Identified! SC - Norway, Body found in freezer at abandoned "haunted" house. Jan'21 - Robert Fuller

[Beekarina]

Wow! That is an uncanny resemblance

 

[Curious_in_NC]

Terrific sleuthing @Curious_in_NC!!

Thanks @Lilibet. This is where I have hit the wall though. There's not many missing Asian males in NamUs, and even fewer with known tattoos, so I didn't find any likely matches there. But as we seem to find out so often in these situations, many people are never reported missing nor ever entered in NamUs or other databases.

 

[Beekarina]

I checked Interpol too. No one in the US. I'm scanning other countries right now to see if anyone may have fallen through, but I bet you're correct and this is another non-reported missing.

 

[KatzEye]

At the risk of going even farther out on a limb with the Kuhn Sa theory, there are significant populations of Burmese refugees that have settled nearby in North Carolina and Atlanta during the past ten to twenty years. I don't know about South Carolina.

I have a very vague memory of some refugees settling in SC many years ago, mostly due to some controversy over it. I'm looking for specific locations, but for now, I found this article which indicates SC does indeed have some Burmese refugee resettlers.

Geyer: Refugee resettlement will end in SC unless governor takes action

Most refugees resettled to South Carolina in recent years are fellow Christians from Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo or Ukraine, including many who were persecuted particularly because of their faith in Christ.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

I have a very vague memory of some refugees settling in SC many years ago, mostly due to some controversy over it. I'm looking for specific locations, but for now, I found this article which indicates SC does indeed have some Burmese refugee resettlers.

Geyer: Refugee resettlement will end in SC unless governor takes action

Good info! Some local, SC, or at least regional, connection seems likely given the house was burned down by unknown person(s) not long after the body's discovery. Coincidence? Perhaps, but it seems far more likely locals were involved, ones with a connection to the arson and a reason to cover up evidence, than any other scenarios.

 

[Lilibet]

I have a very vague memory of some refugees settling in SC many years ago, mostly due to some controversy over it. I'm looking for specific locations, but for now, I found this article which indicates SC does indeed have some Burmese refugee resettlers.

Geyer: Refugee resettlement will end in SC unless governor takes action

I wonder if the pastor quoted in the article would be able to point toward any Burmese in or around Norway, SC.

Jim Geyer is a pastor at Summit Church in Spartanburg.
Contact info:
Leadership — Summit Church

Sorry, I’m not volunteering.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

I wonder if the pastor quoted in the article would be able to point toward any Burmese in or around Norway, SC.
rsbm
Sorry, I’m not volunteering.

I submitted a tip to the SC Crimestoppers link. I'll try to follow up later with OCSO and mention the pastor.

 

[KatzEye]

Off-topic, but since this UID was found in Orangeburg County, I found this article interesting :

3 former Orangeburg County deputies sentenced for their roles in narcotics conspiracies, visa fraud | WCBD News 2

Franklin and Hunter were also sentenced on federal charges of conspiring to obtain fraudulent U-visas for non-immigrants in exchange for bribes.

 

[data_nerd_2005]

With warm weather and midterms, I sadly don't have as much time to work on this case as I would like. However, I think I may have found a way to automate phone calls (with a robot voice lol). If I can get a code set up, I can try to do it for the numbers on my list.

In terms of the Burmese theory.. let me know if anybody has any ideas of ways to further investigate. I can web scrape any google search and possibly try to find points of contact. I also can scrape Instagram hashtags and users who used it (with a public account).

 

[Betty P]

No fancy software, just sleuthing and Google'ing. I wondered if the face might be that of a well known gangster or drug lord. Delving further into this, I found a tattoo shop in the Golden Triangle that has done numerous Kuhn Sa face tattoos. မနုဿ Tattoo

Their tattoos don't look quite the same as that on the UID, but that at least suggests tattoos of Kuhn Sa are being requested still even several years after his death. Apparently tattoos are a rite of passage in the Shan state of Myanmar where he was from. What the social or political ramifications of having his face on your arm are, I have no idea. History and politics are crazy complicated there and Myanmar's currently in great turmoil.

If the face is indeed that of Kuhn Sa, maybe the UID was originally from there or had affiliations with a gang associated with that region. I suppose maybe he could even have been part of Kuhn Sa's Mong Tai Army, although that would probably put him a good bit older than we were thinking from the clothes. The Army of 20k surrendered in 1996.

Great work, @Curious_in_NC ! You're on to something with this, JMO.

