LA LA - Belle Chasse, WhtMale 16-17, UP88342, hanged, suicide note, Feb'75 #2

[Lexiintoronto]

I'm kinda late to this investigation but where did anyone find his dental records? in all of the sources about him I couldnt see any mentions of dental records or mouth scars, just slightly protruding teeth

The information is in this great post:

LA Post in thread 'LA - Belle Chasse, WhtMale 16-17, UP88342, hanged, suicide note, Feb'75 #2'

Feb 14, 2024

Bringing some of the links over from the first thread.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) UP88342

Case #22-05 - LA Repository for Unidentified & Missing People

Unknown “Belle Chasse John Doe” Unknown...

On February 14, 1975, a teenage body was found dead in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. He committed suicide by hanging himself with a bed sheet from a persimmon tree. He was about 16 or 17 years old and wore yellow and maroon shirt, blue pants, mismatched socks and no shoes. Leaning against the tree...

www.findagrave.com

Belle Chasse John Doe 3/14/75 1/2

Clipping found in The Plaquemines Gazette published in Pointe-a-la-Hache, Louisiana on 3/14/1975. Belle Chasse John Doe 3/14/75 1/2

www.newspapers.com

UP88342 Unidentified male 1975 LA

Clipping found in The Tennessean published in Nashville, Tennessee on 4/4/1975. UP88342 Unidentified male 1975 LA

www.newspapers.com

UP88342 Unidentified male 1975 LA

Clipping found in The Commercial Appeal published in Memphis, Tennessee on 6/18/1975. UP88342 Unidentified male 1975 LA

www.newspapers.com

...

• MadMcGoo

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[Notarobot]

I have written down that they won't reopen without consent from family, but since family is not known, it's kind of at an impasse. I think this was mentioned in the first thread on the case, if someone can locate it.

Maybe there's a way around it. If a relative of a potential match is found, could they give consent?

 

[Sweetluv]

Records were lost and this UIDs exact burial plot is unknown due to Hurricane Katrina. This is from an email exchange with FACES in 2024. There are a handful of young men I would like to see compared to this UID , but unless his remains are found, I dont know how this can be done. I find it interesting that this UID was one of Doe Networks "Cases of the Month" for December. If tips or suggestions were generated , then what!!?? My question would be, what will it take to move forward with trying to locate his remains for comparison to others? Has there been a search done ? What happens if a family member comes forward stating they think he is there relative? Im sure Hurricane Katrina hindered this case, but im not sure what the next step is with our suggestions....

 

[Hellandhighotters]

Has anyone mentioned the fact that he hung himself with a bed sheet? I feel like that implies that he lived close by.

 

[EloquentEyes1975]

Has anyone mentioned the fact that he hung himself with a bed sheet? I feel like that implies that he lived close by.

I agree, or if he had checked into a motel nearby? (I believe someone mentioned a motel in the first thread, one that would have been operating at the time.)

If he had traveled a long time i imagine it would be tiring & annoying for him to be carrying a bedsheet & a jar for ages state-to-state but then again i wonder if he could have used the bedsheet as a makeshift bag to carry the jar in.

It’s extremely unfortunate all physical evidence has been lost; it’s so frustrating, the thought that if there was any lingering DNA it’s just gone.
Of course, we know that Mr. Mothe knows where John Doe is buried but i’m not sure if Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Department are willing to try & get DNA from his remains. I hope that one day they will, i’m almost positive that if funds are needed many people from all over will be happy to help any way they can.

There’s so many possible identities for him; Bayard Cousins, Earl Anthony “Jay” Joggerst, Perry Corlew (and so, so many more, but these three i see so often).
Bayard Cousins has an absolutely shocking resemblance, and i think most of us consider him to be John Doe; but i always think about how many missing persons cases from the 1970s have been swept away with time, and i wonder if John Doe’s case unfortunately came to that fate. Or maybe he wasn’t reported missing… Maybe he was but police brushed him off as a runaway so they didn’t investigate further. Maybe his parents knew that he was John Doe and let him keep his wish. There’s so, so many unanswered questions & it leaves so many thoughts.

I hope that this year is his year; any starting action will be a massive breath of fresh air.

 

[lightofmine99]

Has anyone mentioned the fact that he hung himself with a bed sheet? I feel like that implies that he lived close by.

Or was staying in a hotel/motel.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Or took it from a clothes-line in someone's yard.
But you do have to wonder what he was doing there in Belle Chasse.

 

[cenazoic]

One of the many mysteries - where did the bedsheet come from?

