Identified! CA - Huntington Beach, WhtFem 40UFCA, 18-30, poss name Andrea, Apr'90 - Andrea Kuiper

[zwiebel]

Good find about the sweater!

What puzzles me about those porcelain restorations is that it says they were on the back of Andrea's front teeth. That really does seem to be a lot of money to spend on work that wouldn't show, unless there were really severe cavities and amalgam would have shown through at the front. If they were just at the back though, they couldn't be crowns, could they? I think they cover the whole tooth. I wish we knew for certain because if they were crowns or veneers they would have been made in a lab, but if they were just filled cavities all the work could have been carried out in the dentist's surgery.

 

[Roselvr]

I was at the dentist today and talked to them about Andrea's expensive porcelain crowns/restorations. My dentist agreed that was quite cutting edge for 1990, and would have only been done, (or most likely done) for a wealthy patient. She (my dentist), suggested that if you narrow the search to dentists who specialized in cosmetic dentistry (truly a specialty in 1990), you might find a match. She further suggested that Huntington Beach was close enough to Beverly Hills and Hollywood....where many of these "Hollywood smiles" are created. So, would the local Hollywood/Bev Hills libraries have old yellow pages on microfiche? A wild card, but who knows. Finally, my dentist stated if they kept a sample of one of her real teeth they could test DNA. (This you already know). So there are the thoughts from my helpful dentist. She did say you can't match to the lab unless you know what special little "stamp" they use. I guess each lab marks the crowns in a unique way, to some extent.

I don't think her teeth were that exclusive.
I had an adopted friend that had all 4 top front teeth were capped. That was in the late 70's.

How Dental PFM Crowns are Made

TEETH/CONDITION: PFM jackets, back of #7-10, restorations #2, 15, 19, 20, missing #6, 11, 21, 28-spaces closed, missing wisdom, prior orthodontics

 

[zwiebel]

They're little works of art really, aren't they? Thanks for zooming in on the chart. I wonder if it would be possible to have an item about Andrea in a dental magazine? Her chart would obviously be seen by the right people then - although it is in the back of my mind that with 23 years having passed, Andrea's dentist may have retired by now.

 

[Roselvr]

We'll have to get a list of questions together to ask LE the next time someone calls. There is a 1970's mystery couple case where the male's dental work was posted in dental trade mags; no one came forward

 

[zwiebel]

The trademark for New Hero seems to have lapsed now. But the original registration shows it was a California-based company. There was also a question I saw from someone in 2007 saying they could no longer get hold of the clothes and they used to be sold in small stores.

So I'm guessing the likelihood is quite high that Andrea bought her pink shoes and sweater at the same time, from the same thrift shop in CA. She was given $30, had about $20 left; does $5 each for a sweater and pair of shoes from a thrift store seem likely in 1990, anyone?

http://www.trademarkia.com/new-hero-73102905.html

 

[zwiebel]

That raises another issue for me though - she'd been in CA about two weeks, according to the hitcher. Was she really living rough in CA with just a dress and tee to wear before she bought that sweater on her last day? Wouldn't the nights have been very cool in April, even in CA?

 

[webrocket]

So I'm guessing the likelihood is quite high that Andrea bought her pink shoes and sweater at the same time, from the same thrift shop in CA. She was given $30, had about $20 left; does $5 each for a sweater and pair of shoes from a thrift store seem likely in 1990, anyone?

http://www.trademarkia.com/new-hero-73102905.html

didn't the shoes cost like $19.95 or something close to that?

 

[MrsTigglesworth]

didn't the shoes cost like $19.95 or something close to that?

5$ per item sounds likely. I've never been thrifting in CA, but in my many years of thrifting, shoes are generally one price, shirts/ sweaters a different set price.
Some major retail stores donate unsold back stock to thrift stores and it is often that you find a pair of shoes on the rack under the big sign that says "shoes 4.95$" that are still marked with their retail store tag of their original price. I really have never seen a pair of thrift shoes be more than $10 ...

I agree the sweater and shoes were probably bought together.

Here is my most recent question... What girl doesn't carry a bag of some kind, and what hitcher doesn't carry a bag of some kind? She had been there weeks and did stay the night with the one witness. Where was she the rest of the time ? If she had a room where she may have left her stuff, why the need to buy clothes and why the need for a place to stay? And why hold onto the key? Do we know WHEN she stayed with the Mobile home guy? It seems to be right before April 1st, right? It was April, weather warming up, so likely she had been traveling in colder weather, so no need to purchase things because it was getting colder outside....

Also I was wondering but couldn't immediately while searching find the answer to when or how the sketch was released or an article written. Was there a newspaper article? How did the witnesses come forward? If I recall, I think it just said after a sketch was released.

Thoughts for the evening....

 

[zwiebel]

In answer to webrocket

Yes, that's correct, one had a $19.95 sticker on. But someone earlier pointed out that the shoes could have been given to the thrift store with the original price ticket still on.

 

[webrocket]

fair enough!

 

[zwiebel]

Respectfully snipped

Here is my most recent question... What girl doesn't carry a bag of some kind, and what hitcher doesn't carry a bag of some kind? She had been there weeks and did stay the night with the one witness. Where was she the rest of the time ? If she had a room where she may have left her stuff, why the need to buy clothes and why the need for a place to stay? And why hold onto the key? Do we know WHEN she stayed with the Mobile home guy? It seems to be right before April 1st, right? It was April, weather warming up, so likely she had been traveling in colder weather, so no need to purchase things because it was getting colder outside....

