PA PA - Philadelphia, N Corinthian St, WhtFem 50-65, UP17764, strangled & beaten, in basement, Dec'79

[UnlicensedPI]

Just want to note that Eastern State Penitentiary was closed before 1979. I can't speak to the area at the time, but it's a really nice area now. It's home to the art museum, ESP (which is now a museum), Boathouse Row...one of the loveliest neighborhoods in the city.

Based on the newspaper notice @CCJD found, it was likely a different neighborhood at the time. Or, at least, the building was in disrepair and owned by the Housing Authority.

 

[CCJD]

Nice find CCJD. I'm still confused about the things she had on her. What for instance is a sloth coat. Do they mean a coat from fur of sloths (animals living mainly in south and central America) or just a shaggy haired kind of coat.

RS&BBM

Typo - there's a few in there.

1.) A brown, long-sleeved short coat
2.) Very soiled brown sloth coat
3.) A blue, gray, white and tan long-sleeved cotton short shirt
4.) A red, very soil jacket with a red, blue, and yellow shirt, zipper-closed long-sleeved jacket
5.) Bubuska

Sloth should be cloth
Soil should be soiled
Babuska should be babushka - and why call it a babushka? Because of the woman's age? (Babushka means "grandmother"). Why not just call it a kerchief which was a very common head covering back then. I remember wearing them to church when it was still mandatory for girls/women to wear something on their heads in a Catholic church. The ones made of silky material would be constantly sliding back on our heads. Too bad there's no pic of it - or any of the garments she was wearing.

 

[CCJD]

Based on the newspaper notice @CCJD found, it was likely a different neighborhood at the time. Or, at least, the building was in disrepair and owned by the Housing Authority.

RSBM

Interesting article on the changing face of the area over the years.

"May’s home and those that surround it were built by the Philadelphia Housing Authority in the 1970s and 1980s as rent-to-own properties. Back then, as the neighborhood lost population and saw median incomes decline, the PHA decided to knock down old, vacant, brownstones and replace them with housing of a size that would be affordable to own and maintain for the families in the neighborhood.

Two generations later, the dynamic has changed and some of these same families see an opportunity to sell their homes and build a nest egg that would have been unthinkable decades ago. Reluctantly, May plans to follow their lead. He says the neighborhood has simply become too expensive and that he struggles to afford the rising property taxes."
Francisville is booming. The community is feuding.

 

[Blurgle]

RS&BBM

Typo - there's a few in there.

1.) A brown, long-sleeved short coat
2.) Very soiled brown sloth coat
3.) A blue, gray, white and tan long-sleeved cotton short shirt
4.) A red, very soil jacket with a red, blue, and yellow shirt, zipper-closed long-sleeved jacket
5.) Bubuska

Sloth should be cloth
Soil should be soiled
Babuska should be babushka - and why call it a babushka? Because of the woman's age? (Babushka means "grandmother"). Why not just call it a kerchief which was a very common head covering back then. I remember wearing them to church when it was still mandatory for girls/women to wear something on their heads in a Catholic church. The ones made of silky material would be constantly sliding back on our heads. Too bad there's no pic of it - or any of the garments she was wearing.

It may have been called a babuska because the person who typed it in was from western PA, where there are a lot of people of Ukrainian ancestry. Here in Manitoba that would absolutely be called a babushka (edit: or a hijab) and never - never - a 'kerchief' for that exact reason. (Also, I would only ever use the word 'kerchief' to describe a square scarf tied around the neck.)

 

[Blurgle]

Hold on; if this 'kerchief' was tied under the chin and the woman is wearing very modest clothing, and if she looks Middle Eastern - was she Muslim? Was her head covering a hijab?

Wild, out-of-there theory: Was this not personal violence but perhaps political violence related to the contemporary Iranian Revolution?

