Identified! CO - Boulder Co., WhtFem 'Boulder Jane Doe, 17-20, Mar'54 - Dorothy Howard

  • #61
  • #62
There is an update on the www.boulderjanedoe.com site. AMW has accepted the filming and may air the show sometime soon.
 
  • #63
  • #64
I've been looking into this, and have some issues with the theory. First, Glatman had been imprisoned in NY for an assault (no rape) and was released in '51. By all reports, he headed straight for LA. Glatman's murders were all similar. He had a strangulation fixation from early childhood--it has been reported he toyed with strangling himself while masturbating, having once been caught in the act by his father. For the most part, the strangulation-he even had a special rope he used-appears to be his goal in the attacks.
Glatman targeted aspiring actress/models, who he felt would be willing to undress for his camera. He used a gun to subdue the girls, then would loop a rope around their feet and then their necks, pulling tighter and tighter until they died.
His final attempt was 28-year old Lorraine Vigil, whom he had made a date with for some picture-taking. While driving, he pulled a gun on Lorraine and attempted to assault her. She basically kicked his butt, took the gun away and held him until the police came along.
Glatman freely admitted to the murders, giving police the details of the crimes and leading them to the bodies. He made some attempt to conceal the victims, carrying one a mile into the forest thinking "no one would find her out there". He refused an insanity plea, instead going with lttle protest to his death in '59.

BJD was reportedly beaten viciously. In his history of attacks, Glatman never attempted to beat any of his victims, instead using a gun to force cooperation from his victims. Glatman was an avid picture-taker from early in his criminal career. If he were responsible for BJD's death, I think it safe to assume that photos exist somewhere of the attack.

This is the first time in all that has been written about BJD that I have heard the suggestion that she had been hit by a car. I would be curious to know what led to this new conclusion.
 
  • #65
Someone should start a thread about Glatman, very interesting!!!!
 
  • #66
shadowangel said:
I've been looking into this, and have some issues with the theory. ...
BJD was reportedly beaten viciously. In his history of attacks, Glatman never attempted to beat any of his victims, instead using a gun to force cooperation from his victims. Glatman was an avid picture-taker from early in his criminal career. If he were responsible for BJD's death, I think it safe to assume that photos exist somewhere of the attack....
You are probably right about him having kept photos - if not of BJD, than of other unknown/ unidentified cases. This is an instance where police got what they wanted to solve their particular cases, but may have simply filed away possible evidence to another similar crime. It would be nice to know ALL of what is taken during searches, especially when the person is a known (and later) convicted serial killer.
 
  • #67
"We're looking at a serial killer from the late 1950's by the name of Harvey Glatman."

Boulder, Colorado investigators announced they may have a suspect in a 50-year old murder case, but the victim's identity still remains a mystery.

http://www.boulderjanedoe.com/index.cfm?go=Articles
 
  • #68
Correction to my previous post-He appears Glatman did return to Denver after his prison relase in '51, under "parental custody". He was on parole with irregular checks by a PO until September '56, when he was again a free man at which time he moved to CA.
 
  • #69
I'll try to answer some of the questions that have come up, but please see www.boulderjanedoe.com for more on Harvey Glatman and Boulder Jane Doe. The possibility that Glatman killed her is just a theory, but I believe it's a good one.
When BJD's remains were exhumed (June 04), the first thing the forensic people commented on was that she had a kneecap fracture, consistent with being hit by a car. She also had a skull fracture and numerous broken bones on the left side of her body.
According to HG's own confession, he was actively seeking models in Denver during the time period of BJD's death. (He grew up in Denver, had arrests in Boulder and Denver in 1945, went to the CO State Penitentiary, then to NY state where he ended up in Elmira and Sing Sing. He returned to Denver in 1950 and remained there until 1957 when he moved to CA.)
Of the women that HG disrobed, raped, and drove around in CA (i.e., his known murder victims), he was always concerned (according to his own confession) that they would escape from his car. And, in fact, his last victim did just that and managed to flag down a patrolman. We believe that it's possible (still only a theory) that BJD could have been HG's first victim. After being undressed in his car, she could have tried to escape, then was hit by his car. That would explain the kneecap fracture and her other injuries, as either HG hurled her or his car hit her and knocked her down the 29-foot embankment to the edge of Boulder Creek.
 
