PA PA - Uniontown, WhtFem 30-45, UP16509, in big rig accident, cigs, keychain, clothes, jewelry, May'86

[Magnum P.E.]

Based on the scanty information known, it really does not sound like this woman was inside the cab at the time of the accident, does it?

Hiya Always,

1.) Her body being found totally underneath the trailer. It says her body was found when they were cleaning up from the accident and they moved the trailer. That does not support there having been any evidence of a second person in the cab. Such as a purse, etc. None of the articles mentioned there being any of her possessions in the cab of the truck.

The article is ambiguous. Some of us think she may have been among the coils in the trailer, not under it. It is a problem that needs to be cleared up, as under vs. in the trailer leads to two vastly different possibilities of her origin.

2.) If she was a "working girl" one would think she would not have been dressed in a "manly" style, which is how one of the clothing descriptions describes her attire.

Having no first hand knowledge of "working girls" I would not know. But from mug shots I have seen, I doubt that they are all Julia Roberts from "Pretty Woman".

3.) The items found on her person do not support her being a working girl. No purse? Just a set of house keys and a Marlboro box with $332 in it. Which would be equal to $600 or so in today's money. That's a lot of cash to be just carrying around.

Yep, it is weird that she had nothing else but that.

If she was in fact an extremely unlucky pedestrian, that leads to the question of why would a woman be walking alongside a major, truck-frequented road at 4:30 AM carrying a rather large amount of money with her?

Rt. 119 is a two lane rural road with some truck traffic. You are right it is a curious point and no explanation quite fits. But NO ONE locally has recognized her. It is the kind of place where if you walked into a restaurant everyone would stare at you because you weren't from there. She was just not from the area.

The wikipedia article about I-68 clearly states that the thru highway was NOT completed in 1986. Work on the final portion of the highway did not even begin until the next year.
So, from Baltimore, the best road west would indeed have been the Pennsylvania Turnpike. To the New Stanton exit. Then onto I-70, which was in existence. Then he would have had to take Rte 119 south towards Morgantown to be be where he was.

You are probably correct. However, the western part of I-68 was built on top of old route 48 (I think that is what it was called). Drove it many times. You COULD drive a truck mostly on 68 and the rest on 48 and end up in Morgantown. 48 was two lane and three lane. If there was construction on 68/48 it might make sense to take I-70 from Hancock MD north to Breezewood (where there are even more truck stops, restaurants, etc. than New Stanton).

FWIW: New Stanton, where the PA Turnpike and I-70 meet has lots of truck stops. Also, Morgantown WVA is a college town, well known as a "party town" for young people.

True about Morgantown but I don't know if that is significant. Her appearance does not say WVU to me.


I just can't wrap my head around a female going far from home with no purse, no hair brush, no anything.

Well, if she had a purse with three forms of photo ID and her phone number I guess we never would have heard of this case. There is some weird circumstance or another that leads every case to be on this board.

LE has not returned my call. Doubt he will, looks like we are on our own here. I will try to find out if she was in the trailer or under it. That part is crucial.

 

[Jerri Blank]

Articles in post #63, page 3 by Marie.

Article 1 of 5 states that an inquest will be held the last week of June (no date so 1986?). The purpose of the inquest was to review what attempts had been made to date to identify this woman.

Does anyone know if that is public information? I'm wondering if her cause and or manner of death would have been listed or discussed.

i would be interested in a transcript of that inquest as well! it'd be nice to know what they tried back then so we dont waste our time trying it now.

 

[Lostindetroit]

Based on the scanty information known, it really does not sound like this woman was inside the cab at the time of the accident, does it?

1.) Her body being found totally underneath the trailer. It says her body was found when they were cleaning up from the accident and they moved the trailer. That does not support there having been any evidence of a second person in the cab. Such as a purse, etc. None of the articles mentioned there being any of her possessions in the cab of the truck.

I just can't wrap my head around a female going far from home with no purse, no hair brush, no anything.

HEY GUYS!
Been following thought id jump in with a few thoughts.

