VA VA - Triangle, BlkMale 40-45, UP84680, bicyclist struck by car Oct’70

[MadMcGoo]

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Date Body Found: October 26, 1970
Location Found: Triangle, Stafford County, Virginia
Sex: Male
Race / Ethnicity: Black / African American
Estimated Age Group: Adult - Pre 50
Estimated Age Range (Years): 40-45
Estimated Year of Death: 1971 (not sure if this is a typo or maybe he lived awhile after the accident?)
Estimated PMI: 10 Minutes
Condition of Remains: Recognizable face
Measured Height: 5' 9" (69 inches)
Measured Weight: 160 lbs
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Circumstances of Recovery: Bicyclist struck by car.

Investigating Agency: Office of the Chief Medical Examiner Central District, Lara Newell
(804) 786-3174
ME/C Case Number: C1971-68864

 

[Diavola]

There's only four black males that went missing before this guy died in NamUs and all of them are way too young.

If he was on a bicycle, what are the odds of him being fairly local?

 

[MadMcGoo]

There's only four black males that went missing before this guy died in NamUs and all of them are way too young.

If he was on a bicycle, what are the odds of him being fairly local?

I also looked through newspapers around the time. I couldn’t find anything about the accident or anything about a middle-aged black man being missing from the area. Seems like they could have released some sort of photograph or reconstruction.

 

[Diavola]

Triangle is a small place. Washington D.C. is not far away, but Google maps says it's an over 4h trip on a bike. There are lost of small towns leading up and out of the capital though.

 

[Diavola]

A post mortem photo was added on NamUs.

 

[victoriarobinson642]

A quick recon of Triangle Doe.

 

[MadMcGoo]

View attachment 322943
A quick recon of Triangle Doe.

Looks good! Glad they added a photo of him.

 

[Diavola]

Bumping, Triangle John Doe has been unidentified for almost 52 years.

 

[annemc2]

Gosh, somebody just didn't come home one day. It's baffling. He'd likely have been in the area for a while to have been riding a bike around, as opposed to public transit or even just walking.

 

[Beekarina]

Triangle is a small town today. I took a quick look online, and the population in 2010 was around 8,000 people.

I did learn this from WIkipedia: It is bounded to the south by the Marine Corps Base Quantico, which surrounds the town of Quantico.

Perhaps he is somehow connected to the base?

 

[Beekarina]

I'm going to dig a little and see if I can find out more about the exact location of the accident.

 

[HopeRains]

I wonder if this was maybe a hit and run case. Wonder if it was county LE (Prince William County Sheriff) who investigated. Other local PDs are Quantico, Quantico Provost and Dumfries, all of which fall out of the mapped area of Triangle below. Guess maybe highway patrol could have been involved if he was found close to I-95. Investigating agency is listed as MEs office.

 

[MadMcGoo]

I wonder if this was maybe a hit and run case. Wonder if it was county LE (Prince William County Sheriff) who investigated. Other local PDs are Quantico, Quantico Provost and Dumfries, all of which fall out of the mapped area of Triangle below. Guess maybe highway patrol could have been involved if he was found close to I-95. Investigating agency is listed as MEs office.

View attachment 372841

Hit and run sounds probable.

 

[HopeRains]

I'm going to dig a little and see if I can find out more about the exact location of the accident.

Please do share anything else you are able to find - thanks!

 

[Beekarina]

Please do share anything else you are able to find - thanks!

Unfortunately, I have not found much. I was hoping for mention in old newspapers or something that could pinpoint exactly where this happened, but like others earlier in the thread, nothing really detailed comes up.

Super frustrating as this seems as though it should have been easily solved all those years ago!

 

[Beekarina]

Brainstorming here: Ok, so he was middle-aged, and riding a bicycle vs driving a car. In that era, I think we can probably safely assume he was using the bike as transportation vs riding for exercise. I wish we knew the time of day for the accident, so we could try and establish if he was commuting to/from work (possibly at the base?)

Is anyone local? Ideas about the area for reasons someone might be living in the area shorter term and not reported missing by family? Are there any farms nearby, or were there back then? Could he have been a migrant farm worker? Or some other temporary laborer?

I'm going to try expanding a search for his stats and see if anyone comes up as a possible match nationally.

 

[HopeRains]

I've reached out to PrinceWilliamTimes (sister paper to FaquierTimes), neither of which are available in newspapers.com to find out about circulation in 1970 and availability of archives. It appears to me one of these papers would have carried the news. Washington Post and Times had (and have) a mass market and cover significant geographical area - it's possible perhaps a small article was run in one of those papers. With such close proximity to Quantico, and what appears to be a direct route off of Fuller Road, I'd like to think some type of publicity took place. Hard to know in any of the above. Will provide any updates as received.

 

[Diavola]

Bumping...

 

[MadMcGoo]

Persistence! His bicycle collided with a car on U.S. 1, almost 5 miles south of Triangle. This article gives the driver’s name but I’ve not found anything besides this one.

Richmond Times-Dispatch 03 Nov 1970, page 6 - Newspapers.com

View the digital scanned newspaper from Richmond Times-Dispatch dated 03 Nov 1970, page 6.

www.newspapers.com

 

[MadMcGoo]

Five miles south on U.S. 1 would have been around here: