CA CA - San Diego, MultipleMale, UP56199, 20-40, Bulldog USMC tattoo, May’00

[Coffee56]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

UNIDENTIFIED
Unidentified Person / NamUs #UP56199Male, Multiple
Date FoundMay 3, 2000
Location FoundSan Diego, California

Case Information


Case Numbers
NCMEC Number--
ME/C Case Number00-837
Demographics
SexMale
Race / EthnicityWhite / Caucasian, Hispanic / Latino, Uncertain
Possible First Name--
Possible Middle Name--
Possible Last Name--
Possible Nickname--
Estimated Age GroupAdult
Estimated Age Range (Years)20-40
Estimated Year of Death--
Estimated PMI--
Height6' 1"(73 inches) , Estimated
Weight162-182 lbs, Estimated
Circumstances
TypeUnidentified Deceased
Date FoundMay 3, 2000
NamUs Case CreatedMarch 21, 2019
ME/C QA Reviewed--
Location Found Map
General LocationUnder SR 94, 600 block of 25th StreetSan Diego, California 92101
CountySan Diego County
GPS Coordinates--
Circumstances of RecoveryFound under a freeway overpass by CalTrans workers performing road-side clean up.
Details of Recovery


Inventory of RemainsAll parts recovered
Condition of RemainsNot recognizable - Decomposing/putrefaction
Physical Description
Hair ColorBrown
Head Hair DescriptionBuzz cut
Body Hair Description--
Facial Hair DescriptionThere is short beard stubble with a 1/2 inch brown mustache.
Left Eye ColorUnknown or Missing
Right Eye ColorUnknown or Missing
Eye Description--
Distinctive Physical Features
Item
Description
Tattoo
On the right, front side of the chest there is a bulldog with "USMC"

Tattoo
On the right upper arm appears to be a heart with a banner.

Tattoo
Name "Sue" on the left upper arm.


Clothing and Accessories
Item
Description
Clothing
Red T-shirt with "Spring Hill" and "99" with other illegible writing, surrounded by yellow border.
On the Body

Footwear
White athletic shoes with black trim, yellow accents, yellow shoelaces, and silver stripes on the sides.
On the Body

 

[Legally Bland]

Height and weight matches, pic has a mustache. Has a USMC bulldog tattoo, but it's on his arm not chest. The circumstances seem a little hazy so maybe the tattoo descriptions aren't accurate. Just throwing it out there:

Robert Allen Meredith

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[Legally Bland]

At the time of his disappearance in 1995, Rex Casper was 41 years old, 6 feet tall and weighed 170 pounds. Rex has brown hair and brown eyes and may have a mustache, beard or goatee. Rex has a three inch scar on his right knee and a scar on his right elbow. He also has a tattoo of Casper the Ghost on his left arm and a tattoo of a Marine Corps Bulldog at an unknown location on his body.

Rex Casper

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[Richard]

This John Doe was most definitely a US Marine. Only a Marine would have a bulldog tattoo with "USMC".

The age span of "20-40 years" is a bit excessive, but it might indicate that he was in very good shape, even if on the older end of that estimate.

The T-shirt being red with yellow border is also indicative of the US Marine Corps, as those are their colors.

I do not know what the "Spring Hill" reference is, unless that was some sort of marathon, event, or run that he might have participated in.

The "99" could indicate the year of the event, or perhaps be part of his Boot Camp class number. Marines trained at the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot (MCRD), San Diego were assigned to a class for training and they were numbered with four digits, the first two being the year.

If this Marine was on active duty when he went missing, he would be carried on the roles as a deserter and listed with the USMC deserter office. This is not to imply that he intentionally deserted, but simply that is how an unauthorized absence is administratively classified after 30 days of the service member being missing and in an unknown status.

 

[Richard]

The US Marine Corps has checked their records for any missing active duty Marines which might fit this man's description. So far, they have been unable to find a match.

