Not the OP but, it contained the four-page note. Our JD clearly wanted to preserve it, placing it carefully so that his words wouldn’t be blurred by the night dew.
MOO JMO
LA LA - Belle Chasse, WhtMale 16-17, UP88342, hanged, suicide note, 14 Feb 1975 #2
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MOO JMO
It's not certain that whoever gave him the ride was silent... there could be many explanations, for example: the shoes could have been thrown into the water somewhere... and never found.
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That "DD" on the cleaning number in the pants made me wonder a lot. I started looking up different locations in that general area, there is a Xavier University of Louisiana on Drexel Drive in New Orleans. It's an historic black college, and it's historically the only black and Catholic college in the US. This got me to wondering if this Doe's Creole, and (speculating) might never have been reported missing because of distrust of LE in the 70s. The Doe himself is making it clear he doesn't want LE involved.
And continue to have a nagging fear of staged suicide. I don't see the point of the young man writing any messages to the mother & father if the young man really didn't want LE to locate them at all. He not only withheld contact information for them, but also actively requested that LE not seek them out. If LE complies, the message to the mother and father would never be received, and what was intended to be his inner-most thoughts for parents is going to be divulged to LE and (fairly likely) in media. So why bother writing it? And why would he want the parents living the rest of their lives in the hopes of his return when he's making any return an impossibility? This "don't contact anyone," don't look for any information... maybe it did coincide with what he wanted, but maybe it's actually what someone else wanted, and for very sinister purposes.
As another note, there are a good number of RV parks in the area, from what I can see. If he abandoned some vehicle somewhere in that timeframe, don't know they'd have traced it to him because of what would be for LE a pretty oblique connection, and perhaps the vehicle would not even be in his name. Moreover, I doubt they required the type of documentation checking into those parks that they do today. There's also the possibility that he had a bicycle, and that it was left somewhere at too much of a distance from where his body was found to make the connection. And returning to that "DD" on the clothing cleaning number, have wondered about Dept of Defense (strong military presence in the area), or maybe "detention" somewhere. The Louisiana Training Institute-Bridge City (a juvenile detention facility) near New Orleans opened in 1972.
RIP.
And continue to have a nagging fear of staged suicide. I don't see the point of the young man writing any messages to the mother & father if the young man really didn't want LE to locate them at all. He not only withheld contact information for them, but also actively requested that LE not seek them out. If LE complies, the message to the mother and father would never be received, and what was intended to be his inner-most thoughts for parents is going to be divulged to LE and (fairly likely) in media. So why bother writing it? And why would he want the parents living the rest of their lives in the hopes of his return when he's making any return an impossibility? This "don't contact anyone," don't look for any information... maybe it did coincide with what he wanted, but maybe it's actually what someone else wanted, and for very sinister purposes.
As another note, there are a good number of RV parks in the area, from what I can see. If he abandoned some vehicle somewhere in that timeframe, don't know they'd have traced it to him because of what would be for LE a pretty oblique connection, and perhaps the vehicle would not even be in his name. Moreover, I doubt they required the type of documentation checking into those parks that they do today. There's also the possibility that he had a bicycle, and that it was left somewhere at too much of a distance from where his body was found to make the connection. And returning to that "DD" on the clothing cleaning number, have wondered about Dept of Defense (strong military presence in the area), or maybe "detention" somewhere. The Louisiana Training Institute-Bridge City (a juvenile detention facility) near New Orleans opened in 1972.
RIP.
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@Sweetluv mentioned James Zapolski earlier. Couldn't agree on this more. It's jmo, but he looks just like him. I don't think the height or weight for this Doe could be too "off" as it can be for a lot of Does. But age would have to be estimated, under the circumstances. And maybe he is older than originally thought. There are so, so many weird coincidences in terms of this Doe and James Zapolski. Personally, I find the info about James' devotion to biking to be very interesting because I'm wondering if this Doe didn't have a bike that he abandoned somewhere (perhaps somewhere fairly distant from where he was found). And James attended Princeton HS, which has an excellent, excellent reputation for academics, they've got some very prominent and brilliant alumni. James Zapolski:
But no matter how strange the coincidences may be, James is listed with blue/green eyes and the Doe had brown eyes. I'm wondering, is there any, any way such a change could occur? I'm reading that certain medications can actually change eye color to brown. If true (and it appears to be true), and we assume this Doe's a suicide, maybe he was on some kind of drug/s for some physical condition, health issue...? I take it we have no way of knowing if they did a toxicology report, right?
