OR OR - Portland, Willamette Rvr, WhtMale 18-50, UP11908, tatts, paper w/"Richard Henderson", Oct '89

[Lacus Perseverantiae]

From DoeNetwork:

No images available.

• Date of Discovery: October 7, 1989

• Location of Discovery: Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon

• Estimated Date of Death: Days prior

• State of Remains: Not recognizable - Traumatic injuries

• Cause of Death: Unknown

Physical Description
** Listed information is approximate

• Estimated Age: 18-50 years old

• Race: White

• Gender: Male

• Height: 5'7" to 5'9"

• Weight: Unknown

• Hair Color: Brown, graying.

• Eye Color: Brown

• Distinguishing Marks/Features: Several tattoos: "SO CAL" on upper abdomen; "HA??ES" on upper right arm; "RICK" with a rose on right arm; a woman's head with long hair on the right thigh; "=13=" on lower right leg; an image of Walt Disney's Goofy on upper left arm; "SANFER" on upper left arm; three roses with a face and butterfly on the back of left forearm; comedy/tragedy or happy/sad faces on lower left leg; prison bars on lower left leg; an eye on lower left leg; and a large dragon on upper back. Evidence of right parietal craniotomy: depressed scar of right parietal lobe of brain. Evidence of right nephrectomy

• Dentals: Not available.

• Fingerprints: Available.

• DNA: Not available.

Clothing & Personal Items

• Clothing: Body was fully clothed but no description of clothing was noted in the file

• Jewelry: Crucifix on a chain. St. Christopher medal on a chain.

• Additional Personal Items: Pocket knife. Slip of paper: property receipt from LA Police Department, appears to list the name "Richard Henderson" Slip of paper: "Brandie and Ken Fleming, phone 1-801-546-4450, 2356 E 225, Layton, UT 84040, Work 777-9815".

Case History
The victim's body was found floating in the Willamette River.

Investigating Agency(s)
If you have any information about this case please contact;

• Agency Name: Multnomah County Sheriff's Office

• Agency Contact Person: Dr. Veronica Vance

• Agency Phone Number: 503-251-2402 or 971-673-8300

• Agency Case Number: 89-2333

• NCIC Case Number: N/A

• NamUs Case Number: UP #11908

DoeNetwork: The Doe Network: 2594UMOR

NamUs: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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I did not see a thread for this UID. Please correct me if I overlooked it in my search.

I think this decedent has several potential clues to his identity.

• Tattoo of "Rick" and LAPD property slip reading "Richard Henderson."
• He was likely incarcerated at some point judging by the tattoos (prison bars, comedy/tragedy masks, -13-, etc.) and, again, the property slip from the LAPD.
• The paper referencing "Brandie and Ken Fleming" with the Utah address. I found information about this address, and it was attached to this family named.

I have found out more, but I wanted to start this discussion. Some of my thoughts are as follows.

• This man was an ex-con in his 40s-50s with brain damage.
• "Rick Henderson" was his real or assumed identity.
• He was struggling for consistent employment and was acquainted with those who may have offered temporary housing and a labor job.
• "SAN FER" tattoo probably refers to "San Fernando Valley" in California or even to the gang of that name. If the latter is the case, and he was associated with the gang, he may be Hispanic/Latino or mixed Hispanic/Latino/undetermined.

I believe his identity can be restored even without DNA. I would love to hear any thoughts on his case.

 

[victoriarobinson642]

I would hope that they called the phone numbers on the paper.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Bumping up. This is actually quite an interesting UID case. I hope they do have some other identifiers (DNA, dentals) for him.

@carbuff Does he have any listed rule-outs? Thanks.

His NamUs profile:

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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

www.namus.gov

 

[carbuff]

No, nothing listed for exclusions.

 

[BindingBloodline]

Wanted to update this thread since I am picking this case up currently:

Thank you for your report, first off! Everything I have found does not list some of the tattoos mentioned, and does not include the depression to the brain. Do you know if this is because of or separate from the blunt force trauma death?

I talked to the Flemmings, which provided me a wonderful insight to how these men may have crossed paths. Ken is deceased, but his daughter in law told me everything she knew. Ken hired felons, and was in alcoholics anonymous. He enjoyed giving out his number and making friends, especially to those suffering with substance abuse. Ken did not leave Utah to the daughter in laws knowledge, but did go all over the state working job sites with his crew. Ken never did learn the identity of the man and cannot place how he would have met him. The police called him back during the main phases of the investigation winter of '89.

You are on the ball with the San Fer gang!! Only members have those types of tattoos. Each male is supposed to get one to show loyalty. The LAPD labeled a huge section of San Fernando Valley as a hotspot for the San Fer, so I have been able to potentially narrow him down to one of 12 subdivisions they labeled.There are over 600 known members of this gang. A ton are in jain for life without parole. I have messaged several inmates and am waiting for a response back.
Why I know you are on the nose - the San Fer go back to the 1960s, and were heavily documented apparently. There is an account that I have tried reaching out to on Tumblr who heavily documents the history of gang activity in Southern California. This documentation includes pictures of members, prison status, if they are alive or not, ect. It is a treasure trove!! I think, because of his tattoos, they would have called him Goofy. I have two pictures of two men I am interested in - a gang member from the 1980s named Richard, and a member from the 1970s, Goofy.

