Identified! NY - Mount Vernon, WhtFem 51UFNY, 18-25, Left Near Junkyard, Feb'88 - Veronica Wiederhold

[Springrain]

I, too, have no idea why, but I am convinced she is from New Jersey. It's just a feeling I have.

 

[jessr927]

Do you think that she is her?

The tow truck really grabs at me too--very disturbing anecdote.

I'm so sorry, I should have been more clear. No, MVJD can't be my old roommate, we are only 31. I just meant that they bear a good resemblance to each other and the tow truck guy who took photos of her may have been involved with MVJD because he's got the tow truck, grew up here, is the right age, has a shop around the corner from Carleton, and is known for doing creepy things like taking those photos of my roommate. But I am seriously looking at Alejandro (Alex) Henriquez now. The coincidences are huge.

 

[Roselvr]

So including you, three people independently, without knowing the other one's thoughts, think this woman is from NJ. Interesting!

Oh, my Lord, did this just send a chill down my spine, and I know this is all very tangential but please bear with me. Very early on in the thread, I mentioned that MVJD looked vaguely Chilean to me, as she bore a resemblance to one of my old roommates in Mount Vernon who had come here from Chile. Before I lived with her, this roommate lived in a house owned by a Mount Vernon tow truck driver and she moved out of there suddenly, accusing him of taking photos of her sleeping in the nude I believe. As an aside from that, this tow truck driver has a son or nephew (it's been over ten years - hard to recall) who was rumored to have murdered a man because he was beating his wife.

I probably sound like I have a screw loose, but the tow truck driver I just mentioned has his shop basically around the corner from where MVJD was found.

When was the last time you saw the tow truck driver? Did you leave a tip about him to the detective? He really should be looked at

I believe that, as many others have said, she may have been an exotic dancer / sex worker, or, failing that, a girl who enjoyed partying a lot. The cocaine certainly confirms that theory.
One thing I noticed was that her eyebrows were not what I would call 'well groomed' - not plucked / shaped / waxed. Yet her pubic hair was recently shaved. That confuses me a bit.
This happening on valentines day makes me think a partner did this.

Cocaine was everywhere in the 80's & early 90's. Just about every party you went to had it.

 

[jessr927]

When was the last time you saw the tow truck driver? Did you leave a tip about him to the detective? He really should be looked at.

I have not personally seen him in a few years but he's still alive and working here in town. I left a message yesterday for Det. DiMase at MV Major Case but didn't hear back yet. Will call again Monday (I think he's off weekends - desk cop said he works standard 9-5).

 

[Al Ka]

Thank you Catherine and Jessr for posting pics of garage door springs. It is crystal clear now what she was laying on, just garage door springs and no doors included under it. I have previously thought that perhaps there were quite a few smaller wobbly springs and her being placed on top. Even though very clear some of my questions still remain, how did he manage that and why...

Maybe personally I am overestimating how much time and concentration must have gone into making that scene... Not just simply positioning her body in certain way, but on top of the round probably a bit wobbly and perhaps somewhat unsteady rolling spring, well make that 2 springs. I thought maybe JD was tied up to make it all more steady, but no no... LE has stated that she was carefully placed on top... and to make it even more difficult her ankles were crossed... carefully perfecting the scene the way he exactly wanted...

He must have been there some time, quite a few min and definitely had to concentrate to make and balance and to perfect the gruesome scene... For all above reasons I do not think he could have been too nervous either or with shaky hands to make that scene or in hurry too much.

His time frame is between 10:20 a.m. to 11:54 a.m, 1 hour and 34 min before she was discovered, in total 94 min for everything if he arrived at the scene at that exact time of 10:20 am (not probable but still possible), parked the car/truck (not staying in the middle of the road as that would probably draw attention), bringing the springs from car/truck, nearby business or junkyard; positioning the springs; bringing our MVJD from car/truck, nearby business or junkyard; positioning whole complicated scene; probably checking and admiring once its done and finally leaving.

