CA CA - San Francisco, WhtMale, 50-80, UP9209, found in steamer trunk mailed by "Gerry Fidele" in NJ, homicide by gunshot, recent head surgery, Apr '68

[sorcoy14]

My personal theory is that the man had his brain surgery and his personality changed. The relationship started having DV issues and the woman snapped. She had maybe told a friend or her children about the issue and they helped her. IMO only though!

 

[Puzzleworth]

What's confusing is the articles go on about how big he was, but according to NamUs he was quite petit 5'7/116 pounds, a huge difference to what the articles let on. Did the papers misreport it, or did NamUs have a muddle?

I think it's the latter. The initial reports all say he was about 185 pounds. The size of the trunk was 38" by 21" by 23" and the shipped weight (including body with clothing, plus sheet/s, pillows, and the trunk itself) was 215 pounds, according to the news articles citizen_sleuth posted, with a receipt to prove that. The trunk and textiles weighing ~30 pounds of that is far more likely than ~100 pounds. (Unless the trunk had a secret lining made out of gold bars. ) Maybe the body was exhumed at some point and the 116lb weight was from that measurement?

 

[meanmaryjean]

I think it's the latter. The initial reports all say he was about 185 pounds. The size of the trunk was 38" by 21" by 23" and the shipped weight (including body with clothing, plus sheet/s, pillows, and the trunk itself) was 215 pounds, according to the news articles citizen_sleuth posted, with a receipt to prove that. The trunk and textiles weighing ~30 pounds of that is far more likely than ~100 pounds. (Unless the trunk had a secret lining made out of gold bars. ) Maybe the body was exhumed at some point and the 116lb weight was from that measurement?

My thought is someone is just bad at math. Subtracted the weight of the trunk AND the blankets from the decedent's weight instead of subtracting it from the total weight (#215)

 

[lonewanderer]

The red jammie pants & silk robe are intriguing!

If this guy was big, and "Gerry" was small -- who put him into the trunk, and the trunk into the vehicle that delivered the truck to the rail station?

Hotel sheets, but no hotel missed that much bedding?

Oddities all around.

Maybe one of them involved worked in and/or owned a hotel?

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Maybe one of them involved worked in and/or owned a hotel?

A commercial laundry could also be another possibility.

 

[lonewanderer]

I think it's the latter. The initial reports all say he was about 185 pounds. The size of the trunk was 38" by 21" by 23" and the shipped weight (including body with clothing, plus sheet/s, pillows, and the trunk itself) was 215 pounds, according to the news articles citizen_sleuth posted, with a receipt to prove that. The trunk and textiles weighing ~30 pounds of that is far more likely than ~100 pounds. (Unless the trunk had a secret lining made out of gold bars. ) Maybe the body was exhumed at some point and the 116lb weight was from that measurement?

It also described him as "hulking". Not sure you can do that at 116 lbs...

 

[lonewanderer]

What a strange case...

Given it's an older lady dumping an older man dressed in pajamas, with the body surrounded in old colored sofa cushions, I would think it's more likely a husband/wife situation than organised crime. It seems weird to mail the body across the country instead of just dumping it. Perhaps she had no other means of disposal.

I wonder if they were from CA the brain surgery was performed in NY/NJ, and was ultimately unsuccesful.

If she "mercy killed" him (or had someone do it) then maybe she just did not have the option of flying his body (maybe thats how they go there) back to CA and didn't have the means to have it hauled across the country for her.

So her plan was to ship the body via rail and then pick it up in CA to give the deceased a proper burial.

Take this template and insert any types of other activities for the meat and potatoes; she wanted to ship the body back to CA either to bury properly or dispose of evidence. She couldn't fly it back and couldn't have it driven back for her.

 

[Nate_Bro]

There was a man who went missing a few years before in San Francisco called Robert Trapp. He had a scar on his forehead, maybe from surgery? Lets say he voluntarily went missing and went across the country with/to meet a lady. He is suffering from his head ailments. He asks for euthanasia and she has someone else help to kill him, and ship him back 'home' to San Francisco? Stranger things have happened.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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

www.namus.gov

 

[Deleted member 306806]

"Shipped By 'Little Old Lady': Trunk Murder Mystery," San Francisco Examiner, 11 April 1968, 3.
View attachment 392436

I am interest in the 'two other cases recalled.' One was Emma LaDoux, a California women who stuffed her husbands body in a steamer trunk and shipped it in 1906.

https://www.sfgate.com/sfhistory/article/emma-ledoux-murder-case-trial-death-penalty-13008192.php

https://www.sfgate.com/sfhistory/article/emma-ledoux-murder-case-trial-death-penalty-13008192.php