Identified! CT - New Britain, BlkFem UP8869, 20-30, Aug'07 - Joyvaline Martinez

[CarlK90245]

Tatertot brought our attention to this (and another) Jane Doe on a separate thread for a different New Britain Jane Doe.

I am starting a new thread for these Jane Does who were found in Aug 2007.

Here is the link for Jane Doe #2

Jane Doe #1

http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums...23943080045078242S200x200Q851_zpsa776e337.jpg

FBI generated "approximation" of Jane Doe One. Based on a forensic examination of her bones she is likely African American, Hispanic or Caribbean with good dental care including fillings. Based on the size of her leg bones, ribs and vertebrea she was likely 20-30 years old with a light build and was 5 feet to 5-feet, 3-inches tall. Coroners estimated that she had been four to 10 years when her remains were found in 2007.

Here is the relevant news article:

http://www.newbritainherald.com/articles/2010/08/29/news/doc4c781236f13ff140856886.txt

Sunday, August 29, 2010 11:38 PM EDT
By LISA BACKUS
Staff Writer

NEW BRITAIN — They could have been mothers, sisters, women who were loved and missed, but the mystery of their deaths and their identities have gone unsolved for years.

Jane Doe One had excellent dental care. Jane Doe Two likely had a crippling back problem that would require medication. Jane Doe Three was — based on the thickness of her femur — athletic.

The bones of the three women were found three years ago this month in a wooded area behind the plaza near the Route 9 north off-ramp on Hartford Road. (see video)

Until recently, investigators had only two skulls and roughly 50 bones from the three women to provide clues to who they are and how they died.

But now New Britain police detectives are hoping that facial renditions provided by a Federal Bureau of Investigation laboratory will lead to the discovery of their names and why they wound up dumped in a lonely patch of woods and brush behind a Hartford Road plaza.

“We strongly believe identifying these girls is one of the first steps in finding out how they died,” Lt. James Wardwell said. “Someone knew them, most likely from the Northeast or this area, we need to get these images out so people can see them. We’re hoping someone will recognize their features and give us a call.”

<snip>

Anyone with information on the identities of the five women should call the New Britain Police Department Criminal Investigation Division at (860) 826-3065.

 

[CarlK90245]

Lisa Michelle Hatchell is within an inch on height, and has a similar facial shape, although she might have a very slight bit more chin than Jane Doe #1.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/hatchell_lisa.html

 

[CarlK90245]

Michelle C. Eason is another interesting possibility. She is also within an inch on height (1 inch less), and was apparently the victim of a serial killer, and this would be consistent with her body being found in the same location as other victims.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/e/eason_michelle.html

 

[tatertot]

I'm not sure about Eason. Her Charley Project page says she had extensive dental work and this video report describes Jane Doe's teeth as "pristine," which I take to mean not only in good repair but with few or no restorations:

http://www.wfsb.com/video/24832031/index.html

I do see a resemblance on both women, though, and the possibility that a serial killer used this site to hide his victims is interesting.

 

[CarlK90245]

Clearly, she has a much broader head at the cheeks and temples than Michelle Eason.

... and she probably has broader cheekbones and temples and less chin than Lisa Hatchell.

 

[CarlK90245]

Sonilda Obano Pietrafesa has a similar facial shape compared to the straight-on view, and her height is spot-on.

http://www.nampn.org/cases/pietrafesa_sonilda.html

 

[Donjeta]

Michelle Eason is in the ruleouts list.

https://identifyus.org/en/cases/8869

Angela Allen 1951 New York
Constance Anderson 1986 Louisiana
Kimberly Arrington 1982 Alabama
Katrina Ashford 1953 California
Jennifer Barton 1955 Texas
Patricia Becks 1966 Texas
Laronda Bronson 1964 Oregon
Tonetta Carlisle 1973 Tennessee
Tonya Clemmons 1957 Washington
Sharaun Cole 1970 New York
Sharaun Cole 1970 New York
Melissa Collins 1973 Ohio
Michelle Eason 1971 New York
Tiffany Goines 1974 Maryland
DeShanna Gray 1971 Louisiana
Ali Grimsley-Gilmore 1976 Florida
JUANE JOHNSON 1974 New Jersey
Tomiene Jones 1982 New Jersey
Ivy Matory 1965 California
Violet Matory 1967 California
Virginia Rambus 1965 Washington
Alice Sullivan 1966 Tennessee
Caleta White 1988 Washington
Rasheeyda Wilson 1981 California

Her dentals list six F's for fillings, inlays or veneers, all in the molars.

