VT VT - Middlebury, 2WhtChildren(9-11/13-15)/1 WhtFem Adult(35-45), off logging Rd, May'35

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

This is an old article from 2015, but I can't see it being posted in the thread earlier. A lot of information here answers several questions previously asked in the thread, like the Does being kept an office for 80 years until they were finally buried in 2015; that their original case files were accidentally shredded in 1988; that most of the evidence and original crime scene photos were stolen and/or sold off, and so on.

1935 murder victims buried; mystery persists | Addison Independent

www.addisonindependent.com

 

[lonewanderer]

The timeline and location are a little off, but here it goes anyways:

There was jerk of a man named Harry Powers, who up until his arrest in 1931, courted women all throughout the country (Massachusetts and Illinois confirmed victims) through a write-in card system called The Lonely Hearts Club. This system was basically like snail-mail, old school Tinder.

Harry would find up to 20 new women a day, and would exchange letters with them. His MO was to use and alias and then court the women to marriage or serious romantic advancements. He would then kill the women and the women's children, having their belongings shipped to him under the guise that it was their new address or similar ruse.

Anyways, it just made me think of him. A woman and two children dead in the early 1930s (its a stretch, as he was arrested in the summer of 1931) found dead with no real explanation. It's unlikely he was the culprit, but a history lesson about prowlers like him from the time period.

Harry Powers - Wikipedia

 

[Laughing]

Drawing of Angles' Ribbon identified as 1915 orthodontics:

Just picked this as a relatively clear image. Apparently the teenager had braces, in 1932!

 

[annpats]

Apparently the teenager had braces, in 1932!

Well, that to me says wealth and privilege!

How many orthodontists were there in 1932..?! Not many, I bet!

The ones that were about were probably only in New York City or Boston. A big north-eastern city with plenty of potentially wealthy clients.

 

[rainwaterstill]

And 11 pages later and a refresh on Dorothy I think she just left and could very possibly be the 1935 Jane Doe. I think there was a phone call or a visit after she went “missing”. Could she have blackmailed her father to continue her source of funds for the next 20+ years. About a pregnancy coverup or filing false missing reports etc. I'm sure she had lots on the family. Those funds could have paid for the older child’s orthodontics. Were the funds running low in 1930-1935 and Daddy was done paying. I believe that’s Depression time. Further research into George, Dad an Mom Arnold, the business etc.

Dorothy Arnold's father died in early April, 1922. He intentionally did not provide for her in his will, stating the reason was that he believed she was no longer living. Her mother died in December, 1928, a few days before the end of the year. Her mother, to the end of her life, remained hopeful that Dorothy was alive, somewhere.

Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold - Wikipedia

 

[Earth]

Dorothy Arnold's father died in early April, 1922. He intentionally did not provide for her in his will, stating the reason was that he believed she was no longer living. Her mother died in December, 1928, a few days before the end of the year. Her mother, to the end of her life, remained hopeful that Dorothy was alive, somewhere.

Disappearance of Dorothy Arnold - Wikipedia

If Dorothy Arnold was pregnant when she vanished, she might have been sent away by her parents. At the very least I believe her mother would have known about a possible pregnancy. A socialite being pregnant and unmarried would have been a scandal. The fact that the family did not report the disappearance immediately might have been because she was being kept at home and had started to show signs of being pregnant.

I believe that Dorothy Arnold may have been alive for some years after she was last seen, but I am unsure if she is the Jane Doe in this case.

 

[DS2021]

Can someone contact LE and ask for them to contact the dna doe project to see if they will take on the case
If they can find jane doe's relatives then they'll also have found the other 2 does relatives

 

[Laughing]

@othram , any interest in this one?

Thanks!

 

[UnlicensedPI]

There's an interesting article in this paper about the dentist convention and some opinions about the skulls.
The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts on June 11, 1935 · 23

 

[Susikatze]

The dentists expertise is a bit weird. He claims because the victims have perfect teeth, they must be "full blooded Jewish".
Huh?
Okay, its the 1930s, racist statements were not unheard of.. but it is still so weird. Does not make sense.
Jews come in all shapes, sizes and colors and so do their teeth....
Believe me, I know. I am Jewish.

 

[UnlicensedPI]

The dentists expertise is a bit weird. He claims because the victims have perfect teeth, they must be "full blooded Jewish".
Huh?
Okay, its the 1930s, racist statements were not unheard of.. but it is still so weird. Does not make sense.
Jews come in all shapes, sizes and colors and so do their teeth....
Believe me, I know. I am Jewish.

I'm Jewish as well. This was a weird statement, and I saw other articles which stated they may have been Jewish based on the shape of their jaws. Some articles noted other dentists disagreed on their ethnicity. I'd love to see DNA done so we can at least answer that question!

 

[Susikatze]

Right. Shape of jaw, lol, ridiculous...