Less than 94 min for all that plus MVJD being discovered.

In 2010 it took 6 days to find missing pregnant Mount Vernon Brazilian girl in her car which was parked in front of NY police station whole that time, but in 1988 it took just a few min to discover MVJD...

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/cri...d-dead-suv-nypd-station-week-article-1.186773
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...Y-Gizela-Andrade-32-Mount-Vernon-25-Sept-2010

I really wonder if he himself called the police to see their reaction upon seeing his display or if he himself was perhaps disturbed by someone and was pretending to find that scene...

If google is correct, she was found in front of this building almost at the end of the short and rough looking Calverton street.

https://goo.gl/maps/NSm6YLeZ1uK2


Acevedo - Sorry, I have not checked too deep into information available and even though incarcerated at the time - few thoughts on him - good location - Yonkers, next to Mount Vernon. His last two victims were black and he left all his known victims at scene of the crime. That is not the case with MVJD. He drank, even passing out during crimes, what saved one victim. Leaving beer bottles and victims cloth nearby the scenes. Even if not drunk, and only tipsy, I don't think one would be able to create MVJD scene.

Alejandro HENRIQUEZ - he prayed on young Latin victims (ages from 10 to 21) and all of them came from small part of south of Bronx. It is a bit scary how close (within few min) they were all found to Calverton Avenue.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@40.8897568,-73.8044995,13z
on Bronx River Parkway
on Hutchinson River Parkway
in Pelham Bay Park (creepy that they mentioned further 40 bodies discovered there between 1986 and 1992)

I am not sure if I would ruled him out or in from little info I read so far but he definitely sounds as overly confident in himself and probably capable of the mentioned scene. He had 75 min unaccounted for on his last 10 year old victim.

http://murderpedia.org/male.H/h/henriquez-alejandro.htm

Apologies for over analyzing the details. Above, of course, are just my thoughts and not the facts...

 

[jessr927]

He must have been there some time, quite a few min and definitely had to concentrate to make and balance and to perfect the gruesome scene... For all above reasons I do not think he could have been too nervous either or with shaky hands to make that scene or in hurry too much.

You make an excellent point, which further leads me to believe that Alejandro Henriquez is a likely candidate. As you pointed out, even if Francisco Acevedo had not been in prison at the time, his crimes were much sloppier. Henriquez is a stone cold man - you can see it clearly in his pre-sentencing statement (I have linked to it earlier in the thread).

In 2010 it took 6 days to find missing pregnant Mount Vernon Brazilian girl in her car which was parked in front of NY police station whole that time, but in 1988 it took just a few min to discover MVJD...

Yes, Gisela Andrade, God rest her soul. I remember that well.

I really wonder if he himself called the police to see their reaction upon seeing his display or if he himself was perhaps disturbed by someone and was pretending to find that scene...

The Journal News article which featured the original detective George Ossipo, states that the Mt. Vernon PD Major Case Squad was now going back and re-interviewing the original witness who discovered MVJD's body that morning. Apparently he was an employee of one of the businesses on Carleton, it does not say his name or the name of the company he worked for. You make a very good point - but I would *hope* that MVPD would have looked closely at this person (though you never know...)

If google is correct, she was found in front of this building almost at the end of the short and rough looking Calverton street.

https://goo.gl/maps/NSm6YLeZ1uK2

NAMUS says this is where she was found, but other reports have said "opposite 22 Carleton Avenue." I don't know which is the correct address.

Alejandro HENRIQUEZ - he prayed on young Latin victims (ages from 10 to 21) and all of them came from small part of south of Bronx. It is a bit scary how close (within few min) they were all found to Calverton Avenue.

Though all of his victims were Hispanic, we still don't know for certain if MVJD was white, or a white-skinned Latina (others have suggested she has South American origin - Chile or Brazil). If we knew for sure, I'd have a better idea on Henriquez. Either way, the man is a monster and thankfully spending life in prison.

in Pelham Bay Park (creepy that they mentioned further 40 bodies discovered there between 1986 and 1992)

Pelham Bay Park is enormous, larger than Central Park in NYC and much more densely wooded, with the added bonus of being located in an out-of-the-way portion of the Bronx. Lots of crazy things went on there and on City Island which is a few blocks away; drug murders, Santeria sacrifices...

I am not sure if I would ruled him out or in from little info I read so far but he definitely sounds as overly confident in himself and probably capable of the mentioned scene. He had 75 min unaccounted for on his last 10 year old victim.

Not to mention the fact that he held one victim overnight in his car before driving to the Mt. Vernon border to dump her body along the Hutchinson River Parkway. That could explain where MVJD was being held for 6-12 hours before being found on Carleton.

I submit this, from the Murderpedia link on Henriquez, as further proof:

“He wanted me to pretend like I was the killer,” the nephew, John Anthony Ramirez, testified. “He told me to disguise my voice, to be careful not to get caught, to keep it a secret between me and him.”

When Ramirez asked for more details of the crimes, Henriquez slipped up and told him things that only the killer would know — such as a rip in the training bra that Jessica was wearing. That fact had not been made public.

A note Ramirez was to use as a script also emerged during the trial:

“I called you to worn you put you didn’t listen. I will strik again were when how. But soon my this time youll belive me . . . I will stop when I reah Big 13. So far luckey 7 ha ha ha ha hang up.”

Note that Henriquez was only suspected of killing 6 people. So why did his handwritten script say "so far lucky 7?" A slip of the tongue maybe - indicating that MVJD may have been his first victim?

 

[jessr927]

Good morning all!

I received a call back from Detective DiMase this morning, of Mt. Vernon Major Case, and he has been handling MVJD's case for about 2 years now. He is a really lovely man, very down to earth and willing to listen to any tip no matter how small. I brought up Alejandro Henriquez and he thanked me - he said he has looked into so many suspects that he wasn't sure offhand if Henriquez had come up before (I don't think he was in the stationhouse when we spoke) but that he would definitely look into him.

He actually brought up the subject of tow truck drivers and said that there was a man from the Yonkers area who used to drive a tow truck, had moved to Florida, and confessed to 3 or 4 murders, but MVJD was not one of them. Then I brought up the tow truck driver from Mt. Vernon, without saying his name, and Det. DiMase said, "oh, you mean _____." I had to pick my jaw up off the floor, assuming that this meant he had been a suspect at some point, but he hadn't been - it's just that everyone in the city knows this tow truck driver and he does come off as creepy. Det. DiMase asked me for my ex-roommate's name and I provided it to him, although I believe she may have moved back to Chile. I have not had contact with her since at least 2008 so I don't have her phone number or whereabouts.

Here's a fact that I was unaware of - MVJD was strangled with a phone cord/wire, so we can be pretty sure that she was killed indoors. Det. DiMase suggested that he had looked into some local by-the-hour motels, but of course getting people to talk in places like that is naturally difficult. He also suggested that there is reason to believe she was killed very nearby to Carleton where she was found, and that her body may have been held overnight in a car. They are currently attempting to do an ethnicity test on MVJD to better determine her nationality. Det. DiMase said that she has strong Portuguese or Brazilian features, so I then brought up the New Bedford Highway Killer, whose victims were all Portuguese and he is suspected of being a truck driver.

WHEW! The conversation wiped me out emotionally, but again, Det. DiMase is a great guy and said I can call anytime no matter how small a thought pops into my head. If anyone wishes to contact him, the Major Case number is 914-668-6841.

 

[SurfieTX]

If the body was kept in a car overnight, wouldn't rigor mortis have made positioning of the body difficult? Would the cold/cooler weather been a factor slowing the process? I don't really know much about it.

 

[jessr927]

If the body was kept in a car overnight, wouldn't rigor mortis have made positioning of the body difficult? Would the cold/cooler weather been a factor slowing the process? I don't really know much about it.

