Match! TX - Houston, WhtFem UP4601, 15-20, Red Hair & Freckles, Jul'82 - Michelle Garvey

[Houston Mom]

Tricia Kellett If this picture is from an earlier date......

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/2663/45/

 

[nola]

Houston Mom, your post made me start searching through younger girls missing person cases. I came upon Ann Ellinwood (12) who went missing in 1978 from a Walk-A-Thon event. She would have been 16 in 1982.

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/8105/25?current_page=circumstances

Hair matches- Red/Auburn
Eye Color- brown
Freckles - match
Height matches- 62 inches
Weight - 95 lbs; compared to 130 for Jane Doe

...and what a precious smile...

 

[annemc2]

Funny - I used to live where this UID was discovered, and now live where Ann Ellinwood disappeared from.

There have been articles in the local paper about her unsolved disappearance and there was a local suspect (who since committed suicide).

I think they share similar coloring, but otherwise I don't really see the possibility of a match. Thanks for the suggestion, though, and keep on sleuthin'!!

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/e/ellinwood_ann.html

 

[Tulessa]

Here is my facial reconstruction for this Jane Doe:

That looks so close to our Jane Doe! Excellent job Karl!

 

[Lyssav]

I have spoke to Dr. Derrick about this girl, she really thinks she falls at the younger end of the age range. I am interested in what she has to say about Carl's recon! I too prefer the recon over the postmortem. Looks good Carl!!!

 

[Lyssav]

Funny - I used to live where this UID was discovered, and now live where Ann Ellinwood disappeared from.

There have been articles in the local paper about her unsolved disappearance and there was a local suspect (who since committed suicide).

I think they share similar coloring, but otherwise I don't really see the possibility of a match. Thanks for the suggestion, though, and keep on sleuthin'!!

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/e/ellinwood_ann.html

I just wanted to add to this I looked at Ann many times and thought she was a good PM until I had realized I got carried away and didn't look at the eye color. Its stated that Ann's eyes were brown, while our UIDs are blue.

 

[nola]

Thank you...I am mixing up this red haired jane doe with lake pontchartrain LA jane doe who's eye color was unknown.

 

[Lyssav]

Just got this email:

"I think the recon drawing is very good. The DNA from the specimen I submitted for our unidentified girl did not hit with any of the family reference samples available in CODISMP, which would include all of the cases in NamUs that show DNA results"

So if our girl is in namus she doesn't have DNA or she isn't listed on namus at all. Keep looking!!! I will submit PMs for anyone that needs me.

 

[Lyssav]

Anyone think this UID could have fallen victim to the "redhead murderer"? I have been reading up apparently he was thought to be a trucker that picked up women that were either hitch hiking or living a transient lifestyle would travel through numerous states and leave their bodies close to a major interstate. Victims were either strangled or suffered from blunt force trauma to the skull. The COD is known for this UID but is being kept from the public, considering the postmortem photo is only showing one side of her face I can only imagine she most likely suffered from a blow to the skull.


Thoughts?

 

[CarlK90245]

Yes, for quite a while, I've thought she might be one of the redhead murders. there are several other UID's from that era who are possible redhead murder victims.

 

[NanZDrew]

Anyone think this UID could have fallen victim to the "redhead murderer"? I have been reading up apparently he was thought to be a trucker that picked up women that were either hitch hiking or living a transient lifestyle would travel through numerous states and leave their bodies close to a major interstate. Victims were either strangled or suffered from blunt force trauma to the skull. The COD is known for this UID but is being kept from the public, considering the postmortem photo is only showing one side of her face I can only imagine she most likely suffered from a blow to the skull.


Thoughts?

Absolutely! Although I hadn't heard of the redheaded murderer, I thought of a truck driver since she was dumped so near I10. I searced for missing persons from Houston through Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi to Florida since I-10 is a straight shot through those states and a major trucking route. I didn't check I-10 to the west of Houston. One thing that I noticed from the aerial photos was that in 1982 a strip of trees separated the interstate and the frontage road so it would be hidden from the interstate. This was the same scenario for the Lillian Descoteau murder that happened earlier this year. She may have been a truck driver herself. A truck driver knows routes and passes them routinely. I think this could be highly likely.

 

[NanZDrew]

Anyone think this UID could have fallen victim to the "redhead murderer"? I have been reading up apparently he was thought to be a trucker that picked up women that were either hitch hiking or living a transient lifestyle would travel through numerous states and leave their bodies close to a major interstate. Victims were either strangled or suffered from blunt force trauma to the skull. The COD is known for this UID but is being kept from the public, considering the postmortem photo is only showing one side of her face I can only imagine she most likely suffered from a blow to the skull.


Thoughts?

I had noticed earlier that the news article that Houston Mom posted said she had been strangled. That would fit the pattern. I also thought her nose looked like it might have been bloodied.

 

[CarlK90245]

I had noticed earlier that the news article that Houston Mom posted said she had been strangled. That would fit the pattern. I also thought her nose looked like it might have been bloodied.

