WA WA - Seattle, WhtFem 30-50, 159UFWA, alias 'Mary Anderson', copper IUD, breast surgery scars, Oct'96

[sasha17]

I was so sure othram would solve this earlier as her case has been fully funded for years - my guess is either no good database hits or family contacted and not sure whether they want to go public

Othram had an update on this case and were able to identify that she has an Eastern Iran or Afghanistan, or possibly a Persian, background but it sounds like they're stuck at this point.

Who is "Mary Anderson" (1996)?

King County Medical Examiner's Office Teams with Othram to Solve the Mystery of "Mary Anderson"

dnasolves.com

 

[MarziPanda]

The number of people from that background who have taken a DNA test and uploaded to GEDmatch is probably extremely small. Even then, finding records (of, say, a DNA match's parents, grandparents, etc) will be very difficult in countries like Iran and Afghanistan. I'm not surprised they're stuck. They'll likely have to wait for more people to upload or for the right person to see an appeal.

 

[Susikatze]

Kitchen bowl could indicate a some kind of religious practice/ritual related to washing/cleansing? In my limited knowledge of religions i know both Judaism and Islam use water for mikvah and wudu, respectively, and perhaps other rituals? When traveling, I know there are "workarounds" or different ways of cleansing than you might do at home with all your readily available supplies.

Example of someone using a kitchen bowl for wudu. The bible is in every hotel room and could have been another decoy, like the fake name.

No. We wash hands in the morning and after bathroom and before bread and use a special cup but a kitchenbowl is a kitchenbowl.
Youd rather use the drinking glass for washing.

No religious significance to that. I guess she was a frequent traveler who carried a small supply of cooking gear to make rice, a salad etc. in her motel room.

 

[Friday Fan]

Many of the Iranians who fled the Islamic Republic are not religious. (That's one reason they fled)
I'm not reading too much into the Bible etc. (She could have obtained that knowledge from TV etc) The 23rd Psalm is often depicted in graveside scenes etc.

 

[Vern]

There was an exodus of Sunni Muslims, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians and more who fled the Iranian Islamic Regime (Muslim Shi'a-based) during 1979's Islamic Revoloution. They fled to Turkey and then moved outwards to other nations seeking asylum due to the religious prosecution of them in Iran.

Perhaps this lady falls into that category?

https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2022-05/2022%20Factsheet%20-%20Refugees%20Fleeing%20Religious%20Persecution%20Globally.pdf

 

[Peskysleuth]

While it said a kitchen bowl was "packed with her belongings," I assumed that's what she used to mix the cyanide with the Metamucil.

 

[sunflowermomma]

While it said a kitchen bowl was "packed with her belongings," I assumed that's what she used to mix the cyanide with the Metamucil.

Yes, she could have simply stopped at Goodwill or Target and picked up a bowl and wasn't traveling with it at all.

 

[Vern]

Regarding the kitchen bowl, I'm wondering if this lady perhaps wore dentures?

Just recalling visits to my grandparents in the 80s and 90s and utilizing their washroom if I did overnights.

I don't know whose were whose, but one of them had theirs in a glass on the sink cabinet and the other in a small china soup bowl overnights. Probably how they kept them straight from each other.

Don't know how common the practice was of dropping them overnight into a glass or bowl (for cleaning them??) back then but just seeing their anniversary pic showing up in my memories and their big smiles in it made me think of their dentures and the glass and bowl.

 

[Friday Fan]

Regarding the kitchen bowl, I'm wondering if this lady perhaps wore dentures?

Just recalling visits to my grandparents in the 80s and 90s and utilizing their washroom if I did overnights.

I don't know whose were whose, but one of them had theirs in a glass on the sink cabinet and the other in a small china soup bowl overnights. Probably how they kept them straight from each other.

Don't know how common the practice was of dropping them overnight into a glass or bowl (for cleaning them??) back then but just seeing their anniversary pic showing up in my memories and their big smiles in it made me think of their dentures and the glass and bowl.

The report said she wore a dental plate.
It is still recommended not to sleep with dentures.

However, a dental plate could mean many things. (Like a partial retainer, which can be slept with) Either way, she would need to take it out and soak it daily.

Don’t wear your dentures when sleeping.When you’re not wearing your dentures, put them in a safe place covered in water to keep them from warping

https://jada.ada.org/article/S0002-8177%2814%2960854-0/pdf#:~:text=Don't%20wear%20your%20dentures,requirements%20for%20safety%20and%20effectiveness.

 

[annemc2]

In my smallish town I actually know several families of the Baha'i faith that came to the US from Iran back in the 70s-80s. That's an interesting update from Othram - thanks for posting!

 

[GloSeattle]

28 years ago, no one is any closer to finding out who Mary really was and why she took her life. I keep checking to see if anything new has come of the case and there's still nothing. With the internet, the strides in DNA and the genealogy sites that someone should have been able to find a relative of hers given they (whomever they are) at least a cousin for god's sake. It's so frustrating. I live here in WA state but I never hear a thing here in my state or here on this site. It's impossible that there's nothing.

 

[MarziPanda]

28 years ago, no one is any closer to finding out who Mary really was and why she took her life. I keep checking to see if anything new has come of the case and there's still nothing. With the internet, the strides in DNA and the genealogy sites that someone should have been able to find a relative of hers given they (whomever they are) at least a cousin for god's sake. It's so frustrating. I live here in WA state but I never hear a thing here in my state or here on this site. It's impossible that there's nothing.

