VA VA - Nelson Co, unidentified Hurricane Camille victims, Aug’69

[astridxx]

There's a big chance they checked the UID against the Oelke's, right? If not (and unfortunately, they probably didn't) this is huge and you're on to something!!

 

[Ms Suzanne]

http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/y...aa6-8523-5993-902a-45495bf74005.html?mode=jqm

Also did they check DNA or a possible relation or people known to the Simpson family and their missing in this article.I don't see the Simpsons listed as deceased victims in that list.But they are listed with their son as hurricane victims on find a grave.

Newspaper quote
Simpson’s uncle, aunt and their five children who lived on the creek died. His uncle, Robert Simpson, aunt Nora and cousin Robert Jr. are buried across the highway from his business at Ridgecrest Baptist Church.

“Every time I mow their graves, that’s the reminder I’ve got,” he said. “But I can’t go to that grave thinking about the ones they didn’t find.

“It’s the not finding your family. When you don’t find them, it leaves you a little empty.”

Among the 19 missing from Davis Creek are four of his cousins — 13-year-old Jimmy, 10-year-old Michael, 9-year-old Brenda and 4-year-old Paul Edward, the children of Simpson’s aunt and uncle.

 

[astridxx]

It's a shame we don't have pictures of the missing - I'm sure they could be dug up online though. Has anyone tried that angle yet?

 

[Romulus]

Unidentified Person / NamUs #UP10826
Female, White / Caucasian
Estimated Age Range: 70-75 Years
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Unidentified Person / NamUs #UP10820
Female, White / Caucasian
Estimated Age Range: 10-12 Years
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Unidentified Person / NamUs #UP10819
Female, White / Caucasian
Estimated Age Range: 6-8 Years
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Unidentified Person / NamUs #UP10824
Female, White / Caucasian
Estimated Age Range: 40-60 Years
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Unidentified Person / NamUs #UP10817
Female, White / Caucasian
Estimated Age Range: 35-40 Years
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[madamx]

Was this a whole family? So weird a 12 kid remains unidentified. I never heard of these before.

 

[SimplyCass]

Was this a whole family? So weird a 12 kid remains unidentified. I never heard of these before.

the NamUs pages say that 10819 and 10820 (the 10-12 y/o and the 6-8 y/o) have similar features are believed to be related. I'd have to plot out on a map how close all of these UID's were found.

 

[radiogagas]

wow I've never heard of these before, kind of strange how they've gone unidentified for so long

 

[Romulus]

Case forum links

VA - VA - Howardsville, WhtFemale UP10826, 70-75, Hurricane Camille Victim, Aug'69

VA - VA - Howardsville, WhtFemale Child UP10820, Hurricane Camille Victim, Aug'69

VA - VA - Howardsville, WhtFemale Child UP10819, 6-8, Hurricane Camille Victim, Aug'69

VA - VA - Wood's Mill, WhtFemale UP10824, 40-60, Hurricane Camille Victim, Sep'69

VA - VA - Wood's Mill, WhtFemale UP10817, 35-40, Hurricane Camille Victim, Sep'69

 

[madamx]

This is so weird it seems like it’s a grandmother 2 sisters or 2 moms (2 middle aged women) and 2 little school aged girls. How could nobody have missed them?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/08/19/unprecedented-rain-hurricane-camilles-deadly-dlood-in-the-blue-ridge-mountains/?outputType=amp


On the evening of August 19, 1969 the Mid-Atlantic’s deadliest hurricane disaster of the 20thcentury unfolded just 120 miles from Washington, D.C.

With rain falling so heavy it was difficult to breathe, over two feet of water accumulated in just eight hours. This is the story of Hurricane Camille’s catastrophic flash flood, mudslides and debris flows in Nelson County, Va.

 

[madamx]

Here are some photos from the hurricane

From the Archives: 100 photos of damage from Hurricane Camille, the worst natural disaster in Va. history

this link has some also
Hurricane Camille, 1969

 

[madamx]

Here is another article.

Hurricane Camille, Part 1: When the rain came

 

[madamx]

Hurricane Camille survivors haunted by victims who were never found


Among the 19 missing from Davis Creek are four of his cousins — 13-year-old Jimmy, 10-year-old Michael, 9-year-old Brenda and 4-year-old Paul Edward, the children of Simpson’s aunt and uncle.