Id love to see DNA done. At least Ashkenazi Jewish heritage can be pretty accurately pinpointed by autosomal DNA. Is there any way they can be found and exhumed? At least the adult?
And id also love to know whether the teen and child were boys or girls or one/one. Very contradictory statements in the sources.

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Is there any way they can be found and exhumed? At least the adult?

They were buried in Prospect Cemetery, not far from Middlebury, after being kept in an office for 80 years, and according to old NamUs, they were only able to extract sufficient DNA from the adult.
It wouldn't surprise me if they kept at least one bone from each remains for future testing, though.

 

[Susikatze]

If they were only fairly recently buried, there is a good chance for location, exhmation and likely a successful dna extraction.

 

[Blurgle]

Well, that to me says wealth and privilege!

How many orthodontists were there in 1932..?! Not many, I bet!

The ones that were about were probably only in New York City or Boston. A big north-eastern city with plenty of potentially wealthy clients.

New York City, Boston, and Montreal.

 

[Susikatze]

Trying to sum up the old articles.

LE seemed to have a suspect to the murder , living in Seattle. But they were unable to locate him.

It was believed it is 2 girls but one is a boy.

Tree roots embraced the bones, so LE decided on a PMI of 15-20 years.

They had very expensive dental work, especially the braces of one child. The shape of the teeth and expensive dental work made one forensic dentist thinl they are Ashkenazi Jewish (which is a weird thing, there are no "Ashkenazi teeth"). And not all Jews are rich (I wish).

There were no remains of clothing except pearl pajama buttons. Which also points to a long PMI.

 

[DSCrime]

Additional articles from 1935:

1935 Middlebury Does - Newspapers.com
Middlebury Does - Newspapers.com

One of the articles above mentions that the "S.S. White company, manufacturers of a brace found in one skull, is contacting its 4000 clients throughout the world in an effort to obtain an identification of the victims."

Because this is a historical case, I decided to Google "S.S. White company" to see what there was about it.

Started in Philadelphia, eventually merged w/ another dental supply company with production in NYC (Staten Island). It established branch offices in major U.S. cities & abroad.

The Smithsonian states that the company records are stored at Hagley Museum in Delaware. Apparently these records are extensive.

History

"Its corporate roots are found in the history of Samuel Stockton White, who began his career as an apprenticing dentist and ventured into his own business in 1844, manufacturing porcelain teeth in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania."


Smithsonian:
S. S. White Dental Manufacturing Company Records, 1791-1970 (bulk 1870-1965).

"By the mid nineteenth century the S.S. White Company had become the largest manufacturer of dental instruments in the world. Branch offices for the sale of the firm's products were opened in New York (1846), Boston (1850), Brooklyn (1852), Chicago (1858), Atlanta (1891), Rochester (1897), New Orleans, Cincinnati, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Nashville, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Peoria, and Omaha. Branches were established abroad in Berlin (1897), St. Petersburg (1899), Toronto, London, Paris, Japan, and Australia. In 1881 the firm was incorporated, changing its name from the S.S. White Co. to the S.S. White Dental Manufacturing Co. The extensive plant of Johnston Bros., on Staten Island, New York, was acquired; it produced a large portion of the products marketed by the firm... It published the pioneering periodical, THE DENTAL COSMOS, from 1859 to 1936."

...

"The records of the S.S. White Dental Manufacturing Company are relatively complete. The greater part of the collection is concerned with patents..."

"Accounts include general ledgers, ledgers from foreign branch offices, records of patent royalties, balance sheets, sales records, and sales statistics. There are six boxes of employee records and personnel cards, ca. 1910-1955... Also included is correspondence relating to marketing and sales..."

 

[Curious_in_NC]

Going back to an older post (with a working link!) to an extensive article which includes some confounding information about the cost or qualities of the dental work:

additional info on possible suspects with names and businesses etc

A 1935 Middlebury cold case

"State’s Attorney Conley brought the skulls to Mary Fletcher Hospital in Burlington where they were photographed. He then traveled alone, armed with revolver and blackjack, to see Dr. Alfred B. Rogers, a Boston dentist who specialized in treating irregularities of teeth and was also a graduate of the Angle school. Dr. Rogers concluded that no unusual skill was required to have performed the dental work done and that the work could have been done in any dental clinic, including clinics providing services to those of poor circumstances"

Maybe the gold band was considered valuable enough to guard closely, but Conley taking a revolver AND a blackjack to visit the dentist seems kind of overly cautious.

 

[John/Jane Doe]

1226UFVT- Unidentified Female

2516UMVT

2517UMVT - Unidentified Child

 

[ntt1]

It sounds like Colleen Fitzpatrick/Identifinders is trying to get a usable DNA extract to do FGG on this case, per her appearance of Gray Hughes' YouTube show a few days ago.