PA PA - Bedford, 'Mr. Bones' WhtMale 30-35, 585UMPA, 30-06 rifle, gold dental wk, camping equip, Oct'58

[mysteriew]

Richard, please don't tell me you lost so much weight that you were nothing but bones after you came out of the woods, LOL.

 

[shadowangel]

When you find your bike, I know where you can find a key..
Now I'm sure of what I saw on the grocery bag (see the appropriate thread)

 

[Beyond Belief]

Good work on this case guys! I tried to read it all, but theres a lot of information here.

Key, poetry books, leather jacket, jeans, points to Greenwich Village Maybe a college drop out going nowhere. If there ever was a motorcyle probably sold for money. The gun, bullets sound like it was bought to hunt for food while out communing with nature. Probably a suicide. Possible herione addick.
I would think a kid from the country areas surrounding Chicago who went to New York and never returned. Possible parents had some type of business in Chicago, bringing him into the city thus securing the contacts, unless he went to college in the area the contacts were purchased.

Did we know what the area was the contacts were purchased? College alumni usually knows whos missing.

 

[shadowangel]

Did we know what the area was the contacts were purchased?

From Richard's original post--"The contact lenses were traced to a Chicago manufacturer and fitted by an Illinois physician, but there are no records of the buyer".
You're right, there is a lot of info here.

 

[Beyond Belief]

From Richard's original post--"The contact lenses were traced to a Chicago manufacturer and fitted by an Illinois physician, but there are no records of the buyer".
You're right, there is a lot of info here.

Any chance of finding out what city they were purchased? That would be place to start looking. I checked ancestry.com for people looking for lost relatives. Theres one there lost in Illinois, but didn't give age or anything.
Is there a website for Illinois with missing reports from way back in 1958?

 

[shadowangel]

The contacts were one of the first things we keyed on. I think we were all surprised that nothing more could be discovered about where the contacts were sold, as LE had the info on the prescribing doctor. I believe Richard discusses this in one of his posts.

I know several of us did some pretty extensive archive research, and came up with some interesting possibilities, but as of this point nothing concrete.

 

[Beyond Belief]

If those contacts were fitted/sold in Illinois, i think the photograph of him should be sent to someone on the alumni staff at all the colleges that were operating from 1945 to 1958 to see if they can match him to a student. There should be copies of the yearbooks in the libraries.

 

[shadowangel]

I found a college in NYC that was only blocks from a key shop bearing the "195 Ave A" address which Richard had found, and attempted to contact someone there, with no luck whatsoever.

 

[Beyond Belief]

I found a college in NYC that was only blocks from a key shop bearing the "195 Ave A" address which Richard had found, and attempted to contact someone there, with no luck whatsoever.

Classmates.com might help with an alumni contact for that school. I'm not a member anymore or I would try.

 

[shadowangel]

That's true, I hadn't thought of that. I'm still a member there.

 

[Richard]

Any chance of finding out what city they were purchased? That would be place to start looking. I checked ancestry.com for people looking for lost relatives. Theres one there lost in Illinois, but didn't give age or anything.
Is there a website for Illinois with missing reports from way back in 1958?

I spoke with the current Case Officer about the contact lenses. They were made in Chicago, and also prescribed for the patient by a doctor there. Unfortunately, by the time cold case investigators tried to find the doctor, they learned that he had died, but they did locate and speak with the doctor's widow. She told them that before her husband had died, he sold his business, and transferred to the new owners all records. Subsequent searching by detectives, however, indicated that none of the doctor's patient records survive today. So Chicago, ILL does play a part in the mystery, but it is not known how long the man was associated with that city.

The brass key was most likely made by the Active Key and Lock company of that address in New York city. The authors of the poetry books also had New York college connections.

According to the Doenetwork and a few other sites, the rifle was sold in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1939. This, however, could not have been correct information, as the rifle was described to me by the case officer as a Remington Model 721A, which was not made until 1948. It was last manufactured in 1962. So, until that can be cleared up, the information is suspect.

