CA CA - Colusa Co., WhtFemale HC409, 20-26, surgical repair to femur, Oct'82

[carbuff]

None of the three Colusa County UID's in DoeNet are in NamUs.

http://www.doenetwork.org/hot/hotcase463.html
The Doe Network: Hot Case 409
The Doe Network: Case File 271UFCA

Still no cases from Colusa County in Namus.

Hot case 463 is now 3081UMCA

This decedent is still hot case 409.

 

[MadMcGoo]

Refreshing the thread...

 

[Warwick1991]

Refreshing the thread...

It is too bad there are no images of the jewelry, shoes and clothing.

 

[MadMcGoo]

It is too bad there are no images of the jewelry, shoes and clothing.

Yeah! That belt buckles looks unique to me, but I’m not familiar with popular brands from that decade so it may have been common during that time.

 

[Warwick1991]

This person should be identifiable... HC409 has DNA, specialty surgery, unique jewelry, and her clothing and shoes were found. There are dental remains and verified brown hair color. She should be on NAMUS. To have surgery with a vitalium implant, she would have had access to good health care. She would be a good case for DDP or Othram.

Looking at missing women from the time frame, no one seems to fit...

Perhaps she was a tourist or recent immigrant.

 

[MadMcGoo]

I feel awful. This UID is a MALE, not a female!

 

[CCJD]

I feel awful. This UID is a MALE, not a female!

No, this UID is female but the belt buckle is from the male (former HC 463, now 3081UMCA )

Current DN link to this case (former HC 409) 1454UFCA

 

[Warwick1991]

I feel awful. This UID is a MALE, not a female!

No worries - the Colusa County cases were posted together in this thread, which makes things confusing.

 

[canteloupe]

I think Ann Linda Riffin, missing Sept. 1982 from New Mexico, might be a good match for this UID.

She is a bit older than the UID estimate, but is the right height and hair coloring. What caught my attention most was the note in the Charley Project description about her religious practices:

She has previously lived in Britain, Israel and Peru, worked as a teacher and a journalist, and wrote articles for the Jewish News in East Orange, New Jersey. She enjoyed humanitarian causes and wanted to be an author in 1982.

Her sister described as a "troubled" and introverted person without a sense of direction. She moved frequently, sometimes staying with her parents, and also frequently changed jobs. She converted from Judaism to evangelical Christianity, and at one point taught at an evangelical Christian school. She had been living in Ruidoso, New Mexico for only a few months before disappearance, renting a room; her landlady said she dressed plainly, didn't date and rarely went out.
​

There is no mention of the necklace, but of all missing persons within a few hours drive of this UID, she seems to be the best candidate for someone who would own that type of necklace.

Riffin is also noted as having scars on her left leg, which would match up with the UID’s surgical repair work.

 

[Warwick1991]

I think Ann Linda Riffin, missing Oct. 1983 from New Mexico, might be a good match for this UID.

She is a bit older than the UID estimate, but is the right height and hair coloring. What caught my attention most was the note in the Charley Project description about her religious practices:

She has previously lived in Britain, Israel and Peru, worked as a teacher and a journalist, and wrote articles for the Jewish News in East Orange, New Jersey. She enjoyed humanitarian causes and wanted to be an author in 1982.

Her sister described as a "troubled" and introverted person without a sense of direction. She moved frequently, sometimes staying with her parents, and also frequently changed jobs. She converted from Judaism to evangelical Christianity, and at one point taught at an evangelical Christian school. She had been living in Ruidoso, New Mexico for only a few months before disappearance, renting a room; her landlady said she dressed plainly, didn't date and rarely went out.
​

There is no mention of the necklace, but of all missing persons within a few hours drive of this UID, she seems to be the best candidate for someone who would own that type of necklace.

Riffin is also noted as having scars on her left leg, which would match up with the UID’s surgical repair work.

