Identified! CA - Long Beach - WhtMale 15-19 - 1392UMCA - 'Paid' stamp on hand- Jun'78 - Kenneth Nevada Williams

[othram]

Thank you to everyone who worked to gave back his name, it's amazing to see all these older john/jane does getting identified with recent technology.

Rest in peace Kenneth.

Many more to come!

 

[othram]

You guys are THE BEST!! How very sad that he was never reported missing. Thank you for giving him his name back.

Thanks for the support!

 

[Alleykins]

Excited to share that we were able to assist Long Beach Police Department and the FBI in identifying 15-year old Kenneth Nevada Williams, formerly known as Long Beach John Doe.
After 44 Years, Long Beach John Doe is Identified

After 44 Years, Long Beach John Doe is Identified

After more than four decades, Long Beach John Doe is now known to be Kenneth Nevada Williams, a 15-year-old who had run away from his home in the City of La Puente in 1978

dnasolves.com

How bittersweet this is. I'm so relieved and glad he has his name back, but at the same time, my heart is breaking for this young man, his family and friends.
Thank you for all you do, @othram. You do truly amazing work reuniting these families with their long, lost loved ones.

 

[MadMcGoo]

Mod Reminder:

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To adhere to the standards WS has in place and best support families any posts stated as fact when someone is not a VI will be removed. I have extended an invitation to @familymem to become verified on this thread. Upon completion of the VI process, these posts may be reinstated.

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Thanks,
Mad

 

[AkitasAreLovely]

I am really happy to see a Los Angeles case being taken on, there are so many UIDs from LA county still.

 

[cheemsg]

I am really happy to see a Los Angeles case being taken on, there are so many UIDs from LA county still.

Agree, I wonder if they'd look into this John Doe: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
A 12-16 year old who's gotten zero attention despite being unidentified for 41 years

 

[Springrain]

I'm wondering how Kraft was ruled out as being Kenneth's killer? I'm not expecting any answers to this, just wondering aloud...

I'm just so happy he can go home now and rest easy. RIP Kenneth. You didn't deserve this.

 

[JSolt1210]

According to The Signal Tribune:

"Kenneth... was enrolled in Fairgrove Academy on Oct. 18, 1977, but the last day he attended school was Oct. 27, 1977...
Kenneth’s body was found on June 3, 1978, on Division Street east of Corona Avenue in Long Beach."

The distance from the middle school to where he was found is only 30 miles.

I know people didn't travel as much back then as they do now, but still... seems pretty close to have gone seven months without being noticed.

Then again, the article mentions that Kenneth "was a runaway from La Puente who had never been reported missing." (Wonder what that's about.) If no one was looking for him, it makes sense he could be nearby without being seen.

 

[cheemsg]

I'm wondering how Kraft was ruled out as being Kenneth's killer? I'm not expecting any answers to this, just wondering aloud...

I'm just so happy he can go home now and rest easy. RIP Kenneth. You didn't deserve this.

Well when you think about it, even the way he was killed doesn't even fit Kraft at all. I think people just jumped to this conclusion bc he was a young male and he was in CA. I find the way people contribute every single murder of a young man in California in the 70s/80s to Kraft so counterproductive. California, even just LA county, is a huge place and you can't assume he was the only predator out there.

 

[iamshadow21]

I see from the press release, that Kraft was ruled out as a suspect. That's a twist I didn't see coming.

Sleep well, Kenneth.

 

[iamshadow21]

Well when you think about it, even the way he was killed doesn't even fit Kraft at all. I think people just jumped to this conclusion bc he was a young male and he was in CA. I find the way people contribute every single murder of a young man in California in the 70s/80s to Kraft so counterproductive. California, even just LA county, is a huge place and you can't assume he was the only predator out there.

I think it was because he was found within a close distance of a club, and that seemed to line up with one of the unknown kills on Kraft's list. I don't think the linkage was pulled out of nothing. What people do on here is try to make connections. This didn't turn out to be Kraft's work, and that's fine. Kenneth got his name back. That's all that matters. Because he was never reported missing, it's unlikely we would have stumbled across him as a potential for this Doe anyway. I don't think coming up with ideas like linkage to potential serials is counterproductive, even if it turns out to be wrong. All our hearts are in the right place here, we just want to be able to send these people home. We can't do what Othram and the other labs do; all we can do is use our brains, look through old archives of records and newspapers and yearbooks. What matters is remaining open to possibilities, and I don't think anyone felt Kenneth was 100% for sure killed by Kraft, just that it was possible.

 

[othram]

How bittersweet this is. I'm so relieved and glad he has his name back, but at the same time, my heart is breaking for this young man, his family and friends.
Thank you for all you do, @othram. You do truly amazing work reuniting these families with their long, lost loved ones.

