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Where are they? Who are they? . 100k active missing persons cases 609k total missing persons cases 40k unidentified bodies 11k unclaimed bodies . Sources: NamUs FBI . . #missging #themissing #missingpersons #disappeared #vanished #unidentified #unclaimed #truecrime #truecrimeaddict #truecrimejunkies #rememberthevictim #latenightsleuth
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Column: Tyesha Bell is finally found, but not the way loved ones had prayed for
(Image from Tyisha's Twitter page.)
--------------------------------------------
“Until I get a knock at my door and police tell me they have found my daughter’s remains, I will continue to think of her as alive.”
I ended a column written eight years ago with that quote from Lorna Smith, whose 22-year-old daughter Tyesha Bell went missing in May of 2003.
I begin today’s with that same haunting statement because the hopes of that grieving mom were dashed forever this week when police identified the remains of Tyesha, a young mom of two small children who mysteriously walked out of her Aurora apartment one day, leaving behind her money, her purse and the two small children she adored.
Tyesha Bell’s disappearance did not get the high profile treatment as another missing Aurora person, Timmothy Pitzen, who was last seen in May of 2011. We covered her case locally over the years. But on a grander scale it did not get near the exhaustive coverage as other white young women who suddenly vanished, including Plainfield mom Lisa Stebic, or Laci Peterson or Natalee Holloway.
The only real national news Tyesha’s story got was when ABC featured it on a show about how the cases of non-white people who are missing get slighted by the media.
But over the years, Lorna Smith made it a point of contacting our newsroom on every anniversary of her daughter’s disappearance because she knew it was up to her to keep Tyesha’s name in the public eye.
And in all those interviews, Smith never lost hope.
That was especially true on the 10th anniversary of Tyesha’s disappearance in May of 2013 when national headlines that same month declared three women in Cleveland had been found alive after being held for nearly a decade in the home of a monster who eventually killed himself in prison.
A year later, Smith talked to me again about how she hangs on to optimism after receiving a series of strange hang-up calls, from Ohio of all places.
She was so hopeful those calls – at times the other person would stay on the line until she said her daughter’s name – that she even attached Tyesha’s name to the number.
Likely it was a prank, the cruelest kind of “joke” as it raised false hopes for this family that not only included Smith but Tyesha’s two daughters she was raising.
They were just 2 and 5 when their mom went missing, which means both are young women now. But throughout their childhoods they made scrapbooks and wrote beautiful poems about their mother who they knew would never have left them of her own free will.
Police always suspected foul play because of the way Tyesha vanished. Her sister, also her roommate in their apartment in the 800 block of North Randall Road, had heard her talking on the phone early the morning of May 10 and later heard her leave the apartment, never to be heard from again.
An exhaustive police investigation, including airplane and dog searches, as well as drilling holes in the floor of the home of a person of interest, had not produced any clues. Nor did a $10,000 reward Smith raised.
She’d long suspected a man who had last talked to Tyesha on the day she disappeared. But over the years, Smith told me in 2014, she let that anger and suspicions go as she relied heavily on her Christian faith to come to a place of peace.
Peace with hope.
Until now.
When I heard on Tuesday morning that there would be a press conference regarding a high-profile missing person’s case in Aurora, the first name that came to mind was Pitzen, the 6-year-old boy who has been missing since May of 2011 when his mother took him from his kindergarten class and then killed herself, leaving behind a note saying her son was safe and with people who loved him but would never be found.
Had Tuesday’s press conference been about his case, which has been featured on countless national TV shows and will again be featured on HBO, likely around the 10th anniversary, the national media would have descended on the Aurora Police Station like ants on a PB&J. There was hardly that level of attention on Tuesday, and some journalists seemed to know little about Tyesha or had files on her disappearance.
But if this past year has been a national lesson about Black Lives Matter, that certainly must include young Black women who go missing. And hopefully the press that comes with this APD announcement will bring in those tips desperately needed to make an arrest in a very old case that is now a full-fledged murder investigation.
Because the family – there were about 20 who attended Tuesday’s press conference – only recently learned Tyesha’s remains had been found in a shallow grave in a wooded area of Kane County in December, asked for privacy as they came to terms with this news. So I can’t close with a statement from Smith, but I can tell you one thing for sure.
