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I hope so too, and I hope her DNA is still good enough to be analysed.I really hope DNA Doe Project investigates this case soon.
I still find Marie Bertha Newell Tidd a good possibility.
From what I could find on genealogy sites she had family in WV,
She also left her children and husband in Zanesville, Ohio.
although the timing is off I still think it could be her.
The hunt for this woman's identity was huge news, their were so many leads and articles I could not keep up with them.
All thou LE was unable to identify her they went to great lengths and investigated every lead possible. Do not believe I have ever come across a Doe case with this much wide spread coverage. As many of yall have stated it would be amazing if DDP picks up her case I believe they will be able to identify her fairly quick.
The YT video from Mysteries WV is very informative!
Berkeley Springs Jane Doe
Date Discovered: Wednesday, May 10th, 1950
Discovery Location: Bath/Berkeley Springs, Morgan County, West Virginia
Physical Description:
Race: Caucasian
Sex: Female
Age: 35–50 Years Old
Height: 5’5” (65”)
Weight: 130 lbs.
Head Hair: Red/Auburn, Curly, close cropped (Recent Perm)
Facial Hair:
Eye Color: Unknown
Clothing: Nude (No Clothing)
Jewelry:
Misc. Items:
Condition of Remain: Recognizable face
Characteristics/Medical/Scars: 3” “Y” shaped scar on the outside of right wrist, “W” shaped scar in center of forehead, 10” hysterectomy scar, 4” appendectomy scar. Freckles on back of hands and lower arms, noted the UID had very small hands, shoe size 4.5 narrow
Transportation:
Postmortem Interval: 48 Hours (2 Days)
Estimated Year of Death: 1950
Cause of Death: Strangulation (Possibly Rope), Neck Broken, Head trauma from a blunt object
Fingerprint Status: Available
Dental Status: Available
DNA Status: Sample submitted – Tests complete
Circumstances:
Body was discovered by a mushroom hunter 42 foot down an embankment near the Hancock bridge on Old US Route 522. Her body was 200 feet from the West Virginia bank of the river on a little used road locally known as Lover’s Lane. The area of discovery is an area where West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania join. The woman had been strangled and the woman had sustained blunt force trauma and her neck was broken. There were no signs the woman had been sexually assaulted.
WVSP held a theory she may have been killed a great distance away and brought to Morgan County. The theory was due in part to the estimated 1000 people from 3 different states that paid their respects at the funeral home, no one recognized the woman.
Several leads were investigated many were “Red Herrings”:
(1) The woman was a former Berkeley Springs waitress whose husband worked in Cumberland, MD. The husband was located and told police his wife had false teeth unlike the UID whom had natural teeth.
(2) A Cumberland man thought it was his missing sister however his sister had dyed red hair with the UID had natural.
(3) A man that attended the funeral thought she looked like a hitchhiker named “Betty Lou” he picked up in Altoona, PA. The woman told him she left her husband and children in Akron, OH after incurring martial issues. She told him that she was going to meet her truck driver boyfriend whom she planned to marry. He dropped her off at the Bedford, PA terminal on the Pennsylvania turnpike
(4) A storekeeper in Sharpsburg, MD found a woman’s dress along the highway close to an abandoned automobile. The 46’ Plymouth had been stolen from Brownsville, PA between May 6-7. A piece of rope, strands of hair, two bobby pins and an old jacket were found inside the car. Items were sent to the FBI to be analyzed. The length of rope was ruled out due to the length in which to be able to strangle a person. The dress fitted the UID perfectly and it was used in her mortuary photo. The hair was confirmed not to be a match to the UID.
(5) A National, WV man was arrested and questioned after he had showed interest in the death of the UID. He was found to be in the possession of a woman’s girdle, scarf, an album containing many women’s photos and some love letters. The man claimed the items found belonged to friends. A long red hair had also been found on his coat it was sent to FBI to determine if it was a match to the UID. The man was subjected to a polygraph test in which showed he had “no connection”.
(6) A man found a package of clothing in Bellefontaine on May 12th it contained red shoes, four pairs of hose, lace panties, green satin dress and an obscene note on a brown paper bag.
(7) A bus driver that viewed the body of the woman several days later identified the woman he dropped off in Hancock @ 12:35 am on May 5th. The woman had ridden the bus from Columbus, OH to Hancock, MD she inquired to him how to get to Needmore PA. He let her out at a highway intersection and told her he would stop at a nearby station and send a taxi to send her to Needmore. The bus driver stopped at the gas station however there were no cabs.
In 2007 the UID was exhumed after (2) families made inquiries into her case. DNA was extracted, and a profile created. However, the UID was not a match to either of the families.