Some people think he must have been local, based on the sheet and the obscurity of the location of his death.

I tend to disagree, primarily because his story was widely and frequently publicized in the months after his death, and no one local ever turned up to say “hey, that’s Joe Blow” or “looks like a kid that stayed at my h/motel” or even reported a sheet being stolen off a clothes line, that we know of.

(Jinx @ChatteringBirds !)


I can’t look it up now, but does anyone know if the sheet was ever described in more detail? Did it have any laundry marks? I don’t recall any reporting about the sheet other than its existence, so I’m not sure if they ever attempted to track down its origin.

 

[PatLaurel]

One of the many mysteries - where did the bedsheet come from?

The bedsheet and the shoes are what I keep wondering about.

MOO JMO

 

[cenazoic]

The bedsheet and the shoes are what I keep wondering about.

To me, the shoes are easily accounted for by assuming they were kicked off during his death throes. They discovered him at night, so if they went any distance they could have easily been overlooked. It wasn’t a crime scene, so probably not much, if any, searching by daylight either. I AM curious about the bottom of his socks (how dirty/clean, which might help make the kicked-off shoes theory more or less likely) but AFAIK that wasn’t reported anywhere.

The sheet, though, does imply some local access to such, as does the Mason jar. As far as I know the police never reported a bag of any kind, so you get an image of him walking down a pretty rural road on a Friday evening with a sheet and jar in hand, yet no one other than the couple who found him that night ever reported seeing such a character, or giving a ride to him, etc.

 

[Teche]

I agree, or if he had checked into a motel nearby? (I believe someone mentioned a motel in the first thread, one that would have been operating at the time.)

If he had traveled a long time i imagine it would be tiring & annoying for him to be carrying a bedsheet & a jar for ages state-to-state but then again i wonder if he could have used the bedsheet as a makeshift bag to carry the jar in.

It’s extremely unfortunate all physical evidence has been lost; it’s so frustrating, the thought that if there was any lingering DNA it’s just gone.
Of course, we know that Mr. Mothe knows where John Doe is buried but i’m not sure if Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Department are willing to try & get DNA from his remains. I hope that one day they will, i’m almost positive that if funds are needed many people from all over will be happy to help any way they can.

There’s so many possible identities for him; Bayard Cousins, Earl Anthony “Jay” Joggerst, Perry Corlew (and so, so many more, but these three i see so often).
Bayard Cousins has an absolutely shocking resemblance, and i think most of us consider him to be John Doe; but i always think about how many missing persons cases from the 1970s have been swept away with time, and i wonder if John Doe’s case unfortunately came to that fate. Or maybe he wasn’t reported missing… Maybe he was but police brushed him off as a runaway so they didn’t investigate further. Maybe his parents knew that he was John Doe and let him keep his wish. There’s so, so many unanswered questions & it leaves so many thoughts.

I hope that this year is his year; any starting action will be a massive breath of fresh air.

What did the jar contain?

 

[EloquentEyes1975]

What did the jar contain?

The jar only contained the notes/his final letter.

“His desire for anonymity did not prevent the youth from attempting to explain his reasons for taking his life to his parents in a four-page note, which he took care to seal in a jar to keep out the dew.”

 

[PatLaurel]

What did the jar contain?

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

 

[Romulus]

To me, the shoes are easily accounted for by assuming they were kicked off during his death throes. They discovered him at night, so if they went any distance they could have easily been overlooked. It wasn’t a crime scene, so probably not much, if any, searching by daylight either. I AM curious about the bottom of his socks (how dirty/clean, which might help make the kicked-off shoes theory more or less likely) but AFAIK that wasn’t reported anywhere.

The sheet, though, does imply some local access to such, as does the Mason jar. As far as I know the police never reported a bag of any kind, so you get an image of him walking down a pretty rural road on a Friday evening with a sheet and jar in hand, yet no one other than the couple who found him that night ever reported seeing such a character, or giving a ride to him, etc.

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.

 

[C3LEST1AL]

Was there any devensive wounds? And where did the bedsheet come from? Did he live nearby or was there a motel or hotel near?

 

[snooptroop88]

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.

 

[snooptroop88]

@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:

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/software/mp-main.html?id=6122dmnj

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.

 

[cenazoic]

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.

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?

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.

. I mean, if there were foul play/staging,

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?

t there's a big Orange Festival there in December

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.

 

[Sweetluv]

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.

 

[cenazoic]

He also was planning to go to Florida, and that borders Louisiana

Louisiana does not border Florida.