The Colusa County case has a pin through the right femur, which is the upper leg/thigh bone. That would likely have left a scar on the right thigh. Riffin is noted as having scars on her back and left knee, which is not consistent with inserting a pin into the right femur. Also, no prescription glasses appear to have been found. The description notes that gold frame sunglasses were found, but they are not noted as being prescription, which is often noted due to the opportunity for follow up. The jewelry does seem as if it might fit. However, Riffin was said to dress plainly, and the UID had large earrings. The large earrings don’t seem consistent with Riffin’s style. I’m inclined to think the UID is not Riffin. However, if there’s DNA, it would be worth ruling Riffin in or out...

 

[canteloupe]

The Colusa County case has a pin through the right femur, which is the upper leg/thigh bone. That would likely have left a scar on the right thigh. Riffin is noted as having scars on her back and left knee, which is not consistent with inserting a pin into the right femur. Also, no prescription glasses appear to have been found. The description notes that gold frame sunglasses were found, but they are not noted as being prescription, which is often noted due to the opportunity for follow up. The jewelry does seem as if it might fit. However, Riffin was said to dress plainly, and the UID had large earrings. The large earrings don’t seem consistent with Riffin’s style. I’m inclined to think the UID is not Riffin. However, if there’s DNA, it would be worth ruling Riffin in or out...

Great points. I mentioned the leg scar because I recently worked on a match where the autopsy notes had been confused with the perspective depicted in the autopsy photos (i.e. UID’s right arm vs. “scar on the right side of the autopsy photo”). Database entry is a pain in the butt, and I figure that sometimes big mistakes happen!

I’ll send the match along just in case, and ask the overseeing agency why the UID isn’t in NaMUS.

 

[MadMcGoo]

No, this UID is female but the belt buckle is from the male (former HC 463, now 3081UMCA )

Current DN link to this case (former HC 409) 1454UFCA

Oh my. I really was confused. Thanks for clearing that up!

 

[MadMcGoo]

Date of Discovery: October 7, 1982
Location of Discovery: Colusia County, California
Estimated Date of Death: Months prior
State of Remains: Skeletal
Cause of Death: Unknown

Estimated Age: 20-26 years old
Race: White
Sex: Female
Height: 5'1" to 5'4"
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Fracture of lower left leg; pin through right femur. Plate screwed to right femur with the words "VITALIUM 3 3/4".

Dentals: Available.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: Available.

Clothing: Red/white/blue blouse; brown cord pants; brown lace, leather, rubber-soled shoes size 5 - 5 1/2.
Jewelry: Silver ring; silver pendant necklace with Hebrew writing; pair of crescent shaped earrings, 3 1/2 inches, 1 white and 1 brown; round pin-brooch; gold color frame sunglasses.

Circumstances of Discovery
The decedent was located in Colusa County, California on October 7, 1982. The skeletal remains had lain near the Hahn Road exit off northbound Interstate 5 for possibly, several months. A coroner was unable to learn the woman's identity or how she died, and she was buried at Colusa Cemetery.

 

[othram]

This person should be identifiable... HC409 has DNA, specialty surgery, unique jewelry, and her clothing and shoes were found. There are dental remains and verified brown hair color. She should be on NAMUS. To have surgery with a vitalium implant, she would have had access to good health care. She would be a good case for DDP or Othram.

Looking at missing women from the time frame, no one seems to fit...

Perhaps she was a tourist or recent immigrant.

Do we know if someone is working the case?

 

[CCJD]

This person should be identifiable... HC409 has DNA, specialty surgery, unique jewelry, and her clothing and shoes were found. There are dental remains and verified brown hair color. She should be on NAMUS. To have surgery with a vitalium implant, she would have had access to good health care. She would be a good case for DDP or Othram.

S&BBM

I'm really surprised that she isn't in NamUs since it was UNT that was finally able to retrieve DNA from the remains. Unless she is in there, just not publicly viewable.

From an article from when she was being looked at as a possible match Nellie Flickinger:

The remains are now at the University of North Texas Center For Human Identification in Fort Worth, which is seeking to extract DNA from a femur and tooth in hopes of matching it to DNA provided by Ms. Flickinger's relatives.
National site helps ID remains, find the lost

 

[canteloupe]

Do we know if someone is working the case?

