DNA Doe Project - General Discussion #3

[djanga]

Kings County Jane Doe from 2015 too

Yes, that’s true, there was a new reconstruction for her recently, looks very realistic, but for the other two cases I mentioned there was no update in long time:

 

[doggybag2355]

The pinned post was updated, 3 new cases are pending, one of them is New Buffalo JD which was before a DDP fund case, now fully funded and moved to pending. Also one new case from Canada - Montreal River John Doe 2017 (Ontario) and one case from DC - Naylor Road 2020 (DC) namus 78616

I think Montreal River and Naylor Road John Does we’re already identified by them

 

[djanga]

Great news! The Dashboard numbers were updated, three more Does identified. Now 134 identified v. 131 on December 14, 2024.

The Dashboard was last time updated in January 2025

 

[djanga]

Exhumation of the Tonti Train Crash revealed that there are remains of two individuals instead of one in the same bag.

Remains of Two Bodies Found Inside Body Bag from 1970 Tonti Train Crash - Effingham's News and Sports Leader, 979XFM and KJ Country 102.3

Effingham's News and Sports Leader

www.thexradio.com

 

[djanga]

From the same source:
Two individuals are represented,” Randolph said. “There appears to be more of a juvenile who has some teeth and other parts represented that we weren’t expecting to see. We weren’t expecting to see a young child, and we have some other parts that are definitely more compatible with being an adult.”

Randolph says more research will now be needed to try and solve the new mystery. Tonti is a small community located north of Salem.

“We’re going to do some research on all of the known victims, because that will help us when we get to the genealogy phase. If we know the family trees of some of the known victims, we might see that some of these remains may have come from a known victim and somehow gotten comingled, which is understandable in this kind of a mass casualty event.”

But Randolph says there is also a possibility there is a second unknown child victim from the train crash.

 

[Tired Professor]

From the same source:
Two individuals are represented,” Randolph said. “There appears to be more of a juvenile who has some teeth and other parts represented that we weren’t expecting to see. We weren’t expecting to see a young child, and we have some other parts that are definitely more compatible with being an adult.”

Randolph says more research will now be needed to try and solve the new mystery. Tonti is a small community located north of Salem.

“We’re going to do some research on all of the known victims, because that will help us when we get to the genealogy phase. If we know the family trees of some of the known victims, we might see that some of these remains may have come from a known victim and somehow gotten comingled, which is understandable in this kind of a mass casualty event.”

But Randolph says there is also a possibility there is a second unknown child victim from the train crash.

Sounds like there were 4 kids that perished from this crash:

https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/11/archives/illinois-train-accident-kills-10-locked-diesel-wheels-indicated.htmlOne

 

[djanga]

Wow! The dashboard has been updated. Four cases have been solved by the DDP since January 2025. I understand they might be newly taken cases, but I hope one or two are old cases as well.

 

[Puzzleworth]

Sounds like there were 4 kids that perished from this crash:

https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/11/archives/illinois-train-accident-kills-10-locked-diesel-wheels-indicated.htmlOne

There were (well, until last week, thought to be) 11 dead: 6 adults, 3 infants, one child, and one unknown.

According to the Corpus Christi Caller Times on June 12, 1971 (bolding is mine+some paraphrasing due to OCR failures):

• [one deceased was] Carroll [R.] Fletcher, 54, a conductor from Champaign [Ill.] [...] the identity and sex of one of the dead could not be determined, said Dr Edward Perry, Marion County Coroner. [T]he other 10 were identified as Linda Garavalia, 69, Herrin Ill.; Geraldine Booker 3 [month?]s, Toledo D. Samuel, 50, Lynette Miller, 3, Katheryn Adams, 35, and her daughter Gladys, 3, and a niece, Natasha Adams, 12, all of Chicago; Clara Mckinney, [38?] Philadelphia, [and] Vida B. Walker, 54, [of] Centralia [Ill.]

Most were known immediately. The accident happened on the 10th, and Ms. Garavallia and baby Geraldine were IDed on the 11th or 12th. The article cited here from June 11th states "the body of a small girl" was tentatively IDed but authorities were waiting for her relatives to arrive and visually identify her, and a woman (i.e. Ms. Garavallia) was unidentified. Which leaves the unknown remains.

From this article:

“There are two individuals represented,” [DDP Case Management and Operations Director Jennifer] Randolph explained. “One appears to be a juvenile, with some teeth and other parts that we weren’t expecting to see. We weren’t expecting to find a young child, and there are also parts more compatible with being an adult.”