This mother may have lost the hope she’s been holding onto these past 18 years that her daughter was still alive. But she still needs some sort of closure.
And so I will end this column not with a new quote from Lorna Smith but the phone number of the dedicated tip line for the case, 630-256-5517, and with the words of the head of the Aurora Police Department’s Bureau of Investigative Services.
“Our detectives continue to have working theories in Tyesha’s case, but we need more information before criminal charges can be authorized,” said Aurora Police Cmdr. Jack Fichtel. “We implore anyone who may have information to please come forward.”
By DENISE CROSBY
AURORA BEACON-NEWS | MAR 16, 2021 AT 6:11 PM
What happened to Maura Murray?
At 21 years old, Maura Murray disappeared on February 9th 2004, and to this day her whereabouts remain unknown. At the time of her disappearance, Maura was a nursing student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA.
On the afternoon of February 9th, Maura contacted her university supervisor and professors to inform them that she would be taking some time off due to a family emergency. However, her relatives were later unable to confirm this claim. Later that evening, a car accident was reported to the authorities by a member of the public, and the vehicle involved was traced back to Maura. The passing motorist who reported the collision asked Maura at the scene if she needed any help, but she declined and then vanished before the police arrived.
Based on these strange circumstances, and also the lack of evidence to suggest that somebody else was involved, it has since been determined that Maura Murray wanted to disappear voluntarily. It was found that Murray had packed a variety of items to suggest she was going on a trip: clothing, toiletries, textbooks, and contraceptive pills. Upon later inspection of her dorm room, the police discovered that Maura had packed up most of her belongings into boxes, further indicating that she did not intend to stay. Located amongst her possessions was an email printed out to Maura’s boyfriend, which highlighted that she was experiencing some relationship troubles.
After driving away from her university campus, CCTV footage has also identified that Maura stopped to withdraw hundreds of dollars in cash from an ATM machine, and also purchase a wide range of alcoholic drinks from a convenience store. When her vehicle was found crashed, traces of the alcohol were found on the seats and it had been left behind with the rest of her belongings.
Although a voluntary disappearance has been suggested, it cannot be ruled out that something more sinister may have happened. Maura’s father saw her only the day before, and he reported that Maura seemed perfectly normal; she certainly had no known incentive to willingly leave her family, studies and life behind. Maura may have intended to disappear only temporarily, but it is now almost 15 years since and there has been no trace of her.
It was dark and cold that February night, and a snowstorm was incoming- it can’t be entirely ruled out that she potentially became lost and fell victim to a serious crime, or an accidental death occurred as a result of dangerous weather conditions. Alternatively, Maura may still be hiding away and is opting to not be located.
In the early 1920s, on a Friday night in late March, a German family and their new maid were brutally killed in their rural and isolated hom
What happened to Maura Murray?
At 21 years old, Maura Murray disappeared on February 9th 2004, and to this day her whereabouts remain unknown. At the time of her disappearance, Maura was a nursing student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA.
On the afternoon of February 9th, Maura contacted her university supervisor and professors to inform them that she would be taking some time off due to a family emergency. However, her relatives were later unable to confirm this claim. Later that evening, a car accident was reported to the authorities by a member of the public, and the vehicle involved was traced back to Maura. The passing motorist who reported the collision asked Maura at the scene if she needed any help, but she declined and then vanished before the police arrived.
Based on these strange circumstances, and also the lack of evidence to suggest that somebody else was involved, it has since been determined that Maura Murray wanted to disappear voluntarily. It was found that Murray had packed a variety of items to suggest she was going on a trip: clothing, toiletries, textbooks, and contraceptive pills. Upon later inspection of her dorm room, the police discovered that Maura had packed up most of her belongings into boxes, further indicating that she did not intend to stay. Located amongst her possessions was an email printed out to Maura’s boyfriend, which highlighted that she was experiencing some relationship troubles.
After driving away from her university campus, CCTV footage has also identified that Maura stopped to withdraw hundreds of dollars in cash from an ATM machine, and also purchase a wide range of alcoholic drinks from a convenience store. When her vehicle was found crashed, traces of the alcohol were found on the seats and it had been left behind with the rest of her belongings.