She's not in NamUs, and Colusa County could stand to tend to their digital presence.

I found this Sacramento Bee article from Jan. 2008*, which is vague in all the wrong ways, but seems to be discussing this particular UID. It is hosted on the Doe Network, but not linked to any UID, and reference does not appear to it on the UID's page. Unfortunately, if it is the same case, the sheriff's department said that "[t]he county had originally tried DNA testing on some hair from the body, but the hair had degraded too much." Nevertheless, the sheriff's department said that they would be conduct new tests after exhuming the UID. The article, again from 2008, describes the testing as being handled by "state laboratories and could take a year."

It seems both LE and the family of a specific missing person seem to think the UID is Nellie Cornman Flickinger (Doe Network profile here, Charley Project profile here). The family based this suggestion on a previous motorcycle accident that "left [Flickinger] with a plate and screws in her leg."

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported in August 2008 that the California state lab was stymied by an "inability to extract DNA from Jane Doe's femur and tooth."

The lieutenant cited in the Jan. 2008 article no longer works for that county; the coroner listed on the Doe Network page seems to still be employed by Colusa County, though as a "sheriff's technician."

Colusa County is also one in which (at least since 1987) the top elected law enforcement officer serves dual roles as both sheriff and coroner. The current sheriff-coroner is Joe Garofolo.

*This article does not seem to be accessible via the Bee's website. Here is another Jan. 2008 article from the Colusa Sun-Herald that is nearly identical in content to the Bee's.

 

[canteloupe]

Oddly, a 2009 article from the Post-Gazette says that "the Cornman family DNA sample and description are being checked against the NamUS national missing person database."

So, it looks like Colusa County stopped trying to identify her in 2008 when labs in California and UNT failed to extract DNA.

Perhaps a perfect opportunity for @othram to show us how much the tech has changed over the last decade!

 

[othram]

Oddly, a 2009 article from the Post-Gazette says that "the Cornman family DNA sample and description are being checked against the NamUS national missing person database."

So, it looks like Colusa County stopped trying to identify her in 2008 when labs in California and UNT failed to extract DNA.

Perhaps a perfect opportunity for @othram to show us how much the tech has changed over the last decade!

We do love unsolvable cases.

 

[CCJD]

Oddly, a 2009 article from the Post-Gazette says that "the Cornman family DNA sample and description are being checked against the NamUS national missing person database."

So, it looks like Colusa County stopped trying to identify her in 2008 when labs in California and UNT failed to extract DNA.

Perhaps a perfect opportunity for @othram to show us how much the tech has changed over the last decade!

UNT was able to retrieve DNA.

The skeleton even had metal plates and screws in a leg, just as Nellie Flickinger did.

But DNA tests have concluded that the skeleton found in Colusa County, Calif., aren’t Flickinger’s remains.
Welcome

I also still have the email from Nellie's niece letting me know that two types of dna were extracted (likely nuclear and mtDNA) but I can't link to that so mods can delete this paragraph if it's against TOS.

 

[canteloupe]

UNT was able to retrieve DNA.

The skeleton even had metal plates and screws in a leg, just as Nellie Flickinger did.


But DNA tests have concluded that the skeleton found in Colusa County, Calif., aren’t Flickinger’s remains.
Welcome

I also still have the email from Nellie's niece letting me know that two types of dna were extracted (likely nuclear and mtDNA) but I can't link to that so mods can delete this paragraph if it's against TOS.

Awesome! I am blocked out of reading most of that linked article, so I really appreciate your pull quotes.

I think direct correspondence is allowed, though you might have to become a verified user on a case-by-case basis? I'm not actually sure!

Do you know what happened with the testing, as in chain of custody? Are the samples still at UNT? Is that institution's ownership of the material why the UID isn't in NamUs?

Thank you SO much for providing the real answers!