 

[Betty P]

Off-topic, but since this UID was found in Orangeburg County, I found this article interesting :

3 former Orangeburg County deputies sentenced for their roles in narcotics conspiracies, visa fraud | WCBD News 2

These arrests were the result of an FBI sting. Apparently the FBI knows there's a problem in this area related to local LE, drug smuggling and illegal immigration. Perhaps the tip about the tattoo should be send to the local FBI office.

All three of the former deputies agreed to help protect trucks containing kilogram quantities of methamphetamine and cocaine in the future.

 

[carbuff]

The house suspiciously burning down shortly after the body was found seems to point to the murder(s) being at least somewhat local. But the victim could have been from out of town.

 

[Susikatze]

Not to rain on anyones parade and every lead is worth pursuing, but I dont think the tattoo looks like Khoon Sa. Very different eyes and hairline, the guy in the tattoo is balding with very sparse hair on top of the head. Khoon Sa sports a full head of hair (like almost all dictators, warlords and druglords, as hair is connected with "virility" - with Mussolini maybe having been the only exception...)...
But what do i know?

 

[carbuff]

Not to rain on anyones parade and every lead is worth pursuing, but I dont think the tattoo looks like Khoon Sa. Very different eyes and hairline, the guy in the tattoo is balding with very sparse hair on top of the head. Khoon Sa sports a full head of hair (like almost all dictators, warlords and druglords, as hair is connected with "virility" - with Mussolini maybe having been the only exception...)...
But what do i know?

I'm not sure whether the guy in the tattoo is partly bald, or if decomposition has caused part of the tattoo to fade out.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

These arrests were the result of an FBI sting. Apparently the FBI knows there's a problem in this area related to local LE, drug smuggling and illegal immigration. Perhaps the tip about the tattoo should be send to the local FBI office.

Yes, that article spooked me. That adds a whole other angle on the scope of this case beyond it being just an isolated drug deal gone bad.

Also, I have looked at a lot of tattoos over the past couple of days. I'm not sure I entirely agree with the comment that @data_nerd_2005 received about this one being a jailhouse tattoo, but the level of artistry and realism in today's work by comparison is substantial. This one is still a much better caricature than I could ever draw, much less try to tattoo, but I'm wondering if it's either an older tat or maybe it was done under less than ideal conditions. Degradation might also play a role.

 

[cujenn81]

I can’t remember if the freezer on the porch was plugged in and working when the body was discovered or no? I’m assuming it wasn’t but just thought I’d ask.

 

[KatzEye]

I can’t remember if the freezer on the porch was plugged in and working when the body was discovered or no? I’m assuming it wasn’t but just thought I’d ask.

I had to dig back to make sure my memory was correct, but per the property owner, the house had no electricity.

Body found in freezer of SC home after suspicious fire

"Statement" from homeowner says the house has been vacant for about a decade, with no electricity going into it. He remembers seeing the freezer five years ago but nothing looked odd.

 

[Marg from Oz]

If the freezer had no electricity then I think the body had only recently been stashed there. MOO

 

[data_nerd_2005]

No fancy software, just sleuthing and Google'ing. I wondered if the face might be that of a well known gangster or drug lord. Delving further into this, I found a tattoo shop in the Golden Triangle that has done numerous Kuhn Sa face tattoos. မနုဿ Tattoo

Their tattoos don't look quite the same as that on the UID, but that at least suggests tattoos of Kuhn Sa are being requested still even several years after his death. Apparently tattoos are a rite of passage in the Shan state of Myanmar where he was from. What the social or political ramifications of having his face on your arm are, I have no idea. History and politics are crazy complicated there and Myanmar's currently in great turmoil.

If the face is indeed that of Kuhn Sa, maybe the UID was originally from there or had affiliations with a gang associated with that region. I suppose maybe he could even have been part of Kuhn Sa's Mong Tai Army, although that would probably put him a good bit older than we were thinking from the clothes. The Army of 20k surrendered in 1996.

So, I messaged the tattoo shop linked above and I asked them in English and Burmese (thanks google translate) if they thought the UID's tattoo was of Kuhn Sa and they replied back in English saying that they don't think it is him lol. Not that they're necessarily right, but I figured I would share.

 

[Curious_in_NC]

So, I messaged the tattoo shop linked above and I asked them in English and Burmese (thanks google translate) if they thought the UID's tattoo was of Kuhn Sa and they replied back in English saying that they don't think it is him lol. Not that they're necessarily right, but I figured I would share.

Thanks @data_nerd_2005 ! I had considered contacting them too but you beat me to it.

All we have to go on right now is this tattoo and some fairly distinctive clothes for someone in that part of SC. My hunch is still that they came from somewhere halfway around the globe and they hadn't been in SC for very long.