Identified! CA - L.A. Griffith Park, WhtFem 725UFCA, 20-28, @Picnic Table, Jun'68 Cheryl McMillan

[gaia227]

there is a thread here about the Bryan's. LE dug up the area around the house recently looking for the bodies:
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75004&highlight=lelia+bryan

 

[foryourwine]

I think Donnis looks like a good match. It's frustrating how they don't put cause of death in many of the Los Angeles unidentified's pages.

 

[CarlK90245]

http://www.doenetwork.org/hot/hotcase1155.html

Possibly the ring is a family heirloom-judging by the date

Doe Network doesn't have picture of victim-perhaps as it appeared on "photobucket-it could be sent to them?

This is one of the cases that Helene from DoeNet asked me to do a reconstruction on. It was quite difficult because of the distortion of the original photo. The case has been upgraded from HotCase status and the previous link is no longer good. Here's the new link:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/725ufca.html

... and a clearer image of the reconstruction:

 

[Julessleuther]

I wonder how certain they are on her age range, and why? The name Sherryl, spelled with two R's seems unusual to me, but I found a number of Sherryl Millers on ancestry.com. Two that might be close to this Doe's age range are a Sherryl Miller who was born in Los Angeles in 1952, and one born in 1954. There is also a Sheryl Miller born in 1945, who married a man named Marvin Walters in 1964 in Los Angeles.

As far as the distance between Studio City and Griffith Park, it is about 10 miles, so she either drove to Griffith Park, was with someone else or took a taxi there. Has anyone talked to LE to find out COD, and approx. how long she was in the park?

The Greek Theatre is not too far from where she was found--I wonder if there was a concert that she went to there, perhaps with others, and then ingested drugs at the concert and OD'd. I was able to find out the the Grateful Dead played at the Greek in Oct 1968, I will keep looking to see if there was a concert the night before she was found...

 

[CarlK90245]

Griffith Park has always been kind of like Central Park in NY, only a lot more mountainous. It's a wooded area smack-dab in the middle of Los Angeles with a lot of illicit activity going on. It's not too bad during the day, but it's not someplace that you just go and hang out at night to catch a little fresh air. There's a lot of gang activity, drugs, public lewd behavior and decadence.

It could be that she was at a concert at the Greek Theatre. But I kinda doubt it. She was probably just doing drugs with friends in the park, OD'd there and was left behind.

BTW, when I was a teenager, I saw Alice Cooper at the Greek and watched it for free with friends in the hills behind the amphitheater. I was surrounded by people who were up to no good.

As for your two Cherryl Millers in Los Angeles, I doubt that she was the one born in 1954. I think that she looks older than 14, but she could be the one born in 1952. That would have made her about 16 in 1968. Although she looks older than 16, she could be that young.

 

[Cymro]

Carl, I really like the reconstruction but something about it seems not quite right.

I couldn't put my finger on it but then it struck me that the messy hair, while consistent with her look on the slab, probably isn't something she'd ever have worn in life. Assuming she wasn't a hippy or close to that culture, I think that this is a hairstyle that's come apart and was probably styled to be straight and flow down or have been put up in a bouffant style.

Maybe I'm miles off on this but the jaw and nose seem a little too strong and well defined, too.

 

[CarlK90245]

As I mentioned earlier, the photo that I was working from was quite distorted and taken from a bad angle. I had to twist and stretch the photo to get a normal "camera angle" and that probably affected the resemblance. I think I got her chin right, but she was probably prettier than I portrayed her. And I didn't have any idea how her hair looked in life. Many times, the coroner combs the person's hair back, and you have to guess how it looked normally. I re-did her hair several times and wasn't happy with it. I was looking through photos of Marilyn Monroe and Anna Nicole Smith and couldn't find anything useful but I finally found a celebrity photo (I think it was Courtney Love) that looked somewhat like her hair, so I made a few modifications and went with it

 

[mtrooper]

I know this might be a longshot...But anyone from the area? I am wondering what was going on at Griffith PArk on 6/7/1968. It would have been a friday. I was trying to do some research on the park, and I thought maybe there were concerts out there?

 

[CarlK90245]

I have lived in the LA area all my life, though I was only 5 in the early part of 1968. But I do know that there are only small informal concerts there. Nothing on a large scale. The LA Zoo is there. There is an old-fashioned merry-go-round there, and an observatory at the top of the mountain. There are hiking trails. It's largely wooded, well-suited for picnics, but not well-suited for large-audience performances

 

[carbuff]

I seem to remember the Grateful Dead being associated with Griffith Park somehow. (I was in high school in 1968.)

How far is it from the nearest beach?