 

[MarziPanda]

I could see her being Iranian. Some Iranians are very light skinned. I hadn't seen it before but her namus also mentions she was wearing a 'red-brown thick' wig. Maybe she was a spy

What other reasons are there for people wearing wigs? I have worn them myself, as I have alopecia and as a child I was bald, but this lady has a full head of hair. Maybe she didn't like that she was going grey and had a wig but couldn't afford the maintenance of hair dye. Maybe it was just another layer to keep warm if she was homeless. I know that some married orthodox Jewish women wear wigs, but I don't think there are any sections of Muslims who do. Could she be Jewish?

Her parents will no longer be around and it's likely any siblings have also passed... but maybe she had children, or nieces or nephews who have been wondering what happened to her.

 

[UnlicensedPI]

IMO she could be Jewish and possibly an immigrant from Eastern Europe. Orthodox women wear wigs and headscarves. Those who choose to leave orthodox communities are basically exiled and often end up homeless.

Or she could have been cold. Winters in Philly can be brutal. And I say that as a Bostonian!

 

[Bit of hope]

IMO she could be Jewish and possibly an immigrant from Eastern Europe. Orthodox women wear wigs and headscarves. Those who choose to leave orthodox communities are basically exiled and often end up homeless.

Or she could have been cold. Winters in Philly can be brutal. And I say that as a Bostonian!

Nice word: Bostonian.
This is one of my favorites. Take faces of all kinds of women from one particular country and make one average face. That is wat the University of Glasgow in Scotland did. Just like the reproductions made for Jane Does, it's about a broad hunch where somebody - possibly- is coming from.

(Orthodox) Jewish married women are supposed to cover their hair of shave it. Covering could be done with a wig or a headscarf. Both seems a little over the top, even for the seventies. Maybe she wanted to be unrecognizable for family-members or others (or indeed it was just to concur the cold). In some communities it's not done to divorce or leave the family/husband, without getting yourself in danger for revenge actions/honor killing.

 

[Moonwalker9]

Bumping this one,any news? maybe a case for DNA Doe Project?

 

[CCJD]

Bumping this one,any news? maybe a case for DNA Doe Project?

When she was added to NamUs in April 2018, the note for DNA said "Status: Sample is currently not available". That very likely has not changed which means they would have to locate her grave at the old Potter's Field on Dunks Ferry Road and have her exhumed to get a sample.

 

[Susikatze]

Because it has been bumped up.
I am an Orthodox Jew and yes, I do wear a wig (it has advantages, it saves you from bad hair days).
I dont see her being an Orthodox Jew. We wear skirts only, not slacks. And red (?) wigs happen, but usually only if the wearer has red natural hair. But they are rare. And she wore lots of red items, we customarily do not wear red clothing.

And no, we do not have "honor killings". Few families (but certainly not all) cut contact with a family member (usually its mutual) who chose to leave the fold, but then again, estrangement due to different lifestyles happens in all sorts of backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures, religious or atheist.
But we would never ever kill anyone who leaves observant life. Never ever. Just to make that clear. It never happened and will never happen.
And we are well allowed to divorce and remarry. It is done all the time without consequences (one partner not agreeing to the divorce is another story, but that only basically holds the divorce up and prevents remarriage but there are no "honor killings" or such. And it is really rare.).

Wigs in the 1960s were super common for fashion. Not only women of color wore them but also virtually every white woman. Big hair was all the rage and the easiest you could achieve it was by wearing a wig. There was even a Barbie doll that came with a set of different wigs, thats how common it was for sheer fashion purposes.

Nice word: Bostonian.
This is one of my favorites. Take faces of all kinds of women from one particular country and make one average face. That is wat the University of Glasgow in Scotland did. Just like the reproductions made for Jane Does, it's about a broad hunch where somebody - possibly- is coming from.

(Orthodox) Jewish married women are supposed to cover their hair of shave it. Covering could be done with a wig or a headscarf. Both seems a little over the top, even for the seventies. Maybe she wanted to be unrecognizable for family-members or others (or indeed it was just to concur the cold). In some communities it's not done to divorce or leave the family/husband, without getting yourself in danger for revenge actions/honor killing.

