IN – St. Joseph Co., Wht Male, UP4851, Found 6/9/85, Army Fatigue "HOSEA"

[friendlysleuther]

Unidentified Person – Indiana (1985)

Date Body Found: June 9, 1985

Location: St. Joseph County, Indiana

Type: Unidentified Deceased

Condition of Remains: Not recognizable – traumatic injuries

Inventory of Remains: All parts recovered


Clothing & Accessories:

• Blue jeans
• White socks
• Green US Army fatigue BDU shirt/jacket with the name “HOSEA”
• 3rd Armored Division “SPEARHEAD” patch on left shoulder
• T-shirt with a logo from the rock band DIO – Holy Diver World Tour
• Grey/white Adidas tennis shoes / sneakers

Circumstances of Recovery:
Unidentified remains were found by a family walking their dog.


Case Information:

• NamUs Case Created: February 13, 2009
• ME/C QA Reviewed: February 14, 2009
• Found on Tribal Land: No
• GPS Coordinates: Not provided

Newspaper article(s) state he was a murder victim.
Newspaper article [linked below] also shows the mans shirt he was found wearing.

Article- Aug 27, 1985

Multiple reconstructions have been done over the years [attached].

 

[HopeRains]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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

www.namus.gov

 

[HopeRains]

Article clipped from The South Bend Tribune

Clipping found in The South Bend Tribune published in South Bend, Indiana on 6/11/1985.

www.newspapers.com

Article clipped from The South Bend Tribune

Clipping found in The South Bend Tribune published in South Bend, Indiana on 6/14/1985.

www.newspapers.com

 

[friendlysleuther]

Article clipped from The South Bend Tribune

Clipping found in The South Bend Tribune published in South Bend, Indiana on 6/11/1985.

www.newspapers.com

Article clipped from The South Bend Tribune

Clipping found in The South Bend Tribune published in South Bend, Indiana on 6/14/1985.

www.newspapers.com

**Parts from quoted articles are linked below


Unidentified male body shows gunshot wound

St. Joseph County police said an unidentified man found Sunday near abandoned railroad tracks in Clay Twp. had suffered a gunshot wound in the head.

The body was found 600 feet north of Cleveland Road, southeast of a residence at 52820 Kenilworth Road.
/ Behind the Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge. 52939 US 33 N.

Autopsy determined that the body was one of a white man in his 20s, about 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighing about 160 pounds. The man possibly had brown hair with a mustache.

The body was in the underbrush near the railroad tracks approximately five to seven days.

He said the man was wearing blue jeans, a blue T-shirt with the name of the rock band “Holy Diver”, an Army jacket, white socks and tennis shoes.

 

[victoriarobinson642]

PV2 Ricky Allen Hosea (1961-2002) - Find a Grave...

www.findagrave.com

I wonder if the army jacket belonged to Private R Hosea from Mishawaka. He was in the armed forces in the early 80s. John Doe is definitely not R H. Maybe he donated his military possessions.

 

[friendlysleuther]

What do you guys think about this other article?

An autopsy determined that the death was a homicide and that the man suffered a gunshot wound, Botich said. But police were not able to determine whether the man was killed in the area where the body was found or whether the body was dumped there.

A noted forensic anthropologist who looked at the case has estimated that the man is in his late teens or early 20s, Botich said. Police said he is about 5 feet, 11 inches to 6 feet tall, weighing about 160 pounds.

Botich said at the time the body was found, the man was wearing blue jeans, a T-shirt, two Army shirts, white socks and blue canvas and suede tennis shoes.

Two of the items of clothing have been closely examined by police to try and make an identification. The T-shirt had the name of a rock group from England named “Ronnie Deo” on it and on the back was the name of a world tour that the group had done called “Holy Diver.”


Police said one of the Army fatigue-type shirts had the name “Hosea” above the pocket as well as a patch indicating someone stationed in Germany.


Botich said police contacted the Army and discovered that it no longer takes fingerprints on enlisted men. The only two men who had been in the Army named Hosea were contacted, police said.
(First names..?)

 

[friendlysleuther]

PV2 Ricky Allen Hosea (1961-2002) - Find a Grave...

www.findagrave.com

I wonder if the army jacket belonged to Private R Hosea from Mishawaka. He was in the armed forces in the early 80s. John Doe is definitely not R H. Maybe he donated his military possessions.

I wish I still had a Fold3 membership. I would search there !

 

[HopeRains]

PV2 Ricky Allen Hosea (1961-2002) - Find a Grave...

www.findagrave.com

I wonder if the army jacket belonged to Private R Hosea from Mishawaka. He was in the armed forces in the early 80s. John Doe is definitely not R H. Maybe he donated his military possessions.

Mishiwaka is in the same county that the John Doe was located, St. Joseph.

Edit addition: Assuming I'm reading articles I am finding correctly, Mr. Hosea did his basic training in Columbia, SC. Was then assigned to Germany where he had a work-related incident and was released from Army on medical discharge. He later was treated in Colorado and Chicago and also lived some in Florida. Point being, he was in multiple states state-side, and also in Germany. He could have either donated or given the jacket to anyone in those places.

 

[friendlysleuther]

Mishiwaka is in the same county that the John Doe was located, St. Joseph.

Edit addition: Assuming I'm reading articles I am finding correctly, Mr. Hosea did his basic training in Columbia, SC. Was then assigned to Germany where he had a work-related incident and was released from Army on medical discharge. He later was treated in Colorado and Chicago and also lived some in Florida. Point being, he was in multiple states state-side, and also in Germany. He could have either donated or given the jacket to anyone in those places.