Im with you also always. If she was just a pedestrian, what was she doing on a major freeway at 4:30am with all that cash. I have only been through Penn. once but from what I remember I-68 had a lot of steep hill through and next to it, for someone to walk that would be brutal. It almost sounds like a runaway, meaning she got into it with the man maybe or family and emptied her account and took off to start new or blow off some steam. I also agree she was definitely not dressed like a regular "working girl" also that is not their M.O to be walking on the freeway, if she was. Unless maybe she was picked up at a truck stop, I know there is a few of those in that area I believe. She was probably trying to hitch a ride if she was a pedestrian but knowing if she was in the cab or not does seem like the missing link here.

Just a couple observations, thanks guys.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

Not a freeway and not major. Accident took place on US 119, a windy hilly two lane, a short distance north of the West Virginia/Pennsylvania border. No part of I-68 is in Pennsylvania.

 

[Lostindetroit]

ETA: I lived near that area at the time. In thinking back to those days, I do not believe that superhighway across Northern Maryland (Is it I-68?) existed in those days. Maybe a few parts of it, but not all of it.

Someone may want to try to find a map for that time. Could explain why someone with a big rig coming from Baltimore would be up in Pennsylvania.

Ah, my bad. I thought I read it took place on I-68. Now I see they were working a route for Jane Doe. When I went through Penn. I went on I-76 not I-68 which I believe is large and very hilly, I'm sorry my mix-up. Well if it was US 119 not a major than maybe it would have been a good road to hitchhike on. Still 4:30am who's out then but truckers?

Im probably wrong anyway and she was a passenger. Maybe I should just shut up.

 

[CCJD]

LE has not returned my call. Doubt he will, looks like we are on our own here. I will try to find out if she was in the trailer or under it. That part is crucial.

I found another article in newspaperarchive.com from the Pittsburgh Press that said: "It was not until cleanup operations that the woman's body was found in a creek under a coil of steel."

 

[Woodland]

Do you have a link to that article you mention CCJD? It would be interesting to read as the pics from the scene do not show any cargo debris. Tks.

 

[CCJD]

Do you have a link to that article you mention CCJD? It would be interesting to read as the pics from the scene do not show any cargo debris. Tks.

Here it is in google archives:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...=v5LNi9MhWDJSn2x2eFHQQA&bvm=bv.46471029,d.dmQ

 

[Magnum P.E.]

I dropped in to the county coroner's office today to ask if she was found under the trailer or in it among the coils. They were friendly but were not working there back in 86 when it happened so they did not know. They said everything had been turned over to the PA State Police. I tried to call on the trooper in charge of the case but he was not in. He seems to have a large number of cold cases in a number of counties.

There is no creek there and from the accident photos it is apparent that the cargo did not spill out, so the Pittsburgh Press must have got a few details
wrong in translation. She could have been in the drainage swale as we theorized upthread. Some might erroneously describe a swale as a creek. Or as someone theorized she was riding between the cab and trailer when the accident happened and the "coils" meant coils of air hoses. It would explain how she got on board.

Worrying excessively about that detail will delay doing anything useful.

I think I will get a package together - cover letter and what is publicly available - and will circulate it to newspapers and police in Hancock, Breezewood, and Morgantown.

 

[Jerri Blank]

interesting that article says the woman may have been from western PA. i wonder why they thought that. maybe it was tied to the mystery keychain she had?

 

[AlwaysShocked]

I've been thinking about the keychain. In the sense that this woman had strikingly few possessions with her. The no purse seems to be strange, especially to the female posters.

That leads me to thinking that the few things she DID have with her that night were of importance to her. Meaning that set of keys was important to her. Why would house keys be important? To get back into a house she had left at some time prior to the accident.

So, if she wanted to be sure to be able to get back in to some place, that would mean she was not running away, right?

Also: The money. If she was a working girl, that would be way too much to have obtained from just one customer - or at least I think it would have been. (Thinking of the $600 of money value rather than the actual $322) Savings?

Paycheck cashed? Payment for something, like drugs?

Upon reading the sticky article about how people become Unidentified Deceased I was kind of shocked - but then again, I am AlwaysShocked - that some of these are cases of relatives deliberately not wanting to claim the deceased. Due to that relative would become responsible for the costs of burial, etc.