Investigating Agencies:
West Virginia State Police
Troop 2, District 1
1750 Valley Road
Berkeley Springs, WV
Tele: 304.258.0000
Web: https://www.wvsp.gov/pages/coldcasefiles.aspx
West Virginia, Medical Examiner
619 Virginia Street
Charleston, WV
Contact: Matthew Izzo
Tele: 304.558.6920
UID Case # UD1950Morgan
Web: https://dhhr.wv.gov/ocme/about%20us/Pages/Staff-directory.aspx
Information Sources:
NAMUS – Warning Postmortem Photos at NAMUS link
UID Case # UP10026: Unidentified Person Case
ME/C Case # 06-10419
Case Manager: Amy Dobbs
Tele: 865.235.6523
E-Mail: Amy.Dobbs@unthsc.edu
Doe Network Case # 512UFWV: http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/512ufwv.html
News/Blogs:
05/11/50 – Courier Post
05/12/50 – Beckley Post Herald
05/12/50 – Oakland Tribune
05/12/50 – The Evening Sun
05/13/50 – The Times Recorder
05/13/50 – The Evening Times
05/14/50 – Cumberland Sunday Times
05/14/15 – News Journal
05/16/50 – The Baltimore Sun
05/16/50 – The News
05/17/50 – Shamokin News Dispatch
05/17/50 – The Morning Herald
05/17/50 – Daily Press
05/18/50 – Cumberland Evening Times
05/19/50 – Beckley Post Herald
05/19/50 – The Daily News
05/23/50 – Beckley Post Herald
08/18/13 – The Journal http://www.journal-news.net/news/local-news/2013/08/63-year-old-case-remains-ice-cold/
05/12/17 – Mysteries WV - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lnK2DzI1IM&feature=youtu.be
02/25/18 – Unsolved Appalachia http://www.unsolvedappalachia.org/morgan-county-jane-doe/
Do we know how common hysterectomy was before 1950, and what health issues led to it?
Fibroids?
Cancer?
Rupture of the uterus during childbirth?
Although around half a million are carried out in the US every year at present, this is still major abdominal surgery requiring 4 to 6 weeks recovery. In the days before laparascopic surgery and modern anaesthetics this would have been a much more serious operation and I think I've read that up to around 1990 in the UK it used to be said you needed 6 months to really get over it.
Even though hysterectomy procedures have changed over the decades to include less invasive options, like laparoscopy and laser assisted, if a woman had a C-Section, there's a good chance she won't qualify for the newfangled procedure. She'll have to have it the old way.
Well yes. If she's being cut open anyway for the CS there's not much point doing a simultaneous hysterectomy laparoscopically.
LOL, I'm not talking about doing them at the same time
What I'm saying is women who have C-sections during their childbearing years are usually ineligible to have a hysterectomy using the new techniques later in life.
So I gather, though it's not universally the case. Something to do with additional risk arising from scar tissue.
The hunt for this woman's identity was huge news, their were so many leads and articles I could not keep up with them.
All thou LE was unable to identify her they went to great lengths and investigated every lead possible. Do not believe I have ever come across a Doe case with this much wide spread coverage. As many of yall have stated it would be amazing if DDP picks up her case I believe they will be able to identify her fairly quick.
The YT video from Mysteries WV is very informative!
Berkeley Springs Jane Doe
Date Discovered: Wednesday, May 10th, 1950
Discovery Location: Bath/Berkeley Springs, Morgan County, West Virginia
Physical Description:
Race: Caucasian
Sex: Female
Age: 35–50 Years Old
Height: 5’5” (65”)
Weight: 130 lbs.
Head Hair: Red/Auburn, Curly, close cropped (Recent Perm)
Facial Hair:
Eye Color: Unknown
Clothing: Nude (No Clothing)
Jewelry:
Misc. Items:
Condition of Remain: Recognizable face
Characteristics/Medical/Scars: 3” “Y” shaped scar on the outside of right wrist, “W” shaped scar in center of forehead, 10” hysterectomy scar, 4” appendectomy scar. Freckles on back of hands and lower arms, noted the UID had very small hands, shoe size 4.5 narrow
Transportation:
Postmortem Interval: 48 Hours (2 Days)
Estimated Year of Death: 1950
Cause of Death: Strangulation (Possibly Rope), Neck Broken, Head trauma from a blunt object
Fingerprint Status: Available
Dental Status: Available
DNA Status: Sample submitted – Tests complete
Circumstances:
Body was discovered by a mushroom hunter 42 foot down an embankment near the Hancock bridge on Old US Route 522. Her body was 200 feet from the West Virginia bank of the river on a little used road locally known as Lover’s Lane. The area of discovery is an area where West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania join. The woman had been strangled and the woman had sustained blunt force trauma and her neck was broken. There were no signs the woman had been sexually assaulted.
