WA WA - Olympia, WhtFem 20-30, UP8886, cranium & bones in wooded area, sticks & shoelace cross, Oct'81

Leonore Ruth Michel missing since 1973 from CT. She was much older than the estimated age for JD but could be a possibility. Noted by @victoriarobinson642 on another thread that Leonore’s Ancestry appears to be Ashkenazi Jewish so felt compelled to post here as I haven’t come across too many that share that unique detail.


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Looks like a possible match, did you send it to the DDP or law enforcement? I saw a message under her post on the DDP Facebook page, where somebody suggested Leonore and 10 more possible matches, I hope the DDP will see it
 
Looks like a possible match, did you send it to the DDP or law enforcement? I saw a message under her post on the DDP Facebook page, where somebody suggested Leonore and 10 more possible matches, I hope the DDP will see it
I did submit and the ME confirmed that Olympia UID is not Lenore. They both have DNA in CODIS.

“Both individuals in question have DNA profiles in CODIS and they do not match.”
 
I wonder if Denise Holly Dorfman is in CODIS as well. She disappeared from San Francisco, California, in February 1980. I read on her thread that her sister, Inez, was active on Ancestry in 2014, but I could not find her genealogical tree. She is probably of Ashkenazi origin. There are more photos of Denise in facebook:
IMG_0903.jpegIMG_0904.jpeg
 
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I wonder if Denise Holly Dorfman is in CODIS as well. She disappeared from San Francisco, California, in February 1980. I read on her thread that her sister, Inez, was active on Ancestry in 2014, but I could not find her genealogical tree. She is probably of Ashkenazi origin. There are more photos of Denise in facebook:
View attachment 551080View attachment 551081
As far as I can tell, she's fully Ashkenazi Jewish (but I only got back to her grandparents, so I can't say for sure).
 
The Times of Israel published a thoughtful article about Mitchell Mendelson's identification and burial. I wonder if they could also write about an unidentified Jewish woman. Perhaps someone who will read it might recognize a missing family member…
 
The Times of Israel published a thoughtful article about Mitchell Mendelson's identification and burial. I wonder if they could also write about an unidentified Jewish woman. Perhaps someone who will read it might recognize a missing family member…
That would be great if they did! Even if readers don't recognise her, it might encourage more people of Jewish heritage to upload their DNA which could lead to the missing piece for her or another Jewish Doe. There are a lot of Jewish Americans that probably read The Times of Israel and/or live in Israel themselves. And its readers who are Israeli might have extended family in the US they could share it with.
 
I do feel that many people can be Ashnakazi and not even be aware. People are adopted and/or people literally have no idea. Not sure if the below have been all mentioned, some have.

Elaine Robertson

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Donna Gail Manson​


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Althea Dayle Blankinship​



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Linda Sue Endorf​


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Mary Patricia Burns​



Screen Shot 2025-06-14 at 9.07.46 AM.webp


 
I do feel that many people can be Ashnakazi and not even be aware. People are adopted and/or people literally have no idea. Not sure if the below have been all mentioned, some have.

Elaine Robertson

View attachment 595112



Donna Gail Manson​


View attachment 595113





Althea Dayle Blankinship​



View attachment 595115





Linda Sue Endorf​


View attachment 595116



Mary Patricia Burns​



View attachment 595117

Theoretically possible … but historically in the USA, at least at the time our JD was born, Jewish children were virtually in all cases adopted out to Jewish families (also Catholic children usually went to Catholic families). There were huge adoption agencies for Jewish children, biggest was Louise Wise. And the demand surpassed the available children, so if our JD was an adoptee, it is pretty certain she was adopted by a Jewish family.
 
Theoretically possible … but historically in the USA, at least at the time our JD was born, Jewish children were virtually in all cases adopted out to Jewish families (also Catholic children usually went to Catholic families). There were huge adoption agencies for Jewish children, biggest was Louise Wise. And the demand surpassed the available children, so if our JD was an adoptee, it is pretty certain she was adopted by a Jewish family.

Understand. Not everyone knows/knew they were Jewish. There are phenotypes, but many can overlap. There are entire generations who passed themselves off as other nationalities to survive. Many possibilities.
 
Understand. Not everyone knows/knew they were Jewish. There are phenotypes, but many can overlap. There are entire generations who passed themselves off as other nationalities to survive. Many possibilities.
I can definitely understand not knowing you're partly Jewish, or even half Jewish - if perhaps one of your parents is ethnically Jewish but was raised secular and/or is estranged. I know quite a few people like that as I'm part of the donor conceived community and many historical sperm donors were Jewish doctors, so a lot of people are unexpectedly finding out they're half Jewish.

But I can't really see not knowing you're fully Jewish unless you were swapped at birth (or adopted). There are historically many people who 'integrated' or converted to survive, true, but they would then marry into other ethnicities. If one of your grandmothers escaped the Holocaust and came to the US and decided to hide being Jewish, I think it's quite unlikely she would then marry a Jewish man, or even someone ethnically Jewish, and that their child would do the same, and their grandchild would have no idea. I suppose anything is possible! I just find it unlikely.

More likely I would think would be a family who converted, maybe changed their surname, knew they were ethnically Jewish but did not identify as such religiously/culturally.
 
I completely agree — this Jane Doe's admixture is 100% Ashkenazi, so I think it makes sense to focus on missing girls with a similar background. Regarding adoption, I found Three Identical Strangers interesting; it opens up the topic of a Jewish adoption agency where Jewish children were only placed with Jewish families.

As for Linda Sue Lasater Endorf, her detailed family tree, which goes back to the 1700s, shows that she comes from a prominent Dutch family.

Donna Manson was also discussed in this thread; she is suspected to have been a victim of Ted Bundy and I don’t think he marked graves of his victims.
 

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