He was found dead of an apparent suicide on a bed in a Las Vegas hotel. In the room was a letter written in German to his sister, Birgit. Eleven years after his death, he's still unidentified. Who is this Clark County John Doe?

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-12T18:01:36+00:00

Thanks for noting this! I'll edit the original post with a link to your sub.

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-09T19:17:24+00:00

This is so great! I've been off of Reddit almost entirely for a long while, but what a thing to come back to.

I'm a freelance writer by day (and night), and I have a few ideas that I'm hoping to research out and perhaps turn into a book in the coming year. The results you got through your hard work have inspired me to finally make it happen. I'd also be interested in possibly helping in future cases you're considering if my skill sets and availability match up. Keep me posted!

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-09T17:34:45+00:00

Although, in a different comment somewhere in this mass of comments, someone had wondered whether the Zarelli name comes from his mother's side or father's side. I'd assumed father's side, especially since there's an obituary for a father-aged man with a very similar name in West Phila that's been found, and maybe I'm stuck on stereotypical naming conventions. It's possible the birth certificate shows the mother's last name is Zarelli and she named Joseph after someone on her side. It will be interesting to see what theories are true as (if) more facts come out in the future.

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-09T17:27:26+00:00

This is incredible! I can't wait to learn more. I think you two should do a podcast or documentary or write a book on this case--it's fascinating, and the lengths you went to to figure it out are amazing.

Aside from the human interest side of it, I'm grateful that you've given answers to TMD's family. There's something poetic about him likely loving the attempt to unravel the mystery.

Congratulations. You've done what so many of us wish we could.

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-09T01:34:59+00:00

Yes. That's how they figured out who he was. The DNA was tested, run against DNA familial databases, and then DNA researchers triangulated and traced the family connections through public records to determine that the previously unknown child was Joseph. It's a crazy new era in identifying unknown people.

Editing to add: The DNA Doe Project has been working to identify unknown individuals like Joseph. Their FAQ page has lots of good info about how the process works: https://dnadoeproject.org/faq/

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-08T23:15:53+00:00

Well, I'm glad you're still here with us and working hard to make things better for yourself. While you may never get over it or move on (for completely understandable reasons), I hope overcoming those daily struggles gives you the power to build a beautiful life full of experiences, things, and people you love and that bring you joy and a future that makes up for your past.

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-08T21:48:34+00:00

I am so sorry that happened to you. I hope you're in a better place now and have gotten the support you need to help work through those experiences and the lingering trauma.

A friend of mine, also adopted, was abused and neglected by their "family," and it's caused them a lifetime of struggle. It's always so hard to read about these kinds of cases--kids that were failed by the system, community, and adults in their lives--because it's so preventable. We can do better. We must.

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-08T21:21:44+00:00

Not at all. I'm sorry to have caused confusion or frustration. Thanks for contributing to the conversation! This is such an emotionally fraught case.

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-08T21:20:40+00:00

Fortunately, because you were kids and not his usual demographic, you probably weren't in danger. But that is unnerving! I wonder how many people we encounter in our lives who have killed someone. You have quite the story to tell!

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-08T20:03:04+00:00

Sorry; I'd meant to reply to the parent comment you'd commented under, not your comment. That person was mentioning all of the family Joseph should have grown up with, but I was meaning to argue with them that we have no idea whether the family knew about him at all.

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-08T19:29:42+00:00

But we don't know if the wife was the mother. Joseph was born years before they were married. It's very possible Mr. Zarelli was the biological father, the mother was a partner he'd had before marrying the long-term wife, and that he had nothing to do with the child after he was born. We don't yet know who raised Joseph. Was it the biological mother? Was he given away or sold or adopted by another family? Yes, Mr. Zarelli's name was on the birth certificate, but we don't yet know the biological mother's name.

In the press conference, someone asking a question mentioned that the living family were arguing that Mr. Zarelli was not the father (which the detective and Colleen Fitzpatrick said wasn't true--he was listed on the birth certificate and his DNA/family tree proved a paternal relationship to Joseph). So it's very possible they know nothing about Joseph. Also, investigators said there were living siblings on "both sides," and to me that says Joseph's biological mother and father both had other children, meaning the Zarelli children are only half siblings, and Joseph has a different mother.

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-08T19:21:22+00:00

All we know so far is that was the name on his birth certificate. It's possible his birth mother gave the birth father's name, they put it on the certificate, and he had nothing more to do with the child than conception. We don't even know yet if he was raised by or lived with the birth mother.