Also I was wondering but couldn't immediately while searching find the answer to when or how the sketch was released or an article written. Was there a newspaper article? How did the witnesses come forward? If I recall, I think it just said after a sketch was released.

Thoughts for the evening....

BBM
"Two men said Saturday that they knew the the woman whose identity has been a mystery to authorities since she was run down on Pacific Coast Highway two weeks ago. But the men say they only know the woman's first name; Andrea.......Andrea had no permanent home in Orange County and originally came from the East Coast, said RE, a homeless man who had a brief friendship with her.

"I am 100 per cent positive," RE said, after he was shown pictures of the woman by Huntington Beach Police. RE called police after seeing an artist's rendering of the woman Saturday in The Orange County Register."

From an article in The Orange County Register on April 15th, 1990.

 

[zwiebel]

*That article also quotes RE talking about the money Andrea was given by the mobile home salesman:

"Andrea apparently took the money and brought clothes at a Goodwill store, including a pair of shoes for $19.95, RE said."

That sounds an awful lot of money for shoes from a Goodwill store to me. I can't find the article with the reference to exactly how much money Andrea was given at the moment, but I'll keep looking.

Another OC Reg item from April 1st, 1992, mentions an article on the case which appeared 'Monday' in The Tampa Tribune. If I could work out what date Monday might have been I'd try to hunt down that article.

 

[CarlK90245]

If I could work out what date Monday might have been I'd try to hunt down that article.

April 1, 1992 was a Wednesday, so the previous Monday was March 30, 1992.

 

[zwiebel]

Thanks CarlK. You were spot on. I've found it but it's another one where you have to join and can't share a link to the complete article. Sigh. I'll have to try and get it though, now I've read the clip. It's another interview with Joe Luckey, the coroner who was obsessed with identifying Andrea.

 

[zwiebel]

I've been a complete idiot and purchased the article on my tablet which won't allow me to copy anything, so I can't even keep a copy for myself!

I've made notes of anything that might help us though, and will post them soon.

 

[zwiebel]

Jane Doe 90-01853-LY. The article mentions she was 'young' again, and pretty. The Senior Deputy Coroner's Investigator, Joe Luckey, said: " Actually, she was quite beautiful".
He kept a pencilled sketch of her on the tape dispenser on his desk. The writer says she had the kind of face that could hide age: 'Was she 16? Was she 30?'

Andrea had clean teeth and hair. Her dental work was 'specific enough and sophisticated enough that it should have flagged a match'. She had expensive porcelain caps on her four upper front teeth, her wisdom teeth were gone, and four other molars had been extracted to correct her bite.

The description of clothing is exactly the same except this article says she wore a black, calf-length jumper, not dress. That's the only article I've seen that's said that though, so I think it's a mistake. Two sweaters and no dress sounds odd. It also says she had gone to the highway from the beach, 'apparently alone'.

This article mentions the Californian psychic again, who came forward and offered her services if she could remain anonymous. I get the impression the coroner took her suggestion Andrea came from somewhere in Florida to heart, and really chased down any possible leads there. In the month the article was written, he had sent pleas to 18 newspapers in Florida, asking them to run anniversary of her death articles.

John Joyce, a spokesperson for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, was also spoken to and he seemed a little sceptical about the psychic angle, imo. He said it would be like 'finding a needle in a haystack' and Wayne Quincy, a spokesperson for the FL criminal justice information service, added that 28,000 women had been reported missing in Florida in 1990 alone.

Andrea was checked against a missing orphan in Newport, Va, but she turned up alive in Oregon.

Andrea definitely wasn't cremated by the date of this article, as her body is mentioned being in the 'freezer'.

This info was from an article published in The Tampa Tribune, March 30th, 1992, under the heading, 'Coroner on quest for identity'. I can't link as it's a pay archive.

 

[zwiebel]

One last thing before I have to close my window and lose my article: Andrea's fingerprints were sent to the FBI, her description was sent to LE agencies throughout the country, and there were 'hundreds of responses'.

 

[zwiebel]

I am just linking a great article here that believe09 linked on another thread. I thought you guys would be interested because it's all about UIDs - and websleuths gets a mention too.

http://bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/2013/02/22/web-sleuths/SMOW1wV7Ghi9aLvaKqr5jK/story.html

 

[webrocket]

from that article:

The notion of ordinary citizens involving themselves in police work has been a sore spot with some in law enforcement, but police admit that cases involving remains that no one seems to be looking for are at the bottom of the food chain. “Cold cases are a strain on resources for a law enforcement agency,” said retired police inspector James Jabbour, director of forensic science programs at Mount Ida College in Newton. “Do I support civilians looking into cold cases? I would say, ‘Why not?’ as long as it helps solve the case and doesn’t interfere with the investigation.”

then you have some in LE who take the credit for what ordinary citizens did for them like that cop in Ohio who ignored the fact that Chaddylex pointed him to the identity of the deceased.

 

[killarney rose]

Don't let the jumper/dress thing throw you. A jumper IS a type of dress. A jumper is a sleeveless dress with large armhole and neck openings that require the wearer to wear a shirt of some type underneath it. To me, that goes right along with the way Andrea's clothing has been described.