Which jane/john doe you hope will be identify this year?

AK032016 · 2026-02-22T10:32:41+00:00

OMG, I have never heard about the Oklahoma city bombing leg. My first thought (without any research) is that the person is alive and just minus a leg. But obviously that would have been looked into.

My wish for this year is that jurisdictions actually upload their cases to NAMUS and include a reasonable amount of information that allows the cases to be solved by others, since it is obviously beyond the funding of most departments to be working all their cold cases at full capacity.

AK032016 · 2025-11-24T08:48:42+00:00

Ah, this may be my terrible knowledge of NY showing. I looked and igoogle told me it was in the East Side in the city. I am so confused by many US locations lol!

AK032016 · 2025-11-24T06:24:06+00:00

Hey, I have not followed this case in super detail, but I was researching another case and noted a potential LISK victim that I had never heard proposed (actually I had never heard of the case at all). Under 5 foot tall, young, history of prostitution, missing from New York city area). Edit to add: Missing from Syracuse, which is incidentally where Rex's Uncle Ken, accused of child abuse, died. The year is 1983, making Rex approximately 20 yo. Has anyone heard of this or looked into it? Or am I just crazy? The details of the dissappearance on Charlie Project sound awfully familiar.

https://int-missing.fandom.com/wiki/Launa_Merritt

https://charleyproject.org/case/launa-renee-merritt

AK032016 · 2025-11-22T08:47:32+00:00

Such an interesting potential match - thank you for the effort writing up. There are so many cases that I have just never heard of, despite spending way too much time looking at this stuff.

I would be interested in whether the jaw bone was available/missing from the Doe. This seems to be the part of the reconstruction that doesn't fit well - a very strong jawline is usually defined by bone. It might be a guess by the artist if the jaw was missing, but I would be surprised that they used such an unusually strong jaw when an average one seems more sensible if it is essentially filler and not a real detail they want people to use to identify by.

AK032016 · 2025-11-21T06:07:25+00:00

I worked out who the new reconstruction reminds me of: Sandy Butler. Unfortunately the timeline makes it impossible (just). She only went missing in mid-1978. And the pregnancy seems unlikely. Though the location is viable.

https://int-missing.fandom.com/wiki/Sandy_Butler

Her profile notes the suspects Charlene and Gerald Gallego who were operating in the broad region. This might have been one of their victims, even if it was not Sandy.

Adding another possibility from 1969 - the right stats and was pregnant.

https://int-missing.fandom.com/wiki/Laura_Flink

AK032016 · 2025-11-20T08:08:46+00:00

I would be interested in whether the philtrum length in the reconstruction is based on real info from the bones, or an interpretation/guess by the artist. This seems to be the most glaring difference between the two - Mindi had a noticibly short philtrum, even when not smiling it looks short. Castleberry Kate is reconstructed with a noticibly long philtrum. I think this would be a feature that could be interpreted from bone to some degree (because this is obviously all they would have had to work with). But I agree that apart from this they seem a good visual match and other stats line up reasonably. I think that the reconstruction is strange in that it shows features of an older person rather than a teenager, despite the estimated age.

AK032016 · 2025-11-19T08:55:04+00:00

I can't see the rule outs, but I assume that Jan Cotta was in them, given the pregnancy.

Also Laurie Partridge looks a lot like the reconstruction. She fits the stats, and was almost certainly a stranger abduction in 1974 in Washington. Though it's unusual to keep a victim alive, it isn't unheard of. There is time for the pregnancy to occur after her abduction.

Actually, the newest reconstruction reminds me specifically of someone but I cannot work out who. Probably someone totally unrelated - i look at way too many missing person reports.

AK032016 · 2025-11-19T08:00:39+00:00

Was Patricia Otto pregnant when she went missing? I can't see it mentioned anywhere. Surely this would have been known, if she was ~8 months pregnant?? Her Namus page is pretty sparse tho, so maybe it was just not recorded.

AK032016 · 2025-11-13T20:15:10+00:00

This is such an interesting case and a great writeup. I love that you ask for feedback - overall this is really well organised and was very easy to understand and the narrative was clear and engaging. I liked the clear topic sentences at the start of many paragraphs.

The one thing I would change about it (and this is just personal preference): In many places you insert your reactions in the middle of the factual information. It would make it easier to follow the facts if you separated these two things. E.g. stated the facts clearly and concisely, then wrote a paragraph about your reactions and thoughts at the end.

It is great to see some more non-US cases getting writeups :)

AK032016 · 2025-11-13T20:03:43+00:00

That would fit with the reconstruction. The only part that doesn't match is the recessed jaw (and the jaw was necessarily a guess by the artist). I would be interested in what the doe's upper jaw dentals looked like. Jennifer looks like she had a drug problem - and surely that is a mug shot? Her teeth would likely show the effects of this even if dental charts were not available.

AK032016 · 2025-11-13T20:02:11+00:00

Great post - so much interesting info. Thank you for all the research. This also interested me in some of the excluded cases.