If she was found face down, what looks like a bloody nose might just be lividity. After death, blood seeks out the lowest points in the body. that would include the nose if the person is face-down.

 

[NanZDrew]

If she was found face down, what looks like a bloody nose might just be lividity. After death, blood seeks out the lowest points in the body. that would include the nose if the person is face-down.

That didn't occur to me. I majored in biology, but even after taking human physiology, I don't think that I ever heard about lividity, even though I knew the blood vessels relaxed, until I was married to a cop...once upon a time.

 

[NanZDrew]

https://www.txdps.state.tx.us/TexasRangers/UnsolvedHomicides/Details.aspx?&id=44

When I found this young lady, my heart stopped until I realized that she was found in 1987, 5 years after our little redhead. She was also older, but was a highway dump. She has a nose and lips that are so similiar. Considering our redhead murderer, here is another redhead, highway dumped in Texas within 5 years. She was only identified in 2010.

Her name was Martha McGraw.

 

[nola]

There are just too many red haired young girls/women who were murdered and dumped along highways with similar injuries and methods of death in the early 80s. Does anyone know if there is a thread or listing on Websleuths capturing all that most feel fits the this Red Headed murder's MO?

 

[CarlK90245]

https://www.txdps.state.tx.us/TexasRangers/UnsolvedHomicides/Details.aspx?&id=44

When I found this young lady, my heart stopped until I realized that she was found in 1987, 5 years after our little redhead. She was also older, but was a highway dump. She has a nose and lips that are so similiar. Considering our redhead murderer, here is another redhead, highway dumped in Texas within 5 years. She was only identified in 2010.

Her name was Martha McGraw.

fftopic:

Strange that her DoeNet and NamUs casefiles (for the UID subsequently ID'd as Martha McGraw) are still open. But the date and county and the circumstances of discovery are the same.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/79uftx.html
https://identifyus.org/en/cases/4137

 

[Lyssav]

KY KY - Redhead Murders, 70's-90's - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

 

[NanZDrew]

In reading about the redhead murders, I noted an article about Thomas Lee Elkins, a PA truck driver who was questioned in regards to the redhead murders when he kidnapped and raped a 20 year old red head in TN. I searched him and found that he had a conviction in FL, and in 1991 he received a 20 year sentence for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 16 year old girl in Houston. In October, 2012, he escaped a halfway house in Houston and was captured. If he was sentenced in 1991, it usually takes a case two years to go to trial, so he would possibly be in TX in the 1980 whether by residence or by truck route. Who is to say that some of his victims weren't killed? They can't testify against you. He definitely liked petite, young women or girls. Could he be the murderer of our little redhead?

http://www.dps.texas.gov/Texas10MostWanted/capturedDetails.aspx?id=169

Here is what he was charged with in Texas: Aggravated Sexual Assault, Assault, Aggravated Kidnapping, Aggravated Rape, Forcible Rape, Indecent Liberties with Child, Aggravated Battery

 

[NanZDrew]

In reading about the redhead murders, I noted an article about Thomas Lee Elkins, a PA truck driver who was questioned in regards to the redhead murders when he kidnapped and raped a 20 year old red head in TN. I searched him and found that he had a conviction in FL, and in 1991 he received a 20 year sentence for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 16 year old girl in Houston. In October, 2012, he escaped a halfway house in Houston and was captured. If he was sentenced in 1991, it usually takes a case two years to go to trial, so he would possibly be in TX in the 1980 whether by residence or by truck route. Who is to say that some of his victims weren't killed? They can't testify against you. He definitely liked petite, young women or girls. Could he be the murderer of our little redhead?

http://www.dps.texas.gov/Texas10MostWanted/capturedDetails.aspx?id=169

Here is what he was charged with in Texas: Aggravated Sexual Assault, Assault, Aggravated Kidnapping, Aggravated Rape, Forcible Rape, Indecent Liberties with Child, Aggravated Battery

Also, he is considered to be a sexual sadist. I found this additional information in when his appeal was upheld. "Before his incarceration, Elkins worked as a long-haul truck driver. The records that the State’s doctors reviewed reflect that Elkins had been accused in several other states of sexually assaulting young women that he picked up while travelling. Elkins’s records also reflect that he had been convicted of five prior crimes, including a 1981 conviction in Illinois on a charge of contributing to the sexual delinquency of a child; a 1986 aggravated kidnapping case in Tennessee; a 1991 conviction in Texas for aggravated sexual assault; and two convictions that occurred in 1992 in Florida, one for sexual battery and the other for aggravated battery. The offenses relating to Elkins’s Texas and Florida convictions were committed while Elkins was still serving parole for his conviction from the State of Tennessee. Elkins also admitted that he was arrested for rape in connection with the charge of aggravated kidnapping in Tennessee, but the rape charge was dismissed. Elkins’s records also reflect that he was arrested in Louisiana in 1980 for aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, crimes against nature, and simple battery; however, he was never prosecuted on those charges.

http://law.justia.com/cases/texas/ninth-court-of-appeals/2012/09-10-00557-cv.html