VA - Grateful Dead Fan - Unidentified male, 26 June 1995 - #2

[leslieshaw]

Blessings to this unnamed soul and his family. May the four winds blow you safely home again.

 

[Swamp Fox Trot]

There was a young boy (12 or so) who disappeared with his hippy mom from New Mexico or somewhere about five years before Jason Doe was found . . . has anyone checked this out?

 

[Nikon]

I just started reading, and I am intrigued in this case. I will add more. Where can I read about this case? Too many posts in this thread, so I've been skimming.

Has anyone suggest this person yet? http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/i/izzett_donald.html

 

[RRW]

I just started reading, and I am intrigued in this case. I will add more. Where can I read about this case? Too many posts in this thread, so I've been skimming.

Has anyone suggest this person yet? http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/i/izzett_donald.html

He was ruled out through DNA.

Ruled out MD - Donald Lee Izzett, Jr., 19, Cumberland, May 1995 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

 

[trying2id]

What does everyone think of the new picture that has been released?

 

[Beamie]

I wonder why they changed the shirt, it's not the same as he was wearing that night

 

[redrover1]

Hello everyone,

I am new to posting on the forum but have been looking over all the posts here on this case for a while now. I have read some really good ideas on here and I just wanted to post what I think is a possible (and most likely in my mind) scenario.

1. Jason is likely his name as stated on the letter and he likely met the "Carolines" at the concert. I feel that Jason was likely in the middle of the age range assessed by ME (17-18). Pre-9/11 you did not need an ID for anything other than driving and buying booze. I don't believe he had a drivers liscence and never needed to get an identification card because he was underage. Hence, he did not carry any identification. In those days you did not even need to show your ID card in order to get onto a plane. I read that the phone number prefix "914" is used in several locations around the D.C. area so I assess that the Carolines are from that area and did not think of putting an area code because they were already at or near that area code. Before cell phones I dont think I ever gave someone my landline area code unless i was out of state. I also think that they were likely the same age as Jason and have no idea that people are looking for them or that Jason died that night. If you dont look up missing persons/UI persons you really dont come across it as i had never heard of this case until recently when i became interested in the topic.

2. I do not not believe Jason was a "die hard" Gratefull Dead fan (brought up in earlier posts by people on here due to his commercial shirt of the ongoing tour rather than a homemade/handmade shirt). I believe he was entering a phase in his life. When i was that age, one year i was a Dr. Dre fan and dressed the part, the next year i was a Nirvana fan and dressed the part. I believe its completely possible that alot of his family members did not recognize his new musical tastes and may have even remembered him as enjoying a different taste (country, Rap, etc.). I can see an Aunt not thinking this is their relative because their missing person likes Garth Brooks not the Grateful Dead.

3. I don't believe that Jason knew the driver of the van prior to the event. I dont think that Jason was a hitchhiker (in the sense of he was thumnbing a ride). The driver left his girlfriends house at 7:45 am alone, I find it hard that he would pick up a random hitchhiker that early in the morning (which would have to be the case as neighbors at his dad's house noticed another man when he arrived at his dad's house later that morning). Although the driver did not go to the concert, I believe they likely met at an afterparty or at a bar (when i was at that age, i would go to bars with my friends that were of age and mix into a table of a large amount of people and then let the people of age bring me back drinks, I rarely got caught and i looked really young for my age). From there they started talking and became aquainted. I believe that they likely stayed up late that night and that is the reason that the driver fell asleep behind the wheel at 1:30 PM the next day. When i was the van drivers age (21), the only time i woulda fallen asleep involuntarily at 1:30 PM is because of a serious night of partying. I also believe that Jason is likely from North Carolina and caught a ride with the driver because he was going that way, something they discussed where they met. According to the news article i read in another post, the driver left his girlfriends house at 7:45 am. I would like to know if they were together 100% of the time prior or did he go out that night or on another night without her. If they never left eachothers side the whole time in Virginia, then i will have to adjust this theory.

4. I dont believe that Jason is a full blown runaway though i do believe he has been "gone" for extended periods of time from his home and had at least threatened to runaway for good. I believe that he had a rough childhood and may have alcoholic parents or may have been raised by an alcoholic relative that looked at him as a burden and did not really put much effort in raising him. When he dissappeared, it was another one of his "episodes" and "he'll be back whenever he gets back". I also believe that the recreations of what he looked like in life is probably off a good bit, further complicating the possitive identification.

I apologize for the extremely long post but wanted to put out what i believe and hopefully help in any way I can.........

 

[redrover1]

I guess my biggest problem with the hitchhiker theory is this:

I am trying to put myself in the drivers shoes....

I have been driving a lot over the last few days....from SC to NY and back to Virginia, I just dropped my girlfriend off and likely wont see her for awhile (so i am a little sad)....I now have to leave early and drive back to SC but need to stop along the way at my fathers house.....I just want to hurry up and get the driving over with.

Along the way to my fathers house, i see a hitchhiker with a tye dyed shirt, jeans, and long hair that likely had been dyed......

I just dont see myself stopping and picking him up.....I see myself speeding by and trying to get home as soon as possible so I can.....

That is why i stated in the above post that i believe they had to have met somewhere previously and discussed the UID catching a ride.

Just my thoughts.....

 

[Magnum P.E.]