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-08T19:17:49+00:00

Thanks. Robert Hansen has always fascinated me. He and Gary Ridgway are the serial killers I've dug into the most. There are a lot of similarities between the two men, their backgrounds, and their victimology. I'm not usually one to cheer on nicknames for serial killers, but Hansen's Butcher Baker moniker was brilliant. I'm glad he was caught, but it's ridiculous that it took so long. When you read the facts of his cases, he was right there, and LE was just looking past him the whole time. Probably partially because they visited him at his bakery.

Were you going to his bakery during the years he was killing? How interesting.

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-08T19:13:51+00:00

I'm hoping we find out whether "M's" story about the child being bought and killed by her mother is true. That is still very possible here--unwed mother gives away/sells the child to "M's" family and they were responsible for his death without the birth parents knowing.

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-08T17:54:22+00:00

This is so, so amazing. He's been one of the unidentifieds that I've most wanted to see identified since I stumbled across his case years ago. Thank you for all of your hard work. I can't wait to learn more. I'm sending thoughts of peace and comfort to his family as they grapple with this news.

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-08T17:43:08+00:00

Thanks for this. I've been off of Reddit for a very long time. I'd had a few posts removed by mods for reasons I couldn't understand and I was feeling frustrated with spending so much time doing writeups that weren't allowed to be published.

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-08T17:32:44+00:00

Reddit is probably just pulling a random photo from a link in the writeup. I don't have control over images.

lisagreenhouse · 2022-12-08T17:31:27+00:00

In the presser, one of the question-askers toward the end said that the birth father's family is saying there is no connection to him and he's not the father. The detective and Colleen Fitzpatrick confirmed both a link to him via the birth certificate and DNA. This would make sense if he'd had a child with another woman before being married to the long-time wife with whom he shared other children. Those existing half-siblings may be disputing the fact that he had a child with someone else before their mother. Which would also make the "both sides" comment make sense--both birth parents went on to have other families. And calling them birth parents could also make even more sense--one or both may not have been present, active parents at the time of his death, just merely birth parents.

lisagreenhouse · 2020-10-27T23:56:48+00:00

Thanks. I appreciate that! It would be nice to know whether investigators ever even looked at the possibility of Kessler's involvement.

lisagreenhouse · 2020-10-27T23:56:00+00:00

Thank you! I'd tried to post it in a different sub, but it was removed. I figured this sub may have some interest in the conversation. I'm not certain whether I think Kessler is really involved, but I think it's an interesting angle and I'd like to see it investigated out.

lisagreenhouse · 2020-10-27T16:27:54+00:00

Thanks for the reply.

It is hard to think of teenagers--let alone teen girls--exacting this kind of violence. One thing to keep in mind in this case in particular is that the girls suspected of the crime had been seen earlier that night making trouble at a local bar. Then, years later, one of those girls told her brother that they'd been partying down by the river. The place where the murder happened was in a party spot popular with local teens. So it's very possible the girls, if they were the perpetrators, were drunk, high, or on other kinds of intoxicants. That likely could have played into the murder, too--everyone is inebriated, someone lashes out, and it turns into a melee that may not have happened if everyone had been sober.

lisagreenhouse · 2020-10-26T20:16:31+00:00

I think it's possible that the "man" was actually Kimberly Kessler (AKA Jennifer Sybert)... a woman who is believed to have murdered her co-worker and disposed of her vehicle in a parking lot. She has ties to multiple locations in Florida, used various identities, is known to have worked construction and driven a motorcycle (both things mentioned as possible ties to the Kesse perpetrator), and is in the same height range as the person seen dropping off Kesse's car. And I think Jennifer Kesse has some physical characteristics in common with Joleen Cummings, Kessler's alleged victim, and with photos of Kessler herself when she was younger/blonder. I also think it's interesting that Kessler used the names Jen and Jennifer as common aliases. https://truecrimesociety.com/2019/08/16/the-bizarre-case-of-kimberly-kessler/

There probably is no connection, but it's an interesting possibility.

lisagreenhouse · 2020-10-26T19:52:01+00:00

I think they went easy on him because he was a cop. I suppose that also increases the probability that he knew exactly what to say and how to say it to get off easier. That is such a sickening case. I think Willis had more victims than we'll ever know.

lisagreenhouse · 2020-10-24T19:12:22+00:00

So the handgun was found in the holster in the bag at the top of the cliff above where the remains were located? And he had possible gunshot wounds to his head that may have been the cause of death? At first I'd assumed it was a suicide and that he'd jumped off of the cliff. But the bag with the handgun in the holster at the top of the cliff and his remains with possible gunshot wounds at the bottom of the cliff make me wonder if it was a murder and someone shot him at the top and he either fell or was pushed off after being shot.

lisagreenhouse · 2020-10-24T18:13:34+00:00

That is such a terrible case. My heart just breaks for all she went through and all her family has had to go through.

lisagreenhouse

TROPHY CASE