MO MO - St Louis, BlkFem 8-11, 54UFMO, in abandoned bldg, Feb'83

[kgriffin]

I've come up with some new names. Wanted to see if any have been excluded. First is Tracy Davenport. Then has anyone heard about Kelly Staples being ruled out. Then there is Ivy & Violet Matory. There was a fire in the house and the mother was killed in the fire. There were supposed to be 3 of her daughters there but were not.

 

[Spurser]

I've come up with some new names. Wanted to see if any have been excluded. First is Tracy Davenport. Then has anyone heard about Kelly Staples being ruled out. Then there is Ivy & Violet Matory. There was a fire in the house and the mother was killed in the fire. There were supposed to be 3 of her daughters there but were not.

Just posting the links to their Charley Project pages.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/d/davenport_tracy.html

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/s/staples_kelly.html

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/matory_violet.html

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/matory_ivy.html

 

[carbuff]

How exact is it when age is determined on an unidentified victim? I looked at the crime scene photos briefly that were posted and i just think she looks older. I know some kids are tall of course but the size of her legs just looks more like a teenager young adult.

One of the key identifiers for a child's age is the growth zones in the long bones. When a baby is born, the bones are still mostly cartilage. As the child grows, bone gradually replaces the cartilage, until at adulthood the bones are entirely fused -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone#Endochondral_ossification. That usually happens around 20, give or take, and I believe girls mature faster.

So even if she was big for her age, they could get a pretty accurate age estimate.

 

[kgriffin]

Ok, so if the age estimation is correct and posts concerning this girl being older are incorrect, then that takes out Tracy Davenport, Iv Matory and Violet Matory. Also after reviewing Kelly Staples, I don't think that she would have grown 1" 6" and gained 28 pounds in three years. So, that knocks out all my possibilities and it's back to the drawling board. I have many problems with this case. I would think that someone would notice a 8-11 year old being around and not seeing her attend school. I wonder if LE followed up to see if students that moved and got their transcripts were actually enrolled in another school? This case is really eating at my heart. I agree that the monster that did this must be familiar with the area. Someone that would blend in. This little angel suffered so much. To be raped, strangled, then decpitated, left exposed and thrown away like trash. She had to have someone that cared for her. It just boggles my mind.

 

[2sisters]

One of the key identifiers for a child's age is the growth zones in the long bones. When a baby is born, the bones are still mostly cartilage. As the child grows, bone gradually replaces the cartilage, until at adulthood the bones are entirely fused -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone#Endochondral_ossification. That usually happens around 20, give or take, and I believe girls mature faster.

So even if she was big for her age, they could get a pretty accurate age estimate.

Ok thanks.

 

[carbuff]

Ok thanks.

You're welcome.

And of course none of that tells us whether the age estimate on this poor girl was accurate. More information comes from the teeth and the bony plates on the head -- I'd guess this estimate could be off by more than most.

Not that I'm an expert or anything.

 

[kgriffin]

If this child was found completely frozen, is LE sure that she couldn't have been frozen longer than 2 months. I can't remember the case, but a man murdered a woman and keep her in a freezer for years. I'm wondering if forensics can approximate how long te body was frozen?

 

[not_my_kids]

To the best of my knowledge, the only two I have seen suggested here that haven't been ruled out are Kelly Staples and Nikole Betterson. Nikole's parents are both dead and so is Kelly's father. Her mother took off without giving DNA, apparently due to substance problems. So until DNA sources are located for them, there really isn't a way to positively rule them out.

I need to get an update. But, this is the most current stuff that I have on Little One.

 

[Cubby]

Ok, so if the age estimation is correct and posts concerning this girl being older are incorrect, then that takes out Tracy Davenport, Iv Matory and Violet Matory. Also after reviewing Kelly Staples, I don't think that she would have grown 1" 6" and gained 28 pounds in three years. So, that knocks out all my possibilities and it's back to the drawling board. I have many problems with this case. I would think that someone would notice a 8-11 year old being around and not seeing her attend school. I wonder if LE followed up to see if students that moved and got their transcripts were actually enrolled in another school? This case is really eating at my heart. I agree that the monster that did this must be familiar with the area. Someone that would blend in. This little angel suffered so much. To be raped, strangled, then decpitated, left exposed and thrown away like trash. She had to have someone that cared for her. It just boggles my mind.

