PA PA - Philadelphia, Schuylkill River, BlkFem 35-50, UP17471, dark maroon nails, Nov'82

[Moonwalker9]

Warning PM photo. Very graphic

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

There is no clue how she died. Homicide and dumped in river?

Case Information


Case Numbers
NCMEC Number--
ME/C Case Number82-5082
Demographics
SexFemale
Race / EthnicityBlack / African American
Possible First Name--
Possible Middle Name--
Possible Last Name--
Possible Nickname--
Estimated Age GroupAdult - Pre 50
Estimated Age Range (Years)30-50
Estimated Year of Death1982
Estimated PMI--
Height5' 5"(65 inches) , Estimated
Weight111 lbs, Estimated
Circumstances
TypeUnidentified Deceased
Date FoundNovember 7, 1982
NamUs Case CreatedFebruary 12, 2018
ME/C QA Reviewed--
Location Found Map
Street AddressSchuylkill River at E. River DrivePhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
CountyPhiladelphia County
GPS Coordinates--
Circumstances of RecoveryWomen found floating in Schuylkill River
Details of Recovery


Inventory of RemainsAll parts recovered
Condition of RemainsNot recognizable - Decomposing/putrefaction
Physical Description
Hair ColorBlack
Head Hair DescriptionBrown-black and dyed red
Body Hair DescriptionBlack pubic hair
Facial Hair Description--
Left Eye ColorBrown
Right Eye ColorBrown
Eye Description--
Distinctive Physical Features
Item
Description
Finger and toe nails
Finger and toe nails are painted dark maroon

 

[Moonwalker9]

I realized the prefix is wrong also I forgot to add the UP17471.

Is it possible she was a hooker that was murdered and dumped in the river? or how did she end up there? The only clue we got is the painted toenails. I really wopuld like to know if she died or natural causes or was a victim of crime.

Let me warn you again for a pretty graphic PM.

 

[Bit of hope]

Yes, this one is really graphic.... Want to look into it, but not today....I'm tiered. Sorry.

 

[CCJD]

I've only been able to find one article about this lady (see attached from Philly Inquirer dated 11/8/1982).
I do have a hard copy (printed 2/13/18) of her NamUs page prior to NamUs 2.0.
No cause of death listed but it does have:
Other medical: Multiple leiomyomas of uterus and one of the right round ligament.
Fingerprint information is available elsewhere.
Dental information/charting is available and will be entered later.
DNA - Sample is currently unavailable.

Leiomayomas are fibroids - could be helpful in identifying her if she suffered from severe symptoms.

From what I've read about the burials at the Dunks Ferry & Mechanicsville Road pauper's field, she was likely interred there in 1985.

 

[Bit of hope]

I've only been able to find one article about this lady (see attached from Philly Inquirer dated 11/8/1982).
I do have a hard copy (printed 2/13/18) of her NamUs page prior to NamUs 2.0.
No cause of death listed but it does have:
Other medical: Multiple leiomyomas of uterus and one of the right round ligament.
Fingerprint information is available elsewhere.
Dental information/charting is available and will be entered later.
DNA - Sample is currently unavailable.

Leiomayomas are fibroids - could be helpful in identifying her if she suffered from severe symptoms.

From what I've read about the burials at the Dunks Ferry & Mechanicsville Road pauper's field, she was likely interred there in 1985.

I'm trying to get a little more insight what kind of medical problems/symptoms she (possibly) had. I know that people of the African-American race have more chances to develop fibroids. Maybe she didn't even had noticeable health problems for a long time.

What is the right round ligament in normal English...I'm lost in translation here. Did find something like that but I still don't grasp it completely. Did I understand it right that she also had a fibroid there.

According to your post CCJD she was "kept" for three years before they buried her remains. At least she is burred and not cremated. No DNA...I hope they have still some things kept in store they could take DNA from.

 

[Bit of hope]

Yolanda Jean Maull?

3779DFAL - Yolanda Jean Maull

Missing since May 26, 1982, from Birmingham, Jefferson County, Alabama

30 yrs. 5'5", 115 - 125 lbs

Dentals not available, Fingerprints not available, DNA available. Grrrrrrr

Yolanda was to appear in court the morning of her disappearance for a divorce hearing. She spoke with her attorney around 9:00 that morning. However, Yolanda did not show up for court. She has not been heard from or seen since. Her car was found in an abandoned car lot near a Captain D's in the 1100 block of 3rd Ave West.

PMI for this Jane Doe: unknown......

 

[Moonwalker9]

Wyteria Jones 45 Elgin, Il, sadly no photo, missing since SEP 82
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

May Everette Harrison 31 missing from Hampton, Virginia oct 82
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Cathern Davis, 31 missing from Los Angeles CA, Jun 82
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Patricia Ann Tigner, 35 from missing Champaign, Illinois Sept 81
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

However, I don't think any of those look alot like her and they didn't go missing close to PA either. Same goes for Yolanda Maull and her circumstances seems like her husband was somehow involved in her dissapearence.