Which brings me back to the assumption of suicide, I'm still not completely comfortable with it for a few reasons. First off, I really do wonder if they did a toxicology report, I don't think it would have been a given in that timeframe under those circumstances. In theory, he could have been drugged. And then there's the shoes. I know the shoes can be thrown off during "throes," but not laced shoes. I think of the "earth shoes" of that period. Those have laces, they're not going anywhere. Loafers, yes, but how many people would opt to climb a tree in loafers? Now, okay, there are going to be exceptions so-- maybe so, good treads, comfortable. But they'd have to be pretty good treads. And if this is planned, why not just wear gym shoes or earth shoes, which would probably give more support and traction? And then there's the moss. I mean, if there were foul play/staging, the person who climbed the tree would himself have to be covered in the stuff. That same person would in theory be moving the Doe to the tree, and the moss could have been transferred. This would probably not be as much of an issue for me if the Doe's shoes were present, as the moss would almost certainly be on the shoes of the person who actually climbed the tree, but the shoes are not there.
I'm not saying this wasn't suicide, I'd guess it likely was. I know a lot of people wonder why the Doe chose Belle Chasse, but there's a big Orange Festival there in December each year going back decades at Fort Jackson, the route from New Orleans would go right past where the Doe was found. Fruit preservation is huge in this area at this time, especially among the Creole and Cajun populations, based on what I read. He might have attended that festival that year, I'm seeing recent attendance estimates in the tens of thousands, don't know about 1975 specifically.
I think James Zapolski looks just so, so much like him.
But no matter how strange the coincidences may be, James is listed with blue/green eyes and the Doe had brown eyes. I'm wondering, is there any, any way such a change could occur? I'm reading that certain medications can actually change eye color to brown. If true (and it appears to be true), and we assume this Doe's a suicide, maybe he was on some kind of drug/s for some physical condition, health issue...? I take it we have no way of knowing if they did a toxicology report, right?
Which brings me back to the assumption of suicide, I'm still not completely comfortable with it for a few reasons. First off, I really do wonder if they did a toxicology report, I don't think it would have been a given in that timeframe under those circumstances. In theory, he could have been drugged. And then there's the shoes. I know the shoes can be thrown off during "throes," but not laced shoes. I think of the "earth shoes" of that period. Those have laces, they're not going anywhere. Loafers, yes, but how many people would opt to climb a tree in loafers? Now, okay, there are going to be exceptions so-- maybe so, good treads, comfortable. But they'd have to be pretty good treads. And if this is planned, why not just wear gym shoes or earth shoes, which would probably give more support and traction? And then there's the moss. I mean, if there were foul play/staging, the person who climbed the tree would himself have to be covered in the stuff. That same person would in theory be moving the Doe to the tree, and the moss could have been transferred. This would probably not be as much of an issue for me if the Doe's shoes were present, as the moss would almost certainly be on the shoes of the person who actually climbed the tree, but the shoes are not there.
I'm not saying this wasn't suicide, I'd guess it likely was. I know a lot of people wonder why the Doe chose Belle Chasse, but there's a big Orange Festival there in December each year going back decades at Fort Jackson, the route from New Orleans would go right past where the Doe was found. Fruit preservation is huge in this area at this time, especially among the Creole and Cajun populations, based on what I read. He might have attended that festival that year, I'm seeing recent attendance estimates in the tens of thousands, don't know about 1975 specifically.
I think James Zapolski looks just so, so much like him.
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I agree that the second picture of James Zapolski (with the hooded jacket) looks more like the sketch than anyone else I’ve seen proposed.
Brown eyes are more likely to appear bluish after death (vs blue eyes appearing brown) due to corneal opacity, which starts occurring within minutes of death.
The other problems with JZ are: he went missing in 1966 (so where was he/what was he doing for those 10 years?) and second, his bicycle was found a couple months after his disappearance, in NJ.
There’s a couple of reasons why I don’t believe this was staged. First, homicide staged as a hanging is exceedingly rare. As an aside, you may find this journalist’s re-investigation, 25 years later, of 10-year old Josh Klaver’s death (originally reported as suicide by hanging) interesting and heartbreaking.
Second, why go to all the trouble of attempting to haul a 6’ young man at least 7-8 feet up a tree when the Mississippi River is right there?
Oh, interesting. I think most of us assumed maybe Mardi Gras (which had just ended that Tuesday) may have been the draw.
Regardless of the above, I also think the picture/sketch similarities are striking, but think it’s unlikely to be JZ.
Brown eyes are more likely to appear bluish after death (vs blue eyes appearing brown) due to corneal opacity, which starts occurring within minutes of death.
The other problems with JZ are: he went missing in 1966 (so where was he/what was he doing for those 10 years?) and second, his bicycle was found a couple months after his disappearance, in NJ.
There’s a couple of reasons why I don’t believe this was staged. First, homicide staged as a hanging is exceedingly rare. As an aside, you may find this journalist’s re-investigation, 25 years later, of 10-year old Josh Klaver’s death (originally reported as suicide by hanging) interesting and heartbreaking.
