CA CA - Oakland & Orinda, UncMale late 20s (poss up to 40), UP52925 & UP12888, burned torso, skull & bones found months later, Jul'80/Apr'81

[YaYa_521]

I searched multiple ways to find threads matching either of these NamUs profiles. Please let me know if one or more threads already exist. TIA

These two NamUs profiles combined are the remains of one man. The 2016 article I will link in post #2 below explains the discoveries and gives more details about the deceased's description and the case. (EBM - removed my erroneous thought about info being mixed up) Note the physical description given in the article is different than what is shown on the NamUs profiles. Doe Network profile 3377UMCA matches UP52925 (1st profile below). I could not find a profile for UP12888 on Doe Network.

BBM​

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

NamUs #UP52925
ME/C Case Number 1980-01581
Male, Multiple
Race / Ethnicity Other, Uncertain
Date Body Found July 28, 1980
NamUs Case Created October 19, 2018
Estimated Year of Death 1976-1980
Estimated PMI--
Inventory of Remains--
Condition of Remains Not recognizable - Partial remains with soft tissues
Location Found Oakland, California
Estimated Age Range 20-40 Years
Height 5' 7"-5' 9"(67-69 inches) , Estimated
Weight Cannot Estimate
Hair Color Unknown
Eye Color Unknown

Circumstances of Recovery - Unidentified John Doe found on the 2800 block of Helen Street In Oakland

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

NamUs #UP12888
ME/C Case Number 81-301
Male, Uncertain
Date Body Found April 6, 1981
NamUs Case Created September 2, 2014
Estimated Year of Death 1980-1981
Estimated PMI 1 Years
Inventory of Remains -
Torso not recovered
One or more limbs not recovered
One or both hands not recovered
Condition of Remains Not recognizable - Partial skeletal parts only
Location Found Orinda, California
Estimated Age Range 25-27 Years
Height 5' 9"(69 inches) , Estimated
Weight Cannot Estimate
Hair Color Unknown
Eye Color--

Circumstances of Recovery - A citizen found a human skull at Tildon Park, marked the location found, and transported the skull to the Berkeley Police Department. Berkeley PD contacted East Bay Regional Park Police Dept (EBRPPD) and EBRPPD determined skull was in their juristiction and took over the investigation (EBRPPD Case #81-2707). EBRPPD contacted Contra Costa County Coroner to report the investigation (CC Coroner's Case #81-301). Through DNA testing, this case is related to Oakland PD homicide case #80-60910 (Alameda Coroner Case #80-1581, 07-28-1980). Oakland PD's, Homicide Unit, is the lead investigative agency for this case.

 

[YaYa_521]

Oakland police release forensic renderings of a 1980 cold-case victim
Updated Aug. 15, 2016
SBM

In late July 1980, there was a brief bare-bones article in the Oakland Tribune about a particularly gruesome crime: a man’s burned torso — with no head, limbs or internal organs — had been found in the gutter at Helen and Peralta streets in West Oakland near an auto wrecking yard.

There was no way to identify the partial body. No evidence leading to a suspect. Not much for Oakland police investigators to go on. So the case quickly went cold.

About a year later, a motorist looking for a lost hubcap on Grizzly Peak Boulevard in the hills above Oakland came across a human skull and several bones. That discovery fell under the jurisdiction of the East Bay Regional Park District, and those remains were turned over to the Contra Costa County Coroner’s Office. There, examiners projected the man’s height and weight from the length of a leg bone, and decided the remains were not linked to the torso case.

But now with modern DNA technology, forensic scientists and cold-case investigators recently confirmed it was indeed the same man.

#more at link

 

[John/Jane Doe]

3377UMCA

 

[victoriarobinson642]

3297DMCA - Gus Henry Hoffman

I wonder if this doe could be Gus Henry Hoffman. It doesn't seem like they have any identifiers for him.

 

[YaYa_521]

View attachment 347288View attachment 347289

3297DMCA - Gus Henry Hoffman

I wonder if this doe could be Gus Henry Hoffman. It doesn't seem like they have any identifiers for him.

Thank you for posting Gus' profile! I previously read about his case and thought about him yesterday when preparing this thread. I couldn't remember his name or case details though. I only remembered the guy who built a bike to sell then disappeared. Gus' stats are a bit off (age, height, weight, hair color) but considering the condition of the remains (burned, dismembered, partial recovery) and the conflicting descriptions b/w NamUs and the news article, there's a high probability some of the estimations aren't accurate. Please submit him as a PM. Even if he is ruled out as a match, investigators may find connections amongst the multiple players in Gus' and JD's cases. MOO

 

[victoriarobinson642]

Submitted

 

[citizen_sleuth]

"Decomposed body of male adult is found," Oakland Tribune, 28 July 1980, A10.

The decomposed body of a male adult was found early today in the driveway leading to a junkyard off Peralta Avenue near Helen Street.

The coroner's office said there was no way to identify it because of its condition. The body was found by workers in a nearby garage who said it was not there when they left Sunday night.

"Hubcap search leads to grisly discovery," Berkeley Gazette, 7 April 1981, 4.

The skull was discovered in some vines about 20 feet from Grizzly Peak Boulevard, a half-mile south of Centennial Drive Monday evening by Theodore Kanstein.

Kanstein, 19, a former Berkeley High School student who is unemployed, told police he was searching for a hubcap he lost the previous day when he discovered the skull.

"It was a whole skull, with the jawbone right next to it," said Kanstein [...]. "It was partially hidden, but I dug it out and took it to the police station."

"Human skull being tested," Oakland Tribune, 8 April 1981, C2.

The Alameda County coroner's office is conducting tests on a human skull found in Tilden Regional Park Monday with an apparent bullet hole in it.