MN MN - Minneapolis, Miss River @1st Ave bridge, AsianMale UP761, 35-45, watch, Sz 10.5 Reebok, Sep'96

[CarlK90245]

I am starting this thread for a newbie who doesn't yet have thread starting capabilities.

The Doe Network:
Case File: 1694UMMN http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1694UMMN.html
NamUs UP Case 761 https://identifyus.org/en/cases/761

Unidentified Asian Male
Date of Discovery: September 18, 1996
Location of Discovery: Mississippi River, Hennepin County, Minnesota
Estimated Date of Death: 1996
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Decomposing/putrefaction
Cause of Death: Unknown

Physical Description
** Listed information is approximate

Estimated Age: 35-45 years old
Race: Asian
Gender: Male
Height: 5'8" to 5'10"
Weight: 180-200 lbs.
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Unknown

Identifiers
Dentals: Available.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: mtDNA and nucDNA available with FBI NMPDD (ref# UHRS09-02236-1A).

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Long blue pants, white socks, and blue/white Reebock shoe on right foot (size 10.5).
Jewelry: Rumours white metal watch with black rubber/plastic wristband.

Case History

The decedent was found in the Mississippi River 50 yards north of the 1st Avenue bridge in the Nicollet Channel.

 

[valsaid]

Thank you so much CarlK! I'm the newbie without posting capabilities. I've been lurking on Websleuths for a while now and I know how proficient you guys are in looking at cases like this. I know we don't have a lot of information, but any and all help would be so appreciated. I've been scrolling through cases on the Charley Project looking for matches. For whatever reason, there aren't many Asian people listed so it's not as time-consuming as it sounds. Do you guys have any more tips for me on what I should be doing? Thanks so much!

 

[CarlK90245]

I only have three Asian males missing within a year of the John Doe's discovery who fit the age specs.

Le Tung Dinh http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/d/dinh_le.html
Dean Toshio Tanaka http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/t/tanaka_dean.html
Olin Apatiki might be mistaken as Asian, though he is actually Native Alaskan. http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/a/apatiki_olin.html

There is only a five-day lag between Tanaka's disappearance and the John Doe's discovery. I'm not sure of the degree of decomposition of the UID, so I can't say whether the timeframe or tattoos would rule-out Tanaka.

But nevertheless, I don't see how any of them would end up in Minnesota from California or Alaska, though there is nothing to indicate that it isn't possible.

 

[valsaid]

Do you think any of the three are good enough matches to contact LE about? I was looking at Dean Tanaka and everything besides the tattoos and where he cam from make him a perfect match to this UID. I don't think any of these three are on the rule-out list either. I wish we had more specifics on the amount of putrefaction..

 

[CarlK90245]

Do you think any of the three are good enough matches to contact LE about? I was looking at Dean Tanaka and everything besides the tattoos and where he cam from make him a perfect match to this UID. I don't think any of these three are on the rule-out list either. I wish we had more specifics on the amount of putrefaction..

I don't feel strongly enough about any of these three to call them in.

I don't think there is enough time for Tanaka to travel from California to Minnesota, die, and then be too decomposed to see his tattoos.

 

[valsaid]

Yeah that's a good point. Does NamUs have a category for bi-racial people? I found this one:
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/cajski_mark.html

He is Chinese/Caucasian. He doesn't seem like a very good match either, but I'm curious for any other bi-racial cases that I might see that are close.

 

[DippyBlonder]

Yeah that's a good point. Does NamUs have a category for bi-racial people? I found this one:
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/cajski_mark.html

He is Chinese/Caucasian. He doesn't seem like a very good match either, but I'm curious for any other bi-racial cases that I might see that are close.

Welcome! I'm a newbie too.

I don't think there are easy to find categories in any of the 'missing' sites, but if you learn to use Google hacks this can really help you. For instance, if you were to type:

site:charleyproject.org asian male 1996

into google you would get this: https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...pw.r_qf.&fp=2d70bc8da46836e1&biw=1440&bih=735

It will only show you pages from charleyproject.org that contain the words asian, male and 1996.

You have to think outside the box a bit - try things like

site:charleyproject.org asian male
site:charleyproject.org filipino male 1996
site:charleyproject.org vietnamese male 1996
site:charleyproject.org pacific male 1996
etc

You can use the same google hack on any site:

site:nampn.org asian male 1996
site:findthemissing.org filipino male 1996
etc

The small problem is, google will only show you pages that are indexed - most pages are indexed but not all of them.

If you have a visual of the missing person (a morgue picture for instance) you can do the same google hack then click on images and you'll get this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=sit...K30QXZwYHIBw&ved=0CEIQ_AUoAQ&biw=1440&bih=735

Here is a list of google hacks that may help you in the future - allinanchor:, allintext:, allintitle:, allinurl:, cache:, define:, filetype:, id:, inanchor:, info:, intext:, intitle:, inurl:, link:, related:, site: - though you will probably only really use the site: hack, knowing the others can be useful.

