Found Deceased PA - White Haven, 'Beth Doe' & Unborn Baby 169UFPA, 16-22, Dec'76 *Evelyn Colon* *Arrest* #3

[Doeologist]

Actually the triangular reinforcing panels are in the top and the zipper is reversed with the flap opening upward. That’s the reverse of everything I found.

So maybe it’s a domestic knock off design. Or was that the possible defect members were talking about? Reversing the design might have been a way to get around copyright.

 

[Doeologist]

I tried looking for comparable pieces of luggage even using Google Images but turned up no matches. It could be foreign but I'd say it's an American discard by a lesser known company.

Going back to the possible route taken, a review shows that the newspaper was traced to Northern New Jersey. That would make sense if someone was just going to cross state lines and look for the first big river which would be the LeHigh after the Delaware River which is on the border.
Mom and fetus found along river 44 years ago | Times News Online

 

[landis]

@Doelogist I did the same thing. Used reverse image search, went on bing, google and yandex in all 3 languages that I speak (including Russian to check the foreign link, I though that maybe adding Soviet Union to the search would change something) but I came up with nothing useful in particular. My closest hits were on the suitcase with plaid pattern, but I don't think I ever saw an exact match for the colors and pattern, in every similar case something was always a little bit off. And even when I added the decade to my search, like typing in Russian, English and Polish: "70s plaid suitcase" "70s vintage suitcase" "70 suitcase with zipper" "70s suitcase USSR" I still didn't see anything that looked close to suitcases found with Beth's body. Which also makes me think that the type of suitcases she was found in don't really look like something that would be found in Eastern Europe in that time. Even in movies from that time, people here used big bags or the simple oldschoold suitcases without zippers or wheels.

 

[carbuff]

@CCJD Didn't you identify these suitcases years ago?

 

[Justice4bethdoe]

Thankfully due to family DNA we will most likely know who she is in the next year. Just crossing my fingers they find out who she is and then catch the horrible person who killed her and her daughter.

 

[CCJD]

@CCJD Didn't you identify these suitcases years ago?

Nope, but ...

"McAndrew said investigators learned that a specific suitcase manufacturer discarded flawed suitcases by removing the handles."

And then I threw in my 2 cents worth about "discarded items" based on my experience.

PA - PA - White Haven, 'Beth Doe' & Unborn Baby 169UFPA, 16-22, Dec'76 - #2

Link to original article with quote from Tom McAndrew is dead but can be viewed on newspapers.com (subscription needed)
20 Dec 2011, 12 - The Times Leader at Newspapers.com

 

[CCJD]

I did find a similar plaid suitcase in The News Item (Shamokin, PA), May 26, 1976. No brand name but it has that point near the handle side. Sold at Nichols Home Center (a discount store) that had stores in PA, NY and SC.
31 Dec 1969, - at Newspapers.com

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Thankfully due to family DNA we will most likely know who she is in the next year. Just crossing my fingers they find out who she is and then catch the horrible person who killed her and her daughter.

Here's to hoping whoever did this to them is still alive and will remain so to stand trial. I also hope they have spent the days since December 1976 to look over their shoulder; they certainly should do this from now on.

 

[Doeologist]

I did find a similar plaid suitcase in The News Item (Shamokin, PA), May 26, 1976. No brand name but it has that point near the handle side. Sold at Nichols Home Center (a discount store) that had stores in PA, NY and SC.
31 Dec 1969, - at Newspapers.com

I found another location in New Jersey, although I don't think Maple Shade is in Northern NJ where the newspaper supposedly was trace to. It's Home Center opened in 78 so it's main store would have been there earlier.
They were originally called Nichols Discount City
Nichols Home Center Opening 12-78

P.S. I'd say that's a definitive match, based on the very distinctive "point".

 

[Doeologist]

"McAndrew said investigators learned that a specific suitcase manufacturer discarded flawed suitcases by removing the handles."

And then I threw in my 2 cents worth about "discarded items" based on my experience.

PA - PA - White Haven, 'Beth Doe' & Unborn Baby 169UFPA, 16-22, Dec'76 - #2

So although the police identified a manufacturer that cut off handles of discarded luggage, is it more likely the removal of the handles and the spray-painting happened at the distribution level, or at the consumer level, as in it was the killer's idea?

Or could they still have been discarded at the manufacturing level? If so, what possible defects could there be in those bags, which still look mostly intact, that would not satisfy the standards of a discount luggage manufacturer? Unless they were close to the distributor, they wouldn't need to worry about someone trying to return discarded, un-bought items.

I'm wondering if we need to look for the manufacturer at all. The locations of the stores alone seem very coincidental to the various sites associated with the case. And I go by the "Rule of Three" as in three is not a coincidence.