Unfortunately it's quite possible that there's nothing, or nearly nothing. With her ethnic origins, the relatives they have found on genealogy sites will be very distant cousins, so distant they would have no idea who she was.

 

[Hockeyfan158]

It said in the Unresolved Podcast episode that Mary arrived at the hotel via Cab 90 minutes after placing the phone call to the hotel to get a reservation. I wonder if police ever interviewed the cab driver who pick Mary up and i wonder where the driver may have picked up Mary from? If it was from one of the airports, a train station or even a suburb like Everett that could provide a clue to where she was picked up from and lead to her identity.

 

[Sweetluv]

@Hockeyfan158..this is a good point about the 90 min drive via cab.
Also makes you wonder why she picked this particular Hotel. In 1996, they didn't have cell phones/Google reviews so why she chose a place 90 min away makes me pause. Did it have a significant meaning...familiarity?

 

[sasha17]

@Hockeyfan158..this is a good point about the 90 min drive via cab.
Also makes you wonder why she picked this particular Hotel. In 1996, they didn't have cell phones/Google reviews so why she chose a place 90 min away makes me pause. Did it have a significant meaning...familiarity?

She may have only been minutes away when she made the call. We don't know if she made the call to the hotel and then took the cab right away or made the call, waited around for some period of time, and then took the cab.

 

[Hollyllennoco]

I just discovered something. Could be nothing, could be something.

I found this post on Facebook. It’s a dental plate that was found in Chautauqua county New York - more specifically, Frewsburg NY.

It dawned on me that Mary Anderson had a dental plate and claimed to be from New York. So I went to her unidentified wiki page and looked to see if anything was similar to google maps to see if there could be a connection.

The phone number Mary Anderson gave was 212-569-5549.

So I googled the telephone exchange for Frewsburg NY where this dental plate was found, and the prefix for this location is also 569!

Could this be Mary’s missing dental plate?
Could our Mary be from Frewsburg? We need to focus on this location and see if there’s anyone in the community that might recognize her or maybe find out if there’s Iranian or afgan communities as her ethnic background seems to suggest.

What do you guys think?

 

[Hollyllennoco]

Just to add, the she had a dental plate but it was never found. But there’s evidence she had one.

 

[Caring1]

I just discovered something. Could be nothing, could be something.

I found this post on Facebook. It’s a dental plate that was found in Chautauqua county New York - more specifically, Frewsburg NY.

It dawned on me that Mary Anderson had a dental plate and claimed to be from New York. So I went to her unidentified wiki page and looked to see if anything was similar to google maps to see if there could be a connection.

The phone number Mary Anderson gave was 212-569-5549.

So I googled the telephone exchange for Frewsburg NY where this dental plate was found, and the prefix for this location is also 569!

Could this be Mary’s missing dental plate?
Could our Mary be from Frewsburg? We need to focus on this location and see if there’s anyone in the community that might recognize her or maybe find out if there’s Iranian or afgan communities as her ethnic background seems to suggest.

What do you guys think?View attachment 543944View attachment 543945View attachment 543946View attachment 543947

Intriguing, for sure.

 

[fridaybaker]

I just discovered something. Could be nothing, could be something.

I found this post on Facebook. It’s a dental plate that was found in Chautauqua county New York - more specifically, Frewsburg NY.

It dawned on me that Mary Anderson had a dental plate and claimed to be from New York. So I went to her unidentified wiki page and looked to see if anything was similar to google maps to see if there could be a connection.

The phone number Mary Anderson gave was 212-569-5549.

So I googled the telephone exchange for Frewsburg NY where this dental plate was found, and the prefix for this location is also 569!

Could this be Mary’s missing dental plate?
Could our Mary be from Frewsburg? We need to focus on this location and see if there’s anyone in the community that might recognize her or maybe find out if there’s Iranian or afgan communities as her ethnic background seems to suggest.

What do you guys think?View attachment 543944View attachment 543945View attachment 543946View attachment 543947

May I ask how on earth you happened upon this little tidbit of information? Because I think you are a SUPER sleuth! This has to be one of the most interesting "finds" I've seen on Websleuths in my long years here. Even if it turns out to be nothing, I have a hard time wrapping my mind around an internet sleuth finding an article about a dental plate in found Frewsberg (who even knew there was such a place) and linking it up with a phone prefix for a unknown in Washington State.

Kudos to you and may it lead us to find our unknkown's identity!

 

[Hollyllennoco]

May I ask how on earth you happened upon this little tidbit of information? Because I think you are a SUPER sleuth! This has to be one of the most interesting "finds" I've seen on Websleuths in my long years here. Even if it turns out to be nothing, I have a hard time wrapping my mind around an internet sleuth finding an article about a dental plate in found Frewsberg (who even knew there was such a place) and linking it up with a phone prefix for a unknown in Washington State.

Kudos to you and may it lead us to find our unknkown's identity!

Thank you. I just stumbled upon the post on Facebook, it was shared in an unsolved mysteries group I’m in and I thought to myself, hmmmm my pet case had a dental plate lol

I have weird hobbies