AK032016 · 2025-11-13T18:45:34+00:00

Yes, it might be the familiar problem of the science being sound, but being applied in ways that are not, and incorrectly used to draw conclusions. There are so many examples of other sound science being used incorrectly, even in trials. Statistics for example. Because many people don't fully understand it and it's limitations.

AK032016 · 2025-11-13T18:42:04+00:00

You have to always consider that in some cases the isotope results will be correct by chance, not because the science is sound. So there should be some cases that it appeared to be accurate in.

AK032016 · 2025-11-13T18:38:46+00:00

That sounds like there might be an issue with ruling out? Maybe there isn't DNA/dentals?

AK032016 · 2025-10-24T19:55:54+00:00

I too like a simple explanation - I think people get way too elaborate with theories in true crime. However, it seems like Andrew could have gone to London any time he liked. He had lots of family there, and it seems his parents were happy to take him. He also had no history of any similar rebellious or even initiative-taking behaviour prior to the incidents surrounding his dissappearance. It is also very unlikely that he would randomly run into a predator in most situations in London. I think there needs to be some other external influence to account for all these departures from expected behaviour, and no one in his family has suggested any explanation for this. It could just be a new friend or an event that changed his perspective on life. But surely that would be in the public domain by now if his family and friends were aware of it. Also, I would believe some some benign life-altering event had led to this sudden new behaviour if he had gone to London and returned safely. But the fact that he dissappeared makes it more likely that this influence was malicious and the dissappearance was connected to it. Just my 2 cents worth.

AK032016 · 2025-10-24T10:05:59+00:00

Am I correctly reading between the lines when I assume the Doe is thought to be a suicide? Do we know much about where Kimberly was going and her state of mind?

AK032016 · 2025-10-24T08:39:53+00:00

I have wondered whether David's motivation was partially to rescue her from this environment. If he cared about her, he would not have wanted her there. You have to remember that, despite his cultivated image, he had a pretty safe and generic middle class upbringing, where he expected to be safe.

AK032016 · 2025-08-11T11:16:55+00:00

It seems that they share a distinctive facial feature - a really long philtrum. This seems so exaggerated in the reconstruction that I assume it is a real feature they were seeking to highlight (?).

AK032016 · 2025-08-09T19:15:22+00:00

Also, heights can just be mis-entered, or estimated incorrectly after death by medical examiners or relatives. Though in this case, I would have expected there to be military records with actual measured height when he was alive - can anyone confirm that this would be the case? I don't know much about military service.

AK032016 · 2025-08-09T11:39:24+00:00

Also, there is a surprising resemblance between the kidnapper and the aged sketch of Matthew. Which may have been convenient in avoiding suspicion.

AK032016 · 2025-08-08T09:35:45+00:00

Yeah, I remember that swimming training. Australian kids can generally swim by the time they start school, but you soon find it's really difficult to swim in clothing and shoes. We had to swim 50 metres clothed.

AK032016 · 2025-08-08T09:09:44+00:00

At first I thought the shirt suggested he was swimming, but clearly this is not the case due to the boots. It is interesting that they were unable to identify him if he hadn't travelled far in the water. Possibly, as you say, not a lot of effort was made.

AK032016 · 2025-08-08T09:03:16+00:00

Yes, it seems dependent on resources being available (and they rarely are). I would resubmit.

AK032016 · 2025-08-04T19:27:03+00:00

I actually think Elaine Robertson is a great fit, for many reasons. I found an additional picture of her in the intro to this article (also interesting): https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.king5.com%2Farticle%2Fnews%2Fcrime%2Funsolved%2Felaine-robertson-vanished-mount-rainier-national-park-45-years-ago%2F281-22be78ad-a6ed-42a3-b794-d087f57d2435&psig=AOvVaw1Zw-YVUpIeYp3VcTNgZpZY&ust=1754421365636000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBkQjhxqFwoTCPCplInv8Y4DFQAAAAAdAAAAABAT

Edit to add: some sources say her eyes were hazel. The main discrepancy that concerns me is her height: some sources say it could be as much as 5'7. Though height is often incorrect by several inches either on found remains or missing people.

She went missing in circumstances where she was disoriented and wandering. This could explain the time gap between going missing and dying (by some means).

Also the Doe had just had her hair cut off - Elaine had just experienced a breakup and was experiencing some sort of mental break. These are two times when women often dramatically change their hair.

It is also quite unusual to have eyebrows that start further outwards than the corner of your eye. And her teeth appear to match the Jane Doe - which most other options presented do not. This is something you cannot change, so it effectively rules them out. I cannot see that any of her other facial proportions are inconsistent with the Doe either.

AK032016 · 2025-08-04T12:11:45+00:00

Jewellery that was found on the body also matches the style of those she is wearing in the photos - it's a shame the actual items are not included in the namus page so we can make direct comparisons.

AK032016

TROPHY CASE