VA VA - Arlington, BlkMale, 13-16, UP128721. Recognisable. 2 November 1946

[cheemsg]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

NCMEC Number- 2031290
ME/C Case Number- C1946-00001

Demographics​

Biological Sex- Male
Race / Ethnicity- Black / African American
Estimated Age Group- Adolescent
Estimated Age Range (Years)- 13-16
Estimated Year of Death- 1946
Estimated PMI- 5 Hours

Circumstances​

Type- Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found- November 2, 1946
NamUs Case Created- September 5, 2024

Location- Arlington, Virginia
County- Arlington County
Found On Tribal Land- No
Circumstances of Recovery- Unknown circumstances of where the body was found

---

Details of Recovery​

Inventory of Remains- All parts recovered
Condition of Remains- Recognizable face

 

[dream_sweet96]

Do you think this newspaper article is about this young man? It's dated Sunday, November 3, 1946. It's from the Times Herald Washington, District of Columbia on Page 3.

Body of Boy Found Near Key Bridge

 

[HopeRains]

Do you think this newspaper article is about this young man?

View attachment 639369
Body of Boy Found Near Key Bridge

Date and Arlington, VA are same.

 

[dream_sweet96]

Boy Found Dead on Bank Had Been Shot in Heart

Evening star Washington, District of Columbia, Monday, November 4, 1946, Page 14

 

[dream_sweet96]

Article clipped from The Washington Daily News

The Washington Daily News, Washington, District of Columbia, Friday, November 8, 1946, Page 5

 

[HopeRains]

 

[dream_sweet96]

Body of Slain Boy Still Unidentified

 

[dream_sweet96]

View attachment 639380

Thank you. I'd never heard of Three Sisters Islands!

 

[HopeRains]

Regarding some of the info in the articles.

Noting the young man was found by a Naval Gun Factory worker - apparently the Naval Gun Factory was in Washington, D.C. in 1946

Pants stamped USNC = US Navy Corps (?)

 

[dream_sweet96]

I tried to narrow down the location the young man was found based on the different newspaper articles. The articles described him being found up river of the Key Bridge, on the river bank of the Potomac River, on the Virginia side, a mile from Three Sisters Islands.

I used the Google Earth measure feature to figure out where a mile upriver from Three Sisters Islands would be and came up with these coordinates.

[ 38°54'33"N 77°05'55"W ]

 

[The4TierBridge]

View attachment 639381

Body of Slain Boy Still Unidentified

You should send these all to the ME contact on NamUs; it seems like their surviving records did not detail the circumstances of this case.

 

[dream_sweet96]

You should send these all to the ME contact on NamUs; it seems like their surviving records did not detail the circumstances of this case.

Okay! done

 

[dream_sweet96]

Update: The ME replied back saying thank you for the news articles! Thank you for the suggestion @The4TierBridge! She felt there was a lot of useful information in them. I hope this young man can be named and his story can finally be told.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Very sad. He may have siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews still alive.
I wonder why his parent, other relatives, or guardian didn't report him missing?

The possible theories I can think of:
- This was a domestic violence case, such as he was killed by a parent, stepparent, or guardian.
- He was a "runaway" never reported missing (but why not?).
- He was reported missing by family, but far enough away that no one made the connection, or LE there didn't try.
- He did not have family, and the facility or home he lived at did not report him missing.
- He was orphaned/homeless and no one was responsible for his well-being.

Any other ideas?

 

[dream_sweet96]

Very sad. He may have siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews still alive.
I wonder why his parent, other relatives, or guardian didn't report him missing?

The possible theories I can think of:
- This was a domestic violence case, such as he was killed by a parent, stepparent, or guardian.
- He was a "runaway" never reported missing (but why not?).
- He was reported missing by family, but far enough away that no one made the connection, or LE there didn't try.
- He did not have family, and the facility or home he lived at did not report him missing.
- He was orphaned/homeless and no one was responsible for his well-being.

Any other ideas?

I was wracking my brain and I keep thinking there must be a connection with Halloween because of the date he was found/estimated time of death. Do you think his clothing description could point to an event by a club or association?