Thank you! We feel much the same.

 

[musicaljoke]

According to The Signal Tribune:

"Kenneth... was enrolled in Fairgrove Academy on Oct. 18, 1977, but the last day he attended school was Oct. 27, 1977...
Kenneth’s body was found on June 3, 1978, on Division Street east of Corona Avenue in Long Beach."

The distance from the middle school to where he was found is only 30 miles.

I know people didn't travel as much back then as they do now, but still... seems pretty close to have gone seven months without being noticed.

Then again, the article mentions that Kenneth "was a runaway from La Puente who had never been reported missing." (Wonder what that's about.) If no one was looking for him, it makes sense he could be nearby without being seen.

The family may very well have been looking for him in the best way they knew how. Don't forget that there was no national database, nor were there any internet searches available back when the lad disappeared. They could have thought that he was enjoying life somewhere, with no thoughts that he could be dead. Even if they saw the reconstruction, they may have dismissed it as not being their happy young son or sibling.

 

[familymem]

The family may very well have been looking for him in the best way they knew how. Don't forget that there was no national database, nor were there any internet searches available back when the lad disappeared. They could have thought that he was enjoying life somewhere, with no thoughts that he could be dead. Even if they saw the reconstruction, they may have dismissed it as not being their happy young son or sibling.

Thank you, that was well said

 

[Warwick1991]

In my opinion, ruling out Kraft could be a mistake, unless they have DNA that points to a perpetrator. Kraft also had an associate who was probably involved in some of his killings; earlier threads on Kraft refer to LA Times articles that are no longer readily available. The book on Kraft published in 1991 by Dennis McDougal notes an associate of Kraft's who was a suspect in some of his killings, but the suspect died before he could be charged or investigated further.

 

[AguaFlorida2001]

Awesome that he finally got a name! Tragic that he was so young, though.

I wonder why he was never reported missing..? If I was a parent and my 15 year old went missing, I would be searching hell and high water for them. Crazy how whenever we get a Doe ID'd, it raises even more questions. I'm just glad that he will at least be remembered for his true identity and not just a reconstruction.

 

[Alleykins]

The family may very well have been looking for him in the best way they knew how. Don't forget that there was no national database, nor were there any internet searches available back when the lad disappeared. They could have thought that he was enjoying life somewhere, with no thoughts that he could be dead. Even if they saw the reconstruction, they may have dismissed it as not being their happy young son or sibling.

RBBM by me, for focus.

I totally agree, if friends, family or acquaintance saw the forensic reconstructions, as there were many, they may not have recognized him from those, but some of his post mortem photos were good to high quality, very detailed and clear, which is rare. I'm confident if anyone who knew him was searching for him online and saw those, especially the most recent one, they definitely would have recognized him. The key word here is searching, though, actually looking. Chances are if immediate family stumbled upon his pm photos randomly, whether it were in the paper 40 years ago or on the internet ten years ago, they probably weren't in a mental space to see him if they believed he was off living his best life.

This is just my take on things.

RIP Kenneth.

 

[AkitasAreLovely]

In my opinion, ruling out Kraft could be a mistake, unless they have DNA that points to a perpetrator. Kraft also had an associate who was probably involved in some of his killings; earlier threads on Kraft refer to LA Times articles that are no longer readily available. The book on Kraft published in 1991 by Dennis McDougal notes an associate of Kraft's who was a suspect in some of his killings, but the suspect died before he could be charged or investigated further.

You are probably talking about Jeff Graves, Kraft's ex boyfriend.

 

[Warwick1991]

You are probably talking about Jeff Graves, Kraft's ex boyfriend.

Yes, Jeff Graves... There's still a lot we don't know about Kraft's activities, and for that matter, Jeff Graves There were deviations from Kraft's typical patterns, even where his involvement is known, and situations where another person would have had to help Kraft move bodies.

 

[familymem]

Awesome that he finally got a name! Tragic that he was so young, though.

I wonder why he was never reported missing..? If I was a parent and my 15 year old went missing, I would be searching hell and high water for them. Crazy how whenever we get a Doe ID'd, it raises even more questions. I'm just glad that he will at least be remembered for his true identity and not just a reconstruction.

It is possible he was a chronic runaway. Maybe in their eyes he wasn't "missing" as much as he had just runaway again. Could be that he was one of those kids that wanted to be out and on his own. Also, back in 78 there wasn't as much technology as there is now. I wonder if maybe they called the police the 7th or 8th time he ran away and a missing report just wasn't filed. Considering he would be almost 60 now, it's possible his parents or guardians are no longer alive so some of these questions can't be answered.