Identified! WY - Gillette, WhtFem UP12120, 18-30, in gravel pit, Aug'83 - Mary Andersen

[CarlK90245]

Here's a Jane Doe case just recently added to NamUs that I've never heard about before.

NamUs UP 12120 https://identifyus.org/en/cases/12120

No Image Available

Unidentified White Female

The victim was discovered on August 10, 1983 in Gillette, Campbell County, Wyoming

Body Condition: Not recognizable - Partial remains with soft tissues​

Vital Statistics

Estimated age: Adult - Pre-30
Approximate Height: 5'5" (65 inches).
Approximate Weight: 115 pounds.
​

Clothing & Accessories

Clothing: Lt. Blue Comfy brand down filled jacket, Dark blue short sleeve shirt, size Small, blue jean bell bottoms, zip fly size 29 X 33, white knee high socks, white underwire bra, size 34B, white underwear

Footwear: Brown cowboy boots, size 9B

Accessories: dark blue change purse, $28. and change, brown leather makeup bag​

Identifiers

Fingerprints: Not Available
Dentals: Not Available
DNA: Sample submitted - Tests complete
​

Case History

Remains of unidentified found in a gravel pit.​

 

[CarlK90245]

Mary Lynn Anderson-Shondel looks pretty good as a possible for this Jane Doe.

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/1479/0
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/andersen_mary.html

• Her loc LKA (Gillette WY) matches the location that the Jane Doe was found
• Her height (62-66 inches) is within the Jane Doe's estimated height (65 inches), and the 29 x 33 jeans would be consistent to her petite frame.
• Her Date LKA (sometime in 1982) would be consistent with the date of discovery (August 1983 - Partial remains)
• Her age (23) is consistent with the Jane Doe's age estimate (Adult Under 30)
• The 34B Bra found with the remains seems to be approximately consistent with Mary's waist-up photo. And she is shown wearing blue jeans and a western style belt (consistent with the blue jeans and western boots found with the remains)

Submitted by e-mail to Janet Franson

 

[killer Chaser]

Mary Lynn Anderson-Shondel looks pretty good as a possible for this Jane Doe.

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/1479/0
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/andersen_mary.html

• Her loc LKA (Gillette WY) matches the location that the Jane Doe was found
• Her height (62-66 inches) is within the Jane Doe's estimated height (65 inches), and the 29 x 33 jeans would be consistent to her petite frame.
• Her Date LKA (sometime in 1982) would be consistent with the date of discovery (August 1983 - Partial remains)
• Her age (23) is consistent with the Jane Doe's age estimate (Adult Under 30)
• The 34B Bra found with the remains seems to be approximately consistent with Mary's waist-up photo. And she is shown wearing blue jeans and a western style belt (consistent with the blue jeans and western boots found with the remains)

Submitted by e-mail to Janet Franson

It's hard to believe that they haven't checked this one out!

 

[CarlK90245]

It's hard to believe that they haven't checked this one out!

The only thing I can think of is that she is listed in NamUs as LKA in Minnesota, so she might have been missed in a tight screen.

 

[killer Chaser]

The only thing I can think of is that she is listed in NamUs as LKA in Minnesota, so she might have been missed in a tight screen.

True she went missing some 32 years ago the Detectives handling the case probably have long since retired. It's just strange they didn't put this together mary missing 1982 and Jane Doe found 1983.

 

[ClaireNC]

Sounds like a really good possibility. As always, great work CarlK!

It sounds like she wasn't reported missing until a few years after she was last seen and LE didn't take the report seriously, which could also help explain why the match had not been made earlier.

Here is some more info on Mary Lynn's story. I hope it's ok to post this link: http://whereaboutsstillunknown.wordpress.com/2013/08/19/mary-lynn-andersen/

Her Doe Network case file: http://doenetwork.org/cases/2735dfmn.html

 

[CarlK90245]

Got a reply from Janet Franson

Both the MP’s FRS’s (Mn BCA) and the UP’s DNA (at UNT) are at national CODIS level, so they should have hit – I emailed Mn to check and make sure, just as I did Wy DCI.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://kfgo.com/news/articles/2014/jul/03/remains-of-frazee-area-woman-missing-for-more-than-3-decades-identified/

Human remains found in a gravel pit in Wyoming in 1983 belong to 26-year-old Mary Lynn Anderson, also known as Mary Lynn Shondel.

The Frazee area woman was last seen in 1982 when she headed to Wyoming. Her remains were found in a gravel pit in 1983, but were just recently identified through DNA testing.

 

[carbuff]

Carl nails another one. Way to go!

And I'm glad Mary Lynn can go home now.

 

[Salem]

Yay! RIP Mary Lynn. So glad your loved ones have you back.

Salem

 

[CarlK90245]

Carl nails another one. Way to go!

And I'm glad Mary Lynn can go home now.