I am also currently seeing if I can use a freedom of information act to see the arrest report of the "Richard Henderson" knife he had. Based on how this sounds, it sounded like he got booked for a night or two. I'd like to see when he was booked because my personal theory is he was booked in LA, decided this stuff was not for him anymore - he is clearly turning into an older man - and maybe went to Utah to find work. That did not work out for him, I am guessing, because he never did work for Flemming. I assume he did not live in Portland - maybe he was in a shelter or with friends, maybe he was already kind of distant and that is why no one found it strange he left once more. I think he is going to have kids out there somewhere thinking their dad abandoned them. I have a feeling they are still in California even.

I will update with anything else I find! I have attatched the pictures I mentioned before - Goofy is one of the shirtless men, Richard is one of the clothed men. I have no idea which is what man, though.

 

[Nate_Bro]

Wanted to update this thread since I am picking this case up currently:

Thank you for your report, first off! Everything I have found does not list some of the tattoos mentioned, and does not include the depression to the brain. Do you know if this is because of or separate from the blunt force trauma death?

I talked to the Flemmings, which provided me a wonderful insight to how these men may have crossed paths. Ken is deceased, but his daughter in law told me everything she knew. Ken hired felons, and was in alcoholics anonymous. He enjoyed giving out his number and making friends, especially to those suffering with substance abuse. Ken did not leave Utah to the daughter in laws knowledge, but did go all over the state working job sites with his crew. Ken never did learn the identity of the man and cannot place how he would have met him. The police called him back during the main phases of the investigation winter of '89.

You are on the ball with the San Fer gang!! Only members have those types of tattoos. Each male is supposed to get one to show loyalty. The LAPD labeled a huge section of San Fernando Valley as a hotspot for the San Fer, so I have been able to potentially narrow him down to one of 12 subdivisions they labeled.There are over 600 known members of this gang. A ton are in jain for life without parole. I have messaged several inmates and am waiting for a response back.
Why I know you are on the nose - the San Fer go back to the 1960s, and were heavily documented apparently. There is an account that I have tried reaching out to on Tumblr who heavily documents the history of gang activity in Southern California. This documentation includes pictures of members, prison status, if they are alive or not, ect. It is a treasure trove!! I think, because of his tattoos, they would have called him Goofy. I have two pictures of two men I am interested in - a gang member from the 1980s named Richard, and a member from the 1970s, Goofy.

I am also currently seeing if I can use a freedom of information act to see the arrest report of the "Richard Henderson" knife he had. Based on how this sounds, it sounded like he got booked for a night or two. I'd like to see when he was booked because my personal theory is he was booked in LA, decided this stuff was not for him anymore - he is clearly turning into an older man - and maybe went to Utah to find work. That did not work out for him, I am guessing, because he never did work for Flemming. I assume he did not live in Portland - maybe he was in a shelter or with friends, maybe he was already kind of distant and that is why no one found it strange he left once more. I think he is going to have kids out there somewhere thinking their dad abandoned them. I have a feeling they are still in California even.

I will update with anything else I find! I have attatched the pictures I mentioned before - Goofy is one of the shirtless men, Richard is one of the clothed men. I have no idea which is what man, though.

Well done. Looking at the photos and going by the gang affiliation, do you think this person is more likely Hispanic?

 

[BindingBloodline]

Well done. Looking at the photos and going by the gang affiliation, do you think this person is more likely Hispanic?

I think this person is definitely likely Hispanic or mixed with Hispanic ancestry.
I have started an online campaign of sharing my rendering of what the tattoos may have looked like/where they should be in various San Fernando groups online, and it has taught me a lot!
Firstly, San Fernando and San Fernando Valley, are two wildly different things. San Fernando Valley is made up of several subdivision-like cities, however, San Fernando is a city inside San Fernando Valley, and an extremely tiny one at that. I have been corrected several times by several people that the gang San Fer is local only to San Fernando, the city. This narrows things down by a lot for me, personally!
So, I am thinking now, since my initial online campaign is not going as smoothly as I had hoped (little response), maybe I should check the high school alumni of San Fernando?? I think it could help, despite not knowing what the Doe looks like. We could rule out the name Richard Henderson altogether, or possibly reach out to alumni and see if they recognize the tattoos?
Here is my rendition of where the tattoos should be placed, and all of the high schools in San Fernando Valley. Those with a green check mark are the schools closest to the little town of San Fernando. There is only one high school directly in the county, with a few surrounding schools.
The doe was found in '89 with greying hair, so he is maybe 45-50, so possibly having a birthdate of around 1930-1940s, even 1950s? Several schools were opened in these decades near San Fernando the town. The green marked schools are the ones I am investigating, if anyone wants to investigate as well.

 

[carbuff]

Tattoos with flowers and names are often (though not necessarily) memorial tattoos. Wonder if "Rick" was "Richard Henderson" and that's why the name came to mind when he needed a fake name?

Not that it helps much. Richard Henderson is a common name.

No information or updates in the Namus file.

2594UMOR

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

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

www.namus.gov

 

[Aurora90]

It's a bit out of left field but what about Robert?

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/software/mp-main.html?id=5dmmi