I think JD was closer to 30 then 50. If she was found without clothes I think she was murdered and dumped. Would be nice to se a reconstruction of her, then PM may not do her appearence justice.

 

[CCJD]

According to your post CCJD she was "kept" for three years before they buried her remains. At least she is burred and not cremated. No DNA...I hope they have still some things kept in store they could take DNA from.

Long story short, paraphrasing from different articles in Philly Inquirer 1987.

In July 1987, 20 persons (15 adults and 5 children) were interred at the Pauper's Field. The last burial before that was in October 1985, when 60 people were buried. They weren't all unidentified. It included the indigent and those whose families couldn't (or wouldn't) take on the task of burying their family member(s).

With the 1985 interments, the city ran out of the little 5 inch square granite markers that each person gets at their burial site. The maintenance man who had been making them quit his job and the budget didn't allow for replacing that man. In 1986, the city contracted with a company in Allentown for the markers.

The people buried in 1987 had lain in the morgue for "up to two years", which is why I think this particular lady/UP17471 was interred in 1985.

Veering sort of off-topic. Attached is part of 2 articles about the '87 burials. Same newspaper, one published 7/31/87, the other published 8/1/87. One says the children were each buried with an adult. The other says the children's remains were small enough to all fit into one coffin. So which one is accurate? Of course, I'm thinking of the Wisters Woods little girl. No wonder they couldn't locate her during the August 2018 exhumations.

Wisters Woods girl's thread: PA - PA - Philadelphia Co, BlkFem UP17492, 4-6, child bones in rear yard, Nov'84

 

[CCJD]

I'm trying to get a little more insight what kind of medical problems/symptoms she (possibly) had. I know that people of the African-American race have more chances to develop fibroids. Maybe she didn't even had noticeable health problems for a long time.

What is the right round ligament in normal English...I'm lost in translation here. Did find something like that but I still don't grasp it completely. Did I understand it right that she also had a fibroid there.

Hope you're able to access this: Uterine fibroids - Symptoms and causes

I know someone whose symptoms were so severe that they warranted a hysterectomy. She is white and was in her mid-40s at the time. She actually passed out cold (i.e. fainted) at work a couple of times.

And yes, I took it to mean that the UID also had a fibroid on her right round ligament.

 

[Bit of hope]

 

[CCJD]

View attachment 209338

She was found just north of Boathouse Row - a few miles down river.
"East River Drive was named for the late Councilman Jack Kelly shortly after his death in 1985 – before the commission’s 10-year rule was created."
Divided byway - South Philly Review

Google Maps

 

[Moonwalker9]

The only woman from PA missing prior to that date she was found is
Shirley Hyman, she was 31 in 1981 when she went missing from Philadelphia. She'sonly 5'1 while JDis estimated 5'6. Could be wrong though. JD hair is black dyed red and Hymans hair is Red/Auburn.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
Shirley Hyman – The Charley Project

Hyman
She has eight scars on her upper torso, her ears are pierced, and the teeth in her lower jaw are V-shaped. She usually wears her hair pinned in a bun.

Hyman was last seen leaving the Park Avenue Cafe bar near 22nd Street and Hunting Park Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 28, 1981. She left the establishment with two men in a blue van and has never been heard from again. Few details are available in her case.

As for JD, She's dark skinned and she got a small nose, Don't know for her teeth but she may have an undershot.

Don't think they are a match but worth looking at all black women missing prior to Nov 82 on namus.

 

[Fuuro]

For people who would rather not click on the NamUS link:

NamUS does not list a specific PMI for this UID other than saying she died the same year she was found. In her photo, I see that her skin looks a bit dry and chapped from being in the water for a while, but her face doesn't look all that swollen. For what it's worth, they were also (apparently) able to discern her eye color.

I'm not a professional by any means, but based on the postmortem photos (and comparing them to other people that I've seen who were also found in bodies of water and whose postmortem intervals are actually listed), it doesn't really seem to me like she'd been dead for very long at all before they found her. I'm actually kind of surprised that they listed her as being unrecognizable due to decomposition; I've seen people in significantly worse shape being listed as having "recognizable faces".

I know that Philadelphia can get very cold, though, and this was in November, so maybe she had been frozen or otherwise well-preserved.

 

[citizen_sleuth]

"Woman's decomposed body found floating in Schuylkill," Philadelphia Inquirer, 8 November 1982, 2B.

A partially decomposed nude body of a woman was found yesterday floating in the Schuylkill just north of Boathouse Row, police said.

The woman's identity and age could not be immediately determined because of the decomposition, police said.

The body was discovered by three people at 1:15 p.m. The body was taken to the medical examiner's office, where an autopsy will be performed.