SOLVED MA - Jane Britton, 22, Harvard student, Cambridge, 7 Jan 1969

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  • #741
“her brother”​

I am the late Jane Sanders Britton’s younger brother, and the last surviving member of the Joseph Boyd Britton/Ruth Gertrude Reinert Britton branch of our family. My and Jane’s half brother and sister are still living, born of our dad’s prior marriage, but have no shared history with us. A later marriage, after my mother’s death in 1978, is also unconnected. J. Boyd Britton died in Vero Beach in 2001, aged 93.
I am a retired broadcaster -- specializing in news -- and my career included 27 years with KROQ/CBS in Los Angeles. I am also an ordained Anglican minister and serve as vicar of a small parish in Santa Barbara.
I was in Tan An, in the former Republic of Vietnam, at the time of Jane’s murder, and returned to Boston to be with my family. I attempted with little success to assist Cambridge detectives.
What I know about the case beyond that is almost entirely second-hand or “background” information. I have private “theories”, both about possible suspects and the failure to solve the crime. I can prove nothing. Assuming such person is still alive, and could be induced to confess by some means short of “waterboarding”, I feel obliged as a priest and Christian to attempt forgiveness. I am not certain how I would meet such a challenge. This does not mean I am indifferent to finding the truth.
I have skimmed through the myriad postings on “Websleuth”. Some are totally new ideas. Some are totally off-base. I don’t intend to digest them all. I appreciate both the fascination and emotion Jane’s murder has sparked in so many. I may choose to respond to comments and questions – or not. I value privacy as well as justice. But at least you have a zero-base from the family’s standpoint – the family being me.
Thank you.

The Rev. Boyd R. Britton 14 Jan 16






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Press Esc or click anywhere to return to Mail.
 
  • #742
Reverend Mr. Britton,

Thank you for your post. I understand your wish for privacy. No doubt a lot of folks here will want to pick your brain and see what you think. Please be patient with us!

For myself, I am just interested in knowing from your skimming of the thread here what caught your attention as being on the right track and also what any of your theories may be that the members here haven't thought of so far.

Thank you, sir.
 
  • #743
:welcome:
Welcome to Ws. The Rev. Boyd R. Britton( her brother ) delighted that you have joined us!!
 
  • #744
I would be premature in discussing details, but it is my feeling that barring a random attack, Jane's killer was involved with her in an actual or attempted sexual relationship which went bad. She was attracted to more than a few men, was "wronged" by at least one, may have done likewise to some other, and was very afraid of another individual. Another aspect never discussed was a Cambridge detective who pursued a "red herring" he thought solved the case, wasting days that might have produced better leads. Their sensitivity to this may have contributed to their silence. I am in touch with long-ago neighbor and WS user Don Mitchell. I lost contact with crime writer Dr. Susan Kelly, perhaps the best informed. She has a webpage I could not enter for tech reasons.
 
  • #745
http://www.susankellywriter.com/

https://books.google.ca/books?id=3V...ge&q=jane britton murder susan kelly&f=false

content.jpg
 
  • #746
Susan Kelly Ph.D. has been on WS regarding Boston S. but hasn't been on of late due to the death of her father.
 
  • #747
So happy that you have decided to post and welcome!

One can "attempt forgiveness" and still help solve a crime. Forgiveness does not mean that the forgiven goes free.

I hope I don't offend. I have spent a lot of time on this case and feel very strongly about justice for Jane.

moo
 
  • #748
Maybe there are two separate things going on here:
1. All the drama in the archaeology department.
2. A murder.

As in whatever people associated with the department did to control the situation, they are not the killers. But, they are worried about becoming suspects because they don't know who did the murder.

Jane's door would not lock. Someone else could have done this.

I don't know... I am just trying to think of a scenario that explains what happened.
 
  • #749
I think that there are people out there who know what happened to Jane. Unfortunately, none of them are willing to come forward and share the information they have. Someone out there is still alive and knows.

moo
 
  • #750
December said:
Maybe there are two separate things going on here:
1. All the drama in the archaeology department.
2. A murder.

As in whatever people associated with the department did to control the situation, they are not the killers. But, they are worried about becoming suspects because they don't know who did the murder.

Jane's door would not lock. Someone else could have done this.

I don't know... I am just trying to think of a scenario that explains what happened.
Click to expand...

I think she knew the person that killed her. The way she was killed and the evidence that was left definitely points to someone who knew her.

moo
 
  • #751
RichKelly said:
if you know anything about staging you know that one of the commonly seen red flags, is the "third party discovery".. IE the killer will set it up so that someone else, discovers the body.

Now this can be done remotely, or by having a third party discover the body WITH the offender, .. so if we look at what appears to be here

1) Involved steady with a boyfriend
2) Last seen alive with her boyfriend
3) Body discovered by her neighbor at her boyfriends request
4) Apparent interpersonal violence (possibly intimate) ...