Although a voluntary disappearance has been suggested, it cannot be ruled out that something more sinister may have happened. Maura’s father saw her only the day before, and he reported that Maura seemed perfectly normal; she certainly had no known incentive to willingly leave her family, studies and life behind. Maura may have intended to disappear only temporarily, but it is now almost 15 years since and there has been no trace of her.
It was dark and cold that February night, and a snowstorm was incoming- it can’t be entirely ruled out that she potentially became lost and fell victim to a serious crime, or an accidental death occurred as a result of dangerous weather conditions. Alternatively, Maura may still be hiding away and is opting to not be located.
Historical Strangeness - the most mysterious outdoor stories from history
This is a great read about the three lighthouse keepers who disappeared just after Christmas 1899. (Donald MacArthur, James Ducat, Thomas Marshall)
Randa David Jawhari - STILL MISSING
Mental Health and the Endangered Missing
(Image: https://disappearedblog.com/randa-jawhari/ )
(Case details: https://charleyproject.org/case/randa-david-jawhari )
Details of Disappearance
Jawhari was last heard from at 11:30 p.m. on February 11, 2009, when she spoke to a family member on the phone and said she was going to bed. She lived in the 3400 block of Shiawassee Avenue in Fenton, Michigan, a quarter-mile east of U.S. 23. At 8:00 a.m. the next day, a ride service arrived at her home for a scheduled pickup, but left after Jawhari didn't answer the door. At 8:30 a.m., after she didn't answer the phone, one of her relatives went to her apartment. The front door was open, Jawhari's clothes were laid out, her bed didn't appear to have been slept in, the coffee pot was cold, and nothing was missing from the home, not even her coat, identification or cigarettes. She has never been heard from again. The apartment building's surveillance camera doesn't show her in the parking lot during the night of February 11 or early morning of February 12. Jawhari normally kept in very close touch with her family, which includes her parents, a brother, six sisters, and a five-year-old daughter whom her mother was caring for. She called her relatives several times a day and they checked in on her personally every day. She spent a great deal of time participating in programs in Flint, Michigan and may be in that city. Jawhari didn't have a cellular phone, a vehicle or a driver's license when she disappeared and walked places or depended on others for transportation. She apparently didn't have any money at the time she went missing. A few days before she vanished, a police officer picked her up after someone reported she was panhandling at a local fast food restaurant. He drove her back to her apartment. Police have released a sketch of an unidentified person of interest in Jawhari's disappearance. The sketch is posted with this case summary. The man accompanied Jawhari to dental appointments five times in October and November 2008. He seemed impatient waiting for her and repeatedly asked how much longer she would be. The man is described as 30 to 35 years old and clean-cut. He wore a black leather jacket and silver neck chains. He's not considered a suspect in Jawhari's disappearance, but investigators would like to talk to him and found out if he's heard from her since she vanished. Jawhari was born in Lebanon and moved to the United States as a child. She has previously lived in Hawaii and in Miami, Florida and she has relatives in the Cleveland, Ohio and Parma, Ohio areas. She is described as a talented, artistic person who enjoys painting, acting and writing poetry. Her mother has legal guardianship over her. Although she is incapable of adequately caring for herself due to her illnesses, Jawhari had seen a physician not long before her disappearance, and she was feeling well and adequately managing her medical conditions. She doted on her daughter and it's uncharacteristic of her to leave without warning. Her case remains unsolved.
Shawna Beth Garber FOUND!
Thirty years ago in Anderson, MO, a body was found in the rural farmland near Oscar Talley Road. Unidentified since Dec. 2, 1990, the McDonald County community embraced her as Grace Doe. Now with advances in DNA science and new technologies like Genetic Genealogy, Grace Doe was identified as Shawna Beth Garber in March 2021. Her story is still unfolding.
The Cold Case
On Dec. 2, 1990, a couple walking on Oscar Talley Road in the southwestern part of McDonald County found the decomposed remains of a young woman not far from the road. The Sheriff’s Office says someone hogtied and dumped the victim behind a rural farmhouse.
In the 2000’s, Detective Lori Howard nicknamed the woman “Grace Doe”. Howard believed it was only by the Grace of God that the young woman’s identity would be found, according to the McDonald County Sheriff’s Office.
