Resolved PA - Philadelphia, WhtFemale UP446, 34-65, sorority key necklace "AZB" E. MATHIS, no head, found in trash bag mixed w/ soil, Dec'06

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  • #61
O.K. I read through this thread twice. Please forgive me if I am just throwing something out there.

Just today we had a woman strangled at the same location this body was found. 100 E. Tusculum. I do know exactly where this location is. I was sleuthing around and found this thread, and other information on the net.

It states the body had on black knee high hose. IMO the only person that would wear that would be an older woman. Unless they were kneesocks. If they're those actual stockings hose it would have to be an older woman or a homeless woman.

Whoever put the body there absolutely has to know that area. It's an extremely rough neighborhood and has been for many, many years. There's a bit of ground there before an embakement that leads onto the old train tracks. The only people that would go back there are homeless people or addicts. Prostitutes as well as it's not an area where someone is going to come back looking for ya.

It said this body was just tossed haphazardly a few feet away from the street. Again, it's a tough neighborhood and no doubt the person knew nobody would give a flip and look.

I read about E. Mathis and the Collingswood connection. That's across the way from Philly. Wouldn't that have been her maiden name though?

Also stones were missing. That makes me think the person who wore it if it was actually given to them by a relative took them out to pawn them. If the gold is good gold most likely they'd have pawned it as well, but even people who have fallen in a bad spot have sentiment. Otherwise it wasn't worth anything.

There is a woman from Michigan missing since 2003. Could she have left to find relatives in Philly? She had only gone to the store and never came back.

http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?A200401182S

Again I am just throwing this out there. I am not very good at this, but that just broke my heart this woman is missing and there's a body just dumped.
 
  • #62
I'm bringing this back up

This should be easy. We have a name and a sorority. What else are we missing?
 
  • #63
if I followed this correctly, the presumed key holder, Edna Mathis may have passed away in 2000. this UID was found in 2006 with an estimated date of death of 1991. (not sure how accurate that estimate is)

I have my doubts that someone dug up Edna Mathis so a more likely scenario would be that unless she diposed of the key in her lifetime, someone may have lifted it off of her before she was buried and then given to someone else.
 
  • #64
The estimated date of death for the UID is 1991. If the Edna mentioned previously, was in fact the owner of this key she passed away in 2000. I presume if she was buried and not cremated, she was embalmed. I'm going to guess that if a buried body was dug up after being embalmed decomp still would not give the ME an estimated date of death 9 years earlier than her actual death, I could be wrong though.... (Not to mention, there would be evidence her grave was disturbed. I'm sure LE could find it through funeral records as her obit was found as a pp mentioned.) I think she would be a pretty easy rule in or out. )

I wonder if anyone has contacted LE to inquire whether or not anyone from Edna's family is still living to inquire about the key and whether or not it remained in the family or was stolen, or given away? IF that was followed up on, it wasn't posted.

jmo
Click to expand...

There is an Edna Mathis is Westville, NJ - born 1914, died 1983. She would have been 32 in 1946 to get the lifetime key. According to property records, her younger sister is still alive at 88 and living in the same house. I won't post her all her personal info., but her name is Grace and the house is on Woodbine Avenue.
 
  • #65
Unidentified White Female

The victim was discovered on December 8, 2006 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania

Partial Skeleton & partial decomposition- head and feet not recovered

Estimated Year of Death: 2001

Vital Statistics
Estimated age: 34-65 years old
Approximate Height and Weight: 5'4"-5'8"
Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown or auburn hair. Four red acrylic fingernails were recovered. She had arthritis on the lumbar vertebrae.

Clothing/Jewelry: Thin, white torn clothing, possibly from a blouse, skirt, or dress. No pattern, size, or brand evident; darker color nylon knee high stockings. Yellow metal necklace and charm. The charm is a sorority key with missing stones and is inscribed with "AZB", E. MATHIS, Life Member June 2, 1946, Alpha Delta."

DNA: Available

Case History

The victim was located in a black plastic trash bag in a vacant lot, near Tusculum Street, which parallels the railroad tracks, in the Kensington section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on December 8, 2006. Investigators suspect she had been dug up elsewhere and dumped in this lot at a later date. She was left haphazardly about 30 yards away from a set of old railroad tracks.

Investigators

If you have any information about this case please contact:

Philadelphia Medical Examiner
Steve Olszewski
215-685-7445

Email: [email protected]

You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

Agency Case Number: 06-5308

NCIC Number: U-490018644

Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:

Philly.com 6/18/07
Unidentified Deceased Reporting System
Philadelphia Daily News 12/9/06
The Doe Network: Case File 486UFPA

LINK:

http://doenetwork.org/cases/486ufpa.html
 
  • #66
... It is believed the owner of the sorority key was Edna Mathis of Collingswood, NJ The date on the key is, in fact, the date she became a lifetime member. Her chapter, Alpha Delta, was located in Philidelphia. ...

LINK:

RootsWeb: MSPERRY-L Re: [MSPERRY] Edward Jones Mathis, M.D.
 
  • #67
I've found the obituary for Edna Mathis's son, and for her husband as well. Son Jr died in 1993, the father Sr before him in 1989. The son only had daughters, with the surnames: Gerber, Brick, and Orey - none of them are missing, nor their children. The son's daughter died of old age in 2013, so it wasn't her either.

After some Ancestry digging, I finally found "our" Edna as predeceasing them both by a large margin - she died on the 10th of May 1951, of "multiple carcinoma", and is recorded in the church books of St Paul's Episcopal Church in Camden, NJ (where she is listed as living in Collingswood, this is also the church book recording her son's birth). She was Edna May Mathis.