The task of identifying bodies recovered after the flood fell mainly to three local physicians, a pathologist from the state medical examiner’s office in Roanoke and a dentist.

Rockfish Valley physician Dr. Robert Raynor had to be taken by helicopter to the command center in Lovingston for the first few days after the flood because Virginia 6 along the Rockfish River was impassable.

A refrigerated trailer donated by Morton Foods was set up in town behind the Sheffield funeral home to store the bodies. Autopsies were conducted in an Army tent set up behind the funeral home, Raynor said.

 

[madamx]

these articles are from 2009
https://newsadvance.com/new_era_pro...cle_33d222b2-472c-5dbb-ab54-078cdf602aa0.html
Who were the Camille victims never identified?


Eight of storm's victims were never identified


Tinsley also agreed that there is a strong possibility they were not Nelson County residents.


"We had people from Danville killed, truck drivers from North Carolina killed," he said. "To not have anyone else from out of the area would be sort of fantastic."


Rockfish Valley physician Robert Raynor and Lovingston dentist George Criswell, who worked to identify the bodies, both concluded that several of the eight were related when their stomach contents revealed they had eaten beans and hamburger the night before. Raynor and Criswell also agreed the four had facial features that they believed to be Hispanic.


Raynor took the conclusion a step farther. He believes the four were part of a family of migrant workers who were between stations.


"Everybody knew that they left . . . but didn't know where they were going, so they were never reported missing," he said.



Tinsley, who kept a diary of the events, said the bodies were sent to the Virginia State Anatomical Program in Richmond by the western district medical examiner on Oct. 3, 1969, 44 days after the flood. The Anatomical Program, which is typically a repository for cadavers used in medical training, cremated the bodies 10 days later, according to their records.



Published descriptions of the bodies kept in the state file of the four who shared the same meal show: a boy about 17, a girl about 10, a girl about 6, a boy about 12-14.


The other victims are described as: a woman about 35-40, a woman about 70, a man in his 50s and a woman in her late 40s or 50s.

 

[madamx]

Camille 50 Years Later: Eight victims of the storm, whose bodies were recovered, remain unidentified five decades later




This article I found is from 2019. I guess they have identified the men on this list by now. Here is the list they posted

Descriptions of the unidentified

“Female, approximately 70 years old, long white hair, found at Buford Island between Howardsville and Wingina”

“Female, 35 to 40 years old, well groomed brown hair found at Woods Mill”

“Female, late 40s to early 50s, moderate length brown wavy hair found 1 mile below Woods Mill”

“Male, late 50s stocky dark complected, partially bald, black hair found on Albemarle shore at Howardsville.”

“Male, approximately 17, found below Schuyler”

“Male, approximately 12 to 14 years old found one-half mile below Southern RR bridge”

“Female, approximately 10 years old long blonde wavy hair found 2 miles above Howardsville”

“Female, approximately 6 to 8 years old, found on an island above Bremo Power Plant”

--Virginia State Police Reports from Trooper Ed Tinsley

 

[carbuff]

Sometimes with hurricanes, people are swept away by the storm or flooding and not found, and aren't listed as "missing" because they are presumed drowned. Same thing with shipwrecks, lost fishermen and sailors, and swimmers swept out to sea.

 

[Triss]

So the idea that the two children could be related is based only on their appearance? And there were no DNA tests done to prove or disprove that theory, correct?

 

[airportwoman]

They could do DNA now, but not at the time. Chances are, while the people were recognizable, their blood had decomposed too much to type it.

I too had wondered if they weren't identified because nobody was looking for them, for whatever reasons.

 

[Triss]

They could do DNA now, but not at the time. Chances are, while the people were recognizable, their blood had decomposed too much to type it.

I too had wondered if they weren't identified because nobody was looking for them, for whatever reasons.

Missing persons reports can be lost or destroyed. Sometimes police won't take them seriously. It's possible that nobody was looking for those unidentified people, but I don't want to rule out the possibility that at least some of them were reported missing.

 

[airportwoman]

They may also have been reported missing, just not in that area.

 

[carbuff]

They may also have been reported missing, just not in that area.

That would be quite likely.