Some good points. I did want to mention I think 36" is waaay off for a 6 year old, even a tiny one. I always check the growth charts to see where the child may fall. We know they will most likely not fall below the 5th percentile on ht or wt. 36" is the 50th percentile for a girl just under 3 years of age. When the ht listed is similiar to this far off for the age, I try to look between the 5th and 95th percentile for ht for that age and use that as a means to work within.

Here is a link to the growth chart for 24 months and older for girls.
http://pediatrics.about.com/library/growth_charts/ngirlstwo.htm

This is one that I always hope is solved. This precious child.... I hope she knows how many of us care for her and pray for her. Not only to get back her name, but for justice.

and of course welcome to WS kgriffin.

 

[carbuff]

Some good points. I did want to mention I think 36" is waaay off for a 6 year old, even a tiny one. I always check the growth charts to see where the child may fall. We know they will most likely not fall below the 5th percentile on ht or wt. 36" is the 50th percentile for a girl just under 3 years of age. When the ht listed is similiar to this far off for the age, I try to look between the 5th and 95th percentile for ht for that age and use that as a means to work within.

Here is a link to the growth chart for 24 months and older for girls.
http://pediatrics.about.com/library/growth_charts/ngirlstwo.htm

This is one that I always hope is solved. This precious child.... I hope she knows how many of us care for her and pray for her. Not only to get back her name, but for justice.

and of course welcome to WS kgriffin.

I'm thinking neglect, abuse, or extreme poverty causing malnutrition and stunted growth. Which would go along with not being reported missing.

 

[not_my_kids]

I have often wondered about the age myself. At first, they thought she was a local prostitute, that means that LE must have thought the same thing I did, that she's too "curvy" to be a child that young. I know that they have better ways of checking than just to look, but I just can't shake the feeling that the age estimate should be widened. They have checked DNA on girls up through 13, so I think LE doubts the estimate too, at least a little.

I noticed a couple things, one came from this photo:
http://www.homes.com/listing/104546673/6250_Clemens_Ave_UNIVERSITY_CITY_MO_63130
The house that she was dumped in has been razed, now replaced by a subdivision and some more modernized buildings. This house is right across the borde rinto University City and if you look has a striking resemblance to the front of the house in the crime scene photos of Jane Doe's dicovery. I think they built a lot of houses like that in the area and some were later restored, like the one pictured above and some were razed, like the one Jane Doe was found in.
Since I think the University City house was built on the same basic plan, I looked at all the pictures and there is one that shows the back of the house, including outlines where you can see there used to be fire escapes and very low boarded up basement windows.
I have also studied the pictures of the hallway into the boiler room, there are no drag marks...but I look at the damage to her knees and it really does seem that she was dragged. So, I'm thinking she would have been brought in through one of those windows. The person puts her legs through the window, scoots through, grabs her feet and pulls.
The crime scene photos can be seen http://www.missingchildrenministries.org/?page_id=147 They are graphic, straight from the crime scene and morgue. They are not pretty to look at.
If this little scenario of mine is accurate, then this is someone that has no problem being in close contact with a decapitated body, and I doubt it was their first time on that merry go round.

I also think maybe we are looking at older attackers, and we shouldn't be. The person didn't want her found right away, but they didn't dump her in a lake or in a ditch in a remote area, they dumped her in a basement...they may not have had access to a vehicle, or at least not one that they had free access to all the time.


I'm just thinking out loud.

 

[Spurser]

I thought they could estimate age based on growth plates on the bones. I wonder if that was done via x-rays.

 

[not_my_kids]

I thought they could estimate age based on growth plates on the bones. I wonder if that was done via x-rays.

I know that they typically check bone growth, teeth, and bone fusion (I'm pretty sure that's where they look at the growth plates). Typically, as I understand it, the best way to estimate in kids is through a combo of the teeth and bone fusion. In this case, they only had half of that to work with.

They said she was well nourished, so there isn't the malnutrition angle in the time right before her death. But, there could have been malnutrition in her early years that stunted her bone growth...

I am so disheartened when I think that we might never know who she is.
I think of all the cases, she is the one that I have followed the longest and agonized over the hardest. I see her in my sleep. I've memorized every tiny little bit of info on this child. I have the same mental encyclopedia that the lead detective has on missing black girls. When I have a spare minute, I toss it her way.

I just want to give her a name and lay her to rest with all of her parts intact.

 

[HesterMofet]

Bumping for little Jane Doe. Tomorrow marks the 27th anniversary of the discovery of her body. I think about her often. RIP, baby girl.

 

[not_my_kids]

You will never be forgotten, we will never stop looking.

I know that she has no name, but I call her Lily. Expanded from Lil, which was shortened from Lil' jane Doe. It just seemed right, so that is the name I'll stick with until her renaming ceremony (which I am trying to find follow up on right now.)

 

[not_my_kids]

Between that finding, and the bruising on her chest, they believe she was strangled to death before her grisly decapitation.
~snip~
In order to determine how long she'd been there before her discovery, lab technicians looked to the mold growing on her open neck wound for answers. They were able to recreate the same type of mold in a controlled environment, with their tests revealing that it took approximately four to five days to grow the same amount found on her corpse.
~snip~
http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=68694

Link also includes a quote from Det. Carroll that they have located and followed up on children from the St. Louis public school system.
BBM

There are still some people (Okay one person) that insists that she was from a Native American reservation in MN and that Det. Carroll was not willing to investigate. That is not the story or vibe from the St. Louis police that I have received. I trust Detective Carroll, if he says that the possiblity of this has been checked, then I believe that it has.

I also find it interesting that she may have been murdered during the feast of Saint Agnes, who gained sainthood after defending her virginity and being murdered by decapitation at the age of 12 or 13 (Bear in mind there are a million different versions of how she was executed, but decapitation is one of the more common ones.)

Not really going anywhere with this, just throwing out things that I had overlooked, thinking out loud again.

ETA: If I'm wrong on the Feast of St. Agnes thing, datewise, please tell me. I am not really insinuationg much of anything with the reference besides the odd coincidence.

 

[kgriffin]

I have more questions than suggestions. Is anyone aware if bruising was present around the wrists? I was also wondering if there were any impressions taken to attempt to distinguish tool marks used to decapitate this child. Were there any hesitation marks? I also would like to know the results of the sample that was taken that Billylee mentioned.

 

[Cubby]

bump

Thinking about Lily.... Some info on her case may have made a media story about the little Wylie's Angel john doe found recently.

 

[RubyRed]

I was buried in a pauper’s grave on December 2, 1983, ten months from the time I was found in an abandoned warehouse. For now that day of February 28, 1983 when I was found is where my story begins, but it has no ending.

On February 28, 1983 a couple men scavenging for copper stumbled through the basement of abandoned apartment building located on Clemens Ave in St Louis, Missouri. They did not find the copper they sought; instead they found my lifeless, headless body. In shear horror those men ran out of that building faster than a speeding bullet. They called the police and shortly after the entire neighborhood was swarming with police, the medical examiners office and onlookers.
At first they thought I might have been a woman who had been raped, killed and dumped. Within minutes upon approaching they rolled me over to find I was but a mere child. The cops were sickened by tragedy of my death before them.

They estimate that I was eight to eleven years old. I had been well nourished, well cared for, and in seemingly good health; until that day of course. I had been killed elsewhere, beheaded and then disposed of like a bag of trash in this building, this basement. I was left only wearing a sweater, my hands had been tied by rope behind my back and my head has not been located. The only other distinguishing factor is that I wore nail polish. To be exact, two coats of red nail polish adorned my nails.

The local authorities are doing everything they can and have been for years. Twenty six years have passed. Yet, no family has come forward. No person has been arrested for my death. No one knows who I am, where I came from, or why this tragedy occurred.

My spirit is way beyond the age of eleven and walks endlessly, restlessly until the day someone comes forward to claim me, name me.


Specific Details:

Sex: Female
Race: Black
Age: 8 to 11 yrs old
Height: 4’10 est
Weight: 70 lbs
Distinguishing Characteristics: No scars, no deformities, well nourished and she was of medium complexion
Clothing: Yellow V Neck Sweater and two coats of red finger nail polish
Cause of Death: Homicide (sexually assaulted and then strangled, head removed with large bladed knife after death)
Location of Death: Unknown (killed elsewhere)
Other: Red and white nylon rope used to tie her hands behind her back

ANY INFORMATION PERTAINING TO FAITH DOE PLEASE CONTACT:
St. Louis Police Department
Detective Thomas Carroll
314-444-5371
You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

NCIC Number:
U-470002710
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency about this case.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

http://canyouidentifyme.blogspot.com/search/label/Unidentified Child​

 

[lieber32]

Link to website: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Parthenon/6865/jd.html

Sunday, March 3, 1991
​

Section: NEWS
​

</FONT>
UNSOLVED CHILD KILLING HAUNTS POLICE
By Bill Bryan Of the Post-Dispatch Staff






It's been eight years since one of the most baffling cases in the annals of the St. Louis Police Department began, and the mystery remains.

On that cold, crisp, clear day of Feb. 28, 1983, two men looking for a piece of metal to rig a broken drive train on their car made a grisly discovery. While rummaging through a vacant apartment house at 5635 Clemens Avenue in the Cabanne neighborhood, they found the body of a girl on the boiler room floor.


The body was clad only in a dirty yellow sweater with the hands bound behind the back with a red and white nylon rope. The head was missing.

An autopsy disclosed that the girl, who was black, was 8 to 11 years old and had been sexually assaulted. She had been killed elsewhere.

After eight years and countless hours of detective work, police still don't know the identity of the victim, much less who may have killed her.

''I don't suppose I'll ever forget that case,'' said Chief of Detectives Leroy J. Adkins, who was the commander of the homicide squad when the case began.

''It still bothers me,'' said Adkins. ''I guess I'm perplexed more than anything else because we've never identified her after all these years.

''Here you have a child, 8, 9, 10 years old and there's no relatives, parents, neighbors, schoolmates or friends who have reported her missing. Nobody has come forward to offer any information about her.

''What is most distressing is how a child that age can't belong to anybody.''

Adkins called the investigation ''one of most extensive, thorough, painstaking investigations in the history of the department.''

Homicide Sgt. Joe Burgoon has been the primary investigator in the case. He points to a file cabinet stuffed with information such as leads, lists, computer printouts of missing children and stacks of school rosters.

''We've even got information from psychics in there,'' he said.

In 1986, Burgoon sent a report to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va., which runs a special program that analyzes unsolved killings throughout the country.

''The FBI could find nothing to compare to our case anywhere in the United States,'' Burgoon said. ''It's amazing.''

But Burgoon has not given up hope. ''Right now, I'm looking at an abduction case from Chicago,'' he said. ''A 7 1/2-year-old girl was reported abducted in January 1980, and she's never been found.''

Another homicide sergeant thinks that a man on death row in Missouri may be the killer of the girl, and the detective plans to question the man soon.

Dr. Mary Case, the medical examiner for St. Louis County and St. Charles County, remembers the ''Jane Doe'' case well because she was deputy chief medical examiner for St. Louis at the time.

''I remember there were more hours spent on that case than any other I can recall,'' she said.

''In this part of the country, for a child to be murdered like that and not identified is just so unbelievable.''

Adkins says, ''There are so many theories. The girl lived a secluded life. Her mother, or parents, were involved in the murder. The possibilities go on and on.

''She probably was from out of the state, though,'' he said. ''We checked school records around here very, very thoroughly.

''We conducted a nationwide search,'' Adkins said. ''We ran ads in every black newspaper and magazine in the country and corresponded with every state police agency.

''Still nothing. It's frustrating.''
</SPAN>geovisit();

Friday, June 5, 1992
​

Section: NEWS
​

</FONT>
SKULL MAY BE LINKED TO UNSOLVED MURDER
By Bill Bryan Of the Post-Dispatch Staff






The recovery of a human skull has authorities optimistic that they may have the first solid clue in one of St. Louis' most baffling unsolved murders - the decapitation of an unknown girl nine years ago.

''Obviously, we're very interested in this skull,'' said Dr. Mary Case, the St. Louis County Medical Examiner. Her office has custody of the skull, which was obtained by a Charlack police lieutenant on May 14 from a man he had stopped to question on St. Charles Rock Road, near the Interstate I-170.


''The skull is definitely that of a child, but at this time we don't know the sex or race,'' Case said. ''DNA testing will be able to tell us if the skull belongs to the body of the murder victim.''

If the skull and body are matched, Homicide Sgt. Joe Burgoon said police will ''backtrack the origin of the skull and hopefully get her identified.''

He said discoveries of human skulls - particularly those of children - are rare and have piqued police curiosity.

Burgoon has been the primary investigator on the ''Jane Doe'' case for the last several years.

''It's too early to get too excited, but I'm encouraged,'' he said. ''It's the best lead we've got thus far.''

The DNA tests could take several weeks to complete, Case said.

Meanwhile, authorities plan to have archaeologists examine the skull to determine its age. The owner of the skull says it is 1,100 years old.

The skull came to light May 14, when Charlack Lt. Tony Umbertino saw a man in a storage rental shed on St. Charles Rock Road and questioned him to see if he belonged there.

The man was later identified as Danny L. Davis, 33, of Pagedale.

''As I was talking to him, I noticed a couple of animal skulls in the shed,'' Umbertino said. ''One was a rat's skull with a German Army helmet on it.

''I asked him about the skulls, and he told me he was a 'skull freak' and had a human skull as well,'' Umbertino said. ''He had it right there inside a Tide Bleach box. It was wrapped with electrical tape.''

Umbertino confiscated the skull and turned it over to Case's office.

In an interview, Davis said he bought the skull for $35 in 1977 or 1978 at a souvenir-gift shop on Lindbergh Boulevard near Northwest Plaza shopping center. The shop has since gone out of business, he said.

''I collect skulls,'' Davis said. ''I have skulls of cows, birds and deer, but this was the only real human one I had.''

Davis said a tag that came with the skull claimed it to be authentic and 1,100 years old. ''The skull was that of a Navajo Indian woman, 22 years old, from New Mexico,'' Davis said.

''She had been killed by a blow from a tomahawk at the base of the skull.''

Davis said that shortly after buying the skull, he took it to a museum. ''They told me it was a little over 1,000 years old, and they wanted me to donate it to them,'' he said.

''But I wasn't about to give it to them. This was my pride and joy. It was the only real one I had. A lot of folks think I'm weird, but I'm fascinated with the way bones are put together,'' Davis said.

Police plan to question Davis again if the skull is matched to the body.

The murder victim's body was discovered Feb. 28, 1983, by two men who were rummaging around in the basement of a vacant apartment building at 5635 Clemens Avenue.

Despite thousands of hours of investigation, police could never identify the body, let alone solve the murder.


</SPAN>geovisit();

Theres a line in this post from police that states this type of crime was rare in this area. This case is what led me to sites like this. Remember reading about it when researching a book about lost and saved historic St.Louis area historical structures (crime occured in University City not the City of St. Louis, U-City borders St.Louis however). This area at the time where the girl was found was a steamy area littered with violent crime. A boy killed in park by an attacking dog, prostitute found dead etc. This area is now an upper class suburb of St.louis City littered with professors, doctors, lawyers etc. The building she was found in was abandoned at the time. I also live in a historic st.louis neighborhood that when I moved had lots of abandoned buildings and crime but is also now a trendy area with almost a 100 percent occupency rate. When I moved to my building their were drug dealers squating in the first floor apartment, four years later most of my neighbors are upper class white from either Illinois like myself or the suburbs. Also I can tell you from someone that used to use st.louis public transportation system that it is common to see young africa americas that should be in school but aren't. The St.Louis Post posted an article about that a few years ago and I can imagine that would be an issue back then.