Considering that Edna died in 1951, only 5 years after receiving the life membership key, I think that in all likelyhood it was given away to someone, taken to a pawn shop, or went into a church jumble sale after her death. Of course we don't know, but I don't think that her family would have necessarily held on to the key for several generations considering Edna herself only had it for 5 years.

Also, here is the recently update NamUs record for this UID: https://identifyus.org/cases/446

Probable date of death has been adjusted, to "5 years" 2001-2006.
 
  • #68
Wow...I didn't realize I'd been interested in so many cases. Trying to catch up seems impossible
 
  • #69
https://identifyus.org/en/cases/446

Hey guys, so I think I could have a possible match but i'm not good on the phone and a bit shy. Anyone willing to call this in? Do you think it's worth it?
https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/7699/0/


I'm not 100% on this, as there are a few differences, but I don't feel comfortable ruling it out.

Cons: estimated age of unidentified is 34-65, Tracy was 21 when she went missing. Unidentified's hair is described as brown/auburn, Tracy was blonde. Perhaps she dyed her hair?

Pros: Proximity. Tracy went missing six minutes from where the unidentified was found. Tracy went missing in 2000, unidentified's probable year of death is 2001. Also, Tracy is not on the ruled out list.

Since Tracy and the unidentified are both in NamUs and both have DNA submitted, does this make it an automatic non-match? Thanks for any help.
 
  • #70
It's really hard to tell with no head/face to compare, but the UID was reported to have arthritis in the lower spine, and Tracy wasn't. Of course, even if she did have arthritis, that doesn't mean the person who made the report knew about it.

ETA: I do think that when DNA is available, they automatically run it through their records checking for matches. I'm only guessing on that, but it seems like the logical way to do things.
 
  • #71
I have read on here before that any cases with DNA are automatically cross checked, so hopefully she has. I'd say the age is too far off, especially if there is arthritis on the UID and the missing girl was only 21. 35-65 makes me feel they are pretty confident she was definitely an older person.
 
  • #72
They automatically compare, but there's a whole list of conditions -- that they're both the same kind of DNA (mtDNA or STR), that they're both in databases that can be compared (many LE agencies prefer to hold onto DNA locally), et cetera. If you feel strongly about a match, it's often worth calling just to verify that the DNA would have been compared automatically.
 
  • #73
I found a key for sale on Ebay that was basically the carbon copy except for the name and date changed. I decided to send the link to the medical examiner's office with the suggestion that the Ebay seller might have information on where both keys originated, the one he/she was trying to sell and the one that was on our Doe.

Link to the Ebay ad.
 
  • #74
If you have an eBay account, you can ask where it's from right in that listing.
 
  • #75
KaylaraOwl said:
If you have an eBay account, you can ask where it's from right in that listing.
Click to expand...

I just emailed the coroner's office and they can figure it out if it's a good lead.
 
  • #76
Cubby said:
The estimated date of death for the UID is 1991. If the Edna mentioned previously, was in fact the owner of this key she passed away in 2000. I presume if she was buried and not cremated, she was embalmed. I'm going to guess that if a buried body was dug up after being embalmed decomp still would not give the ME an estimated date of death 9 years earlier than her actual death, I could be wrong though.... (Not to mention, there would be evidence her grave was disturbed. I'm sure LE could find it through funeral records as her obit was found as a pp mentioned.) I think she would be a pretty easy rule in or out. )

I wonder if anyone has contacted LE to inquire whether or not anyone from Edna's family is still living to inquire about the key and whether or not it remained in the family or was stolen, or given away? IF that was followed up on, it wasn't posted.

jmo
Click to expand...

Unless it was the most incompetent exam ever conducted, the autopsy would have revealed if she had been previously enbalmed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
  • #77
  • #78
UncoolNegated said:
I found a key for sale on Ebay that was basically the carbon copy except for the name and date changed. I decided to send the link to the medical examiner's office with the suggestion that the Ebay seller might have information on where both keys originated, the one he/she was trying to sell and the one that was on our Doe.

Link to the Ebay ad.
Click to expand...

They're a jeweler, so either people sell to them directly or else they buy from places like estate sales and thrift shops, and then sell on from there.
 
  • #79
NamUs UP # 446

ME/C Case Number: 06-5308
Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
34 to 65 year old White Female
https://identifyus.org/en/cases/446

Date found December 08, 2006
Age 34 - 65 years
Race White
Height (inches) 66, Estimated
Head hair Brown/Auburn - Head not recovered
Probable year of death 2001 to 2006, Estimated postmortem interval 5 Years

Medical - arthritis on the lumbar vertibrae

Circumstances
Skeletal remains are found in a black plastic trash bag inside a vacant lot near Tusculum St. in the Kensington Section of Philadelphia. The remains are mixed in with soil and appear to have been dug up from another area and dumped. The head and small bones of the feet are missing. Some clothing and jewelry were also discovered within the bag. Also found were four red acrylic fingernails.

Clothing with body
The clothing is decayed and soil ridden
1). Thin, white torn clothing possibly from a blouse, skirt, or dress. No pattern, size, or brand grossly evident
2) Darker color nylon knee high stockings

Jewelry
Yellow metal necklace and charm. The charm is a sorority key with missing stones and is inscripted with "AZB", E. MATHIS, Life Member June 2, 1946, Alpha Delta

345

(you can enlarge image at NamUs link)

Fingerprints - currently not available
Dental - not available
DNA - Sample submitted - Tests complete
 
  • #80
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