  • #70
The name of a young woman found slain a half-century ago in Boulder Canyon may be on one of nine sheets of paper that historical detective Silvia Pettem has fastened together with Scotch tape.

The list is of 43 women who had gone missing from around the country just before April 1954, when Jane Doe's beaten body was discovered by two college students hiking about 300 yards south of the Boulder Falls pull-off. Only one name is in bold print — No. 7, Katherine or Catherine Dyer.

Dyer was 24 when she vanished from her Denver boardinghouse at 1118 Washington St. between midnight and 7 a.m. March 26, 1954.

She was an elevator operator at American Furniture Co. on 16th Street in Denver. She had separated recently from her husband, "Jimmie" Dyer — a now-deceased 1950 graduate of Northern Arizona University and Denver Public Service employee. The missing woman was slender and blonde, which fit Jane Doe's description. She was living within a block of a dating club — the Clara Lane Friendship Society — the same type of club that serial killer Harvey Glatman trolled for victims.

http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/county_news/article/0,1713,BDC_2423_4558262,00.html
 
  • #71
We're just hoping that someone will let us know if Katherine (Catherine) Dyer ever showed up. Maybe this will help.

BODY OF EVIDENCE
Persistent sleuths think they may have identified Jane Doe
By John Ingold
Denver Post Staff Writer

Sleuths in Boulder, digging back decades for information, are hopeful they have finally solved the mysteries of the 20-something woman known now only as Jane Doe.

She was found dead 52 years ago, naked, badly bruised and at the bottom of a steep embankment in Boulder Canyon. Her killer was never found, and her name has never been known.

But now, through archival gumshoeing and a little guesswork, Boulder historian Silvia Pettem and a handful of others obsessed with finding those answers think they may have them.

Jane Doe was, perhaps, Katherine or Catherine Dyer of Denver. And she may have been the first victim of serial killer Harvey Glatman.

"We would be just totally tickled if somebody came forward and said, 'I know Katherine Dyer; she wasn't Jane Doe,"' said Dave Frederick, a Colorado native now living in Montana who has worked with Pettem to crack the case. "But we've worked so hard on it, I would be surprised if anybody could say that."

That excitement, though, is tempered by this: Neither Frederick, nor Pettem, nor the Boulder County Sheriff's Office, which is also researching the case, can prove that Dyer is even dead.

She disappeared on March 26, 1954, from a Denver home where she rented a room, about two weeks before Jane Doe's body was found. Dyer was 24, slender and blond, like Jane Doe. Dyer was one of the first people detectives considered in 1954 when trying to figure out who Jane Doe was, Frederick said.

"There's nothing concrete to say that Katherine Dyer was any more likely to be Jane Doe than any number of other candidates at this point," said Boulder County sheriff's Cmdr. Phil West. "There's no physical evidence. It's merely a matter of coincidence."

But to Frederick and Pettem, it's one heck of a coincidence. Dyer, when she disappeared, was separated from her husband and living within a block of the Clara Lane Friendship Society, a dating club.

Glatman, who in 1957 moved from Denver to California, where he raped and killed three women before being executed, would sometimes troll dating clubs for victims, Pettem said.

Glatman also kidnapped women in Colorado. Pettem believes Glatman kidnapped Jane Doe and drove her to Boulder Canyon, where she escaped. Glatman, Pettem thinks, then ran Jane Doe down in his car.

West called the Glatman scenario, "an interesting theory."

Pettem and Frederick, in searching for Jane Doe's identity, have made some wrong turns. Pettem said they were looking closely at one missing woman before finding a newspaper article that said she had been found. They focused on a missing Nebraska woman last year, but DNA evidence ruled her out.

