

[dogperson]

Women in the 40s normally wore dresses most of the time, at least according to all my old family photos. They had house dresses for home and nicer dresses for going out in public. So the UID may not have been dressing to go out necessarily. My mom, who grew up in the 40s, said the women in her family never wore pants unless they were working in the fields. It wasn't common to go out in public wearing curlers then either, but I'd be willing to bet the UID was killed at her own home by a husband or boyfriend.

I question whether the dismemberment was done by someone with a knowledge of human anatomy. They once said that about Jack the Ripper, assuming he must have been a doctor or surgeon, but anyone who has ever butchered farm animals or wild game would probably have some idea of the best spots to cut a body apart. Lots of people in the 40s still raised their own animals for meat and/or hunted, doing their own butchering.

 

[luxISlight]

This maybe an odd question, but were her arms cut off before she was dressed? It looks like a white long sleeve shirt/jacket but the sleeves appear to be intact.

 

[Jake479]

Marion Morton - findthemissing.org/cases/5405

Olga Mauger - findthemissing.org/cases/27783

Bertha Smith - findthemissing.org/cases/11819

Thelma Cobb - findthemissing.org/cases/27078

 

[ctaylor]

A new article on this case.

WARNING - there are some graphic images of the remains on the slide show within the article

http://koin.com/2017/02/28/unsolved-the-case-of-the-1946-willamette-river-torso/

Unsolved: The Case of the 1946 Willamette River torso
A torso, thighs, arms and a head were found along the river

LACKAMAS COUNTY, Ore. (KOIN) — The Willamette River has been holding on to a grim secret for decades after a woman’s body parts were found in its waters more than 70 years ago.

On April 12, 1946 near Oak Grove, a burlap wrapped package was found floating in the Willamette River. No one was prepared for the horror found inside.

The package contained a dismembered woman’s torso along with the victim’s clothes, fire and sash weights. That was only the beginning of the nightmare.

...

 

[ctaylor]

Another new article on this case, and local crime authors believe it could be a woman called Anna Schrader who went missing at the same time...

http://koin.com/2017/02/28/local-crime-authors-have-theory-on-torso-identity/

Local authors JD Chandler and Joshua Fisher focus on Portland’s history of crime and corruption. Chandler believes he knows whose torso was found that April day — a woman named Anna Schrader.

“I’ve been interested in Anna Schrader for some time,” Chandler said. “I realized she disappeared right before the body parts started showing up in the river. And it really raised questions for me.”

It also raised questions for fellow crime writer Theresa Griffin-Kennedy.

“She was very competitive and she was a lively and engaged woman who wanted to go places,” Griffin-Kennedy said. “She had a real strong sense of her own identity but she was also insecure because she only had a sixth grade education, so she felt very inferior to a lot of people in Portland.”

...

 

[JasonFutchLakeCityFL]

Another new article on this case, and local crime authors believe it could be a woman called Anna Schrader who went missing at the same time...

http://koin.com/2017/02/28/local-crime-authors-have-theory-on-torso-identity/

So why hasn't DNA been done on the torso to see if it's Anna Schrader? I wonder if Nici Vance at the Medical Examiners office would share the same thought.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

I see one of the burlap bags in which the remains were wrapped had contained 100lb of rabbit pellets. You don't buy that sort of quantity for a kid's pet, so I wonder if there were any commercial rabbit farms in the area. Did the cops ask the pellet manufacturer who they supplied?

That seems to me to be probably the best lead they had at the time.

 

[Tssiemer]

Well it was the 40's. I'm going to assume not a lot was done. There's no DNA, there's no samples, etc.


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