Second, why go to all the trouble of attempting to haul a 6’ young man at least 7-8 feet up a tree when the Mississippi River is right there?
Oh, interesting. I think most of us assumed maybe Mardi Gras (which had just ended that Tuesday) may have been the draw.
Regardless of the above, I also think the picture/sketch similarities are striking, but think it’s unlikely to be JZ.
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I always thought James "Jamie" Zapolski resembled this UID. The eye color was off, but height, weight, and hair color matched. This UID had no shoes..Jaime would walk barefoot to "toughen" his feet. He also was planning to go to Florida, and that borders Louisiana. Also, Jamie's mom was a Free Lance / Staff Writer and started out in Theater. I wonder if she exposed him to Philosophy, since the suicide note contained that? But we would then have to consider Jaime's disappearance vs. when this UID was found.. What was Jamie doing during those couple of years in between? Plus that would put this UID at around 24.
Also wanted to mention, dont think it was staged since moss on his clothes matched moss from the tree.
Also wanted to mention, dont think it was staged since moss on his clothes matched moss from the tree.
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Currently, there is no way to identify who this young man is. If the suicide note that is out there is really a copy of the original one , maybe handwriting samples can be used in comparison. But without dental, fingerprints, or DNA, im not sure how we can get resolution. What if we could collectively come up with a few individuals we feel could be potential matches and email LSU FACES? Maybe asking if they could take a look. They might have access to information we dont. For example, we know this UID had a mouth scar and slight protruding teeth. They might be able to see if this matches up with someone on our list. Just a suggestion...thoughts (?)
1. Bayard Cousins
2. James Zapolski
3. Lester Petry
1. Bayard Cousins
2. James Zapolski
3. Lester Petry
EloquentEyes1975
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I think this is a perfect idea.
I’m not a professional or anything on cases & matches to the unidentified but ages ago i was thinking of BCJD and put names of potential matches/identities in a notebook.
I can’t remember why i put some of the names i did down; i think it was because of matching timelines & resemblances.
I’ll list them all down. I beg everyone to tell me if any obviously don’t match.
List:
Bayard Cousins
Derran/Darren Conway Rogers
Matt Amon (looked him up again & now doubt this one)
Ralph Hampton Miller
David Kyak (1972; i have my doubts on this one as he was from Australia, not impossible but i feel like he was met with foul play)
Alan Bourque
Lester Petry
Colin Egan
Earl Anthony “Jay” Joggerst
Harmon Shay (creds to this thread because its how i found out of his case; although i have doubts now because their faces are extremely different)
Mike D. Burnett
Orin Anderson
Roger Merton Day
Perry Otto Corlew (Perry’s dentals were sent to see if they matched BCJD’s but the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Department lost Perry’s dental records & we don’t know if they matched or not)
John Deeny
Robert Raymond Parks
Timmy McKernan
Danny L. Jones
Barry “Rocky” Fiddler (this one can be ruled out easily i think; i don’t think he could have traveled from Canada to Louisiana in 13 days)
Mitch Weiser (i also doubt this one because he went missing with his fiancé & it seemed like BCJD wasn’t married and/or in a relationship)
Eddie Zajac
Brian Henry
Alan Soper
Christopher King
Gary Locklear
Mark Bachelder
David Hesterlee
James “Jamie” Zapolski
William Elroy Meyer
Steven Lewis Ericson
Christopher Brian Wells
Timothy L Aamoth
Ronnie Lewis Hitchcock (no photos available of Ronnie)
I’m a new user so i’m not sure how to attach links to their cases. Also sorry if the post is hard to understand or read; i feel like it looks a bit messy.
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I would imagine the Coroners report would still be in existence or is that missing too!? That would be kept at a Vital Statistics office, correct ? Maybe FACES would have access to it, it would list scars, old fractures, ect
This could be compared to our list of potentials.. It could be a start...
This case is very frustrating..
This could be compared to our list of potentials.. It could be a start...
This case is very frustrating..
Shall we try starting from this list, guys? Shall we cut someone out?
George was allegedly shot to death by one of the males he was travelling with.
Robert died in a plane crash.
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Edward Nichols missing a couple of months prior from KY. Would love him added to the list.
IIRC someone confessed to killing Duane. I'll look up and edit my post.
ETA: Private Article Clipping - Newspapers.com™
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Danny had a scar on his right arm from a near amputation. I believe the ME would likely have noted it as an identifying mark.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
John went missing in Puerto Rico. At 12 or 13, I really don’t think he had the ability to write that note, nor any reason, to feel like his life was “over” once he became an" adult". And I just don’t see how he could’ve traveled all the way to LA without being noticed by authorities at some point. MOO JMO
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