I've got no sense of scientific things, but I guess if the killer spread her arms out pretty soon after she died, before rigor mortis set in, then all he'd really have to do is lay her on top of the garage springs when he got to Carleton.

 

[Roselvr]

If the body was kept in a car overnight, wouldn't rigor mortis have made positioning of the body difficult? Would the cold/cooler weather been a factor slowing the process? I don't really know much about it.

If she was killed within Six hours prior like Doe net says, rigor mortis may not have started yet. See Rigor Mortis and Other Postmortem Changes. There are a lot of variables that affect it.

Good morning all!

I received a call back from Detective DiMase this morning, of Mt. Vernon Major Case, and he has been handling MVJD's case for about 2 years now. He is a really lovely man, very down to earth and willing to listen to any tip no matter how small. I brought up Alejandro Henriquez and he thanked me - he said he has looked into so many suspects that he wasn't sure offhand if Henriquez had come up before (I don't think he was in the stationhouse when we spoke) but that he would definitely look into him.

He actually brought up the subject of tow truck drivers and said that there was a man from the Yonkers area who used to drive a tow truck, had moved to Florida, and confessed to 3 or 4 murders, but MVJD was not one of them. Then I brought up the tow truck driver from Mt. Vernon, without saying his name, and Det. DiMase said, "oh, you mean _____." I had to pick my jaw up off the floor, assuming that this meant he had been a suspect at some point, but he hadn't been - it's just that everyone in the city knows this tow truck driver and he does come off as creepy. Det. DiMase asked me for my ex-roommate's name and I provided it to him, although I believe she may have moved back to Chile. I have not had contact with her since at least 2008 so I don't have her phone number or whereabouts.

Here's a fact that I was unaware of - MVJD was strangled with a phone cord/wire, so we can be pretty sure that she was killed indoors. Det. DiMase suggested that he had looked into some local by-the-hour motels, but of course getting people to talk in places like that is naturally difficult. He also suggested that there is reason to believe she was killed very nearby to Carleton where she was found, and that her body may have been held overnight in a car. They are currently attempting to do an ethnicity test on MVJD to better determine her nationality. Det. DiMase said that she has strong Portuguese or Brazilian features, so I then brought up the New Bedford Highway Killer, whose victims were all Portuguese and he is suspected of being a truck driver.

WHEW! The conversation wiped me out emotionally, but again, Det. DiMase is a great guy and said I can call anytime no matter how small a thought pops into my head. If anyone wishes to contact him, the Major Case number is 914-668-6841.

Glad to hear he called you back. I wonder if it was the tow truck driver that found her?

A friend of mine just posted this on my wall. I had to rush over here to post it. I want to post it in Buckskin Girls thread too as I bet it applies to her too!

No Visible Bruises: Domestic Violence and Traumatic Brain Injury - By Rachel Louise Snyder - December 30, 2015

Fifty per cent of domestic-violence victims are strangled at some point in the course of their relationship—often repeatedly, over years—and the overwhelming majority of strangulation perpetrators are men.....

...What Strack and the domestic-violence community understand today is that most strangulation injuries are internal, and that the very act of strangulation turns out to be the penultimate abuse by a perpetrator before a homicide. “Statistically, we know now that once the hands are on the neck the very next step is homicide,” Sylvia Vella, a clinician and a detective in the domestic-violence unit at the San Diego Police Department, says. “They don’t go backwards.”

 

[CarlK90245]

One of the WS members who contacted Det. DeMase received from him a dental chart for MVJD. The report consists of several pages of a PDF, so I won't post the entire report on here.

Instead, I'll just point out the key info:

(1) She had no dental work. All of her teeth (except wisdom teeth 1, 16, 17, and 32) were present and unrestored. The wisdom teeth were unerupted.
(2) Her upper canines tilted out, and slightly overlapped the adjacent lateral incisors. So they probably would have had sort of a fanged appearance (my own interpretation, not stated as such the report).
(3) There is mention that the victim had been bound hands and feet prior to being dumped at the scene.

