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

[Alleykins]

I'm not sure if its been mentioned but in the PM photos it appears that John Doe has a scar through his right eyebrow. This could rule out potential matches.

Yes, I believe that's noted in one of his case profiles.

 

[familymem]

Dumping a BODY on a street in Los Angeles, even in '79 and even in the wee hours of the morning seems unnecessarily risky. If he was already dead why not down a freeway embankment? In a dumpster? In the LA river? Panic and/or urgency. So either the killer wasn't the dumper, or the killer was THAT blase. And by blase I mean a psychopath and/or someone under the influence of something. The third option is the body was dumped to taunt LE, but since no follow up communications (that we know of), hard to say.

Somehow I get the feeling there must have been more than one person involved. If it was just one, he would have to pull over, stop the car, open the passenger door to push the victim out. But, if the boy got in a car with several people..maybe in the back with someone. And some kind of altercation happened, maybe they robbed him (no id, no money but a paid stamp?) ended up killing him and then just pushed him out of the car? I don't know about the entire scenario but it does feel like more than one person was involved in leaving him in the street like that.

 

[Baddux]

Does this UP have a COD?

 

[MadMcGoo]

Does this UP have a COD?

Cause of Death: Homicide by strangulation

1392UMCA

 

[Baddux]

The details say that based on the quality of the clothing he was wearing it seemed unlikely he was a runaway or transient. This sort of puts a unique spin on this case.

If he wasn’t a runaway or transient wouldn’t there be a family wondering where he went? Might this suggest a familial assailant?

 

[MadMcGoo]

The details say that based on the quality of the clothing he was wearing it seemed unlikely he was a runaway or transient. This sort of puts a unique spin on this case.

If he wasn’t a runaway or transient wouldn’t there be a family wondering where he went? Might this suggest a familial assailant?

I think that is quite a leap. Look at Sherri and Jolaine, for example. They didn’t appear to be runaways or transient (in a commonly thought of sense), their family had been missing them, and there was/is likely no familial assailant involved in either death. We just never know until we know. If we ever do.

I’m not saying it’s not possible though. Of course JMO.

 

[carbuff]

In the 70s there were lots of good kids from good caring families who were out on the road seeing the world, hanging out in cool places like SF or LA, in touch with their families but not that often.

It was hard to keep track of each other in the days before cell phones. Letters, postcards, took a long time. For the phone, you had to have enough money to make a long distance phone call, and you had to take the chance on whether anybody at the other end was going to be there to answer, because answering machines were just coming into use. And it was expensive just having a phone, so lots of people, especially in rural areas, didn't have one. They used a pay phone when they needed to make a call.

If there was some coolness because of lifestyle choices or something, that made it even harder.

If someone was traveling, the family back home might not even know where to start looking, or might be looking in the wrong place.

 

[PuzzlinEvidence]

Dumping a BODY on a street in Los Angeles, even in '79 and even in the wee hours of the morning seems unnecessarily risky. If he was already dead why not down a freeway embankment? In a dumpster? In the LA river? Panic and/or urgency.

Given the location, I wonder if this Doe was a Randy Kraft victim that was killed/disposed of in a hurry, hence the absence of some aspects of his usual MO. One of the unlinked scorecard entries is 'FRONT OF RIPPLES', for example, which could've been where this guy was picked up from. It's all very circumstantial though, nothing definitively ties this guy to Kraft.

 

[Baddux]

Given the location, I wonder if this Doe was a Randy Kraft victim that was killed/disposed of in a hurry, hence the absence of some aspects of his usual MO. One of the unlinked scorecard entries is 'FRONT OF RIPPLES', for example, which could've been where this guy was picked up from. It's all very circumstantial though, nothing definitively ties this guy to Kraft.

Or maybe one of his 2 in 1's like Crotwell and May.

 

[AkitasAreLovely]

I remember someone on Facebook under the Help ID Me page when this UID's case was posted had thought he might be Van Driveway on Kraft's scorecard.

 

[familymem]

The details say that based on the quality of the clothing he was wearing it seemed unlikely he was a runaway or transient. This sort of puts a unique spin on this case.

If he wasn’t a runaway or transient wouldn’t there be a family wondering where he went? Might this suggest a familial assailant?

Back in 78 where would you look? Say a kid runs away for the 4th or 5th time. You wouldn't necessarily report him as missing. So you might look for him but what parent thinks to scan the morgue for John Doe's? And I don't know exactly what was in the paper but the artist renderings don't look that much like the actual morgue photo. Even if they had internet access back then, googling his name wouldn't tell them anything. I just know if my kid was missing, I wouldn't even think to check the morgues. Could even be from the other side of the country.

 

[Alleykins]

Back in 78 where would you look? Say a kid runs away for the 4th or 5th time. You wouldn't necessarily report him as missing. So you might look for him but what parent thinks to scan the morgue for John Doe's? And I don't know exactly what was in the paper but the artist renderings don't look that much like the actual morgue photo. Even if they had internet access back then, googling his name wouldn't tell them anything. I just know if my kid was missing, I wouldn't even think to check the morgues. Could even be from the other side of the country.

You're right. Where would you even begin to look? Unless family was local to the area and called the police to report them missing or saw the discovery of the body in the news, it would be a needle in a haystack, even today.

 

[familymem]

Question: I have seen several references to Randy Kraft having murdered someone a day after being released from Jail on June 10 (or 11) in 1978. Does anyone know how long he was in for?

 

[familymem]

Question: I have seen several references to Randy Kraft having murdered someone a day after being released from Jail on June 10 (or 11) in 1978. Does anyone know how long he was in for?

Never mind, I read that wrong. The victim was in jail, not Kraft.

 

[familymem]

I keep looking to see if they have identified him yet. How do you find out if a JD has been identified?

 

[Tahlia Woodson]

I keep looking to see if they have identified him yet. How do you find out if a JD has been identified?

The most reliable way to know if a John/Jane Doe has been identified is that
A) Their NAMUS profile has been removed from the website
B) The law enforcement in charge of the case makes an announcement about it

 

[othram]

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.
https://dnasolves.com/articles/long...TSM3Ed6Y5FrKxU_qnlLyuQvc6VlK9mc0WXTo-Lp9ZgtKA

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

 

[HmmMysterious]

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

Good job Othram. I just saw on Facebook.

 

[Springrain]

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

Fantastic work!!

 

[othram]

Fantastic work!!

Thank you! This case was ranks up there with Lady of the Dunes in terms of worst DNA we have worked with...