Resolved WY - Sweetwater, "Bitter Creek Betty", Wht/HispFem 24-32, 213UFWY, rose tatt/jewelry Mar'92 - N/A

[Ambercat]

I noticed that Debbie Misquez Escalante who went missing from Las Cruces, NM on August 21, 1989 had a rose tattoo on her right breast. Not much else about her is consistent with the UID, though.

http://missingpersons.dps.state.nm.us/servlet/mpposter_serv.class?id=M9850
https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/2694/0

 

[ginestra]

What about Julie Lynn Moranda? The height is off, but the pic I think resembles Carl's alot!!! From: http://doenetwork.org/cases/514dfwa.html
Missing since December 7, 1990 from Yakima, Yakima County, Washington.
Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: March 31, 1959
Age at Time of Disappearance: 31 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'0"-5'2"; 125 - 140 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. brown hair (could be dyed red); hazel or blue eyes. She has shoe size 6 1/2 narrow.
Tattoos: She has a rose tattoo on left breast, a partial rose on right breast, letter "D" on left hand, letter "J" on right hand, small square on right hand.
AKA: Terry L Moore, Becky Walker, Janice M Young.
Dentals: No dental records available.
DNA: Available.
Fingerprints: Available.



Circumstances of Disappearance
Julie Moranda disappeared from a parking lot in Yakima, Washington. She was last seen getting into a car with an unknown driver near the Yakima Sports Center. Police believe may be a victim of a serial killer.
She was a prostitute and IV drug addict. A month later another woman disappeared from the same location.
Medical records are forthcoming.

 

[Cupcakeslayer]

This one struck me somehow.
Linda Rose Grimm http://doenetwork.org/cases/881dfca.html

Shes had a Cesarean, But no mention of a tattoo (coincidentally her middle name is rose)
She (allegedly) traveled from Cali to Kansas, Although Tuscon is not directly on the way, its possible she did not go directly. Last seen in march of 86, heard from in September of 87 - However, I suspect that this poor woman was held against her will, possibly by a trucker. The biggest problem I see is a 6 inch height difference, Linda also has hazel eyes (not to big of a jump IMO) and in some pics her hair is lighter.
Now, I'm really bad with faces (admittedly I have trouble identifying pictures of myself) So I'm sorry if these bear no resemblance whatsoever, But to me they do.

 

[ginestra]

No on Julie? They are similar in appearance

 

[summer_breeze]

http://billingsgazette.com/news/sta...cle_907e475c-cc03-54a2-bd55-97848afdebd8.html

8 hours ago • By MEGAN CASSIDY Casper Star-Tribune

<snipped>

After blasting that rose throughout the media, it paid off in July 1992. The rose was the work of a Tucson, Ariz., tattoo artist, the tipster said, known for inking truckers and a calligraphy Kung Fu signature.

Detectives visited with the artist, who proved to be instrumental. He remembered the woman, he said, and described her as a &#8220;leaper&#8221; -- one who travels throughout the country hitching rides from various truckers. She was reasonably intelligent, Hispanic, and spoke without an accent. He was even able to describe the clothing she was wearing that day in June 1991: A brown peasant dress with yellow flowers.

 

[verdandie]

There is this one in Namus, but there is no image of her. Similar charecteristics, scar on abdomen, no mention of a tattoo but she could have received it after she vanished. I have been looking on the internet but can't find a picture. Did the tattoo artist remember when the tatto was done?

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/10347/93/

 

[carbuff]

This one struck me somehow.
Linda Rose Grimm http://doenetwork.org/cases/881dfca.html

Shes had a Cesarean, But no mention of a tattoo (coincidentally her middle name is rose)
She (allegedly) traveled from Cali to Kansas, Although Tuscon is not directly on the way, its possible she did not go directly. Last seen in march of 86, heard from in September of 87 - However, I suspect that this poor woman was held against her will, possibly by a trucker. The biggest problem I see is a 6 inch height difference, Linda also has hazel eyes (not to big of a jump IMO) and in some pics her hair is lighter.
Now, I'm really bad with faces (admittedly I have trouble identifying pictures of myself) So I'm sorry if these bear no resemblance whatsoever, But to me they do.