I am wondering if this young woman could have been a kind of "unwelcome" visitor to someone who lived in that area? She had a house key and was planning to return to some house somewhere. Maybe someone at that house was in some way relieved that she did not return?

 

[Lostindetroit]

That is kinda what I was getting at. No personal effects on her. No plan for a long trip. Maybe blowing off steam, a fight with family, ect. It's seems she had somewhere to go home to with at least a change of clothes, right. Maybe someone does know her and did not want that responsibility, I think that is a good theory. Cause that picture is clear as day and someone knows she was missing.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

I spoke to someone today who had some knowledge of the case. It is believed that she was indeed a passenger in the cab, and was thrown from it when it went off the road. She was not local to the area of the accident. No luck on a tax stamp on the cigarettes. The person I spoke to did not know what inscription was on her key ring but I will keep trying to find out.

 

[Woodland]

It is possible she was a passenger and was thrown from the cab - but do accident re-constructionists know what route she took from the passenger seat to being under the cab while it lay on the drivers side?

I'm wondering as the driver had to be cut out of the wreckage.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

It is possible she was a passenger and was thrown from the cab - but do accident re-constructionists know what route she took from the passenger seat to being under the cab while it lay on the drivers side?

I'm wondering as the driver had to be cut out of the wreckage.

I wonder a lot about that also. But in any event, what we have to work with is a date LKA, good showable pm pix, and the truck route. Maybe the inscription on the keys, if they will release it. That is more than we have to work with in many cases which are solved.

She got on after he took on the load and before he ran off the road south of Uniontown. All else is conjecture and unproductive. If I have time I will get the package together over the weekend. Cover letter, copies of the posting from the Pennsylvania Missing Persons site, that would be about it. I hate going a bit "show biz" in the letter but you do have to sell this as an interesting story to newspapers or they won't cover it.

Would anyone like to compile a list of local newspapers with addresses and contact people between Baltimore and Kentucky?

Someone on here had a husband who is a trucker, is there a book or website that lists truck stops? 'Cause we're gonna go there next.

 

[killarney rose]

Yes. I remember my son having a book like thst when he drove a truck and i spent two weeks on the road with him.

 

[killarney rose]

I wonder if it's possible she was sleeping in the sleeper and somehow went out the window of it? Odd things like this happen in accidents, most sleepers have some type of window in them.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

Interesting. There was a woman who went missing from a fair in Kentucky in August 1978, Sandra Flynn Fisher. NamUS MP 2236. There is a thread on her on this forum.

Sandra Flynn Fisher – The Charley Project

<modsnip: removed unapproved source and replace with approved >

One account said that she had left with the carnival before but always came back. Could she have been gone for 6 1/2 years?

She would have been a bit old to be this Jane Doe.

 

[nerosleuth]

I’m looking at all possible angles and thinking out loud here.

Regarding her ethnicity, I previously said it’s possible that she could be Hispanic or Mediterranean. Another possibility to consider is that she could be Puerto Rican.

I thought about her clothing description. It was reported that she was dressed in manly style clothing.

What condition were the palm of her hands in? Were the palms of her hands rugged?

If the palms of her hands were rugged, she may have worked outdoors.

She could have been a farm worker or maybe worked with horses. That could be one possible explanation as to why she dressed manly.

Keep in mind that the area in Kentucky where the rig was going to is in horse country and also in tobacco farming country.

I also noticed that the rig accident occurred prior to the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness horse races.

 

[nerosleuth]

Here are some links that has some details about the disappearance of Sandra Flynn Fisher.

Namus

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Doe Network

2832DFKY - Sandra Flynn Fisher

Charley Project

Sandra Flynn Fisher – The Charley Project

WebSleuths

KY KY - Sandra Flynn Fisher, 31, Russell Springs, 3 Aug 1978 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community


On Namus, it was reported that Sandra Flynn Fisher had left for a couple of weeks time in 1976 and 1977 with a Carnival.

Keeping in mind of the manly style clothing, it's also possible that the unid could have worked for a traveling carnival.

Were there any traveling carnivals with amusement park rides anywhere in the Uniontown area or somewhere along the trucker's route at the time of the accident?