 

[CarlK90245]

But I do know that there are only small informal concerts there. Nothing on a large scale. ... It's largely wooded, well-suited for picnics, but not well-suited for large-audience performances

Correction: The Greek theatre is actually part of Griffith Park, so my earlier comments were inaccurate. As for the rest of the park adjacent to the Greek Theatre, I remember a few small events, but nothing on a large-scale.

I seem to remember the Grateful Dead being associated with Griffith Park somehow. (I was in high school in 1968.)

How far is it from the nearest beach?

It's about 20 miles from Santa Monica beach (which is probably the closest).

 

[ThePhantom]

Even in her post mortem photo you can see she is exquisitely beautiful. I always felt that she might have been a Hollywood hot shot's mistress..she was found sitting on a bench or picnic table, right? I felt like she might have od'd a la Marilyn Monroe. I can't believe no one ever ID'd her, except that -- her family is probably older and perhaps no computer savvy enough to go online and do a search for her. Just thoughts....

 

[Mensch]

Even in her post mortem photo you can see she is exquisitely beautiful. I always felt that she might have been a Hollywood hot shot's mistress..she was found sitting on a bench or picnic table, right? I felt like she might have od'd a la Marilyn Monroe. I can't believe no one ever ID'd her, except that -- her family is probably older and perhaps no computer savvy enough to go online and do a search for her. Just thoughts....

Strange you should mention MM. As I checked in to view this case, the first person who came to mind was Marilyn. Not at all unique for a blonde in LA to be wearing a swim suit under a coat in the daylight hours if she is returning from a 'performance' at an all night party. Just speculating....

 

[mtrooper]

I thought the same thing....Either dancing, or photo shoot. It would be nice if they had more photos, even of the clothing or ANYTHING. She is not in NAMUS either...GRRRR

 

[carbuff]

I was thinking movie extra, maybe waiting for a ride to the beach.

 

[Billylee]

I thought the same thing....Either dancing, or photo shoot. It would be nice if they had more photos, even of the clothing or ANYTHING. She is not in NAMUS either...GRRRR

Dancer at some club, that's my thought. Back in those days, the days of Laugh-in on TV, dancers wore bikini's and go-go boots. And she is very pretty, reminds me of Connie Stevens, if anyone remembers her from back in the 60's. Someone, somewhere should remember her! Wonder if they ever did a story about her in the paper? Anyone find anything?

(P.S. I agree with the GRRRR! And EVERYONE missing or unidentified should be put into NAMUS, there oughta' be a law!)

 

[Billylee]

Here's another profession where women wore bikini's back then:
Ball-girl.

http://www.remembertheaba.com/OnlyintheABAMaterial/OnlyInTheABA/Ballgirls/Ballgirls.html

 

[carbuff]

Carl, I really like the reconstruction but something about it seems not quite right.

I couldn't put my finger on it but then it struck me that the messy hair, while consistent with her look on the slab, probably isn't something she'd ever have worn in life. Assuming she wasn't a hippy or close to that culture, I think that this is a hairstyle that's come apart and was probably styled to be straight and flow down or have been put up in a bouffant style.

Maybe I'm miles off on this but the jaw and nose seem a little too strong and well defined, too.

I'd guess one of those teased-in-back short-in-front pixie cuts, a la Goldie Hawn.

 

[Billylee]

Her hair looks to be in an up-do to me. It doesn't say how long it was, does it? Pulled back in a bun or ponytail, with the side tresses left casual. And it does say "she had bleached blond hair", so there's always a possibility that she actually has light brown or a darker blond hair. And at 5'2", she has a very petite face and neck. The reconstruction looks a little "wider" jaw and neck to me. If that makes any sense?
She is so pretty, it's just unreal that no one is wondering what happened to her.
By the way, I was reading a bit about Griffith Park and it said in the late 60's there were many love-ins held there. Don't think bikini attire was usual for those was it?

 

[carbuff]

I thought of Goldie Hawn as well, but couldn't find any Laugh-In era photos that were of any use. BTW, if anyone can find a clear photo of a woman with a similar hairstyle, I am open to revising the recon.

Here is a tweaked, stretched, and rotated view of the UID, along with my reconstruction.

Warning: Postmortem Photo at Link
http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums...em Photos/2548619530045078242S600x600Q851.jpg

I can see a couple of things - Her eyebrows need to be thicker and her nose a little lower and larger. But I don't think that these differences are what is affecting the resemblance.

ETA: I revised these things and have reposted the recon.
ETA: I thinned her neck out in response to Billylee's comment below.

Are her lips a little too thin in the reconstruction? Something looks not quite right about the mouth.

I found a couple of shots of the hairstyle I was thinking of --
http://timstvshowcase.com/laughin10.jpg
http://timstvshowcase.com/laughin12.jpg
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2598936320/tt0064117

She could almost be Goldie Hawn's double.