I think the most likely theory is that this man was a college student, who perhaps had studied in New York City. He was most likely traveling west in the spring of 1958 by motorcycle or possibly auto. Police origionally believed that he had been murdered, but some now think that he committed suicide. I have not seen the physical evidence which would support either conclusion.

 

[Beyond Belief]

Richard,

Is it possible to tell if this gentlemen was a drug user/suffering from a veneral disease or some other deadly illness? I didn't know if that could be determined from teeth or bones. This gentlemen was traveling light clothes wise which says his possession were left elsewhere. Having the key in his possession may mean, he intented to return to his apartment which is probably what the key was for. In a large city like NY they would just get rid of his possessions when he didn't return. I would think the dup key was made close to where he lived. The apartment management probably had it made or a previous tenant. Having the contacts says alot. I purchased my first pair in 1966, they were 225.00. I still have them in their original case and will look at it when I find them. Mine were purchased in NJ. This was definitely not a poor boy, but his age is a little old to be a college student. If he was a college student and completed some school he would have a graduate photo in their year book. I wonder if school in NY was a law school. I want to pinpoint that Active address in NY and see what part of town its in.

 

[Beyond Belief]

Ok, google shows two actual locations for that address in NY. One in Long Island, and the other in Manhattan. Manhattan was the area referred to as the east village back in the this mans days. Tompkins Park just a few blocks from the Ave A is the site of many demonstrations.



By the 1950s, East Tenth Street was a full-fledged artists' neighborhood, complete with art galleries, a popular coffee house, and a growing community of writers and artists.
http://www.ephemerapress.com/walk_east.htmlhttp://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.ad...XdV9uCYRXk09ROQRZIgGvSVyQHpWEPsXP/d+x+ijCNrg=

 

[Beyond Belief]

If this man was headed to the Chicago area his route makes no sense, he could have traveled through the northern part of pa, but chose to head toward the southern border. The springtime death makes you think spring or Easter break from school. I wonder if he was a writer or an aspiring writer. I wonder if theres a bank account still sitting in a Manhattan bank that belonged to him. They have records still available on things like that. Keeping that key makes me think he was established in Manhattan. He was just too prepared for this trip. It was planned, I wonder if he was familiar with the area.

Another avenue the investigators should be taking now that so many years have past is the Social Security Administration. Surely a social security number that has no activity on it since 1958 but also shows no death reports should be easy to trace. At least if they found one with the last employment reported on it in the NY area it might lead someplace. This man had to work, if he was being supported by his family, someone would have been looking for him.

 

[shadowangel]

He was most likely travelling the PA Turnpike, the major thoroughfare through the area at the time. He was found a short distance from a large rest area off the TP. In fact, I would theorize this is where he left his vehicle. I tried checking records to see if any bikes or cars were located abandoned there, but it appears no reocrds still exist.

 

[Beyond Belief]

He had an awful lot of bulllets with him, didn't he? He either bought that stuff locally or on route, I cn't see him carrying that gun and hitchhiking.

 

[shadowangel]

A newspaper report stated he had three boxes of ammo with him. Its hard to think of anyone travelling with that much ammo and a rifle....I once wondered if he had the gear and ammo stored somewhere locally, but that is an impossible theory to ever check.

 

[Beyond Belief]

What does someone do with a gun like that? Is that something you hunt rabbit, squirrel? Would you get that for say a kid about 13 for shooting? Was it his to begin with? Did he go home and get it? Or was he a bad guy and maybe thought about killing someone with it?

Thats alot of ammo.

 

[shadowangel]

It was modelled after the mainstay weapon of our military in WW1. After another rifle was adopted by the military around WW2, this rifle was used as a sniper rifle. It was used as a deer rifle-it is very powerful. It would not leave much if used to shoot smaller game.

It would be good for shooting at human targets from a high observation point, or an area overlooking a highway many, many yards away.

 

[Beyond Belief]

Thats a scary thought. If he was in the East Side of Manhattan involved in the protests, etc. going on, he could have political motivation. Bedford is just remote country area isn't it. Was anything going on in Pa during that time period that would provoke an assasisination attempt by guy like that. I wonder if the president or some other political person was scheduled to be in that area.