Identified! TX - Williamson Co., 'Orange Socks' WhtFem 33UFTX, 15-30, off I-35, Oct'79 - Debra Jackson

[FiveFelines]

I want to say there are morgue photos of her somewhere in this thread. If you google "orange socks" you'll find them too. And I think they're also in Namus.

 

[Gourami Watcher]

Images of Orange Sock's autopsy pictures are here: http://smg.photobucket.com/user/suzannec4444/media/Doe%20Network%20photos/post-25-1123794746.jpg.html, http://www.documentingreality.com/forum/attachments/f237/444477d1366726961-henry-lee-lucas-victim-orange-socks-crime-scene-photos-orange_socks_crime_scene_004.jpg and http://smg.photobucket.com/user/suzannec4444/media/Doe%20Network%20photos/post-25-1123794657.jpg.html

 

[CarlK90245]

I was researching the MP case of Susan Marie Cook (LKA 1984 in Cle Elum Washington) as a possible match to a 1984 Jane Doe in Spokane Washington (UP489).

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/23251/0
https://identifyus.org/cases/489

Looking in Ancestry, I located Washington State and Social Security death records in Ancestry, which indicated that she was originally from Oswego New York and her maiden name was Smegelsky. Apparently, she was declared dead as of the same date that she is reported as "LKA" in NamUs (i.e., June 16, 1984). With that information, I was able to locate Susan's senior photo in the 1973 Oswego High School yearbook.

I immediately realized that her facial characteristics were entirely inconsistent with the characteristics of the photos of the skull shown in the UP489 casefile. However, it also occurred to me that she bears a very compelling resemblance to "Orange Socks", especially considering that the school photo pre-dates the Jane Doe's discovery by about 8 years.

I recognize that there is a timeframe discrepancy. Susan was allegedly LKA (and declared dead) as of June of 1984 according to her NamUs casefile and her death records, while "Orange Socks" was found in October 1979.However, in my opinion, the resemblance is so strong that we might want to consider the possibility that the Date LKA is incorrect. I know of at least five other instances where a missing person's reported Date LKA post-dated the discovery of that person's remains, thereby resulting in the person remaining unidentified (sometimes for decades).

I emailed Sharon Derrick, and recieved the following reply:

She does look a lot like her! However, #8056 has full STR and mito in CODIS and 23251 has a nice set of family profiles. These cases should have hit automatically. Perhaps you could ask the Williamson County contact to request a manual comparison. Since 8056 is not under my jurisdiction I can’t really do that. Good luck and let me know if the comparison is positive.

SMD

 

[erinelizabeth]

Wow, the resemblance is uncanny! As I look at Susan Cooke's NamUs page, it seems pretty sparse - I don't know if that's because the county doesn't want to reveal too much information or if it's because the person who reported her missing really didn't know that much about her disappearance. Regardless, I think the date LKA should be overlooked as well. My only other concern would be the height. "Orange Socks" was 5'8" - 5'10" while Susan Cooke is 5'2" - 5'6". That's a pretty big range though, so it's possible whoever reported her missing was just guessing.

Nice work!

 

[CarlK90245]

Another thing that is strange is that Susan's MP casefile indicates she has a cleft lip. I see no evidence in that photo of a cleft lip. Maybe the photo was retouched, or maybe that is just one more piece of inaccurate info.

 

[sloane7777]

Wow Carl!!!!!! that could be the very reason she has remained unidentified, I had a distant relative unidentified because of a discrepancy they thought the UID was African American after 10 years turned out she was not, they had just entered it incorrectly at the state med ex office, then the office lost her skull ....human error.

 

[Springrain]

I think she looks awfully close. I'm betting the LKA date could be wrong. Perhaps the cleft lip could have been mixed up with another case--human error.

 

[Coppertop15]

The resemblance is amazing!

 

[alllads]

I've tried to dig up ANYTHING about Susan, and all that I could find did at least partially indicate that she might have actually died in 1984 - her mother's obituary lists her as dying in 1984.

 

[FiveFelines]

Startling resemblance! Will be interested to see how firm that LKA date is.

 

[samibel]

I believe this is the obituary of Susan (Smegelsky) Cooke's father. It mentions he was predeceased by Susan and grandson "James Cooke." Any indication that "Orange Socks" had been pregnant at one time?

http://www.daincullinan.com/memsol.cgi?user_id=1207790

 

[CarlK90245]

Allads sent me information that Susan Smegelsky Cooke had a son who was born in 1981 and died in 1992. So that would clearly prove that she was alive after 1979, and was not Orange Socks.

 

[biscuits222]

I think Susan Marie Cooke drowned in a boating accident on June 16th 1984, judging by this news story I just found:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=5o4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6074,7998621&hl=en

A body was found a month later in the river but it doesn't say if a positive ID was made:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?...AIBAJ&sjid=5Y4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2576,1485108&hl=en

The Namus profile doesn't mention rafting but the other details match up:

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/23251/0/

I can't find anything in IdentifyUs from Washington in July '84, but we can at least rule out Susan Cooke/ Smegelsky as being any UID murder victim.

 

[Faithandhope]

Has Patricia Joan Chesher been suggested?

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...icia-Joan-Chesher-12-Albuquerque-17-June-1969

Age would line up, though it seems pretty unlikely, as there were a slew of suspects surrounding Patricia, one of whom I believe was a pedophile and accused of molesting her as well as some of her sisters? However, it sounds like a chaotic home (lots of exes of various women with bad histories), so probably one of them.

 

[HumanFrailty]

i thought alma root was a good match too, but she had a tattoo orange socks did not have, and she went missing months after orange socks was killed. by appearances alone i think they look exactly alike...

They look identical. Has this been checked?

 

[FiveFelines]

They look identical. Has this been checked?

Yes. Looks like they ruled her out based on her LKA date (which sounds a little questionable) and her tattoo (which is the main discrepancy IMO). Seems like they are well aware of the resemblance, although it would be nice if Alma was listed on the ruleout list.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?44155-CA-Alma-Violet-Root-14-Auburn-1-Jan-1980

 

[Jake479]

It has now been 36 years since her murder. She's gone 36 years without a name and 36 years without justice, but I haven't lost hope for her. RIP Orange Socks. We'll never stop trying to find your identity and killer.

 

[Springrain]

36 years. It has been 36 years since she was brutally murdered.

We don't know her name, but we won't forget her. She is in all of our thoughts.

RIP Orange Socks.

 

[zelda_s]

I believe the ruleout of Alma Root is a tiny bit questionable. First of all, about the last known whereabouts date - there have been discrepancies on this in other UID cases. I seem to remember blue bandana girl went a while without positive identification because the missing person she was matched to had a wrong LKA date. Also Tammy Alexander's LKA date was initially fuzzy. The tattoo has me wondering a bit more, because that's a pretty identifying mark. However I once read that LE occasionally withold certain details about a UID as to not interfere with the investigation. Of course that usually applies to cause of death and not distinguishing marks.

 

[Springrain]

I believe the ruleout of Alma Root is a tiny bit questionable. First of all, about the last known whereabouts date - there have been discrepancies on this in other UID cases. I seem to remember blue bandana girl went a while without positive identification because the missing person she was matched to had a wrong LKA date. Also Tammy Alexander's LKA date was initially fuzzy. The tattoo has me wondering a bit more, because that's a pretty identifying mark. However I once read that LE occasionally withold certain details about a UID as to not interfere with the investigation. Of course that usually applies to cause of death and not distinguishing marks.

I agree, there is such a strong resemblance I would feel better with DNA rule outs, not to mention we've all seen cases with fuzzy LKA dates.