Possibly this man had been discharged from active duty prior to going missing.

 

[Tabirey]

With those tattoos, you'd think he'd be extremely identifiable. My nephew (who is based at LeJeune) did his bootcamp at Pendleton. So obviously there's a huge military community there. They really need to do a media push there.

 

[apearn]

Bump - I've been watching this one.

This is from a database off the ME's website. It appears to reference this case and it may be a detail that helps match him to a missing person case.

05/03/2000
Male
Other
Accident
Drug Related
Acute heroin and cocaine intoxication
Self-administered overdose of heroin and cocaine

Open Area
San Diego
92101
Found, Open Area


FYI - The shirt may have had something to do with this company: SpringHill Suites by Marriott San Diego Oceanside/Downtown

 

[bombardier]

FYI - The shirt may have had something to do with this company: SpringHill Suites by Marriott San Diego Oceanside/Downtown

Agreed - '1999' is relevant to SpringHill Suites as apparently it was its first fiscal year (SpringHill Suites - Wikipedia), could have given out shirts at an employee party to celebrate that initial success.

 

[Richard]

Link to the Veteran Doe Website thread on this unidentified man:

Category: California

 

[apearn]

bump

 

[Melt71]

Are either Casper or Meredith listed above on the R/L list? They are both interesting reads, with quite a bit of information on Namus and nothing that would indicate it couldn't be either of them.

 

[apearn]

0 Missing Person Exclusions

 

[apearn]

I sent an email to the ME to see if we can get a facial composite and/or tattoo images.

 

[apearn]

The ME says they don't have any images.

 

[bombardier]

bump
bringing up some men based on their tattoos;
Gary Gilliams - DLC May 16 1989, PA, 6'0-4", brown hair. Tattoo of heart and the name Susie on the right forearm (this combo was interesting as UID has 'Sue' on left arm and heart on right upper arm...perhaps the reporting party remembered wrong? He would have been missing for ~10 years though. Unconfirmed info as reported on his WS thread indicates he might have had false teeth which would rule him out, and might have boarded a flight to California.)
Anthony Sinisgalli - DLC Aug 17 1987, Kansas, 5'9", brown hair. Tattoo of a 1" heart with a banner on his lower right forearm (vs UID w/ tattoo of heart and banner on right upper arm)
Victor Ramirez - DLC Jan 23 1999, Los Angeles, 5'6" (so shorter than this guy), heart tattoo on right arm. No other tattoos mentioned.

 

[Richard]

USMC Bulldog logo

One thing that is almost certain regarding this unknown man is that he was a Marine. No one but a Marine would have a Bulldog and USMC tattoo. The only question would be if he was on active duty when he went missing or if he went missing after separating from the service.

The Marine Corps picked up the idea for their Bulldog logo - and their actual mascot over a hundred years ago, during World War One. It has become a long standing tradition and symbol.

LINK:
Sergeant Major Jiggs and the History Behind USMC Bulldog Tattoos

 

[buyerninety]

I looked through all the place names (census
designated) in the U.S.A that are identified as
'Spring Hill'. (However, I didn't look at the Google
Maps of their locations to see if there might be a likely
military-exercise area or military base nearby).

This one seems on the face of it the most
likely to be relevant;
Legend:
FEATURE_ID|FEATURE_NAME|FEATURE_CLASS|STATE_ALPHA|STATE_NUMERIC|COUNTY_NAME|COUNTY_NUMERIC|PRIMARY_LAT_DMS|PRIM_LONG_DMS|PRIM_LAT_DEC|PRIM_LONG_DEC|SOURCE_LAT_DMS|SOURCE_LONG_DMS|SOURCE_LAT_DEC|SOURCE_LONG_DEC|ELEV_IN_M|ELEV_IN_FT|MAP_NAME|DATE_CREATED|DATE_EDITED

Place:
1941608|Spring Hill Subdivision|Populated Place|GU|66|Guam|010|133227N|1445307E|13.5408333|144.8852778|||||157|515|Dededo|10/24/2001|