 

[ctaylor]

Jane Doe#1 has now been identified as Joyvaline Martinez....

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Police-Identify-Remains-Found-in-New-Britain-in-2007-224279451.html

Police Identify Remains Found in New Britain in 2007

Joyvaline Martinez has been identified as Jane Doe Number One. She is one of three women whose remains were found behind a New Britian strip mall.

By Ari Mason
Wednesday, Sep 18, 2013 | Updated 4:58 PM EDT

Police Identify Remains Found in New Britain in 2007

Joyvaline "Joy" Martinez, who went missing in October of 2003, has been identified as one of the three women whose remains were found in New Britain in 2007, according to police.

The bodies were found in a wooded area behind the intersection of Route 9 and Hartford Road...

Joyvaline's page on Charley Project http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/martinez_joyvaline.html

 

[Ambercat]

I wonder if the discrepancies between the actual race of Joyvaline Martinez (Hispanic) and the assumed race of the UID (Black) caused her to remain unidentified for a longer period of time?

 

[musicaljoke]

She had an active restraining order on the person who was the last to see her alive. So what use is a restraining order?!

I wonder if that person killed her as well as the other two women.

 

[zinc]

Note the amount of time between the DNA sample submission and the identification: a full six or seven years. Lots of questions here.

Sandra Martinez said she notified police of her sister’s disappearance almost immediately. She wasn’t formally considered a missing person until March 2004. The family followed up in as many ways as possible, Sandra Martinez said.

Their mother [Maria Mates] donated her DNA to a databank in 2006 in hopes of helping to find Joyvaline who had been living with her in East Hartford when she disappeared. About a year later, Sandra called New Britain police when she heard that the remains of three women were found in a wooded area behind a Hartford Road plaza.

The lead didn’t pan out until a few months ago when the state lab discovered Mates was a match for DNA submitted from one of the New Britain “Jane Does” discovered in 2007. Forensic odontologist Dr. Adam Freeman compared Joyvaline’s dental records to the remains found in the woods and confirmed it was Mates’ youngest daughter who had been missing for a decade.

She [Sandra Martinez, sister of Joyvaline Martinez] said she called police after learning about the female remains found in New Britain. Investigators estimated that two of the women had been there for four to 10 years and that one of the women could have been in her 20s or as young as 18.

"I told them my sister had been gone for that amount of time and was the same age," she said.

The New Britain Herald: NBPD announces name of woman found off of Hartford Road in 2007
http://www.newbritainherald.com/articles/2013/09/19/news/doc523a60926a631210771637.txt

Hartford Courant: Longtime Jane Doe Gets a Name: Police Identify Second Victim Found Behind New Britain Strip Mall in 2007
http://www.courant.com/community/new-britain/hc-new-britain-jane-doe2-0919-20130918,0,7436331.story

The NamUs entries (which are still up: UP # 8869, MP # 3380) don't say what kind of DNA profile was available for the UID. It sounds like law enforcement took only a single family reference DNA sample from Ms. Martinez's mother.

• Did Connecticut state or New Britain police not submit either the UID or the MP sample/profile for entry statewide or nationally until recently?
• Did they develop both STR (nucDNA) and mitochondrial (mtDNA) profiles from the MP's mother's sample?
• Were they able to get both nucDNA and mtDNA from the UID?
• Was the single family reference sample not sufficient for identification without the manual dental records comparison, especially if only mtDNA were available for either UID or MP?
• The MP's sister phoned police after the New Britain remains were found. Did they do a dental comparison then, in 2007?
• What about during/after the FBI forensic sculpture reconstruction in 2010?
• Why didn't the dentals themselves flag the possible match, especially if there were also a possible connection through DNA?

This might have something to do with the delay:

The crisis at the lab came to light in early 2011 when an accreditation review revealed a backlog of 3,900 DNA cases that, given current staffing, would require more than three years to process, a backlog of 1,800 firearms cases that would require four years to process and more than 200 rape kits that would take six months to process, far longer than the recommended 30 days.

The backlogs were symptoms of a deeper problem. The review and two subsequent audits raised concerns about the supervision of the lab, the training of its staff, its control of evidence, the quality of some of its tests and validation procedures, the security of its data, and the quality of its reporting. The lab lost its accreditation in August 2011.