A coroner wrote in the autopsy that “Grace Doe” had been raped and strangled about two months before her body was found. She was restrained with six different types of bindings: nylon and lead ropes, coaxial and telephone cables, paracord and clothesline.
The Sheriff’s Office says investigators determined that the paracord was military grade MIL-C-5040H type II, a rope that was exclusively sold to the military in the 1990’s.
From KOAM ‘s Stacie Strader on March 31, 2021: https://www.koamnewsnow.com/victim-identified-in-1990-mcdonald-county-cold-case/pic/881691/
7 Celebrities Who Disappeared and We Still Don’t Know Where They Are
Can you imagine how hard it is to pull off a good act of vanishing? VERY hard. Just ask Steven Leung, who tried to make it look like he’d died during 9/11. Spoiler, that didn’t work. And now can you imagine someone like Beyonce just disappearing into thin air? That seems impossible. Yet, sometimes it happens.
Nexter.org prepared you a list of 7 celebs still missing today.
Scott Smith
Source: Gene Ambo
Scott Smith was a founding member of the band Loverboy but on November 30, 2000, he mysteriously disappeared at sea.
Smith, his girlfriend, and their two friends went sailing after Loverboy’s concert in Vancouver, B.C. When they were nearing San Francisco, the weather got stormy with gigantic waves. One of them knocked Smith of the vessel and into the water.
“We turned back around but couldn’t find any of the debris or cushions or the man-overboard pole,” said his friend Bill Ellis. Coast Guards and private searches couldn’t find him. His body was never found.
Rico Harris
Source: KTLA
In 2000, Rico Harris played basketball for a very famous team the Harlem Globetrotters but because of his drinking addiction he couldn’t pursue this career and went on to work as a security guard. In 2014, he was fired from there for drunkenness. When he left his mom’s house in LA and went to Seattle and stay with his girlfriend, he vanished somewhere along State Route 16 near Sacramento.
His backpack and phone were found on the roadside, but he was nowhere to be seen. Days after his disappearance people were reporting sightings of a giant person walking alongside State Route 16. Human footprints were found in the sand but not Harris.
Fan Bingbing
Source: Getty Images
Fan Bingbing is a Chinese A-list celebrity, one of the few Chinese actresses to make it to the international market. But in 2018 her movie contracts leaked onto social media and it turned out that she’d been using fake contacts to avoid paying taxes. And on July 1, she disappeared.
People think that the authorities reeducating her this way and also show other stars the consequences they could be facing. Later in October, she released an apology on her social media and the Chinese authorities stated that she would be paying a fine. Nevertheless, she still has not been seen in public.
Bison Dele
Source: Getty Images
Bison Dele whose real name is Brian Williams was a basketball player who was famously odd. When he quit basketball he was seen firing off bazookas into the desert in Lebanon, and then wandering through Asia, living as some sort of rich hobo.
In 2002, when he was in Australia, he learned to sail, bought himself a boat named the Hakuna Matata and decided to sail from Tahiti to Hawaii. He, his girlfriend, Serena Karlan, the ship’s captain, Bertran Saldo, and Dele’s older brother, Miles Dabord were on board but they never made it to Hawaii. Everyone but Dabord vanished at sea.
Dabord was arrested in Phoenix two months later trying to buy gold with his brother’s money. When he was released on bail, he committed suicide via insulin overdose. Supposedly he was prone to violence and envied his brother’s success.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
Oscar Zeta Acosta
Source: Raul Ruiz/AP
Chicano activist Oscar Zeta Acosta relentlessly consumed pills, hallucinogens, and drunk alcohol in huge quantities. In May 1974, he went to his family home in Mexico and just vanished. His friend Hunter S. Thompson spent years searching for him and later claimed that he was probably killed in a drug hit or a political assassination. However, Acosta’s body was never found.
Richey Edwards
Source: Getty
A rhythm guitarist and lyricist of Manic Street Preachers Richey Edwards was a mid-1990s British rock idol whom The Guardian called “a lightning rod of sorts for adolescent angst.” He was handsome, moody, and has a talent for writing lyrics about depression.
