IN IN - Richmond, WhtMale UP12980, 25-30, obese, in motel room, May'79

[MadMcGoo]

Also, with the address labels on the magazines and the tags from all of his clothing being removed, it sounds like he went to great lengths to make sure he wouldn't be unidentified. Very Lyle Stevik-esque.

ETA- If he was in recognizable condition, I wonder why no postmortems have been released? Does Indiana usually not release PMs?

I wondered about a photo also. I’d imagine they could come to a reasonable conclusion based off of photographs. Hopefully they’re doing/have done more than we are aware of.

 

[carbuff]

According to Google Maps, that street address exists in Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Kearney Nebraska.

 

[Romulus]

This boy wanted to be found, but he didn't want to be recognized, otherwise he would commit suicide in some wood or forest, in some remote area, perhaps even outside his home state.

 

[Shampooedrug]

This boy wanted to be found, but he didn't want to be recognized, otherwise he would commit suicide in some wood or forest, in some remote area, perhaps even outside his home state.

I have thought about that too.

Is there any way to compare Nicholas's DNA with the John Doe's?

 

[subaw0067]

Still no rule-outs on NAMUS.

 

[MadMcGoo]

May 20, 1979, page 13 - Palladium-Item at Newspapers.com - Newspapers.com

View the digital scanned newspaper from Palladium-Item dated May 20, 1979, page 13.

www.newspapers.com

This article describes his clothing and personal items in more detail. To include blue jeans, white sneakers and a brown sweater, almost identical to what Nicholas was wearing last. It also mentions that he had an appendectomy scar. The magazines were recent editions of Rolling Stone.

 

[DS2021]

Nicholas Peter Zizzamia – The Charley Project

 

[Melquiades]

Absolutely bizarre that Zizzamia has neither been matched or ruled out given that this seems so obvious, they have DNA, and investigators were apparently aware of the potential match *9 years ago*. Feels like someone has dropped the ball somewhere here.

Even with the issues locating the body, the parental DNA should be enough to sort.

 

[DS2021]

Absolutely bizarre that Zizzamia has neither been matched or ruled out given that this seems so obvious, they have DNA, and investigators were apparently aware of the potential match *9 years ago*. Feels like someone has dropped the ball somewhere here.

Even with the issues locating the body, the parental DNA should be enough to sort.

Do they have DNA? he died in the 70s, they wouldn't have collected dna back then

 

[Ursamajr]

I wonder if the found location is correct on Namus and this is what is holding it up. Some of the info may be incorrect. I say this because I know of another entry that definitely has the location of body found incorrect - I know because I was at the scene. Did anyone submit Nicholas as a potential match?

 

[wary]

For the record, I was buying magazines from thrift stores in 1979, and it was quite common to see that people had cut the addresses off before they donated them. I don’t think that identity theft was the concern, just general privacy.

It seems to me that they must have taken photos that could be compared with Nicolas. Dental records? Have they lost all his info, not just the location of his grave?

 

[phantomstrider]

For the record, I was buying magazines from thrift stores in 1979, and it was quite common to see that people had cut the addresses off before they donated them. I don’t think that identity theft was the concern, just general privacy.

It seems to me that they must have taken photos that could be compared with Nicolas. Dental records? Have they lost all his info, not just the location of his grave?

I wonder why this John Doe doesn’t have a facial reconstruction done. If he had one someone might have been able to make the connection to Nicholas sooner.

 

[Nell91]

My goodness, reading about the method of suicide and how he 'calmly watched TV'- whoever this gentleman was, he really didn't want to be here anymore. Bless his heart.
I wonder if he was left handed, also.

 

[Puzzleworth]

I wonder if the found location is correct on Namus and this is what is holding it up. Some of the info may be incorrect. I say this because I know of another entry that definitely has the location of body found incorrect - I know because I was at the scene. Did anyone submit Nicholas as a potential match?

The map link defaults to the center of the given municipality. Unless there are specific GPS coordinates listed, I always assume NAMUS location data is inaccurate.

 

[Romulus]

@Caring1 exclusions for this UID?

 

[Fake Protagonist]

@Caring1 exclusions for this UID?

I'm not who you pinged (sorry!) but I logged into NamUs to check for you. Currently zero missing person exclusions there.

 

[Romulus]

I'm not who you pinged (sorry!) but I logged into NamUs to check for you. Currently zero missing person exclusions there.

Thanks!!

 

[AlexFromnic]

Also, weather conditions like excessive rainfall, freezing and thawing, etc. can cause the ground to shift, and the coffins shift with it. If the cemetery's on a hillside sometimes a whole area can slide. I remember when I was growing up there was some road construction going on, and after a period of heavy rain, an entire small cemetery slid onto the highway. My ghoulish ten-year-old self thought it was pretty exciting but my parents were horrified.

Very fortunately the funeral home at their own expense provided him with an upgraded coffin because of his size AND a burial vault to preserve the body for the future.

The most interesting thing HOWEVER...

The body was EMBALMED. He should be there fully preserved to this day thanks to the above methods.

Embalming can be good and bad. I tend to lean to the former. Obviously he can now be ided simply by visual identification maybe even fingerprints. The down side is embalming destroys dna. Im not saying it is impossible to get dna but i know of a particular case where they couldnt get dna from an embalmed body.

Anyway all this is just to bring Nicholas Peter Zizzamia HOME. I know he was ashamed he wouldnt be graduating.. im sure his parents missed him dearly.. although one note i will mention is he has succeeded almost entirely. His parents died before all this was known. And his fathers obituary made no mention of his son. So you really did disappear Nicholas. I hope it was worth it. I dont think it was.

 

[AlexFromnic]

To think... this poor kids parents actually went to watch him graduate and were in the stands on the 14th hoping to see him. He went missing on the 12th.. while his parents were bewildered he was traveling west.. on the 18th he kills himself. The motel he stayed at before from the 15th-18th said his name was Anthony Cuomo from New York.

An Italian name same part of the country... its him..its him.. 1000 times over its him.

To me this case has to be the surest thing to an I.D. without being able to make it official.

The only thing i wonder.. who was he calling when he kept walking to that pay phone? His best friend said he had gay tendencies and it was supposedly a secret.. i wonder if there is a certain significant other or ex significant other who knew something and decided to remain silent all these years...hmm

 

[AlexFromnic]

The more i look into this the more tantalizingly close it seems we get. Hes in a very small cemetary really a patch. Hardly anyone had been getting buried there in recent times all the others there were from the 1800s. Chances are hes the only one or one of the only ones in a burial vault. Cant someone just... you know.. scan the ground and look for that larger vault and start digging?

Maybe its harder than it seems. This kid is from my home town. I want to see the whole cemetary dug up and I want to see him. Literally I just want to open up the lid and yell his name. Its been long enough. I feel even he would want to come home now. That if we could check in with him somehow he would be like.. everyones dead? They are all gone? Even his fathers business.. the whole area is totally different even the motel he died at. Gone. Its a Golden Corral now.

I say bring him home and bury him with his dad.