Identified! VA - Annandale, WhtFem 245UFVA, ~60, 'NO CODE, DNR, No Penicillin', Dec'96

[pokypuppy67]

I did call the investigators at Jane Doe's end of things today. I want to understand where the breakdown in follow-through is on this case. Not to impose judgement, just to try and grease the wheels a little, or to caulk a few cracks to keep her from falling through. Things COULD be held up because the primary investigator on the case has retired within recent years. I talked to a guy in Major Crimes, gave him Shirley's name to look into. He didn't seem particularly interested in our Jane Doe, though. Said he'd pass the information along.

Looking at NamUs I was touched to see how hard somebody had worked to try and ID her. There are ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-THREE exclusions...173!!! Shirley Sprang isn't among them, by the way. I hadn't thought to check the exclusion list before (drat that), though I would have been beyond shocked to find her on it.

She probably hasn't been considered because of the date discrepancy. And that discrepancy is intriguing because, while it appears to rule her out, it is the very thing that has caught people's' attention and linked the two cases together in the first place. Kind of ironic. They've really been trying hard to ID her, though. And yeah, she may not have wanted to be identified...unless her suicide wasn't really a suicide, then IDing her would likely be exactly who I want. Detective Steve Milefsky was previously working the case. He had kept her ashes in his office on a shelf, had taped a picture of her to her "urn" and looked at it every single day. Now that he's off the case, it concerns me about what they did with her remains. He couldn't stand the thoughts of her being locked away in an evidence room. I respect the guy highly for that.

They didn't bury her as requested; probably too costly. Perhaps she underestimated the costs...or maybe her money had to be kept as evidence since the case hasn't been closed. Does anybody know what it would have cost, in general, to bury cremated remains in a cemetery? There's probably a lot of variation; I just wonder if her $50 was realistic. It would be interesting to see if she had done her research well into the costs that she would incur; whether her $50 each was a reasonable expectation of costs for cremation and for a burial plot. Does anybody know?

Interesting bit of info: human remains are handled differently across the country. Some places treat them with solemn respect...some states/counties actually throw them away in a landfill. That sickens me. Even if their budget for burial was absolute zero, there HAD to be a more respectful "disposal" option than tossing human beings away like garbage. A tiny ceremony...just a few words or a quick prayer, by even one person...SOMETHING to honor them in death...ANYTHING...even pouring their ashes down a PVC pipe into a mass grave (hole in the ground) would still be better than dumping these human beings in landfills with our daily rotting garbage. Everybody is somebody's child. Somebody loved them!

And even today some counties STILL discard deceased people in landfills. One county I read about only keeps the remains for a month before "trashing" them. Their families may not even be aware that they were missing yet in that short amount of time. That completely SUCKS! There's no unified method of handling human remains, apparently. It varies from county to county, state to state.

I wish we could find a respectable solution to this problem. But I don't think most people even know it's happening. I sure didn't know. Now that I do, it infuriates and saddens me. If one of my family members died and our county officials threw them away in the trash, like they were nothing...I don't even know. I don't know what I would do. It's just SO wrong!!!

Sorry... down off my soapbox. It's just that it hurts my heart so badly that this is being done. People's lives, and deaths, should not be devalued...and in such a heartless manner.

 

[pokypuppy67]

O.K. let's take a fresh look at this with a different approach.
I just recently learned that her eyeglasses have been traced back to a shop in Belgium.
In addition, the drink that she had with her -Loosa- is a popular drink that is manufactured in Belgium.

Thus, I think it's a pretty good conclusion that our gal is from Belgium or has strong ties there. The glasses shop should be visited and records (if any still exist) should be scoured. They were trifocals, so that most likely means someone other than an optometrist prescribed them. That should be explored too.

Perhaps she wasn't considered "missing" from the Belgium authorities. She probably told people she was moving to the US, or had legit reasons to be here.
I say we solve this by going back to leads from the glasses shop.

Hey, Roses, great job on getting some new information! Where did you hear about it? The clue about the glasses from Belgium has strong potential. Especially if they didn't have a U.S. Distributor, which could point to her taking a trip to Belgium or living in Belgium for a period of time. Or she could have ordered them. Perhaps they were really high end Belgian brand-name glasses. Otherwise, if only certain U.S. optometry shops carried that brand that could steer us to the actual store of purchase in her hometown, home state.