In February 1995 he disappeared from his hotel room and his car was found abandoned near the Severn Bridge. In 2008 he was legally declared dead but his body was never found.
Jim Sullivan
Source: wotrradio
In March 1975, Jim Sullivan was heading to Nashville but he never made it there. His car was found abandoned in the desert outside Santa Rosa, New Mexico and his clothes, wallet, and guitar were all found in a nearby motel. One of his friends said that if Sullivan was planning to vanish, he would’ve never left his guitar behind.
Did you know about any of these before?
Read full article at: https://nexter.org/7-celebrities-who-disappeared-and-we-still-dont-know-where-they-are
Listen to this riveting tale of murder, lies, and how a fake roadside breathalyzer solved Italy's infamous cold case of Yara Gambirasio
Unidentified Burning Corpse Mentioned in Disappeared Episode Has Been Solved!
(Image from: https://www.kltv.com/story/38987905/unidentified-and-dead-lavender-doe-is-not-alone-in-east-texas/)
During the pilot episode of the show Disappeared, Ellen Tant recalls contacting law enforcement after hearing about an unidentified female corpse found in Kilgore, Gregg County, Texas, that she believed may have been her missing daughter, Brandi Ellen Wells. When she learned the murder victim had been set on fire, her response was, "Who does that?!"
Indeed. Who kills a woman, then sets her body on fire? That question has yet to be answered. What has been answered is the who part of the equation. Dana Lynn Dodd or Lavender Doe as she had affectionately been named, was a young woman found hours after her murder in 2006. While the cause of death could not be determined, the case was classified as a homicide.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Dana_Dodd
The body was exhumed in 2013 to create a facial reconstruction bust and take DNA samples.
(Image from: https://www.news-journal.com/news/local/officials-gregg-county-murder-victim-lavender-doe-identified/article_6336703e-241c-11e9-ad31-13058aa03380.html )
In the fall of 2018, the DNA Doe Project actively began working on the identity of Lavender Doe. In January 2019, it was announced that this murder victim was Dana Lynn Dodd.
Dana Lynn Dodd (September 6, 1985 - October 28, 2006)
How did Carole Hoff Gacy live with the smell of decomposition in her house from 1972-1976?! . #CaroleHoff #carolehoffgacy #carolegacy #johnwaynegacy #pogotheclown #patchestheclown #theclownkiller #serialkillers #maleserialkillers #imarriedakiller #smellofdeath #myserialkillerhusband #buriedunderthehouse #crawlspace #deathhouse #murder #waterlooillinois #waterloo #illinois . #latenightsleuth https://www.instagram.com/p/CKmBQndpyu3/?igshid=1hwjji9lgsuap
Cynthia L. Deppe - STILL MISSING
Missing Since10/09/2013
Missing FromLos Lunas, New Mexico
Details of Disappearance
Deppe was last seen in Los Lunas, New Mexico on October 9, 2013. She has never been heard from again. Few details are available in her case.
ClassificationMissing
SexFemale
RaceWhite
Date of Birth07/11/1963 (57)
Age50 years old
Height and Weight5'9, 130 pounds
Distinguishing CharacteristicsCaucasian female. Brown hair, blue eyes.
Investigating Agency
Valencia County Sheriff's Office 505-866-2400
Read more: https://charleyproject.org/case/cynthia-l-deppe
Support The Charley Project.
Celebrating CRIME JUNKIES! . With so many online newspapers and magazines wanting to charge to access their information, the active presence of web sleuthers is needed even more! . #crimejunkies #internetdetectives #websleuths #latenightsleuth https://www.instagram.com/p/CK2TjhopTxR/?igshid=15wkywyzsvhea
Strangled Body of Missing Student Hidden in Apartment Crawl Space
“Who killed Leah Hickman?”
By Rivy Lyon
Leah Nicole Hickman (Source: Find A Grave)
The identity of Leah Hickman’s murderer remains unknown. She vanished just before Christmas and was found several days later, her body hidden where no one would think to look. The last time her father had spoken with her was on her birthday, just a few weeks before her death.
This would be the very last time he would ever speak with his daughter.
The memory of Leah Hickman is displayed in a blue hue across the community of Huntington, West Virginia. After all, it was her favorite color. Ribbons of blue are hung around the apartment complex where she was found strangled and stuffed in a crawl space.
