Identified! CT - Stonington (Ledyard), WhtFem UP8909, 18-30, JNHS 1917 Class Ring, Lady Clairol hair roller set, May'74 - Linda Sue Childers

[Skigirl]

I stumbled on a recently resolved UID case involving a Vermont man who was shot to death in New Hampshire and found by the side of the road on August 7, 1969, and not identified until this year. His name was Winston Richard Morris.

On looking into the case a little more, I learned that he'd been incarcerated in Vermont AND had escaped earlier in the decade. It reminded me of this crew (unless escaping was something that everyone did back then....????).

Timeline leading up to his death:
- Vermont State Prison on May 9, 1969;
- Spent time in Boston, Massachusetts in June, 1969;
- Spent time in Glastonbury, Connecticut in July, 1969;
- Last seen in Burlington, Vermont on July 25, 1969; and
- Found deceased in Salem, New Hampshire on August 7, 1969.

I just wondered if perhaps he was connected to this cast of characters, and perhaps, if he was a victim of one of them. I've been trying to find information about when he was incarcerated and why, and I found a snippet of a newspaper article saying that he had escaped from Vermont State Prison Farm when he was age 28 with John Casper (age 31). He was found dead when he was 30 years old, so I guess his escape would have been 1967.

Here's his websleuths thread: Identified! - NH - Salem, WhtMale 1716UMNH, 20-30, in ditch off I-93, rod in femur, Aug'69 *Winston Richard Morris

I found a newspaper article saying that DeFrietas (convicted of murdering Jane Doe and Gustavus Carmichael) and his common-law wife, Joanne, had come to CT after he killed a man in NH in 1969. There are mentions of the murder in several articles in the Hartford Courant, including July 10, 1976. The timing sure fits.

 

[fred&edna]

I found a newspaper article saying that DeFrietas (convicted of murdering Jane Doe and Gustavus Carmichael) and his common-law wife, Joanne, had come to CT after he killed a man in NH in 1969. There are mentions of the murder in several articles in the Hartford Courant, including July 10, 1976. The timing sure fits.

Thank you for linking this. Putting together some of these possible puzzle pieces could help.

 

[Skigirl]

Another thing I'm back to wondering about is the phone bill. Many of the calls are to places that seem to have had help wanted ads in the paper, so many of them may have been job search related. But there are several to PA that took place at night, and those seem more likely to be personal calls.

 

[Skigirl]

There are some interesting details in an article I found in the Hartford Courant (June 30, 1976).

* Carmichael bought the car that was found after the murders in Bridgeport, CT on October 28, 1970.
* After his murder, it was found stripped in Hartford but the inspection sticker remained.
* LE was able to learn from the sticker that the car was registered on Dec. 15, 1970 in Portland, Maine to David Skaggs, an alias of Carmichael's.
* A woman named Sandra Maiden claimed that at 17 years old, she, her husband (Roger Brown), Carmichael, and Jane Doe traveled together to "an Inn in CT" after a bank robbery in New Jersey
* The bank robbery was committed in Hamilton Square, New Jersey on Dec. 22, 1970 by the men and netted them $60,000.
* Sandra Maiden was subsequently left alone in an apartment in Exeter, NH a few weeks after the robbery, caught a bus to Portland, Maine, and called the FBI.

 

[Skigirl]

Correction: Sandra Maiden caught a bus to Bangor, not Portland. Too late to edit the above.

 

[Alleykins]

Correction: Sandra Maiden caught a bus to Bangor, not Portland. Too late to edit the above.

Wow. I wonder why she ended up in Bangor, of all places.

 

[dotr]

Wow. I wonder why she ended up in Bangor, of all places.

To meet a guy from the air force? speculation, imo.
Bangor Air National Guard Base - Wikipedia

 

[Alleykins]

To meet a guy from the air force? speculation, imo.
Bangor Air National Guard Base - Wikipedia

Well, that's where my ex in-laws met in the 60s, ex FIL was stationed there. So I guess it's possible.

 

[Skigirl]

I wish the FBI/LE would release what's in their files. They must have something that backs up their belief that she was from the South and worked in New York just before going on the lam with Carmichael. Nothing in the phone bill says "I used to live in the South," or "I work in NY" as far as I can tell, so there must be other things.

 

[fred&edna]

I wish the FBI/LE would release what's in their files. They must have something that backs up their belief that she was from the South and worked in New York just before going on the lam with Carmichael. Nothing in the phone bill says "I used to live in the South," or "I work in NY" as far as I can tell, so there must be other things.

I've never attempted a FOIA request and I don't know where to begin. Is it worth a try?

 

[Alleykins]

I wish the FBI/LE would release what's in their files. They must have something that backs up their belief that she was from the South and worked in New York just before going on the lam with Carmichael. Nothing in the phone bill says "I used to live in the South," or "I work in NY" as far as I can tell, so there must be other things.

