Identified! WI - Madison, WhtMale 18-35, 745UMWI, in chimney, fem clothing, German iron cross medallion, Sep'89 Ronnie Joe Kirk

[djanga]

“Major update” sounds very promising. I think it is live now

‘Chimney Doe’ remains found in Madison business identified after nearly 35 years

After more than three decades, investigators announced they have identified skeletal remains found in the chimney of a Madison business.

www.wmtv15news.com

Madison Police Department plans to provide a major update into the case of unidentified skeletal remains found in the chimney of a local business in 1989.

 

[John/Jane Doe]

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[djanga]

“People are going to speculate about the so-called dress, and we feel that it was mislabelled as such since we have found no further evidence to suggest Ronnie ever identified as anything other than male,” added Co-Team Leader Megan Pasika.

Dane Co Chimney Doe 1989 | DNA Doe Project

dnadoeproject.org

 

[djanga]

According to the Madison Police Department chief Shon Barnes, Kirk was married twice and had kids, but they don’t know how he identified

 

[djanga]

there are more recent photos of Ronny on Wisconsin Stare Journal and Wiscnews, but unfortunarely there is a paywall

 

[spinnertette18]

i went to college at Madison. I wasn't living there when this occurred and I hadn't heard about it as I had been gone for a few years. Just a thought on the dress. Madison has a huge Halloween Party every year. While the main area for the party is State St, maybe he was dressed up as a girl, drunk with friends and somehow ended up doing stupid stuff and was on the roof of this place - and fell in?

 

[Susikatze]

“People are going to speculate about the so-called dress, and we feel that it was mislabelled as such since we have found no further evidence to suggest Ronnie ever identified as anything other than male,” added Co-Team Leader Megan Pasika.

Dane Co Chimney Doe 1989 | DNA Doe Project

dnadoeproject.org

Pity there is no picture of the "dress". Could have been a long coat or long shirt. Or it indeed was a dress and he did not wear it but it was a stray find that happened to have been put in the chimney before or after him. Or it indeed was a dress and he was transient and wore whatever he found or what he had access to. Or he liked dressing genderfluid at some point - it does not necessarily mean he identified as female or NB.

I hope LE finds out more. Happy he got his name back.

 

[breachtones]

The interesting thing to me is that Ronnie was 44-46 at the time of his death. I wonder how the vitals were so off, and it kind of dispels any sort of frat hazing type theory.

Regardless, very glad to see he was identified at last!

 

[John/Jane Doe]

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[breachtones]

I did some precursory searches on newspapers.com, and found something kind of wild:

A 15 year old Kirk, amongst other youths, were arrested for stealing a car in Tulsa, OK in Sep 1958. They had previous convictions for auto theft.
Apr 1963 - Kirk, now in Porterville, CA, claimed he was beaten and robbed by two friends, later proven to be a hoax.
Jan 1970 - I don't exactly know what this is about cause I'm only looking at the OCR's as I haven't paid for a subscription, but it's about Ronnie Joe Kirk, a court date, in Madison, WI.

Then there's no other mention of him in papers I can find. Maybe others with a full subscription can see more.

 

[carbuff]

I did some precursory searches on newspapers.com, and found something kind of wild:

A 15 year old Kirk, amongst other youths, were arrested for stealing a car in Tulsa, OK in Sep 1958. They had previous convictions for auto theft.
Apr 1963 - Kirk, now in Porterville, CA, claimed he was beaten and robbed by two friends, later proven to be a hoax.
Jan 1970 - I don't exactly know what this is about cause I'm only looking at the OCR's as I haven't paid for a subscription, but it's about Ronnie Joe Kirk, a court date, in Madison, WI.

Then there's no other mention of him in papers I can find. Maybe others with a full subscription can see more.

The bits of the 1970 article that I can see are weird. Somebody died intestate; could be looking for Kirk as a possible heir? If nobody else has a full subscription, I'll reactivate mine tomorrow and see what I can find.