Vanished Into Thin Air
Leah was a junior studying journalism at Marshall University. After graduation, she hoped to become a television news reporter. On 8th Avenue in Huntington, Leah shared an apartment with her half-sister, Jessica Vickers. Jessica was the last person to see her alive. Computer records show that on December 14th, 2007, after signing into her Myspace account, Leah decided to go to McDonald’s and called a friend to let them know where she was going.
A receipt from McDonald’s, dated December 14th, was later found in the apartment, confirming her visit there.
Upon entering the apartment the next day, Jessica noticed Leah’s car keys and purse were there, but there was no sign of her roommate. Leah’s car was still in the parking lot. Jessica tried calling her sister’s cell phone, but it just went to voicemail. She then posted a message on her sister’s social media page asking “Oh sister, where are you?” Again, there was no reply.
As a new employee at the local Dress Barn, Leah was very vigilant about arriving to work on time, so it raised concerns when she did not show up for her shift that day. When notified that his daughter was absent, Ron Hickman rushed over to the apartment accompanied by his sister and a preacher. Nothing more was found to indicate where Leah might have gone.
On the 16th of December, her family filed a missing person’s report and emergency search parties were formed to comb the surrounding area over the next 7 days. Dress Barn posted a $10,000 reward for any information on Leah’s disappearance and the Huntington Police Department received numerous tips, but none of them led to her whereabouts. Flyers were posted all over the city pleading for anyone who might know where she was to call in.
It wasn’t long before she was found in the most unusual place.
Uncovered
A week later, on the 21st of December, Leah’s body was discovered in the crawl space of her apartment building, strangled to death. The crawl space could be accessed from the common laundry room and all four of the apartments in the building.
Initially, police had a theory that Leah was killed by someone she knew and that the killer was familiar with the configuration of the complex. Only one apartment was occupied other than the one Leah shared with her half-sister. However, the man living in that unit was out of town during the time Leah went missing, therefore he was excluded from the suspect list.
The city was devastated. Leah was only 21 years old when she died. Dress Barn closed for the Christmas weekend in her honor and paid for all of her funeral costs.
Trace Evidence
Mitochondrial DNA taken from hair fibers at the scene was tested in 2009, but the results were unable to find a match. Detectives were now lacking both witnesses and suspects. Insufficient evidence led to the case going cold.
Leah’s father has asked the Huntington police to have the DNA evidence tested by Parbaon NanoLabs as they have had great success on other cases in the past. Captain Ray Cornwell said the department is hesitant to do this for fear it will lead nowhere and the evidence remaining evidence will be lost. There is such a small amount of the sample left that investigators have to be cautious when deciding to retest. At this point, all they can do is wait for a credible lead to come in or for technology to advance enough to finally help solve the case.
Police say they revisit this case frequently and that it is still an ongoing investigation. There are currently no suspects in Leah Hickman’s murder.
In 2014, an anonymous person spray painted one simple question on the side of Leah’s apartment building on 8th Avenue: “Who killed Leah Hickman?” This brought new attention to the case along with the hope that her mystery might finally be solved; unfortunately, no one came forward.
The vandal was never found.
Her Memory Lives On
Ron Hickman prays there will someday be justice for his daughter. He vows to keep fighting for her until her killer is arrested and convicted for this heinous crime. Leah’s loss is not easily forgotten in the Huntington community. A memorial is held for her annually.
Leah Hickman with her father, Ron Hickman. (Source: The Herald-Dispatch/Ron Hickman)
“I pray God will bother the conscience of those involved and they’ll come forth with a confession or evidence.”
— Ron Hickman
Leah was important to many people; so much so that her father is approached by strangers often to tell him about the impact his daughter had on their lives. A blue wristband made by the journalism school was given out in her memory which Ron still wears to this day. “I never take it off,” he said, even insisting nurses wrap it in tape rather than remove it during his surgical procedure. Although there is a chance he may never find out who murdered his only child, he keeps his determination very much alive.
As for now, justice will have to wait until forensic technology can catch up.
If you have any information on Leah Hickman’s murder, please contact the Huntington Police Department’s Criminal Investigation Bureau at (304) 696–4420 or the tip line at (304) 696–4444.