 

[Susikatze]

She definitely looks White to me in the PM. Her darker bluish coloring is due to postmortem lividity and the photo quality is old. But you can see she was very light skinned. She has darker hair and eyebrows but any European from north to south can have that, it is very common even in Irish or Scottish descent folks.
Nicely plucked eyebrows, I dont think she was homeless.
Re the soiled clothing, did it get soiled postmortem or did she wear dirty clothing? She wore houseslippers and casual homewear. I would say we have a case of domestic abuse here. On the PM she has a very noticeable black eye... that is something not caused by postmortem change.

 

[madamx]

Dorthyland posted this on another thread which I had mentioned other old ladies that had been found dead in abandoned buildings or around that same area.
PA - PA - Philadelphia Co, WhtFem UP16994, 50-70, in basement of vacant property, Feb'63

 

[Susikatze]

Ive seen it and it is creepy. There is surely a possibility of a serial killer targeting vulnerable older ladies. It is so off the radar (we tend to think of serial killers either killing young men or women or sex workers) but i am sure it exists.

The cases may all be unrelated (unfortunately many older women face domestic violence from partners/husbands or grownup children) but there is indeed a specific pattern (older women with apparently no immediate next of kin as nobody came forward to id them, extreme violence and dumping them in abandoned lots and buildings). And all within the 60s with one in the 70s.

 

[madamx]

Ive seen it and it is creepy. There is surely a possibility of a serial killer targeting vulnerable older ladies. It is so off the radar (we tend to think of serial killers either killing young men or women or sex workers) but i am sure it exists.

The cases may all be unrelated (unfortunately many older women face domestic violence from partners/husbands or grownup children) but there is indeed a specific pattern (older women with apparently no immediate next of kin as nobody came forward to id them, extreme violence and dumping them in abandoned lots and buildings). And all within the 60s with one in the 70s.

Also seems like nobody in these neighborhoods identified or recognized them either. So none of them seemed to be from that immediate area. Like this area was used to dump them.

Makes me wonder if it was someone who knew these older women did not have any husband or family so they could take their belongings and or money or even home and nobody would report the women missing.

But then again all these cases could not be related whatsoever. I just think it’s weird I feel a pattern.. that is just me. How did all these women in the same age group keep ending up dead there.

 

[Bit of hope]

Because it has been bumped up.
I am an Orthodox Jew and yes, I do wear a wig (it has advantages, it saves you from bad hair days).
I dont see her being an Orthodox Jew. We wear skirts only, not slacks. And red (?) wigs happen, but usually only if the wearer has red natural hair. But they are rare. And she wore lots of red items, we customarily do not wear red clothing.

And no, we do not have "honor killings". Few families (but certainly not all) cut contact with a family member (usually its mutual) who chose to leave the fold, but then again, estrangement due to different lifestyles happens in all sorts of backgrounds, ethnicities and cultures, religious or atheist.
But we would never ever kill anyone who leaves observant life. Never ever. Just to make that clear. It never happened and will never happen.
And we are well allowed to divorce and remarry. It is done all the time without consequences (one partner not agreeing to the divorce is another story, but that only basically holds the divorce up and prevents remarriage but there are no "honor killings" or such. And it is really rare.).

Wigs in the 1960s were super common for fashion. Not only women of color wore them but also virtually every white woman. Big hair was all the rage and the easiest you could achieve it was by wearing a wig. There was even a Barbie doll that came with a set of different wigs, thats how common it was for sheer fashion purposes.

I didn't came up with a possible Jewish link in the first place but was quoting somebody else and I certainly wasn't talking about Orthodox Jews in relation to honor killings....my words were "In some communities it's not done to divorce or leave the family/husband, without getting yourself in danger for revenge actions/honor killing".

 

[Moonwalker9]

@othram

 

[othram]

@othram

Thank you. We will take a look.

 

[UnlicensedPI]

Bump

 

[Susikatze]

Gotta give her her name back and find the killer who did that to her (and possibly to other elderly ladies in the area).