Cheers

 

[buyerninety]

"FYI - The shirt may have had something to do with this
company: SpringHill Suites by Marriott San Diego
Oceanside/Downtown"

For San Diego, the SpringHill suites building in Oceanside
wasn't built until after 2011, the SpringHill suites buildings
at Mission Valley and Downtown/Bayfront and Carlsbad
until about 2015, and SpringHill suites building at Rancho
Bernardo-Scripps until about after 2002 as evidenced by
Google Earth streetviews and HistoricAerials.
-----

Here is a different line of inquiry that someoneelse may
care to follow up on:
The NamUs states the deceased had a " Red T-shirt with
"Spring Hill" and "99" with other illegible writing,
surrounded by yellow border. "

apearn above informed us that the Medical Examiner has
no images (but did not specify if that includes no images
of that Red T-shirt).

A possibility is that the T-shirt was from the deceased's
post-Marine Corp life - once honorably discharged from
the Marine Corp, a number of male ex-Marines join the
Marine Corps League and/or the [Marine] Military Order
of Devil Dogs (MODD).
History
Briefly, the Marine Corps League consists of ex-Marine
Corps members organized into 'Detachments' spread
throughout the U.S. and the MODD consists of ex-Marine
Corps members organized into 'Pounds' spread throughout
the U.S..

These Detachments or Pounds members purchase and
wear clothing items, such as T-shirts, indicative of
membership in the Marine Corps League or MODD, also
perhaps displaying text indicative of their particular
Detachment or Pound, e.g.;
Marine Corps League presents good citizenship honor
https://live.staticflickr.com/4749/25025038057_303c13ef35_c.jpg

The deceased's T-shirt may have been a T-shirt sourced
from his membership of a Marine Corps League
'Detachment' or 'Pound'.

In our current time exists a 'Spring Hill' Detachment #708;
Marine Corps League (708 Spring Hill Detachment) in Brooksville, FL
and Spring Hill Detachment #708 was in existence prior
to year 2001;
Cumulative List of Organizations Described in Section 170 (c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954

(It is possible that there may have been in the past some
other Detachment or Pound with the name or locality of
'Spring Hill' that possibily no longer exists - I assume it is
the nature of Detachments that members may get sick
or die, move away or do not continue with Marine Corps
League or Pound activities, causing a Detachment or
Pound to lose membership and become non-financial and
so to be removed from the roster of active numbered
Detachments.)

If seems possible that membership of a Detachment,
such as that 'Spring Hill' Detachment #708, for a
period say for 20 years prior to 2001, would number
in the hundreds or perhaps thousands. This is still a
large number of persons who may have been the
deceased, but is surely an order of magnitude lesser
than the possible total number of discharged Marines
who could have been the deceased (which could be
in the 10's of thousands over the same time period).

The Medical Examiner or applicable Police Department
may be able to contact the Marine Corps League to
enquire what Detachments and Pounds were named
'Spring Hill' or were located in a locality containing the
words 'Spring Hill' (e.g., if there were any localities
such as 'Old Spring Hill', 'Spring Hills Heights', etc. such
possible variations), and enquire what the membership
amount was for such Detachment or Pound. Hopefully,
thereafter to convince the Marine Corps League, or
the specific Detachment, if it is possible to obtain the
membership list for such specific Detachment going
back a reasonable number of years from 2002 (say
back to 1980?), and then to crosscheck if any
particular member could be the deceased.

 

[buyerninety]

Correction to my previous post, the Marine Corps League
(708 Spring Hill Detachment) in Brooksville, FL is in fact
only certainly known to be in existence in 2003 (book
publication date given as 1997 but book revision date
marked, front cover, as 2003), and the 708 Spring Hill
Detachment was therefore only possibly in existence
prior to 2003.
Cumulative List of Organizations Described in Section 170 (c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954