The dental comments are as follows (as best as I can decipher from the scribbly handwriting):

No fillings - All teeth present except third molars (#1, 16, 17, & 32) May be unerupted (Verify & report). Class I occlusion on all four cuspids tipped mesially and overlapping laterals; the lowers by 1/3 of a tooth and uppers prominently. Also, #2 buccally erupted and short of occlusion. Explain and report hard [illegible] aligned.

 

[carbuff]

"#2 buccally erupted and short of occlusion"


I had one of those. It means the back molar came in somewhat sideways, pointed toward the cheek. The occlusion part is about whether it affects how your teeth meet. I think it might mean #2 was tilted so far it didn't make contact with the bottom teeth, but it's been so long I don't remember for sure. In my case, it was a bottom tooth being pushed out of line by the unerupted wisdom tooth, and when I had the tooth removed (when I was about 17), the rest of my teeth shifted back into line.

All of which may point to the younger end of the range.

 

[Roselvr]

"#2 buccally erupted and short of occlusion"


I had one of those. It means the back molar came in somewhat sideways, pointed toward the cheek. The occlusion part is about whether it affects how your teeth meet. I think it might mean #2 was tilted so far it didn't make contact with the bottom teeth, but it's been so long I don't remember for sure. In my case, it was a bottom tooth being pushed out of line by the unerupted wisdom tooth, and when I had the tooth removed (when I was about 17), the rest of my teeth shifted back into line.

All of which may point to the younger end of the range.

Have to agree that she's probably on the younger end.

 

[jessr927]

Glad to hear he called you back. I wonder if it was the tow truck driver that found her?

I doubt it. The article said an employee of a business on Carleton found her, and the tow truck driver's shop is 2 blocks down. I don't know if Det. DiMase knows this, but I bet he does - the tow truck driver used to be the unofficial tow company of the MVPD!! I learned this from my mother today, who said that she was supposed to work for him about 15 years ago, but she ended up getting an offer to work walking distance from our home, so she took that job instead.

Furthermore, this tow truck driver has a history of renting rooms to immigrant women, which may tie in with why no one has ID'd MVJD yet. She easily could have been a S. American immigrant who rented a room in his house, like my former roommate did. My friend Joe, who first encouraged me to call DiMase about this, even noted the resemblance of MVJD and my roommate. The only difference is in hair color.

 

[Springrain]

I doubt it. The article said an employee of a business on Carleton found her, and the tow truck driver's shop is 2 blocks down. I don't know if Det. DiMase knows this, but I bet he does - the tow truck driver used to be the unofficial tow company of the MVPD!! I learned this from my mother today, who said that she was supposed to work for him about 15 years ago, but she ended up getting an offer to work walking distance from our home, so she took that job instead.

Furthermore, this tow truck driver has a history of renting rooms to immigrant women, which may tie in with why no one has ID'd MVJD yet. She easily could have been a S. American immigrant who rented a room in his house, like my former roommate did. My friend Joe, who first encouraged me to call DiMase about this, even noted the resemblance of MVJD and my roommate. The only difference is in hair color.

Wow--sorry I misunderstood the roommate thing earlier but I think you may be onto something here! Very exciting!

 

[jessr927]

I think I am, too! Before I posted my last post, I was talking to my mother and told her what Det. DiMase had said about suspecting a tow truck driver (in general) of being the killer. First thing out of my mom's mouth: "Wow, imagine if it was ____?" Same reaction I got from Det. DiMase. Unbelievable that three independent people would assume it's the same person with no knowledge of what the other was thinking. That's how mom and I started talking about how she was supposed to go work for him.

