Hi,
I just checked my glasses (I have four pairs because I'm a closet diva). They're around 3-4 years old, and two of them have the writing on the inside worn off already. On another you can't read it because of a hair dye mishap. Hers might have worn off, too--if it's just printed and not engraved, simple use can erode it pretty quick.
I'm still musing over the angle of the girl who died in 1989 that Pokey brought up. There has to be a way to figure out if she died in a car accident. If I were writing this as a novel, that's the way I'd write it.
De-lurking to say that I can't find any mention of a 9-year old girl being killed in a car accident on that date in a news archive search, and you'd think that such a thing would have made the local papers. According to the obituary published at Find-a-Grave, she died on December 18th, and was buried at a service held at noon on the 20th--a day and a half later, which is a pretty short period of time. Also, the obituary says, "[BRB] was a former student at Armstrong Elementary..." Not "a student, but "a
former student." That makes me think that she had a terminal illness that meant she eventually had to withdraw from school as it progressed. The day-and-a-half from death to burial also makes me think that perhaps the death was not unexpected, and arrangements had been at least partially in place at the time of death, which would also fit in with a terminal illness. (The exception being if the family belonged to a religion which mandates burial within a certain amount of time after death.) Also, if she'd been in a car wreck, at 9 years old she likely would have been in the car with her family--but if it was severe enough to kill one passenger, it seems someone else would have been injured enough to be in the hospital still, in which case they wouldn't be having the service so soon. (Barring a religious mandate.) If she wasn't with her family, she either would have been in a car driven by a friend's parent, or a pedestrian/on a bike when hit...both of which would have made the papers, I'd think. And the obit would usually say "died as a result of injuries sustained..." A terminal disease, or maybe an accident at home, might not be something the family would want in an obituary. (And if it was as a result of a terminal disease, presumably those who knew the family would already be aware of the circumstances.)
I don't think it's that odd that BRB and Jane Doe both died on December 18th, especially since the years aren't the same. The odder thing, I think, is if there is only
one person in that cemetery who died on December 18th. There's a finite number of days in a year, but a theoretically infinite number of people who might wander into a cemetery, and/or commit suicide on a given day, so coincidences like that will happen. I once went on one of those "History Walks" in a local cemetery, and happened to notice a headstone of a woman who had the same first and middle name as me, and my exact date of birth, year and everything. Threw me for a loop for the rest of the day. It's a local cemetery, so I suppose I could possibly be buried there one day, and then our matching names and birthdates will be a weird coincidence for someone to ponder--