Since they cannot find any of Dyer's relatives, they cannot do DNA testing to see if she is a match with Jane Doe.

"I've been involved now for almost a decade, on this quest to try to figure out who Jane Doe is," Pettem said. "My goal all along has been to restore the dignity that was taken from her when she was murdered and return her remains to her family."

So, for now, Pettem and Frederick are not celebrating.

"The celebration is going to come if we can ever take her home," Frederick said.

Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or [email protected].
 
  • #72
Great job, Silvia. I'm hoping you are able to get a positive ID on this.
 
  • #73
I found an old newspaper archive listing a 14 year old girl from Mexia Texas missing named Doris Earline Lummus. She had blonde hair blue eyes, was five foot 2 inches. Last seen wearing a blue dress, an olive drab Army "Ike" jacket and black ballerina shoes. The article was from January 7th, 1954 and they said she'd been missing since New Years Day. I don't know if she was ever located or not.

Sorry I'm posting on this thread, but I like this one better because it has all Boulder Jane Doe's info right on top.:)
 
  • #74
Hollow said:
I found an old newspaper archive listing a 14 year old girl from Mexia Texas missing named Doris Earline Lummus. She had blonde hair blue eyes, was five foot 2 inches. Last seen wearing a blue dress, an olive drab Army "Ike" jacket and black ballerina shoes. The article was from January 7th, 1954 and they said she'd been missing since New Years Day. I don't know if she was ever located or not.

Sorry I'm posting on this thread, but I like this one better because it has all Boulder Jane Doe's info right on top.:)
Lummus "ran away" from her husband Edward (another 14-year old TX bride?). She wrote her mother 3 weeks later from CA asking her to send some of her things, stating she was living with a friend and her husband. She filed for divorce from Edward in June. I believe Edward had been arrested for theft.
 
  • #75
talelights said:
"We're looking at a serial killer from the late 1950's by the name of Harvey Glatman."
Boulder, Colorado investigators announced they may have a suspect in a 50-year old murder case, but the victim's identity still remains a mystery.
http://www.boulderjanedoe.com/index.cfm?go=Articles
Harvey Glatman began his criminal in early adolescence when he was imprisoned for Robbery in 1945. He was identified at that time as someone needing psychiatric treatment.

Released from prison in 1951, Glatman opened a TV repair shop in Los Angeles and took up photography as a hobby, specializing in "glamour shots".

In 1957, he hired a model, Judy Dull, 19. On 1 August 1957, he raped, killed and photographed her. He then buried her body in the desert, where she was later found on 29 December 1957.

Other known victims of Glatman (who used the aliasses of Johnny Glynn, George Williams, and Frank Johnson) included:

- Shirley Bridgeford, 24, Raped, bound, murdered and dumped in the desert on 9 March 1958.

- Ruth Mercado, also bound, raped photographed and murdered (by garotte) in the desert in 1958.

- Lorraine Vigil who, on 27 October 1958, was taken to the desert at gunpoint. She was wounded in the leg, but managed to get the weapon away from Glatman and held him until a passing highway police officer stopped and arrested Glatman.

Glatman's home yielded photographic evidence of his crimes and he was convicted of murder in San Diego, CA in November 1958. He was executed on 18 August 1959 in San Quentin's gas chamber. A quite reasonable time between crime and punishment.

Incidently, in this case the death penalty proved to be a very effective deterrant. Harvey Glatman has not committed a single crime since 18 August 1959.
 
  • #76
I've been researching Glatman's years between 1945 and 1957. His first arrest was in Denver in May 1945. Then another in BOULDER in July 1945, for abducting a woman and forcing her at gunpoint to walk with him up Sunshine Canyon where they stayed throughout the night. (He was charged with molestation, and this will be the the subject of my history column in the Boulder Daily Camera on 4/9/06.) Then another arrest in Denver in Sept. 1945. In Nov.1945, Glatman pled guilty to the May arrest and was sentenced to the CO State Penitentiary. He was released in July 1946, went to NY, committed more crimes, and spent time at Sing Sing prison. He was paroled in 1951, returned to Denver, was under the care of a psychiatrist, and lived with his parents. In DENVER, he began hiring women as models and photographed them. He also worked as a TV repairman. In January 1957, he moved to LA and continued hiring and photographing women, but by then he also raped and then murdered them. Somewhere between 1945 and 1957 he escalated from molestation to murder, and that's why I believe it was possible that Boulder Jane Doe could have been his first victim, in 1954.
 