And how about that drink? Where in the U.S. might there have been distributors for that?

These are good leads. Excellent job, Roses!

Collaboration is so much fun! :gathering:

 

[rosesfromangels]

God bless you Poky. That is one for 60 minutes! And we are supposedly a civilized nation?

Re our Christmas tree lady, I wonder if we can post something on youtube and twitter directed to belgian viewers.

 

[rosesfromangels]

Hey, Roses, great job on getting some new information! Where did you hear about it? The clue about the glasses from Belgium has strong potential. Especially if they didn't have a U.S. Distributor, which could point to her taking a trip to Belgium or living in Belgium for a period of time. Or she could have ordered them. Perhaps they were really high end Belgian brand-name glasses. Otherwise, if only certain U.S. optometry shops carried that brand that could steer us to the actual store of purchase in her hometown, home state.

And how about that drink? Where in the U.S. might there have been distributors for that?

These are good leads. Excellent job, Roses!

Collaboration is so much fun! :gathering:

I got the glasses info from another member on thus thread who can chime in if they choose. The loosa is manufactured in belgium but avail in many shops

 

[rosesfromangels]

Im thinking this was a diplomats wife or similar...researching that angle now.
professors wife?

 

[pokypuppy67]

Im thinking this was a diplomats wife or similar...researching that angle now.
professors wife?

If she was that important, wouldn't she have likely been ID'd more easily? And what would her motive for wanting to remain anonymous be? Also, the redneck humor?

I'm not seeing the diplomat's wife but I'm liking that Belgian connection. I do think there could be some significance there.

 

[FiveFelines]

I agree, probably not a diplomat's wife. Could be as simple as she just moved here at some point and her husband or whomever died. I know plenty of people who moved to this country but speak and write perfect English and have a good grasp on American culture. The DC area bolsters the international connection, IMO.

I was thinking about the Minnie Mouse fanny pack earlier. Perhaps that is what she stored the Valium in to bring to the cemetery, since no pill bottle was found.

Whomever this woman was, she had access to:

- a bank (the money was crisp and had concurrent serial numbers; she would have had to have had a bank account, right?)

- a doctor and pharmacy for Valium (unless she bought it off the street)

- a typewriter/word processor/computer to type the notes

Even if she had no friends, family, coworkers, or neighbors, she had to have interacted with service people. Someone must know this woman.

 

[EmiLove832]

I looked up Belgian immigration to US, thinking we may be able to find areas that have a large population of Belgian immigrants. The 2000 census showed Wisconsin, Michigan and Illinois as the three highest and in that order. Others listed California, Minnesota, Florida, New York, Indiana, Texas and Ohio.

Another thought I had, if she was from Belgium she could have met and married an American military man and moved to the US with him.

I'm not sure any of this helps with the search though.

 

[rosesfromangels]

The biggest lead are the glasses. We know the shop where they came from, but apparently the last attempt at this came up with a goose egg. Not sure how long ago that was. The glasses were identified to the shop, but that's as far as it got.

However, she must have lived in that neighborhood. We generally see providers in our neighborhoods, or close by. I'm just dwelling on ways to engage the populace of that area to see if anyone recognizes her as an aunt, etc. It's been a long time, and many of her peers would be quite elderly or have passed on. But someone might still remember!

 

[astridxx]

The only person buried in that cemetery who died on December 18th, prior to 1996, was a 9 year old girl named Brandi Rae Ballard. She died on December 18th, 1989. I don't know how she died but if it were in an auto accident, or as a pedestrian hit by a car, that could explain Shirley's living with her mother in 1990 and not having access to a car/license. It could also explain why she would want to be buried in that cemetery, and why she would want to remain anonymous. The girl's family would probably freak out if they knew their daughter's killer was anywhere near her.

They said that Jane's body was found near a mausoleum. I wonder if that might be a Ballard family mausoleum. Just a thought.

I'm trying to understand this -- so you're saying that Shirley is Jane Doe. And that Shirley hit BRB with a car and killed her...? Isn't Shirley from the upper mid-North US? Who is the "she" who wanted to be buried in the cemetery?