 

[Wossy]

Here's to hoping whoever did this to them is still alive and will remain so to stand trial. I also hope they have spent the days since December 1976 to look over their shoulder; they certainly should do this from now on.

If the person who did this does ever get caught, I can guarantee you he's gonna play the fragile weak old man card or the "I was temporary insane and couldn't tell the difference between right and wrong" card. Those two are almost certain.

 

[Sweetluv]

I believe the handles were removed because the killer planned to throw the suitcases in the water. Handles will snag on tree limbs, debris...
Spray paint was used to camouflage.
This was planned and not a random killing in my opinion.
Taking away important features that help to identify..like ears and nose is calculated. To me, the killer went to great lengths to make our victim hard to ID..and its worked all these years. However, that does make me think the killer thought she could be identified by someone...and that gives me hope!!

 

[Doeologist]

"A former regional retail discount chain in the Northeast, founded in 1938 as a variety store chain in and around New York City. Nichols opened the first Nichols Discount City store in 1960 in Lancaster, Pa.. These stores ranged in size from 80,000 to 100,000 square feet and were usually located in secondary markets. In 1990, Nichols converted their stores to PharmHouse, a discount drug and housewares store."

S.E. Nichols Discount City

 

[Justice4bethdoe]

I did find a similar plaid suitcase in The News Item (Shamokin, PA), May 26, 1976. No brand name but it has that point near the handle side. Sold at Nichols Home Center (a discount store) that had stores in PA, NY and SC.
31 Dec 1969, - at Newspapers.com

I find this interesting. Shamokin is not far from carbon county. When I drive up north I see signs for both weatherly,where beth doe I buried, and shamokin

 

[Doeologist]

Shamokin is only 70 m from Lancaster where, I believe, the only store was. Whitehaven would be only 100 miles north of Lancaster. I'd go with the Lancaster area which would include Shamokin, with the commuter shopping from the smaller towns.

I think the 3 month old New York newspaper could just be packing material left in the suitcase from the manufacturer or the stores in New York or New Jersey. Might a discount store just leave the packing material inside?

 

[CCJD]

Shamokin is only 70 m from Lancaster where, I believe, the only store was. Whitehaven would be only 100 miles north of Lancaster. I'd go with the Lancaster area which would include Shamokin, with the commuter shopping from the smaller towns.

I think the 3 month old New York newspaper could just be packing material left in the suitcase from the manufacturer or the stores in New York or New Jersey. Might a discount store just leave the packing material inside?

BBM

Attached is the store's banner on the 1st page of the ads where I found the plaid suitcases.
26 May 1976, 42 - The News-Item at Newspapers.com

 

[Moonstarr8]

This is a big leap but when I recently heard the story of Beth Doe I couldn’t help but pick up on a few similarities from another Doe referred to as Ellery Jane Doe. Ellery Doe was believed to have had a child who would be around the age of Beth Doe. Their bodies were found 7 years apart but only approx 4-5 hours away from each other. Ellery Doe is believed to have been from Europe and was also found with number sequences on her person. I’m new to the Beth Doe case so please don’t attack me if I’ve missed some facts/info. I’m just wondering if anyone else sees any potential connection.

 

[Doeologist]

Three of the last four cases I looked at involved number and letter sequences. Besides Beth, they include ones in Australia and Norway. Those two might have been spies but I think it's all part of the whole phenomena related to secrecy and private people.

It made me look at the WSR(54?) scrawled on Beth's hand. I liked the Women's Services and Resources theory but I couldn't find a place actually called Women's Services and Resources. There's the Women's Resources Center now called Center Safe in Center County. That's the one that began in 1975. But I think a good bet is the Geisinger Medical Center Women's Health Services
100 N Academy Ave. It's just before Route 54 in Danville.

Danville is only 9 miles from Bloomsburg and the Nichols Discount City where the killer could have bought the luggage. Or 35 miles from Williamsport and that store.

 

[Doeologist]

The two Women's Resources Centers, one at Penn State and the other in Bellfonte, are respectively on a direct road off R45 and R550.They are about 90 miles away from Bloomsberg and 50 to 60 miles from Williamsport.

The Penn State one, the one which opened in 75, would probably be cheaper or free. But the first number is supposed to be either a 4 or a 5 and the second number is supposed to be a 4 or a 7. R45 and R55 won't work.

 

[Doeologist]

I think the 3 month old New York newspaper could just be packing material left in the suitcase from the manufacturer or the stores in New York or New Jersey. Might a discount store just leave the packing material inside?

Doesn't the probability that the company packing material was left inside suggest the possibility that the killer or co-conspirator or whoever got the bags, actually worked at Nichols? Then again, it could be the manufacturer which we haven't found but I'd say they're in northern New Jersey based on the newspaper inside.