WI WI - Milwaukee - Viaduct Man Found Under Steel Plates in Storage Yard - UP7709 - December 1998

[imstilla.grandma]

Body found 12/04/1998 - Asian Male - 28-87 years old
NO PROFILE PICTURE AVAILABLE
NamUs Case Number: 7709
ME Case Number: 1998-2676
Race: Asian
Gender: Male
Height: 4 feet, 11 inches
Weight: Unknown
Age Range: 28 – 87 years
This unidentified ale skeleton was found on December 4, 1998, by a pest control inspector at the Thielan Tanning Company located under the 27th Street Viaduct in Milwaukee. The skeleton was found outside and was sheltered by steel plates that were leaning against a wall. The man had been wearing a pair of scrub pants from the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex.
If you have any information or leads pertaining to this unidentified person, contact the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office at (414) 223-1200 and speak to an investigator.

View the full case on the NamUs website.

ohttps://county.milwaukee.gov/EN/Medical-Examiner/Unidentified-People

 

[imstilla.grandma]

1771UMWI

 

[Romulus]

1771UMWI- Unidentified Male​

A newspaper article about the case is available here.

Date of Discovery: December 4, 1998
Location of Discovery: Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin
Estimated Date of Death: 1982-1993
State of Remains: Skeletal Remains
Cause of Death: Unknown

Physical Description​

Estimated Age: 28-87 years old (most likely 50-60)
Race: Asian, ethnicity believed to be Vietnamese.
Sex: Male
Height: 4'8" to 5'4"
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown

Identifiers​

Dentals: Edentulous. It is believed that the individual wore dentures. No dentures were recovered at the scene.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: mtDNA and nucDNA available at UNT. Ref #UNTHSC-10-3419.1

Clothing & Personal Items​

Clothing: Remnants of a dress shirt, scrub pants (size 32 x 32) with label "MHC-A & MHC no acute" (MHC means Milwaukee County Mental Health), boxer shorts (size 32) on inside out, and dark plain loafer-type shoes. Other cloth remnants were recovered.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Discovery​

The decedent's partially articulated skeleton was found by a pest control inspector at the Thielan Tanning Company under the 27th Street Viaduct. The skeleton was found outside and had been sheltered by steel plates that were leaning against a wall. The man was wearing a pair of scrub pants from the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex. The pants were too large for him and investigators do not discount that they may have belonged to someone else. It was learned that the Milwaukee County Mental Health facility destroys records after one year if a person simply walks away. A copy of the anthropological exam is available. Many hand and foot bones missing, sternum absent.

Investigating Agency(s)​

Agency Name: Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office
Agency Contact Person: Genevieve Penn
Agency Phone Number: 414-223-1200
Agency E-Mail: [email protected]
Agency Case Number: 1998-2676

NCIC Case Number: N/A
NamUs Case Number: UP#7709
Former Hot Case Number: 2145

Information Source(s)​

NamUs
Milwaukee County Medical Examiner
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel News Archive

1771UMWI

Admin Notes​

Added: Prior to 2012; Last Updated: 8/13/2022

 

[heartanium]

The best match I could find in terms of height, age, and time wise is Low Nam (MP8567).

D.L.C: February 7, 1997
Missing From: San Diego, California
Age: 44 Years
Height: 5'1"
Weight: 120lbs
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Black
Clothing: green sweatshirt, grey sweat pants, tennis shoes.

Circumstances: Subject disappeared from a board and care facility in downtown San Diego, run by UPAC (union of Pan Asian Communities). He is schizophrenic, mentally impaired, and unable to care for himself. His brother Nam Hoa, who lived in Long Beach, CA, did not respond to requests to call the SDPD and never called the board and care looking for Nam Low. Attempting to get any further info from UPAC

Issues with this match is the distance (I have no idea how he would have gotten to WI), his ethnicity (I assume by his family name that he is Chinese), and there's also no mention of him missing teeth or using dentures.

Another possible match is Michael Shan Chien (#MP35797), who went missing from Upland, CA on December 18, 1996.

D.L.C: December 18, 1996
Missing From: Upland, California
Age: 23 Years
Height: 5'0" (Namus), 5'11 (Charley Project)
Weight: 140lbs
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Clothing: Black corduroy shirt,Dark beige pants
Accessories: Contact lenses, Small black bag with long handle
Circumstances: Chien was last seen at his mother's residence. He was supposed to meet his family members to go Christmas shopping. Chien never met with his family. The Sheriff's Department conducted a search for Chien and was not able to locate him,. His vehicle was found in Ventura, California a week later and was processed, with nothing to indicate foul play. In February of 1997 a Bakersfield officer contacted a male that matched Chien's description. The male wanted a ride to a halfway house for his drug problem. A search was conducted for Chien and he was not located. There were possible sightings of Chien in San Gabriel at a carwash. Chien had ties to Upland and San Francisco California as well as Wisconsin.

I am hesitant to call this a possible match though because his height on the Charley Project is listed as 5'11, while Namus lists him at 5'0. He's also is quite young compared to this IUD, and I see no mention of dentures.

 

[Teamir]

Is anyone able to see if there are any exclusions on Namus?

 

[Teamir]

That's a picture of the 27th St Viaduct.

https://images.wisconsinhistory.org/700007050004/0705000057-l.jpg

 

[Teamir]

They misspelled the name of the tanning company. Here's a photo, found at this link.

 

[Teamir]

I mapped this, and due to how this location is so close to the rail system, and not really near residential, I’d say he was riding the rails.

 

[ralyla]

Is anyone able to see if there are any exclusions on Namus?