WVSP held a theory she may have been killed a great distance away and brought to Morgan County. The theory was due in part to the estimated 1000 people from 3 different states that paid their respects at the funeral home, no one recognized the woman.
Several leads were investigated many were “Red Herrings”:
(1) The woman was a former Berkeley Springs waitress whose husband worked in Cumberland, MD. The husband was located and told police his wife had false teeth unlike the UID whom had natural teeth.
(2) A Cumberland man thought it was his missing sister however his sister had dyed red hair with the UID had natural.
(3) A man that attended the funeral thought she looked like a hitchhiker named “Betty Lou” he picked up in Altoona, PA. The woman told him she left her husband and children in Akron, OH after incurring martial issues. She told him that she was going to meet her truck driver boyfriend whom she planned to marry. He dropped her off at the Bedford, PA terminal on the Pennsylvania turnpike
(4) A storekeeper in Sharpsburg, MD found a woman’s dress along the highway close to an abandoned automobile. The 46’ Plymouth had been stolen from Brownsville, PA between May 6-7. A piece of rope, strands of hair, two bobby pins and an old jacket were found inside the car. Items were sent to the FBI to be analyzed. The length of rope was ruled out due to the length in which to be able to strangle a person. The dress fitted the UID perfectly and it was used in her mortuary photo. The hair was confirmed not to be a match to the UID.
(5) A National, WV man was arrested and questioned after he had showed interest in the death of the UID. He was found to be in the possession of a woman’s girdle, scarf, an album containing many women’s photos and some love letters. The man claimed the items found belonged to friends. A long red hair had also been found on his coat it was sent to FBI to determine if it was a match to the UID. The man was subjected to a polygraph test in which showed he had “no connection”.
(6) A man found a package of clothing in Bellefontaine on May 12th it contained red shoes, four pairs of hose, lace panties, green satin dress and an obscene note on a brown paper bag.
(7) A bus driver that viewed the body of the woman several days later identified the woman he dropped off in Hancock @ 12:35 am on May 5th. The woman had ridden the bus from Columbus, OH to Hancock, MD she inquired to him how to get to Needmore PA. He let her out at a highway intersection and told her he would stop at a nearby station and send a taxi to send her to Needmore. The bus driver stopped at the gas station however there were no cabs.
In 2007 the UID was exhumed after (2) families made inquiries into her case. DNA was extracted, and a profile created. However, the UID was not a match to either of the families.
Investigating Agencies:
West Virginia State Police
Troop 2, District 1
1750 Valley Road
Berkeley Springs, WV
Tele: 304.258.0000
Web: https://www.wvsp.gov/pages/coldcasefiles.aspx
West Virginia, Medical Examiner
619 Virginia Street
Charleston, WV
Contact: Matthew Izzo
Tele: 304.558.6920
UID Case # UD1950Morgan
Web: https://dhhr.wv.gov/ocme/about%20us/Pages/Staff-directory.aspx
Information Sources:
NAMUS – Warning Postmortem Photos at NAMUS link
UID Case # UP10026: Unidentified Person Case
ME/C Case # 06-10419
Case Manager: Amy Dobbs
Tele: 865.235.6523
E-Mail: Amy.Dobbs@unthsc.edu
Doe Network Case # 512UFWV: http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/512ufwv.html
News/Blogs:
05/11/50 – Courier Post
05/12/50 – Beckley Post Herald
05/12/50 – Oakland Tribune
05/12/50 – The Evening Sun
05/13/50 – The Times Recorder
05/13/50 – The Evening Times
05/14/50 – Cumberland Sunday Times
05/14/15 – News Journal
05/16/50 – The Baltimore Sun
05/16/50 – The News
05/17/50 – Shamokin News Dispatch
05/17/50 – The Morning Herald
05/17/50 – Daily Press
05/18/50 – Cumberland Evening Times
05/19/50 – Beckley Post Herald
05/19/50 – The Daily News
05/23/50 – Beckley Post Herald
08/18/13 – The Journal http://www.journal-news.net/news/local-news/2013/08/63-year-old-case-remains-ice-cold/
05/12/17 – Mysteries WV - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lnK2DzI1IM&feature=youtu.be
02/25/18 – Unsolved Appalachia http://www.unsolvedappalachia.org/morgan-county-jane-doe/[/QUOTE
There's a lot of information here. The bus driver identified her as the passenger that he dropped of at 12:30 am on May 5th in Hancock and she said that she wanted to go to Needmore, PA. Did an investigator go to Needmore to look for information ? What did he find ? It's such a small place. Why was she going there ?
WVSP held a theory she may have been killed a great distance away and brought to Morgan County.
Made me think of a truck driver right away.
Were they able to determine if she had ever given birth?