CA CA - San Francisco, UncFem, UnkAge, UP11459, found on roof in bag, thick curly hair, June'74

[heartanium]

Unidentified Female
Namus UP11459
D.B.F: June 14, 1974
Estimated PMI: Unknown (namus) ~6 months (San Francisco Examiner)
Estimated year of death: Unknown
Location Found: San Francisco, San Francisco County, California
The Empress Hotel, 144 Eddy St

Vital Information:
Race: Unknown (namus), Black (San Francisco Examiner)
Age: Unknown 20-30's (San Francisco Examiner)
Height: 4' 4"(52 inches) , Estimated / 5'6" (San Francisco Examiner)
Weight: 44 lbs, Measured
Hair: Black, thick and curly
Eyes: Unknown
Scars/Marking: Unknown
Clothing: Unknown
Accessories: Canvas bag (namus), sleeping bag (San Francisco Examiner)
Circumstances: A man was cleaning a roof on the 6th floor of the Empress Hotel in San Francisco when he found a bag with a woman's bones under the hotel's water tower. She had been shot once with a .22 caliber pistol in the chest. The bones were initially determined to be that of a non-white (possibly black) woman in her 20-30's.

Contacts:
Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, San Francisco City and County - (415) 641-3600
Thomas McDonald, Medicolegal Death Investigator

Media:
18 June 1974, The San Francisco Examiner, pg 5

14 November 1974, The San Francisco Examiner, pg 4

This is clipped from an article called "One of every three S.F murders this year still unsolved".

0 Exclusions

 

[MarziPanda]

At about 4'4, it's more likely that this is a child. On the other hand they could tell the remains were female, and the pelvic skeletal changes that identify boys from girls often don't become obvious until a child is a bit older. 4'4 is apparently the average height of a 9 year old girl, but kids are taller today, so maybe a 8-12 year range? Black, thick, curly hair could mean this doe was black/mixed race.

I would have thought the skeletal differences of aging/race were more obvious than for sex, so it's odd there isn't an age range or estimated race. I suppose it is possible this doe was a woman of short stature, but 4'4 would mean likely achondroplasia/similar condition which would usually be obvious by limb length etc.

Unfortunately with these old cases genetic genealogy is usually the only hope for ID so I hope she wasn't cremated. I assume they already looked into all the people who had previously lived at that property.

ETA- we've also seen many times that the height in NAMUS can be inputted incorrectly, so it could also be possible that the doe was about 5'2 instead of 52 inches (4'4).

 

[heartanium]

At about 4'4, it's more likely that this is a child. On the other hand they could tell the remains were female, and the pelvic skeletal changes that identify boys from girls often don't become obvious until a child is a bit older. 4'4 is apparently the average height of a 9 year old girl, but kids are taller today, so maybe a 8-12 year range? Black, thick, curly hair could mean this doe was black/mixed race.

I would have thought the skeletal differences of aging/race were more obvious than for sex, so it's odd there isn't an age range or estimated race. I suppose it is possible this doe was a woman of short stature, but 4'4 would mean likely achondroplasia/similar condition which would usually be obvious by limb length etc.

Unfortunately with these old cases genetic genealogy is usually the only hope for ID so I hope she wasn't cremated. I assume they already looked into all the people who had previously lived at that property.

ETA- we've also seen many times that the height in NAMUS can be inputted incorrectly, so it could also be possible that the doe was about 5'2 instead of 52 inches (4'4).

I agree that the remains are actually closer to 4'4" this is likely a child as well. There is Tracy Lynn Davenport (MP5996) that went missing from San Rafael which is very close by to San Francisco. She was 6 when she went missing, 4'6" and 60 lbs. The address on her websleuths thread is 737 E. Francisco Blvd which is only a 30 minutes drive to 144 Eddy St where this body was found. If namus is accurate she's a really strong match.

I did find two articles from the San Francisco Examiner (edited my original post) that states that this may be the remains of a Black woman in her 20's-30's, but that's a huge difference from 4'4" and 44 pounds. I'm not sure which to believe.

 

[MarziPanda]

I agree that the remains are actually closer to 4'4" this is likely a child as well. There is Tracy Lynn Davenport (MP5996) that went missing from San Rafael which is very close by to San Francisco. She was 6 when she went missing, 4'6" and 60 lbs. The address on her websleuths thread is 737 E. Francisco Blvd which is only a 30 minutes drive to 144 Eddy St where this body was found. If namus is accurate she's a really strong match.

I did find two articles from the San Francisco Examiner (edited my original post) that states that this may be the remains of a Black woman in her 20's-30's, but that's a huge difference from 4'4" and 44 pounds. I'm not sure which to believe.

The weight of 44lbs is 'measured', so that could be the weight of the bones. Which is very misleading since an estimated weight based on what she would weigh in life would be better. The news article states she was about 5'6, which is so vastly different from 4'4! There must be a mistake somewhere. Impossible to try to find matches when we don't even know if this is a child or adult. She had also been shot. Generally people who murder children do it by other means, but you never know. Personally I'm inclined to think the NAMUS is wrong. I think maybe they had 44lbs as the weight of the bones and accidentally put 44 in both columns, making her 4'4.

Interesting that the article states they thought the remains had only been there six months. The article also adds where she was found, on a hotel roof rather than a house. Who would have access to that area? Surely not many people? The person who left them there must have at least been up there before to know how to get there and that it was a good place to leave a body.

 

[Laughing]

Wondering if this could be an Asian woman, or another ethnicity with a typically smaller stature?

The newspaper article in the op states "about 5 foot 6, apparently a non-Caucasian."

Curious -- does this imply that the remains were in view of the other hotel for 6 months??? While the Jane Doe notice specifies Black, and "several days earlier."

So an African-American woman, 30-35, 5''6", missing since December of 1973 - June 1974?

 

[snooptroop88]

Looking up what I can about Empress Hotel. In the 70s, it was both a residential and tourist hotel. After some violations later, it transitioned to residential only. It's in the Tenderloin district. In 1974, it was considered an older hotel in a declining neighborhood, even in this timeframe it was criticized because it drew a lot of long-term renters I guess from vulnerable populations. All of this is really, really reminding me in a big way of Richard Ramirez and the Hotel Cecil.

So... Was this someone who killed another person while staying there? Or was this someone who checked in with remains of an already deceased victim... in order to find some spot in the hotel to use as a dump site? Would almost wonder if the perp was relocating remains, which they do sometimes if they're desperate to have a body remain "disappeared." I'm really wondering because of the bag. I mean, the bag wasn't already on the roof. Either the victim was placed in the bag in a guest room (likely after having been killed in that same room, but maybe not) or the victim's remains had already been transported with the murderous "guest" into the hotel on arrival in some container.

Cheryl Lanier 26yo missing from SF 1973

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Pamela Kay Masten, 15yo missing since 1972 Sacramento

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Katrina Ashford, 18yo San Rafael CA July 1972

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

Jeannette Kamahele 20yo April 1972 from Cotati, Sonoma County CA; her hair is straight and at most wavy in the images they have for her, but there are generally very few images for her, jmo; Jeannette is suspected to be a victim of the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker murderer, if this Doe's Jeannette, I'd swear this perp was Zodiac, but obviously that's a pretty huge "if" Jeannette was a Pacific Islander, they can have curly hair, and "hair straightening" was a thing in the 1970s, so I'd say it's possible, but don't know how likely. https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/software/mp-main.html?id=2607dfca

RIP for this Doe.