I thought there were calls to TN and NJ on the phone bill? I'm going by memory here, so I apologize if I'm wrong.

 

[Skigirl]

I've never attempted a FOIA request and I don't know where to begin. Is it worth a try?

Journalists do them all the time, so I don't think they are that hard to do; you just have to be very patient because agencies don't usually rush to fulfill them. If you are willing to do a little legwork, it would be worth a shot and I would love to see the results!

The only time I've ever contemplated a FOIA was when I wanted some information about a decision that was made by our city electeds. Because they knew they would have to turn the emails over anyway, they didn't even make me go to the trouble of filing the FOIA. You might start by contacting whatever LE agency is in charge at this point and just asking nicely.

 

[Skigirl]

I thought there were calls to TN and NJ on the phone bill? I'm going by memory here, so I apologize if I'm wrong.

There were calls to TN and NJ, but the TN ones were to talent agencies, so it wasn't obvious that they were to family members. NJ isn't surprising because that's where she was living.

 

[fred&edna]

Journalists do them all the time, so I don't think they are that hard to do; you just have to be very patient because agencies don't usually rush to fulfill them. If you are willing to do a little legwork, it would be worth a shot and I would love to see the results!

The only time I've ever contemplated a FOIA was when I wanted some information about a decision that was made by our city electeds. Because they knew they would have to turn the emails over anyway, they didn't even make me go to the trouble of filing the FOIA. You might start by contacting whatever LE agency is in charge at this point and just asking nicely.

I'm considering moving forward on this but slow moving (distracted by world current events, etc). I know there are old FBI files that have been released over the years so I might do some digging there, too. I'll post with progress.

 

[Skigirl]

I'm considering moving forward on this but slow moving (distracted by world current events, etc). I know there are old FBI files that have been released over the years so I might do some digging there, too. I'll post with progress.

ROCKSTAR!

If you know where I can access what's been released already, let me know, I am happy to start mining. I'm obsessed with this case again.

 

[fred&edna]

ROCKSTAR!

If you know where I can access what's been released already, let me know, I am happy to start mining. I'm obsessed with this case again.

I was actually just wondering aloud regarding released FBI info in my previous post. What I mean is... I know this ring of bank robbers had connections to organized crime (Ouimette brothers, as well as the judge, etc.), and I was just thinking some of them may have "released" files within the FBI vault. (lol @ rockstar... I'm more like a slothstar at the moment).


The Vault is the FBI's electronic FOIA Library, containing nearly 7,000 documents and other media that have been scanned from paper into digital copies so you can read them in the comfort of your home or office.

Included here are many new FBI files that have been released to the public but never added to this website; dozens of records previously posted on our site but removed as requests diminished; files from our previous FOIA Library; and new, previously unreleased files.

Visit the FBI Vault.

FBI Vault — FBI

 

[mtlupy]

Just found a ring from 1928 that looks exactly the same as the one found in this case. Seller has it listed as "JR" high school. It's definitely easier to make out the design.

1928 Antique Design Solid Yellow Gold JR High School Ring - $6K Appraisal Value w/CoA}

 

[mtlupy]

Since the two rings we found are both apparently from New York, I wonder if JRHS is Julia Richman High School. JRHS operated as an all-girl high school until the 1960s, and ultimately closed in the 1990s.

Julia Richman Education Complex - Wikipedia

So, I went to an all-girl high school and we would often exchange rings with older relatives who also went to the school. I wonder if Jane Doe went to JRHS and the ring was originally her grandmother's or something?

 

[Curious_in_NC]

Since the two rings we found are both apparently from New York, I wonder if JRHS is Julia Richman High School. JRHS operated as an all-girl high school until the 1960s, and ultimately closed in the 1990s.

Julia Richman Education Complex - Wikipedia

So, I went to an all-girl high school and we would often exchange rings with older relatives who also went to the school. I wonder if Jane Doe went to JRHS and the ring was originally her grandmother's or something?

Interesting read. Just before it closed "local police precinct referred to the crime-infested school as “Julia Rikers,” known for its violence and vandalism".

The apr57 ring certainly looks quite similar in style, but I'm still inclined to think it's an N rather than an R in Jane Doe's ring. Here's a side by side comparison.

I think, as earlier suggested, that the ring may turn out to have no connection to Jane Doe's identity. MOO But there's not a lot of identifiable clues so maybe it could lead somewhere to figure out its origin. I went back to the first pages of this thread for ideas about it. I'm real impressed that some of you, like @Skigirl and @fred&edna, have been slowly chipping away at this case for nearly ten years.

 

[Alleykins]

Since we can't find a J N High school (from that time period), I'm wondering if the "n" stood for normal, so the school would be Jxxx Normal High School, which probably was renamed sometime between when the ring was purchased and then later found with the victim. For example, the J could have stood for the name of the town, something like Jacksonville Normal High School, and perhaps later Normal was dropped.
Normal school - Wikipedia