  • #77
Silvia said:
I've been researching Glatman's years between 1945 and 1957. .... He was paroled in 1951, returned to Denver, was under the care of a psychiatrist, and lived with his parents. In DENVER, he began hiring women as models and photographed them. He also worked as a TV repairman. ... Somewhere between 1945 and 1957 he escalated from molestation to murder, and that's why I believe it was possible that Boulder Jane Doe could have been his first victim, in 1954.
California authorities, in 1958, were mainly interested in convicting Glatman of crimes committed in California. However, they may have obtained photographs and evidence of other crimes committed elsewhere. Do you know if there might be evidence or photos still on file in California which could tie Glatman to the Boulder Jane Doe?
 
  • #78
We certainly are looking for photos of the young women Glatman photographed in Denver. We've made many inquiries, but so far have not located any of them. But we know they existed at one time, as Glatman was interrogated about them when he was arrested in CA in October 1958. But, as you say, the CA authorities were more concerned about the CA murders, so my guess is the CO photos may not have been saved.
 
  • #79
Silvia said:
We certainly are looking for photos of the young women Glatman photographed in Denver. We've made many inquiries, but so far have not located any of them. But we know they existed at one time, as Glatman was interrogated about them when he was arrested in CA in October 1958. But, as you say, the CA authorities were more concerned about the CA murders, so my guess is the CO photos may not have been saved.
I do not know what the laws are in California regarding archival of evidence in a capital murder case, but I would think that there has to be a set of specific guidelines regarding what has to be kept, and what may be disposed of. Even if other seized photos were taken from Glatman's house or office, a detailed inventory of all items would have to be maintained, along with their ultimate fate. Certainly, all evidence introduced in trial has to be kept, but it is also possible that photos NOT used to build the case against him or introduced as courtroom evidence may have been saved - for the very reason that you are seeking them.

It is most likely that Glatman kept any and all photos taken in Colorado with him, and that those were seized during the search of his possessions. After all, it is not the job of the searching police officers to make on-the-spot determinations of the identity and value of each and every photo while conducting the search. They would have taken it ALL.

If Boulder police authorities were to send a formal request to the California Department of Justice, outlining this case and suspicions about Glatman as a potential suspect, perhaps a more thorough searching of their archives might turn up something. At the very least, they should state in writing what was taken, and what became of it.
 
  • #80
http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/profiling/hazelwood/1.html

This is from an interview with Roy Hazelwood, FBI Profiler (referring to the case of Harvey Glatman:

An interesting note to that story is that the homicide detective assigned to that case was a guy named Pierce Brooks. He said to himself, "If he's killed this many women here, he's bound to have killed women in other places." So he went to the library and did a paper search, looking for similar killings. Then he went to his police chief in Los Angeles and said, "Look, I think we need to buy a computer, enter these kinds of cases, and see if we can't match these cases together." The chief scoffed at the idea, because a computer at that time would cost one million dollars and take up a city block. Then in the early eighties, Brooks got the Department of Justice to host a conference at Sam Houston State University, and that's when VICAP, the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, was born. Glatman's case started that whole process. It was decided that the FBI would run it out of Quantico and in 1985, we hired Brooks to become the first director of VICAP, because it was his idea. So I got to meet him, and I said to him, "You worked the Harvey Glatman case." He was surprised. "No one knows that," he said. I told him I'd studied it. He ended up giving me the original photographs that Glatman took. It even had Brooks's initials from the day he seized them as evidence. So all those years later, from 1960 to 1985, Glatman came full cycle in my life.
 

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