Once the weather gets nicer I will make a trip to the cemetery, again, and check out the mausoleum. It's been unusually cold and wintery here in Fairfax since November, so I haven't had the time to go. But I'll try to get there soon and will have an answer about the mausoleum hopefully within a week or so.

 

[astridxx]

The front of the mausoleum.

A view from the back of the mausoleum so you can all see how close it is to a major road -- 236.

Bump -- I didn't go in. Will in the future.

 

[astridxx]

This is another view of the left side of the mausoleum -- this view would have been to her left. The tombs closest to the wall were placed in the mid 2000s, way after her death.

Babyland sign, part of her last view. This looks out over the cemetery from the left side of the mausoleum.

A view around the back of the mausoleum from the left side. The left and right sides parallel 236. Look how close to the highway the mausoleum is.... I'm gonna go out on a limb here and negate the theory that she knew the area well. PVMP isn't hard to find. If she knew the area well or didn't want to be found she would have moved more toward the back of the property. I'm not sure how well lit this place is at night.

Bump again

 

[astridxx]

These graves WERE here when she killed herself. They're directly in front of the spot I believe she killed herself at.

A view toward the front of the mausoleum from the left side where she was found. Also, the entry of PVMP.

Another view toward the front from the left.

The view to her right.

A site marker that I have no idea how long has been there for... but over a year at least as the area hasn't been disturbed in years. Possible clue?

Last pic: a view toward the entrance from the left side.

Another bump

 

[pokypuppy67]

I'm trying to understand this -- so you're saying that Shirley is Jane Doe. And that Shirley hit BRB with a car and killed her...? Isn't Shirley from the upper mid-North US? Who is the "she" who wanted to be buried in the cemetery?

Once the weather gets nicer I will make a trip to the cemetery, again, and check out the mausoleum. It's been unusually cold and wintery here in Fairfax since November, so I haven't had the time to go. But I'll try to get there soon and will have an answer about the mausoleum hopefully within a week or so.

I'm suggesting it as a possibility. It's just a theory. That maybe Shirley lived in VA, or was just driving through, and accidentally struck down this little girl. I don't know; maybe she was drinking. Maybe it was just her really bad driving. Maybe it was her eyesight (wonder what her prescription lens strength was. Anyway, If that had happened, she may have lost her license. Since she wouldn't be able to get around she would be forced to move in with her mother, who lived in Wisconsin, and to rely on her mother for transportation. Until they got in that big fight and she left by Taxi. She moved somewhere else, maybe Nebraska. She might not have been able to live with that little girl's death. Might have gone to that cemetery where she believed she should have been instead of that little girl. I don't know. It's just a theory. BRB may have had no involvement with Jane Doe whatsoever.

 

[rosesfromangels]

Those gravesite pics make me so sad. There must be a connect ion to someone there?

 

[Tssiemer]

Those gravesite pics make me so sad. There must be a connect ion to someone there?

Those pictures made me sad as well. It's so lonely there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[astridxx]

Anyway, the weather here is supposed to get better next week. If I can get a break at work I'll visit the mausoleum, as stated before. We have gotten incredibly too side-tracked here (which is partly my fault). If anyone wants to take up anything personal, PM me. Otherwise, let's get back to this mystery.


Someone, roses??, mentioned earlier making a video to put on YouTube for our Belgian friends. Any headway with that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tssiemer]

Anyway, the weather here is supposed to get better next week. If I can get a break at work I'll visit the mausoleum, as stated before. We have gotten incredibly too side-tracked here (which is partly my fault). If anyone wants to take up anything personal, PM me. Otherwise, let's get back to this mystery.


Someone, roses??, mentioned earlier making a video to put on YouTube for our Belgian friends. Any headway with that?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's a good idea. She barely got local attention let alone international news. Is there a way to see MPs from Europe?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[astridxx]

There is a way. I think someone searched Belgium (was it roses? Five? carbuff?) but didn't find anything.

She had gotten local coverage before, to no avail. No one seems to know who she is but this area is one of the most transient areas in the US. It's all government. Tons of people from all over the US live here for a few years and leave. (Traffic is horrible!! Lol)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[pokypuppy67]

Somebody mentioned the three most common states to which people emigrate from Belgium. I know one of them was Wisconsin.