Since the tattoo artist remembers inking her in June 1991, the fact that she didn't have a tattoo when she left in 1986 is a point in her favor.

Her circumstances sound like she could well have been traveling around the country with truckers -- either with the guy she was reported to be living with, or with other truckers if she left him.

Height is, as you say, off, but the other stats match. Timeline works.

Linda looks very different in some of her photos -- very hispanic in some of them.

I'd say she's worth sending in.

 

[carbuff]

No on Julie? They are similar in appearance

Julie has other tattoos that this UID doesn't have.

 

[carbuff]

There is this one in Namus, but there is no image of her. Similar charecteristics, scar on abdomen, no mention of a tattoo but she could have received it after she vanished. I have been looking on the internet but can't find a picture. Did the tattoo artist remember when the tatto was done?

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/10347/93/

A couple of posts upthread, there's a pointer to an article that says he inked the design in June 1991. So Ms. Johnson looks like a definite possibility.

 

[Veidt]

I've just found a lady whose age is close-ish to this Jane Doe, and her height and weight sounds spot on as well as her eye and hair colour. She was last heard from in 1991 which would fit with the tattoo artists remembering her then.

The rose tattoo looks different, but the upper (the flower) part of the design seems like it could have been filled in at some point and the stem added. It looks like a very similar design but it's hard to be sure since the pictures are so blurry.

In the second picture she looks a bit like the sketches and reconstructions on this thread but again, the picture is blurry so it's hard to be sure. She is not Hispanic, however, it says she is Caucasian. She also has two other tattoos, I wonder if the state of Jane Doe's body could have resulted in some of them being destroyed.

Her page on Charley Project does not mention any scars or what she could have been wearing. There aren't many details about her family other than the fact that her parents lived far away (in Mississipi, maybe?).

She was last seen in Arizona and was going to travel to visit her parents.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/hoke_shelley.html

 

[CarlK90245]

The part about revising the tattoo would be plausible, but other tattoos seem to be a hang-up on Shelley Hoke. The body, although it had been there for a few months, was apparently well-preserved by the cold weather. The woman's face was still intact, and the tattoo on her breast was well-preserved. I suppose there could have been animal activity on her ankle and back of her shoulder, but there is no mention of that.

 

[CarlK90245]

I decided that my recon for this Jane Doe was in need of a major revision.

:bump: Bump for image revision.

 

[carbuff]

She certainly looks a lot like Shelly Hoke.

 

[verdandie]

Namus has now added a photo to my previous post in regards to similar characteristics to Sheila Johnson, but I don't think the photo of her has similar characteristics.

 

[verdandie]

Based on the article - http://trib.com/news/local/casper/j...cle_5c344f71-66d7-5270-ae0a-ef2a350dd56d.html - saying she was described as a leaper, and being 23 years later, do you know if they ever posted her picture around truck stops across the country to see if maybe a trucker remembered her, maybe there were multiple drivers she took rides from and maybe someone would have remembered her name or where she was originally from. But being 23 years later that may be difficult. Just a thought.

 

[lucidtx]

On 3/10/2014 the FBI released ViCAP alerts on this victim (Bitter Creek Betty) and another unidentified woman found in Sheridan County, Wyoming in 1992 (390UFWY) (NamUs.)

DNA evidence has linked the two cases.

ViCAP for 213UFWY/Bitter Creek Betty.

ViCAP for 390UFWY/Sheridan Jane Doe.

The new bulletins don't contain much new information aside from the confirmation that the cases are related, but here's the little bits I noticed (I may have missed stuff, sleep-deprived)

- The tattoo shop that Bitter Creek Betty likely received her rose tat at is/was near the "Triple T Truck Stop" in Tuscon.

- The Sheridan/I90 Jane Doe is believed to have died in early February 1992 (around the same time Bitter Creek Betty was killed) and her hair was "brown (sun-bleached)". A picture of the shirt she was found wearing is on the ViCAP bulletin. She was found in a ditch on the southbound/west side of I90 5 miles south of the Montana/Wyoming border.

I'm going to post this update on the thread of both victims, to ensure that anyone interested in either case will see the updated information. I hope that's okay.