A thought just occurred to me. LE believes that family or friends may have contacted them after the accident. The accident did not receive coverage nationally that I know of, so we could narrow down the search a great deal if we could determine who among the public could have heard about the UID that early on. In other words, which TV/Radio/Newspapers had covered the story at the time the call was received. Could be a completely blind alley, or Jason Doe may have been pretty close to home. Anyone know how to find that out?

 

[eileenhawkeye]

A thought just occurred to me. LE believes that family or friends may have contacted them after the accident. The accident did not receive coverage nationally that I know of, so we could narrow down the search a great deal if we could determine who among the public could have heard about the UID that early on. In other words, which TV/Radio/Newspapers had covered the story at the time the call was received. Could be a completely blind alley, or Jason Doe may have been pretty close to home. Anyone know how to find that out?

I have access to a newspaper archive site through my college. Since people actually read newspapers in 1995, I thought it would give us an accurate idea of what the coverage was like. However, when I searched for "grateful dead jason doe" I could only find a few articles from the Richmond Times Dispatch about the case.

These are the following Virginia newspapers whose archive extend back to 1995:

Harrisonburg Daily News Record
Newport News Daily Press
The Roanoke Times
The Virginian Pilot (Norfolk)
Richmond Times Dispatch

But I could only find articles from Richmond Times Dispatch. It looks like there wasn't any state-wide coverage of the case, let alone national.

Maybe I am searching for the wrong thing?

 

[Magnum P.E.]

Wow you are quick!

What I was getting at is, if the call came in when only a few TV/Radio stations had broadcast the news, then he probably had family in the coverage area of those stations.

Since the story was not widely covered, the time frame may not really matter so much. The question is, if family or friends heard about the accident then how could they have done so at all? Do any of the newspaper accounts refer to radio/TV coverage? Anyone local who knows what TV and radio stations were in the area at the time?

So far as the newspapers go, a map with an overlay of the distribution area of the Richmond Dispatch in 1995 will be useful. We could assume that he had friends or family in that area. Not much to go on but has not been tried yet.

 

[Mysteryphile]

Kudos for thinking outside of the box!! The idea to check where the story was ran to narrow down the search area was brilliant! Sad to think he was almost home when he was killed though. (if indeed someone had called asking about him)

 

[Magnum P.E.]

Thanks. Is there a timeline? Does anyone know exactly when the call came in, and to whom? This may all lead to nothing but it is about all there is at this point.
I wonder how accurate the reconstructions are, given the extent of the injuries in the crash? Not much we can do about that.

 

[PHB]

If this guy was the only child of a dead single parent, we're never going to ID him. Does anyone know if UID DNA is compared against the convicted felon database? That is, if I was an UID, and my brother was a convicted felon, would they be able to match us up?
Or for that matter do all states compare thier UID DNA with the fed. database?

 

[Swamp Fox Trot]

There was a young boy (12 or so) who disappeared with his hippy mom from New Mexico or somewhere about five years before Jason Doe was found . . . has anyone checked this out?

This is who I meant, Nicholas Vincent Smith: http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/146dmnm.html. He would have been living under the radar for a few years. Says he had hazel eyes vs. brown for John Doe. But they sure look simliar to me.

 

[katydid23]

This is who I meant, Nicholas Vincent Smith: http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/146dmnm.html. He would have been living under the radar for a few years. Says he had hazel eyes vs. brown for John Doe. But they sure look simliar to me.

Interesting.

I think Hazel and Brown are kind of interchangeable. So that does not seem to be a problem, imoi.

They do look a lot alike. And if he was taken away from the rest of the family by his mom, maybe nobody was looking for him.

 

[PHB]

If this guy was the only child of a dead single parent, we're never going to ID him. Does anyone know if UID DNA is compared against the convicted felon database? That is, if I was an UID, and my brother was a convicted felon, would they be able to match us up?Or for that matter do all states compare thier UID DNA with the fed. database?

BBM and quoting myself. Does anyone know?

 

[carterkatt]

I am adding this now as it is fresh in my mind, and, while on one hand I think it is nothing, I thought I would throw it out for you all to look at.

I am reading a book called How I Learned To Cook: Culinary Educations from the World's Greatest Chefs by
Witherspoon, Kimberly, Meehan, Peter, which are essays by chefs.

One is by Chef Jimmy Bradley, and in it he says (sometime in 1985 - 87 or so, he is a little vague) he was working in a seafood restaurant in Naggansett RI and he was in the kitchen, and got his break to cooking when a cook went to a GD concert and was never heard from again. Now, he says no more about this. Buti, I got to to thinking about our Doe and had to look at this all. I think a cook at that time could have been 16 - 20, so adding 8 - 10 years could put him 24 - 30 in 95. Unlikely, I suppose, but, I had to put it out there. Not sure where to go from here, I find no RI missing that fits but who knows if the cook was reported, or ever really heard from again.

I'm a bit slow catching up here.. but what an interesting idea!!! What do you think about trying to contact the chef and asking him more?

Sorry if someone else has already suggested this.

 

[Angie4b1g]

http://current.com/1f12e4c

There's a few "missing from GD concert" people.

 

[scaredtopost]

I've been on a hiatus recently, caring for my newborn daughter. I came back, just knowing this case would be solved. So sad that it is not. Here's hoping...