Yes.. It said that they had contacted both persons in the army with the name of “Hosea”

I would hope that if this were the case, one of them would of been able to say.. “oh, I had given my jacket to _____”

/:

 

[HopeRains]

Yes.. It said that they had contacted both persons in the army with the name of “Hosea”

I would hope that if this were the case, one of them would of been able to say.. “oh, I had given my jacket to _____”

/:

I missed that in the article. Hard to believe there were only 2 people in the Army with the name of Hosea. The Doe got it from somewhere. Those tags are sewn onto your uniform. I was in the Army in 1983, so I know what it looked like then. They started issuing them in 1981, which means someone with that last name was issued the shirt/jacket between 1981 and Doe discovery.

 

[friendlysleuther]

I missed that in the article. Hard to believe there were only 2 people in the Army with the name of Hosea. The Doe got it from somewhere. Those tags are sewn onto your uniform. I was in the Army in 1983, so I know what it looked like then. They started issuing them in 1981, which means someone with that last name was issued the shirt/jacket between 1981 and Doe discovery.

I agree. Here's some other articles below, need to do some more digging on these people but -
---
1983 Rick Hosea Article, Injured in Florida [Already mentioned above, i belive]

----
James A Hosea, 28. 1973 Article [South bend, St Joseph county]
**Need to see if any death records exist for him, articles after 1985

---
Ancil Hosea, (divorce) - 1962 [South Bend, St. Joseph County]
**Need to see if any death records exist for him, articles after 1985

 

[friendlysleuther]

I think this is the band / tour that John Doe was wearing a shirt of when found

The Ronnie James Dio Pages: The Last In Line tour dates

 

[friendlysleuther]

I think this is the band / tour that John Doe was wearing a shirt of when found

The Ronnie James Dio Pages: The Last In Line tour dates

If this is correct, there were concerts in...

• Evansville, IN on Jan 7, 1985
• Fort Wayne, IN on Jan 21, 1985
• Indianapolis, Indiana Jan 22, 1985

 

[victoriarobinson642]

I agree. Here's some other articles below, need to do some more digging on these people but -
---
1983 Rick Hosea Article, Injured in Florida [Already mentioned above, i belive]

----
James A Hosea, 28. 1973 Article [South bend, St Joseph county]
**Need to see if any death records exist for him, articles after 1985
---
Ancil Hosea, (divorce) - 1962 [South Bend, St. Joseph County]
**Need to see if any death records exist for him, articles after 1985

Both Ancil and James have death certificates. Ancil died in 2001 and James (Jimmie) in 1987.

 

[HopeRains]

Wow!! He was exhumed today in order to conduct DNA testing (with results expected in 4-6 months)! Fantastic! The article below indicates that it was recently learned he got the "Hosea" BDU jacket at a soup kitchen. (Don't know how that happened all these years later, maybe it was in an earlier report or something that was overlooked).

St. Joe County police exhume ‘Howard Johnson John Doe’ in hopes of solving 40-year-old cold case

Detectives are hoping advanced DNA and genomics technology could shed some light on identifying the man.

www.wndu.com

 

[victoriarobinson642]

Wow!! He was exhumed today in order to conduct DNA testing (with results expected in 4-6 months)! Fantastic! The article below indicates that it was recently learned he got the "Hosea" BDU jacket at a soup kitchen. (Don't know how that happened all these years later, maybe it was in an earlier report or something that was overlooked).

St. Joe County police exhume ‘Howard Johnson John Doe’ in hopes of solving 40-year-old cold case

Detectives are hoping advanced DNA and genomics technology could shed some light on identifying the man.

www.wndu.com

Great news!! I bet Pvt Hosea from upthread donated it after his service.

 

[friendlysleuther]

Wow!! He was exhumed today in order to conduct DNA testing (with results expected in 4-6 months)! Fantastic! The article below indicates that it was recently learned he got the "Hosea" BDU jacket at a soup kitchen. (Don't know how that happened all these years later, maybe it was in an earlier report or something that was overlooked).

St. Joe County police exhume ‘Howard Johnson John Doe’ in hopes of solving 40-year-old cold case

Detectives are hoping advanced DNA and genomics technology could shed some light on identifying the man.

www.wndu.com

Holy moly.. the timing is crazy

I’ve been working a lot on Indiana missing & unidentified persons.. and for some reason, I just happened to post about this one I think it’s a sign!

Fingers crossed

 

[friendlysleuther]

Also— HOW did they learn about where he got the jacket from??

Is it just me?

Wow!! He was exhumed today in order to conduct DNA testing (with results expected in 4-6 months)! Fantastic! The article below indicates that it was recently learned he got the "Hosea" BDU jacket at a soup kitchen. (Don't know how that happened all these years later, maybe it was in an earlier report or something that was overlooked).

St. Joe County police exhume ‘Howard Johnson John Doe’ in hopes of solving 40-year-old cold case

Detectives are hoping advanced DNA and genomics technology could shed some light on identifying the man.

www.wndu.com

 

[HopeRains]

Holy moly.. the timing is crazy

I’ve been working a lot on Indiana missing & unidentified persons.. and for some reason, I just happened to post about this one I think it’s a sign!

Fingers crossed

It is wild. The first article about the exhumation was posted on Friday, your post was on Saturday. Timing, wow!

 

[HopeRains]

Also— HOW did they learn about where he got the jacket from??

Is it just me?

I'm guessing it was overlooked in a prior report or something, don't know. That may or may not ever be clarified. Hopefully they are able to get what they need to ID this guy ASAP - it's been 40 years