Perhaps the most serious consequence, in addition to calling into question the reliability and validity of the lab's work, was the prohibition from entering offender profiles and forensic profiles obtained from crime scenes into the FBI-administered Combined DNA Index System (known as CODIS) of state and federal DNA databases.

Hartford Courant: State Forensic Lab Digging Out of Hole
http://articles.courant.com/2012-11...30_1_troubled-lab-forensic-scientist-dna-unit

Connecticut Office of Policy and Management Crime Lab Working Group
Criminal Justice Policy Advisory Commission: Forensic Backlogs & Personnel Shortages (PDF)
http://www.ct.gov/opm/lib/opm/cjppd/cjcjpac/20110324_dps_dnacaseload.pdf

 

[zinc]

FBI generated "approximation" of Jane Doe One. Based on a forensic examination of her bones she is likely African American, Hispanic or Caribbean with good dental care including fillings. Based on the size of her leg bones, ribs and vertebrea she was likely 20-30 years old with a light build and was 5 feet to 5-feet, 3-inches tall. Coroners estimated that she had been four to 10 years when her remains were found in 2007.

I wonder if the discrepancies between the actual race of Joyvaline Martinez (Hispanic) and the assumed race of the UID (Black) caused her to remain unidentified for a longer period of time?

Based on what Carl initially quoted on the UID description and what I posted above, I'd be surprised to hear that race discrepancy was a significant factor here, though I'm sure it is in many cases.

You raise an important point, though: "Latino/Latina" and/or "Hispanic" are not exactly racial descriptors. They are more often used as ethnic descriptors. A given person may self-identify as white/Caucasian Hispanic or as black/African-American Hispanic. Or native/American Indian Hispanic, Indio, mestizo, biracial or multiracial Hispanic, just Hispanic or Latino/Latina, ..., on and on. (This can get a hell of a lot more complicated, since "Hispanic" is often defined as "of Spanish-speaking origin," including people from Spain. "Latino" refers to the subset who consider themselves of New World origin.)

Missing people are often described only as "Hispanic" or "Latino/Latina." As you observe, this is a problem because most of us mentally fill in a certain image, which is usually mestizo: mixed white/Caucasian and native Central American (meaning "Central American Indian"), the most common background among Latinos living in the United States, especially people of Mexican origin.

In any case you've given a good reminder that we don't always know what "black", "white" or "Hispanic" might mean when trying to match MPs and UIDs.

The FBI reconstruction also uses a much more African-American look than Ms. Martinez had (on left):

 

[maima]

She had an active restraining order on the person who was the last to see her alive. So what use is a restraining order?!

I wonder if that person killed her as well as the other two women.

I don't mean any disrespect to Joyvaline and Diane Cusack (the other woman, identified in 2010, whose body was found in the same area as Joyvaline's) or their families when I say that I wonder if the two women were either prostitutes or involved in drugs. When you do a Google image search for each woman, police mugshots come up. So perhaps a pimp or dealer murdered them and dumped their bodies behind the mall.

 

[tatertot]

That's a good observation, Maima. In the pictures Zinc posted, both women appear to have been photographed against the same blue cinderblock wall, meaning they were probably booked by the same police department.

Per this article, Diane Cusack had been arrested for minor incidents, i.e. disorderly conduct: http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2011/01/police_seek_clu.html

 

[tatertot]

This article answers some of the questions zinc asked in post #11:

http://www.newbritainherald.com/articles/2013/12/29/news/doc52bfb2231336e639841399.txt

Connecticut's crime lab had lost accreditation in 2011 and during the suspension, they were denied access to CODIS until February 2012.

DNA extracted from cheek cells of Matos was entered in to the database for relatives of missing persons in August 2008. Matos’ nuclear DNA profile was put into the same database in September 2009. But a review under Vallaro uncovered that the database containing Matos’ DNA was repeatedly manually compared with the offender DNA database and never compared with the DNA database for unidentified remains.

Isn't that a huge no-no, that DNA taken from relatives of the missing can only be used for identification purposes and should never be compared against any other type of crime or offender database?

Interestingly, the article also mentions that Joy was a former track runner and still-unidentified Jane Doe #3 is thought to have been athletic as well. It's probably a coincidence, though.