 

[lucidtx]

Also: Looking at the Triple T Truck Stop, it is off I10 on the northbound/east side of the highway, wedged between Tucson International Airport and Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. Bear in mind that it has been decades and it may not be the same exact location Bitter Creek Betty visited (they may have relocated/etc.) It is southeast of the center of Tucson and the I19/I10 interchange. Looking at the location of the truck stop, if she was just stopping through Tucson, it looks like her most likely route would have been coming in westbound on I10... so possibly out of Southern New Mexico, West Texas, or possibly north up from Chihuahua or Sonora, Mexico. However, this may be a totally moot point because for all we know she could have been a resident of Tucson, or at least have stayed there for a while before getting her tattoo.

With a cursory search I'm not finding any current tattoo shops very close to the truck stop.

Who knows what route she ended up following from Tucson to Wyoming... I do know that both truck drivers and adventurous types (such as backpackers) who often hitchhike frequent the highways in that region... many are on cross-country journeys from either coast to coast (Las Vegas, Cali, etc) or north/south.

FYI: the term "leaper" is often used in reference to prostitutes who frequent truck stops.

The most direct route from that Tucson truck stop area to where her body was found would have been I10/I17/I15 north then east on I80. If she took this route she would have passed through Phoenix, Flagstaff... near the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, and the Provo/Salt Lake Area.

Some other locations on similar routes that are frequented by travelers include Arches, Canyonlands, and Rocky Mountain National Parks, Moab, UT, the Hopi and Navajo Nations/Reservations, Albuquerque and Santa Fe (New Mexico,) Cheyenne and Rawlins, WY, and the I70 and I25 corridors in CO/WY including Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs, Boulder, Fort Collins, Denver and most of the CO ski resort areas like Vail and Breckenridge. I know that's quite a list but I'm hoping to perhaps spur someone's memory of her, and given the time frame between her tattoo and death, I'm guessing she roamed a bit.

 

[jjohnston0827]

Not sure if this could be her... found an article on cold cases about a missing girl from '79 with a rose on her chest.

At the time of her disappearance, Dequina was 5'3 with auburn hair and hazel colored eyes. The 22 year old also had a tattoo of a rose on her chest and the name Archie. If you have any information about this case please contact the Lynn Police Department at 781-595-2000. All calls can be confidential.

http://www.ctcoldcases.com/Massachusetts.html (about 1/5th down the page, article entitled "Disappearance of Woman Connected to Other Murders?"

I think she is strikingly similar to the composites of the JD, from her mouth, to her wide set eyes. She had dark hair and hazel eyes, the height and weight are similar, and she had children. I know it's a stretch, with her being from MA, but what do you guys think?

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/d/dequina_susan.html

http://doenetwork.org/cases/2951dfma.html

 

[verdandie]

Jane Doe had dark brown or black eyes, as well as the hair color. She was also a little taller. I attached a link to Wyoming Missing and Unidentified - If you scroll down to the March 1992 Unidentified female, there was another composite done by a computer artist based on the photo of the deceased. There are three pictures that are available on the page, if you hit the refresh button, the pictures will refresh, there are four total, the reconstruction done by Carl Koppelman - Tetons in the background, the newspaper article of the deceased, a picture of the tattoo and the computer rendering done recently by artist Randall Sands-He said the eye of hers are wide and oval and has a slight hang if open and they are about even not slanted, nose has a slight dip here the body is swollen and not as normal and cold, she were to stand normal she would have a different look she is in her early 20's and small. I think her jaws are open so it would appear the jaws may have been closer rather further out so this is what I came up with.

http://wymissingandunidentified.com/WYUnidentified.php

 

[carbuff]

Not sure if this could be her... found an article on cold cases about a missing girl from '79 with a rose on her chest.



http://www.ctcoldcases.com/Massachusetts.html (about 1/5th down the page, article entitled "Disappearance of Woman Connected to Other Murders?"

I think she is strikingly similar to the composites of the JD, from her mouth, to her wide set eyes. She had dark hair and hazel eyes, the height and weight are similar, and she had children. I know it's a stretch, with her being from MA, but what do you guys think?

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/d/dequina_susan.html

http://doenetwork.org/cases/2951dfma.html

Dequina is a rather good match physically, but circumstances strongly indicate she was murdered the night she disappeared.