DP

 

[valsaid]

Thanks for the tip dippyblonder. That's really helpful! I've used that hack to check all the typical missing sites: Charley Project, Doe Network, NaMUs, Minnesota Missing Person's Clearinghouse, etc,. Are there any other websites any of you guys would recommend?

 

[webrocket]

Yeah that's a good point. Does NamUs have a category for bi-racial people? I found this one:
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/cajski_mark.html

He is Chinese/Caucasian. He doesn't seem like a very good match either, but I'm curious for any other bi-racial cases that I might see that are close.

I have never seen a category of bi-racial on Namus. there is "other" which could be anything but as a general rule I suspect that people are categorized (rightly or wrongly so) by the non-white racial part of any bi-racial combination.

our president is bi-racial yet he is generally referred to as African American.

 

[pallacat]

I wonder if the John Doe in this case is Hmong since Minnesota is home to the second largest Hmong population in the United States. Maybe he's an immigrant that recently came to the United States (Hmong or belonging to another Asian group). I'm not sure if DNA can decipher what part of Asia he could be from or if it would give a more general picture. I hope that the MN police had talked to different Asian communities in MN (Hmong, Chinese,Vietnam,ect) for possible leads.

Is it possible to find missing persons from Asian countries? Like an online database of some sort?

I'm also thinking that maybe John Doe was a U.S citizen but lived abroad for most of his life? It might be why no one here reported him missing.

 

[ATheLibrarian]

I'm not sure if DNA can decipher what part of Asia he could be from or if it would give a more general picture.

My daughter is a Korean adoptee and I know from other Korean adoptees that have done things like AncestryDNA or 23andme that they often come back as ethnically Han Chinese or Japanese, thanks to a lot of colonialization. I think isotope testing would be more accurate to show where he had lived but it would probably be $$$.

 

[ATheLibrarian]

Exclusions



Arnel Narvaiz 1958 California
Stacy Sabal 1962 California
Linh Tran 1973 California

 

[Melt71]

I can't see any other good additions to Namus or Charley Project. This case hasn't been updated in Namus since November 2018.

 

[Minnesotaloon]

https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/bca/bca-divisions/administrative/Documents/LuengTimothy.pdf

I went and look at the missing persons from Minnesota. There was one Person of Asian race on the list. Timothy Leung, he went missing in Minneapolis, was wearing blue pants and white tennis shoes. The only thing that doesn’t fit is the missing date he wasn’t reported missing till a couple months after the unidentified person was found. However I am not sure if that date is the day someone had last seen you or the date someone actually reports you as missing. If it is the day he was last reported missing, that could mean he lives distant from his family and they didn’t realize he was missing until a couple of months later maybe? I could not find anymore then his description telling about the circumstances he went missing under to tell me if my thought was right or not. Does anyone have any thoughts?

 

[PunkCake]

https://dps.mn.gov/divisions/bca/bca-divisions/administrative/Documents/LuengTimothy.pdf

I went and look at the missing persons from Minnesota. There was one Person of Asian race on the list. Timothy Leung, he went missing in Minneapolis, was wearing blue pants and white tennis shoes. The only thing that doesn’t fit is the missing date he wasn’t reported missing till a couple months after the unidentified person was found. However I am not sure if that date is the day someone had last seen you or the date someone actually reports you as missing. If it is the day he was last reported missing, that could mean he lives distant from his family and they didn’t realize he was missing until a couple of months later maybe? I could not find anymore then his description telling about the circumstances he went missing under to tell me if my thought was right or not. Does anyone have any thoughts?

On The Charley Project, Timothy is listed as last seen on March 27th 1997. Our John Doe was recovered in 1996. Otherwise this would be perfect !

Timothy Hing Leung – The Charley Project

 

[Minnesotaloon]

On The Charley Project, Timothy is listed as last seen on March 27th 1997. Our John Doe was recovered in 1996. Otherwise this would be perfect !

Timothy Hing Leung – The Charley Project

I know it says that but I still think that maybe someone should suggest they look at that. I don’t know if the last seen date is just when the family or whoever actually reported them missing or if that date is when he was actually last seen. It’s only a six month difference so if the family lived distant from him and didn’t realize he was missing until later on that could explain the time difference. Because I found nothing on the circumstances of his disappearance. It could be worth a try for someone to send his name in maybe. But I am also really new so I don’t really know.

 

[Teamir]

Here is an updated Namus link:

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

I did a search of missing men with black hair but didn’t turn up any likely matches.

 

[Melt71]

Exclusions



Arnel Narvaiz 1958 California
Stacy Sabal 1962 California
Linh Tran 1973 California

Still the same 3 exclusions in Namus that were listed upthread in 2016. Dean Tanaka (suggested as a match upthread) is not ruled out but DoeNetwork states his case has been closed by LAPD.

 

[beavt]

David Skenadore, MP36694, went missing aged 40-41 on 4/26/1996. Had spoken of wanting to take a road trip west, was last seen in Black River Falls, WI (143 miles southeast of Minneapolis) He has a listed height of 6’0”-6’1” and weight of 170 with black hair:

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov