NJ NJ - Jan Cotta, 19, Wall Township, 26 June 1973

[Alleykins]

I submitted Jan as a possible match for https://identifyus.org/en/cases/11902 but haven't heard back yet.

That's a good find. They both have dental, so they should be able to match/rule her out. I see DNA isn't available for the UP.
I thought she was a great match for the adult female in the Allenstown case, but right after I submitted it, she was ruled out.

I'm not sure to be honest. I'd like to get a few opinions.

Is the adoptee actively looking for his birth parents? If so, I might consider approaching him instead and suggest he contact the detective on the case.
Feel to pm me the details, I'd be happy to take a look.

 

[Alleykins]

Did we ever turn in this potential match for Jan: https://identifyus.org/en/cases/12689
I think this is the UP case where there are a ton of rule outs but they aren't publishing the list, for unknown reasons.

 

[KaylaraOwl]

I believe she was being compared, but I never saw if she was ruled out or not yet.

 

[Alleykins]

I believe she was being compared, but I never saw if she was ruled out or not yet.

I don't know if we ever will know if she's ruled out unless we ask the investigators/case managers because they're not updating the list.

 

[KaylaraOwl]

Sent you the info. I'm going to contact him and see if he's still looking for his family. If he is and haven't found them, I will contact the Cotta family. He really looks like Jan, though.

 

[KaylaraOwl]

I contacted the SIL that I know personally and let her know. She's going to show the family and get back to me. Fingers crossed. This guy looks so much like her, it's kind of crazy. I'm hoping it's him and they can use information from his adoption to help find Jan.

 

[Alleykins]

I contacted the SIL that I know personally and let her know. She's going to show the family and get back to me. Fingers crossed. This guy looks so much like her, it's kind of crazy. I'm hoping it's him and they can use information from his adoption to help find Jan.

I think I found some members of the Cotta family by poking around the internet. If it is the right family, the adoptee looks a lot like some of males in her family, too. It's uncanny. Fingers crossed!

 

[KaylaraOwl]

I also sent the info to Monmouth county crime stoppers and left them my contact information.
This adoptee does look like the other males in the family to me. The family asked me to have him contact the Wall police, but I had already done that. Fingers crossed here, too!

 

[Alleykins]

I can understand why they might do that. I wish them luck!

 

[KaylaraOwl]

Ok, I got contacted a few minutes ago by a detective with the Wall police and gave him all the info I had. It looks like they are taking the tip very seriously and will check out the adoptee. Fingers crossed!

 

[Alleykins]

Ok, I got contacted a few minutes ago by a detective with the Wall police and gave him all the info I had. It looks like they are taking the tip very seriously and will check out the adoptee. Fingers crossed!

That's great news.

 

[Alleykins]

Just curious, Kaylara. Have you heard back from the adoptee yet by chance?

 

[KaylaraOwl]

Unfortunately, I haven't. Either he hasn't seen it, has seen it and is taking his time to process it. maybe looking up the case information, or had seen it and decided "nope!" Or I could have the wrong person, although I really ,really doubt that is the case.

This guy is the same age as my husband. I have no idea what I would think about getting this kind of a message from some random stranger on the internet. I might think they were a complete nutter. Up until the police contact me. Hopefully the detective will get in contact with him.

 

[Alleykins]

Unfortunately, I haven't. Either he hasn't seen it, has seen it and is taking his time to process it. maybe looking up the case information, or had seen it and decided "nope!" Or I could have the wrong person, although I really ,really doubt that is the case. This guy is the same age as my husband. I have no idea what I would think about getting this kind of a message from some random stranger on the internet. I might think they were a complete nutter. Up until the police contact me. Hopefully the detective will get in contact with him.

I'm thinking if he's read it, he's probably mulling over "what next." I know I would be.

 

[KaylaraOwl]

Omg, he wrote me back!

 

[Alleykins]

Wow! I hope that's a good sign.

 

[KaylaraOwl]

Ok, so he's going to submit DNA this week and then... We wait. This is nerve wracking. I can't even imagine what he's going through right now. I'd be losing my mind.

 

[KaylaraOwl]

Ok, so the detective called this morning. The adoptee had the interview and they are sending up his DNA. He is, however, a different man than I thought. Same name, same area, same age. (And it's not common.) The detective asked me if I had submitted him based on his looks alone, and I told him that I would have sent in the tip regardless because of the birth date.

The adoptee also told me that his birth mother was 19, and was apparently going to become a lawyer.

Fingers still crossed. We should get word back within a few weeks, I think.

 

[Odyssey]

Pardon the potentially stupid question, but what do you mean by "he's a different man than I thought"? Are you saying the photo of the adoptee wasn't actually the adoptee? (I'm very tired at the moment so perhaps I missed something lol)

 

[Odyssey]

FWIW, I'm not completely convinced that the baby they found wasn't Jan's baby. I know they said the DNA didn't match, but how can they be sure that the person whose DNA was submitted was actually the baby?

Thinking from an adoptive parents perspective, assuming the child was a minor when the testing was done, they might have feared that if it were a match, that the Cotta family might seek legal rights to the child. It stands to reason that the parents might have presented their biological child to give the sample instead, to be sure it wouldn't match. Not suggesting they are bad people or anything, but if they felt the child they had raised since infancy might be taken away, I could see that happening. And there wouldn't have been any way to be sure it was the right child.

I am really bugged by the circumstances of that baby. It's been suggested that a young woman who did not want her baby might have read about Jan's disappearance might have saw an opportunity to leave their own baby but how would they know where Jan's friend lived if they didn't know her? If it was someone who knew Jan's friend, it probably would have occurred to the friend that she knew someone who was pregnant but had no baby.

I still have a nagging feeling that the baby they found was Jan's baby. Nothing to back it up, just a feeling.