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I was wracking my brain and I keep thinking there must be a connection with Halloween because of the date he was found/estimated time of death. Do you think his clothing description could point to an event by a club or association?

Good catch. Maybe this happened on Halloween.

IMO, The articles above say:
- "khaki trousers, blue shirt, brown sweater, brown shoes"
- "Army whaki pants, T-shirt"
- "brown low-quarter shoes, knitted undershirt, jockey shorts, short sleeve yellow 'T' shirt, blue dress shirt with dark blue stripes, and a tan sleeveless sweater.
On the front and back of the shirt were pictures of the heads of three antlered deer. His pants were red and yellow cross-cut khaki." Size waist 30, length 33.
"UNSC" stamped on the pants.

We could try to find out more about the UNSC pants, I think.

 

[dream_sweet96]

I found a historical map of Arlington dated 1944 on the Library of Congress website.

It's pretty striking how remote that part of Arlington was at the time. Without the GW Parkway, it must have been challenging to get to that side of town.

"Washington and vicinity, Maryland, Virginia, District of Columbia"

EBSCO Locate

EBSCO Locate

lccn.loc.gov

 

[dream_sweet96]

Good catch. Maybe this happened on Halloween.

IMO, The articles above say:
- "khaki trousers, blue shirt, brown sweater, brown shoes"
- "Army whaki pants, T-shirt"
- "brown low-quarter shoes, knitted undershirt, jockey shorts, short sleeve yellow 'T' shirt, blue dress shirt with dark blue stripes, and a tan sleeveless sweater.
On the front and back of the shirt were pictures of the heads of three antlered deer. His pants were red and yellow cross-cut khaki." Size waist 30, length 33.
"UNSC" stamped on the pants.

We could try to find out more about the UNSC pants, I think.

I ran into a dead end with the stamp.. Unless there's some misprint or faded letters I couldn't find any organization from that era with those initials..

I feel positive that these must have been altered/tailored military surplus pants based on the cross-cut khaki material, the area, and the date being so close to the end of WWII. Plus, at 5'5" feet tall, the young man would be swimming in unhemmed 33" inseam pants!

I had a bit more luck with his tan knit sweater vest. I was able to find a contemporaneous example of a knit sweater with similar antlered deer design. The one I found was made by Sportsclad, which I believe was a J.C. Penney's brand in the 1940's.

I've included a picture of the sweater, a detail of the deer head, and a cropped image of the boy's picture that was included in The Afro-American newspaper article. I tried to be respectful and crop the sweater detail as close as possible.

I feel so sorry for this young man. It's so heartbreaking to see his picture... to be shot in the back, alone in the woods, and left by the river. Without the Afro running his picture, we would have very little to go on. But with his picture, we stand a much better chance!

 

[dream_sweet96]

Very sad. He may have siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews still alive.
I wonder why his parent, other relatives, or guardian didn't report him missing?

The possible theories I can think of:
- This was a domestic violence case, such as he was killed by a parent, stepparent, or guardian.
- He was a "runaway" never reported missing (but why not?).
- He was reported missing by family, but far enough away that no one made the connection, or LE there didn't try.
- He did not have family, and the facility or home he lived at did not report him missing.
- He was orphaned/homeless and no one was responsible for his well-being.

Any other ideas?

I was brainstorming and thought of how many visitors there are in the DC region. I came up with a couple ideas:
- He was with a tour group, and missed his bus home. By the time his absence was noticed, it was too late to turn back around.
- He was the son of a diplomat or foreign minister. (Could help explain the acronym if it was in a different language?)

or like you suggested-- He was from a nearby town that didn't have strong ties with the Arlington or DC police or maybe a rural community that didn't get the news from the capital region frequently? Maybe we could look for missing persons report from an area outside the metro DC area?

A few articles said he had 22-caliber bullets in his pocket. But I saw one article that said he had $2.29 in pennies in his pockets. They might both be true; however the detail of the pennies is so specific I'm more inclined to believe that one.

 

[dream_sweet96]

A few articles said he had 22-caliber bullets in his pocket. But I saw one article that said he had $2.29 in pennies in his pockets. They might both be true; however the detail of the pennies is so specific I'm more inclined to believe that one.

Here's the news article.