Not sure yet whether I can call this a WS Match. I tried to call Janet Franson, but she didn't answer. I'll try again later.

I'll leave this as Match! for the time being, but if she says that she was looking into it before I e-mailed her, then I'll switch it back to Identified

 

[micheleonelonly]

Nice work, Carl. Proof positive that mutual DNA in CODIS is not a deal-breaker and is no substitute for human intellect.

 

[CarlK90245]

I talked to Janet Franson. She says that someone was showing her a spreadsheet of NCIC UID cases, and she saw this case and a couple of others and realized that they weren't in NamUs. So she asked the authorities to send the bones to UNT. Once UNT started working on the case, she created the UP casefile.

The people at UNT were talking about a probable match right after they started working on it. And although they didn't mention a name, she said she kind of knew who they were talking about. This was all going on before I submitted.

So I can't claim this as my Match, as this was on their radar prior to my e-mail. I know Janet well enough that I don't think she would deny me credit if she thought I was responsible for the match.

Nevertheless, I am very excited to see a solve on such an old case.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.wdaz.com/content/remains-found-31-years-ago-wyoming-identified-missing-minnesota-native-0

Chances that Anderson’s case would be resolved were slim until a month ago, when an independent investigator working for a Canadian agency that specializes in missing persons connected the body found in Wyoming to the missing Frazee woman, Sieling said.

The investigator contacted the Becker County Sheriff’s Office with the tip, and Sieling worked with Wyoming’s Division of Criminal Investigation to test DNA samples for a possible match.

Two weeks ago, tests came back positive for a match and the family was informed that Anderson and the woman found dead in Wyoming were the same, Sieling said.

 

[OC Lady]

Carl - help me out here...why did they not get a hit? It seems that many UIDs and MPs have DNA in some system or another, and are automatically "rejected"if the DNA in the system does not generate a hit....

It's concerning to me as we all spend time trying to help identify UIDs and many times what appears to be an excellent possibility is "ruled out"by DNA...

Can you help explain??

 

[CarlK90245]

Carl - help me out here...why did they not get a hit? It seems that many UIDs and MPs have DNA in some system or another, and are automatically "rejected"if the DNA in the system does not generate a hit....

It's concerning to me as we all spend time trying to help identify UIDs and many times what appears to be an excellent possibility is "ruled out"by DNA...

Can you help explain??

I think in this case, the DNA on the UID was in a state lab, and not in national CODIS. When Janet Franson became aware of the UID, they sent the remains to UNT and they re-worked the DNA profile.

 

[CarlK90245]

http://www.wdaz.com/content/remains-found-31-years-ago-wyoming-identified-missing-minnesota-native-0

Chances that Anderson’s case would be resolved were slim until a month ago, when an independent investigator working for a Canadian agency that specializes in missing persons connected the body found in Wyoming to the missing Frazee woman, Sieling said.

The investigator contacted the Becker County Sheriff’s Office with the tip, and Sieling worked with Wyoming’s Division of Criminal Investigation to test DNA samples for a possible match.

Two weeks ago, tests came back positive for a match and the family was informed that Anderson and the woman found dead in Wyoming were the same, Sieling said.

I'm a little skeptical about the story about the Canadian researcher.

The NamUs casefile was created a month ago. And I called Janet about it right away when the casefile was created. I doubt that the Canadian researcher had any knowledge about this case, other than it was in NamUs. If that's the case, then the people at UNT were already on to it before the Canadian researcher called the local Sheriff. It may be that this was the first time the Sheriff had heard about it.

 

[OC Lady]

So when Ms. Franson stated they were both in CODIS, that was not correct? Good thing she followed up to be sure....do you think this happens very often?

 

[CarlK90245]

I think she is saying that her original assumption (about both sides being in CODIS) was not correct, and she found that out after she inquired.

I would guess that this happens more often than we are led to believe.

 

[OkieGranny]

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_26123688/minnesota-woman-coming-home-30-years-after-killing

The Frazee family found out last week that Mary, who had been gone since 1981, was killed two years later in Gillette, Wyo., where she had been staying at the time. She was 23 when her family last saw her. "I want people to know she was a person. She's not just a statistic anymore. She's coming home," said her sister, Wendy Ketter...

With Mary registered as missing through the Becker County Sheriff's Office, Ketter said the family held on to hope that they would see Mary again. She and Crystal Andersen spent countless hours scouring missing persons' websites, hoping to find anything on a Jane Doe that would turn out to be Mary... "We spent hours and would lose sleep," Crystal Andersen said of searching websites. "It's very frustrating." The family realized later that Mary hadn't been placed in the system, so they submitted DNA and made sure the file was up to date and active.

Then on July 2, Ketter said, Becker County investigator Dan Skoog showed up on her doorstep. At first she questioned who was in trouble, but when she saw a man from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension with Skoog, she knew right away it had to do with her sister.