I have not been on this website since early June 2014, and there is just too much new information/speculation for me to read it all right now. However, I did see this post, and think it may be a good time to repeat one of the things I think I said when I first got on the website...

I was Jane's roommate our Junior and Senior years in high school, and we stayed loosely in touch after graduation in 1963. I received a letter from her in July 1968, when she was in Iran on a dig. At that time, she had been dating her boyfriend, Jim Humphries, only a few months, but the relationship was definitely sexual and intense.

Fast forward to his finding Jane's body, accompanied by the neighbors: there is absolutely no way he didn't know that she always left her door unlocked! Why, then, when he received no answer knocking on Jane's [unlocked] door, would he not have just opened the door and gone in? Or - why would he knock at all? They were sexual partners, and Jane indicated to me that marriage was not far off. Why go across the hall and get the neighbors to go in with him?

Jane was always one to fall in love quickly and deeply. It would not have been the first time that she read more into a relation ship than her partner intended. More than one boyfriend had considered her somewhat smothering and needy. In her letter to me, she said she had had an abortion a few months before, by another man. Was she pregnant by Humphries when she was killed? Did she press to get married, and he insisted on an abortion which she refused?

Considering his behavior that morning, I vote for Humphries as the killer...
Click to expand...
 
  • #752
Red ocher, 2 archaeology students*, maybe more young women murdered...
see attached 1976 Smithsonian Magazine article, does anyone notice a common thread?

*Bumping for Anne Abraham and Jane Britton.

View attachment Smithsonian Magazine.pdf
 
  • #753
Yes, many people have -- check earlier in this thread. I noticed it nearly 40 years ago, and brought it to the attention of the best detective on the case.

No evidence. Nothing.
 
  • #754
Going back to her boyfriend... I would be curious how her family viewed their relationship. Did they think it was serious? Did they know him?
 
  • #755
  • #756
In 1977 RMG apparently named the creek that springs from Ramah Quarry:

1) See below excerpt of RMG's Lithic Source Areas 1978 article.

2) RMG was the only person with Anne when she died at Ramah Bay in 1976 (see the Smithsonian article).

3) Anne Hilda Abraham's mother was named Hilda and she died in 1980. (Ambiguous if the creek was named for Anne or her mother.)
---
RMG: Lithic Source Areas in Northern Labrador (1978)

*The fieldwork reported here was carried out during July and August, 1976, in conjunction with an archaeological expedition to northern Labrador directed by Dr. William Fitzhugh, Smithsonian Institution. (Footnote p. 37)

“Although Ramah chert was observed in outcrop on the south shore at the head of Ramah Bay (see Fig. 2), no debitage was encountered there. The principal workings are to be seen in a valley (glacial cirque) drained by Hilda’s Creek* and along the relatively steep slope of an east-facing hill trending in a northwesterly direction towards Roswell Harbor. Time and other considerations permitted only a cursory inspection of the workings north of Hilda’s Creek; however, several days were spent in the valley bottom searching through the enormous scatters of debitage…”

*Named for Anne Hilda Abraham who accompanied the writer to Ramah Bay. (p. 38-39)
---
In addition:
1) In 1976 the RCMP did a brief investigation of Anne's disappearance, they were unaware of Jane Britton's case.

2) The 1977 Smithsonian Internal Review report was basically a whitewash.

3) Anne's parents attempted a case against Smithsonian but was blocked because Anne as a volunteer was considered a government employee.

4) Both the 1976 Smithsonian article and the naming of the creek were an attempt to appease Anne's family.

5) Not clear whether the name "Hilda's Creek" in RMG's scientific article was his idea or at behest of Smithsonian. (No mention in that article that Anne died at Ramah.)
 
  • #757
Kaeru, thanks for posting the PDF. I hadn't read that article since it appeared.

The diary excerpts are suggestive, aren't they? I can't remember how I interpreted them back in the 70s, but certain interpretations are obvious now.

Nevertheless, I'm bound to repeat that I passed this article along to Lt. Joyce. He was under no obligation to report any investigations to me, and he didn't. But I can't imagine that he didn't investigate.

I continue to think (as I've said elsewhere in this thread) that having a look at Lt. Joyce's notes would be the most productive thing imaginable.
 
  • #758
Kaeru - Did you post a different pdf from the one I posted? If so, could you post it again as I cannot find the pdf that Don is claiming you posted?
 
  • #759
Pink Panther said:
Kaeru - Did you post a different pdf from the one I posted? If so, could you post it again as I cannot find the pdf that Don is claiming you posted?
Click to expand...

It's just a few postings above mine, and is a scan of the original Smithsonian article. Not sure what you mean by "claiming," though.
 
  • #760
Don - I didn't understand what you were referring to…Thanks for clarifying.
 
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