Mom & I continued to discuss this over dinner (we're a fun family - imagine the holidays! lol) and she asked why after all these years has no woman associated with ____ turned up dead? I believe that he didn't intend to kill MVJD. I don't believe he runs around town killing people. He has this history of doing creepy things to female immigrants who are unlikely to run to the police due to immigration status, or whatever reason, and I think maybe MVJD wasn't about to put up with it - maybe he tried to spy on her in the shower or something to that effect (perhaps she was already naked when she died?) and she got aggressive towards him instead of just letting him do whatever he wanted. Maybe she received the bump on her forehead while trying to run away, picked up the phone to call the cops, and he strangled her with the phone cord (as confirmed by DiMase). I don't know why he would have tied her ankles and wrists only to remove the bindings before placing her body on Carleton, but this is my general working theory so far.

 

[Springrain]

I think I am, too! Before I posted my last post, I was talking to my mother and told her what Det. DiMase had said about suspecting a tow truck driver (in general) of being the killer. First thing out of my mom's mouth: "Wow, imagine if it was ____?" Same reaction I got from Det. DiMase. Unbelievable that three independent people would assume it's the same person with no knowledge of what the other was thinking. That's how mom and I started talking about how she was supposed to go work for him.

Mom & I continued to discuss this over dinner (we're a fun family - imagine the holidays! lol) and she asked why after all these years has no woman associated with ____ turned up dead? I believe that he didn't intend to kill MVJD. I don't believe he runs around town killing people. He has this history of doing creepy things to female immigrants who are unlikely to run to the police due to immigration status, or whatever reason, and I think maybe MVJD wasn't about to put up with it - maybe he tried to spy on her in the shower or something to that effect (perhaps she was already naked when she died?) and she got aggressive towards him instead of just letting him do whatever he wanted. Maybe she received the bump on her forehead while trying to run away, picked up the phone to call the cops, and he strangled her with the phone cord (as confirmed by DiMase). I don't know why he would have tied her ankles and wrists only to remove the bindings before placing her body on Carleton, but this is my general working theory so far.

I really, really hope this 2016 they perform isotope analysis--if she is an immigrant, then that would just be further suggestion of this theory!

So she was strangled with a telephone cord? Did not know that! That would definitely fit in IMO with this scenario.

 

[jessr927]

I really, really hope this 2016 they perform isotope analysis--if she is an immigrant, then that would just be further suggestion of this theory!

So she was strangled with a telephone cord? Did not know that! That would definitely fit in IMO with this scenario.

I really hope that our city can afford isotope analysis! I do know that another websleuther addressed that with Det. DiMase, and he did not know what it was but was going to look into it! We just inaugurated a new mayor on Friday, so hopefully our city turns around budget (and other) wise.

I made a looooong post on 12/28 at 11:06 a.m. detailing the conversation I had with Det. DiMase and the new information that she was strangled with a telephone cord or wire, if you want to go back and read it (I feel like I keep flooding this thread or else I'd repost it!)

 

[Springrain]

Here's a fact that I was unaware of - MVJD was strangled with a phone cord/wire, so we can be pretty sure that she was killed indoors. Det. DiMase suggested that he had looked into some local by-the-hour motels, but of course getting people to talk in places like that is naturally difficult. He also suggested that there is reason to believe she was killed very nearby to Carleton where she was found, and that her body may have been held overnight in a car. They are currently attempting to do an ethnicity test on MVJD to better determine her nationality. Det. DiMase said that she has strong Portuguese or Brazilian features, so I then brought up the New Bedford Highway Killer, whose victims were all Portuguese and he is suspected of being a truck driver.

Respectfully snipped by me. Can't believe I missed this part when going over the post...:facepalm: But anyway, thanks so much for making this call!

It really screams volumes to me that he knows who you were talking about and he is generally known for being kind of...creepy.

 

[jessr927]

This afternoon, I sent an email to the secretary for our new mayor, detailing the case. I asked if she would please present it to him along with the idea of isotope analysis. As soon as I receive an answer I will give an update here. I'll also follow up with our local news station next month as one of the producers asked me to, so they can air the story closer to the anniversary of her death.