There is one exclusion, NamUs #MP37975

Norbert Michael Stapleton

 

[Teamir]

I found a press release regarding the closure of the "Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex and Psychiatric Crisis Services (PCS), located for more than 40 years at 9455 W. Watertown Plank Road in Wauwatosa". Does anyone concur that this is the likely address for the hospital garb he was wearing? There is part of the that railway system that goes from Wauwatosa to the tanning company. But that would mean that he was headed further INTO Milwaukee (not trying to leave?). Rail route in yellow.

 

[Keiri]

I mapped this, and due to how this location is so close to the rail system, and not really near residential, I’d say he was riding the rails.

In a Milwaukee mental institution set of scrubs though? Seems more like someone lost a patient.

 

[Teamir]

In a Milwaukee mental institution set of scrubs though? Seems more like someone lost a patient.

Yes, both. Per the railroad tracks, if he walked out of the institution in Wauwatosa and headed almost straight east, he wouldve reached the railroad tracks. Then if he was purposefully trying to get to inner Milwaukee, he hopped the train and headed that way. For some reason he got off by Thiele Tanning, and then possibly froze (if it was winter). Possibility only - MOO.

 

[Keiri]

Huh, decent theory, it is insane they only keep records for one year though.

 

[MadMcGoo]

According to the newspaper article attached to his NamUs profile, the metal plates sheltering him were placed in the storage yard in 1982, and then a chain-link fence put around the yard in 1987. That could possibly narrow down the time of death. It also says the man was at least 50 years old and possibly in his 60s, with no signs of injuries to his bones (no foul play). He probably wore dentures, although none were found at the scene.

He was wearing several shirts and size 9 loafers. It’s curious that they determined the pants (32” X 32”) were too large for him, but his boxers were also a size 32.

If the scrubs did belong to him, and he was a patient at the facility, I’m assuming the “acute” portion of the tag indicates he may not have been there long. Maybe a sudden mental health crisis. It’s possible he received care and was discharged with no place to go and only the clothes he was issued there. (JMT&O)

It’s a sad situation no matter the circumstances.

 

[Teamir]

They speculated that he was southeast Asian, which could be Vietnamese or Hmong.

“Between 1975 and 1994, the entire state of Wisconsin accepted 4,222 Vietnamese refugees. A large portion of the refugees settled in Milwaukee.”

Vietnamese - Encyclopedia of Milwaukee

Vietnamese refugees arrived in Milwaukee in several “waves” during and after the Vietnam War. In the years following, the Vietnamese who arrived in

emke.uwm.edu

“Based on the 1980 Census, out of the total U.S. Hmong population (5,204), 550 lived in the Milwaukee area. Chart 2 reveals that the population increased significantly to 3,404 in 1990” https://uwm.edu/hmong-diaspora-stud...0/Hmong-Milwaukee-CEP-Report_Final-Report.pdf

So there may have been a significant language barrier. If he was discharged but didn’t have a phone number memorized or perhaps relatives didn’t have a phone, so he opted to just try to get back to his neighborhood himself? Perhaps not realizing issues with train schedules and temperatures, compounded by mental health issues? And maybe his community didn’t report him missing because they didn’t know he’d been discharged? This would be a good case for genetic genealogy-an interesting case.

 

[Keiri]

I’m curious to know if there’s a part of Milwaukee county or environs that was heavily Hmong or Vietnamese, might make the search easier

 

[Teamir]

According to the newspaper article attached to his NamUs profile, the metal plates sheltering him were placed in the storage yard in 1982, and then a chain-link fence put around the yard in 1987. That could possibly narrow down the time of death. It also says the man was at least 50 years old and possibly in his 60s, with no signs of injuries to his bones (no foul play). He probably wore dentures, although none were found at the scene.

He was wearing several shirts and size 9 loafers. It’s curious that they determined the pants (32” X 32”) were too large for him, but his boxers were also a size 32.

If the scrubs did belong to him, and he was a patient at the facility, I’m assuming the “acute” portion of the tag indicates he may not have been there long. Maybe a sudden mental health crisis. It’s possible he received care and was discharged with no place to go and only the clothes he was issued there. (JMT&O)

It’s a sad situation no matter the circumstances.

You know, in thinking about this more, I bet those WERE his hospital pants because there’s no way an institution in the 80s stocked a smaller custom size. Even today, a size smaller than 32x32 is hard to find in the store. That’s why the underwear and pants were both 32. They put him in the smallest size they had. That’s assuming it was an adults-only institution at that time, that didn’t have children’s sizes.

 

[Teamir]

I’m curious to know if there’s a part of Milwaukee county or environs that was heavily Hmong or Vietnamese, might make the search easier

I can’t find an official source so this might get nixed, but someone local commented in 2012 that their Thai/Vietnamese friends were near 35th & National. And Hmong friends near 91st & Good Hope and 84th & Mill Rd.

St. Michael's around 24th and Cherry was known for its outreach to the Hmong in the 80's and 90's. This part I can link a supporting source with a quote “In the 1980s, we welcomed Southeast Asian immigrants (both Lao and Hmong)”.

 

[Keiri]

Since the ME was heading this investigation up and not mkepd, my contact wanted to know more. I sent her all the usual sources but also your theory, tea. I credited you, not me, but i don’t know your real name lol. Also I agree about the pants. I’m going to think on this one but I’m still digging on 1930 Rothschild so my head is spinning.

 

[Teamir]

Since the ME was heading this investigation up and not mkepd, my contact wanted to know more. I sent her all the usual sources but also your theory, tea. I credited you, not me, but i don’t know your real name lol. Also I agree about the pants. I’m going to think on this one but I’m still digging on 1930 Rothschild so my head is spinning.

I’m just happy when LE gets re-interested in cases.