 

[MadMcGoo]

After 35 years of uncertainty, investigators ID skeleton found in Madison chimney

The skeletal remains found on Sept. 3, 1989 in the chimney of a Madison business belong to Ronnie Joe Kirk.

www.wpr.org

(RBBM) “Police disclosed Monday that Kirk was married and divorced twice, and he fathered children. But they declined to share further details, adding that his family has asked for privacy.”

This photo, provided by his family, shows Ronnie Joe Kirk in the early 1960s. Photo courtesy of the Madison Police Department

1957 OK: Article clipped from Tulsa World

1970 WI: Article clipped from Wisconsin State Journal

 

[carbuff]

Thanks!

Apparently the OCR version read straight across the columns and smooshed a bunch of notices together. No wonder it was weird.

But I still don't know what it means.

 

[summergirl1]

It sounds like to me he may have died some years before he was found, so the estimate on his age was not so off; instead what was off was the estimate of how long he had been there. The mention of him in the Madison newspaper article is from 1970.

 

[Teignmouth 22]

Good to see him identified, it's one of those you never forget.

R.I.P.

 

[Teignmouth 22]

It sounds like to me he may have died some years before he was found, so the estimate on his age was not so off; instead what was off was the estimate of how long he had been there. The mention of him in the Madison newspaper article is from 1970.

Yep, I agree with this. Perhaps now they know who he is, they can work out some idea of when he was last seen.

 

[fsngruv]

After 35 years of uncertainty, investigators ID skeleton found in Madison chimney

The skeletal remains found on Sept. 3, 1989 in the chimney of a Madison business belong to Ronnie Joe Kirk.

www.wpr.org

(RBBM) “Police disclosed Monday that Kirk was married and divorced twice, and he fathered children. But they declined to share further details, adding that his family has asked for privacy.”
View attachment 503441
This photo, provided by his family, shows Ronnie Joe Kirk in the early 1960s. Photo courtesy of the Madison Police Department

1957 OK: Article clipped from Tulsa World

1970 WI: Article clipped from Wisconsin State Journal

It appears the 1970 article might be a procedural thing when dealing with civil matters like child support or divorce. I'm thinking it might be a divorce. We still have a similar practice when we can't locate a party for service, we take out a couple adds in local newspapers for a few weeks (I'm sure it varies by state) if there has been no reply, usually, depending on the matter, but definitely in divorces, the judge grants the order/divorce even if the other party hasn't been serviced. Makes me think he was missing well before 1970?

 

[summergirl1]

That's a good point. It looked like it was probably to do with child support.

 

[MadisonS]

I did some precursory searches on newspapers.com, and found something kind of wild:

A 15 year old Kirk, amongst other youths, were arrested for stealing a car in Tulsa, OK in Sep 1958. They had previous convictions for auto theft.
Apr 1963 - Kirk, now in Porterville, CA, claimed he was beaten and robbed by two friends, later proven to be a hoax.
Jan 1970 - I don't exactly know what this is about cause I'm only looking at the OCR's as I haven't paid for a subscription, but it's about Ronnie Joe Kirk, a court date, in Madison, WI.

Then there's no other mention of him in papers I can find. Maybe others with a full subscription can see more.

Excellent work. I'm using UW's newspaper database right now and found the same 1970 summons. (The attorney representing Jacqueline Kirk, Dale R. Thompson, died in 2014). If they were placing summons in newspapers in 1970, it's possible that he went missing around that time.

I think he died much earlier than 1989.

 

[iamshadow21]

Excellent work. I'm using UW's newspaper database right now and found the same 1970 summons. (The attorney representing Jacqueline Kirk, Dale R. Thompson, died in 2014). If they were placing summons in newspapers in 1970, it's possible that he went missing around that time.

I think he died much earlier than 1989.

Makes me wonder what business was in the building then, and if he had any connection to it.