Update as of 12/18/2020: There is something majorly fishy about this case- I mean, we already guessed that, but it's worse now. I have been trying for over a month to contact anyone related to the case, even tangentially. I've called the Kentucky State Police Records Custodian (and submitted an official written request for open records, which has been ignored), called the Kentucky State Police local post, the original, now-retired coroner, the current Lyon Co. coroner who now holds the autopsy/tox reports, the detective in charge of the case, etc. I've called them all repeatedly and left messages. Every single person has avoided me and ignored my contact attempts. I finally got in touch with the detective, but I was hung up on and he now refuses to accept my calls. I'm at my wits' end here. This is beyond suspicious.
The NamUs information doesn't add up and the more research I do, the more things don't make sense. There's no indication of whether or not the UID drowned. Even in advances stages of decomposition, that should be discernable. There's also no indication of whether or not he had any physical trauma. The height doesn't add up. Some places it's given as a range, some places it's listed as "6'3, measured". The clothes aren't the actual clothes that the decedent was found in. There was no update on the toxicology report. His hair is listed as "possibly" brown, but his race is listed as definitely caucasian, despite the reconstruction appearing distinctly indigenous/Native American (high cheekbones, jaw, nose shape). Isotope analysis only narrowed things down to the United States?
The decomposition rate and est. time of death/time of discovery doesn't match up for the environment and temperatures in the area. Like, it's physiologically impossible for him to be intact and also have been in the water for upward of 5 months during the spring The COLDEST temperature on record from the lake water 1998-99 was 47F at the deepest point (only 68'), which is not enough to drastically slow decomposition, that begins at <40F. Plus, a corpse wouldn't survive that long because the TVA lake is stocked with bottom feeder fish that would have sped the decomposition process.
Worth noting that May 5, 1999, the Cumberland was at flood stage due to record storms in the area. This could have potentially dislodged the body and carried it to the location it was found. Note: The entire Land Between the Lakes area is a manmade reservoir. They flooded Golden Pond, Old Kuttawa, and Old Eddyville to construct it in 1966, which means that there are still very intact cars, fences, buildings, etc. at the bottom of the lake-- plenty of things to snag tire chains on. You can actually still see the old streets and railroad from a plane in the winter. My guess is that the perp dropped the body off of the old Lake Barkley Bridge in Canton, KY (Part of KY I-80, and near I-24 and W. KY Parkway which is a main route for long-haul truckers). Weighed down with an 8-ton jack and tire chains, together probably about 90-150 lbs.- enough to hold down a fresh body, but not necessarily enough to hold down buoyant gases during decomp. Sat there decomposing for a week or two, but as the river entered flood stage from the spring storms, it was transported north (downstream current, I checked) about 8.75 miles to Morley Bay (which is misspelled as Motley on ViCAP), where he was found later.
During the bloat stage, bodies can swell to twice their size. I don't think they actually took this into consideration, which would be why he's described as such a tank. He might have been much smaller. He also definitely didn't work on a barge. My ex worked the barges and you are not allowed to work without appropriate footwear. Barges are slick and dangerous. Cheap, treadless sneakers are not safe.
On the bright side, I did get somewhere with the button (finally). The uploaded photo is upside down, when reversed it reads as some combination of "bbR", "bpR", "bbpr" or "bbqR" and "made in China". Not much, but it's a start. It also looks like the type of snap that comes on ski jackets, for the record. I'm not 100% sold on it being from the jeans.
All I'm saying is that this case smells funny to me. I'm not giving up, but I am getting ticked off with these people. They seem to be entirely uninterested in this case at best, hiding shoddy investigative work at worst. For all the detective knows, I could be calling in with a tip or possible ID, since I never specifically stated *what* about the case I needed. No response whatsoever. Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If anyone is interested I can add photos of the button and my rendition of the design, as well as the screenshots of the actual location where he was found. All I want is for Mac to have his name back.