This is me, Ione Carroll, the Late Night Sleuth. https://www.instagram.com/p/CGD5JBzgMpm/?igshid=13hs3cekxc6f5
John Ingram Brandenburg, Jr - FOUND
Highway Killer's Victim Identified After 40 Years
Description On October 18, 1983 mushroom hunters discovered four human bodies buried in a shallow grave in a wooded area in an abandoned barn lot off US-41, a half mile north of SR-10 in Newton County, Indiana. Two of the bodies were identified. All four were victims of serial killer Larry Eyler. Forensic investigators determined Brad Doe to be a White/Caucasian male, aged 17 – 23 years old, and approximately 5’5” tall. He had two non-professional appearing tattoos on his right forearm. The young man had severely fractured his nose earlier in life and also fractured his left ankle. Evidence revealed he had been drugged, bound, and stabbed to death sometime between 1981 and 1983.
NamUs ID: UP6105 NCMEC ID: 1202842 Date Body Found: October 18, 1983 Race: White/Caucasian Gender: Male Estimated Age: 17-23 Estimated PMI: Months Location: Lake Village, IN
Agency of Jurisdiction Newton County Coroner’s and Prosecuting Attorney’s Offices Scott McCord, Coroner 219-285-2515 [email protected]
Link to More Information https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/6105 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton_County_John_Does http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1384umin.html https://www.missingkids.org/poster/NCMU/1202842/1/screen
Status: Identified
On April 24, 2021, almost forty years after the remains of four human bodies were discovered buried in a shallow grave off US-41 in Newton County, Indiana, the Newton County Indiana Coroner’s Office and the DNA Doe Project confirmed the identity of one of the men as John Ingram Brandenburg, Jr. of Chicago. He was previously known only as “Brad Doe”. All four were victims of serial killer Larry Eyler. One of the victims still remains unidentified.
John Ingram Brandenburg, Jr. Courtesy of the family.
In late 2019, after exhausting all leads, the Newton County Indiana Coroner’s Office, in a combined effort with the Newton County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, reached out to the DNA Doe Project for assistance with the case. DNA extract was obtained from UNT Center for Human Identification. The process took additional time while UNT ran a Family Reference Sample (FRS) comparison. In January of 2021, the DNA was sent to HudsonAlpha Discovery for whole genome sequencing. In March of 2021, bioinformatics work was performed by Kevin Lord of Saber Investigations in Belton, Texas. This process produced a file suitable for upload to genealogical databases. On April 2, 2021, the file was uploaded to GEDmatch. The top match was a close relative which led to the identification.Upon confirmation of Brandenburg’s identity, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Rebecca Goddard remarked, “While my heart breaks for this family, I’m thankful that they finally have some of the answers they’ve waited so long for, and I hope this brings them peace. The DNA Doe Project has been amazing to work with. Every person I’ve encountered in the organization has been extremely professional, compassionate, and highly skilled. Newton County is very fortunate to have been able to partner with such a dedicated and knowledgeable group of volunteers.”Team Leader L. Elias Chan stated, “We greatly benefited from their participation and involvement in our research process, and thank them for entrusting us with Brad Doe’s case. Our hearts are with the family and communities affected by John’s loss. It’s for them that we commit ourselves to assisting law enforcement with these difficult identifications.”The DNA Doe Project wishes to acknowledge the contributions of those groups and individuals who helped solve this case: Scott McCord and the Newton County Indiana Coroner’s Office; Rebecca Goddard, Chief Deputy Prosecutor for Newton County, Indiana; Indiana State Police; HudsonAlpha Discovery for sequencing; Kevin Lord of Saber Investigations for bioinformatics; GEDmatch/Verogen for providing their databases; our donors and the DNA Doe Project volunteers who tirelessly work to bring victims home.For more information on the search for the identity of Brad Doe: Newton Co. Coroner Facebook postImage Credit: NCMEC
Posted onMarch 12, 2021
Full Article: https://dnadoeproject.org/case/brad-doe-newton-co-1983/?fbclid=IwAR0px3uGBLlUo7flxfKIPy10Tki7OJ0dowZ8WvU6_lJ8CvTbz_CpnUsYvMM
