"Who Are They?" A Question We Should Never Have to Ask

I recently dug through some of my old files and found a paper I wrote during my first semester of college. The topic of the unidentified dead was a relatively new topic to me at the time, yet I still felt an immeasurable interest in their cases. Some of those listed in this essay have been identified since the course concluded in late 2014. 

“Who are they?” A Question we should Never Have to Ask

In late 1979, Jane Doe is walking down a rural street in Caledonia, New York. She sees a car approaching but looks away, thinking nothing of it. As the vehicle reaches her, a loud noise rings out and a sharp pain explodes through her head. Instantly, she falls to the pavement and is then dragged to the side of a field and is shot once more. After the perpetrator is certain Jane is dead, he leaves the scene, knowing that all evidence will be gone, as it will rain tonight. Thirty-five years later, this victim is like the estimated forty thousand unidentified decedents – deceased men, women and children that remain unidentified, in the United States alone. A large number of such people range from young children to teens, many of which were murdered. One of the largest reasons such a problem exists is due to not enough being done to solve their cases, including creating accurate reconstructions and gathering physical information. Consequently, the vast majority of these cases have remained unsolved, as usually both the child’s name and their murderer have gone undiscovered for months, years or even decades.

            A frequent question that people ask is how a person’s identity could be unable to be obtained. Many different factors are involved. Decomposition is the most common case, where the remains of the decedent deteriorated until their bodies were found. Depending on the weather, it may take merely days or months before a person’s appearance is significantly changed. A girl’s body was discovered in 1980 in Anchorage, Alaska. The victim, aged sixteen to twenty-five, was completely unrecognizable due to skeletonization (NamUs, 2012). Her murderer has since been convicted, but the identity of the young woman, informally known as “Eklutna Annie,” has eluded police for thirty-four years (Houston Chronicle, 2012). To put into simplest terms, it’s easy enough to say that nobody could recognize someone if the decedent’s features are reduced to decomposing tissue or bones.

            Additionally, a person to remain unidentified could be due to dying in a different state or country. One young man, whose body was found in 1998 in New York, was found with a book translating French into English, strongly pointing to the possibility that he was an immigrant from a different country (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 2012). This victim in particular was skeletonized, like Eklutna Annie, and was murdered over a decade before (The Doe Network, 2012). In this case, time also plays a factor, as those who knew the victim might not be alive anymore. However, there are some cases where decomposition has not distorted a person’s face, but they remain without an identity.

            Although a victim may be found within minutes or hours after they die, their faces may be unrecognizable due to the trauma that they endured. A girl whose body was located in Yuma, Arizona in 1999 had been killed by a shotgun wound to her head (The Doe Network, 2011). Such an instrument would inflict many individual puncture wounds, which would be quick to disfigure one’s face, most definitely reducing the chances of the victim being recognized.

            The most peculiar cases of unidentified decedents would be when the deceased victims’ faces would be recognizable, yet the investigation would uncover little or no clues about who they were. Such a case would be that of a young woman discovered in 1979 in Georgetown, Texas, within a day after her death. The victim had been strangled, which left little to no trauma to her face (The Paris News, 1998). The victim, known as “Orange Socks” for the only articles of clothing she was found wearing, has had drawings of her identifiable face released across the country to no avail.

            More cases remain unsolved due to the errors in the initial investigation. Vital, distinct information used to identify decedents, such as DNA samples, dental records and fingerprints are never taken. Another reason is because a facial reconstruction (a drawing or a clay sculpture of the face) was never professionally created. Those who would come across the case would most definitely be unable to compare the victim to a missing person, due to lack of information. In the case of an Illinois murder in 1977, the victim was found recognizable but officials failed to examine his teeth and take his fingerprints, a tremendous error to identify him (Betz, 2011). Many victims today are identified through DNA analysis, as every person has a unique genetic makeup. Because DNA comparison was not used until the 1990s, this information was not possible to obtain (Jordan, 2007). Therefore, the potential of this victim being identified is fairly small, unless his remains are exhumed, which can be fairly expensive, as it may cost as much as $3,000 to dig the interred remains from the ground (WJBK-TV, 2014). Because of this, investigation for individuals who face similar circumstances is unnecessarily more expensive than it should be. 

The process for investigating cases of unidentified individuals in general tends to be very expensive. The cost of exhumation, DNA analysis, autopsies and facial reconstructions are individually costly on their own. A recently developed process is used by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to reconstruct skeletal remains that creates digital copies of unidentified children’s bones and layering tissues over the computerized skull to show an approximation of what they may have looked like when alive, with the aid of CT scanners and photograph manipulating applications (Hicks, 2012). The biggest problem with such a program is that it costs a large amount of money but is extremely valuable because it is usually a reliable depiction of the deceased (Gallucci, 2012). Especially for those who have undergone several years without their identity, such a depiction is invaluable for solving the case, as those who knew the decedent would be more likely to recognize them.

Facial reconstructions pose a problem on their own. A basic form, where eyes would be drawn over a photograph of the body, would be created for those who are not in an advanced state of decomposition. However, according to NCMEC, a victim’s mortuary photograph does not usually depict an accurate representation of a person’s face, due to the natures of their deaths (WUSA9, 2014). As for the victim found in Yuma, her face was retouched of the wounds she received, but her features were still in an awkward position (NamUs, 2007). A reconstruction released by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children was created with a more advanced method and arguably looks completely different, as the artist made effort to show the victim with a natural facial expression.

 Another popular method used is reconstructing the victim in 3D, created after layers of clay representing the tissues of the face are added to a replica of the skull. The clay is spread to cover pegs of various depth inserted into the skull, representing the depth of tissue for someone of the age and race (Deem, 2008). An issue with these, as well as sketches is that some inaccurately depict the depth of tissues from the skull, resulting in an inaccurate shape of the subject’s face. Such an example is seen in the case of a teenager or young adult from Washington had her face reconstructed with both of these methods, but the artists responsible for two of the three reconstructions failed to illustrate the victim’s obviously square-shaped jaw. Therefore, these illustrated an inaccurate estimation of how she appeared in life. A third reconstruction was created, this time illustrating the correct shape of the face, but is of poor quality, as it makes the victim appear to be much older than she actually was (NamUs, 2007; The Doe Network, 2011). The fact that the victim may be depicted inaccurately can most definitely cause issues with the investigation process.

This problem on its own must be addressed, as police departments hiring forensic artists should put much more emphasis on experience and adequate education requirements for their employees. Opportunities for training exist in various places, including seminars at NCMEC, which are provided to forensic artists for free (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 2014). The program used to reconstruct the Yuma victim was Adobe Photoshop, as there was no need to create a CT scan of the skull, as this is not needed for those who have been dead for a short period of time, although it is used in some cases to make the CT reconstructions appear more like photographs, like one of Eklutna Annie (Meincke, 2014; National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 2012). If opportunities such as this were taken advantage of, there could be much more lifelike and accurate reconstructions, as programs such as Adobe Photoshop are considerably cheaper and are easily accessible, as this type of program is well known in our society.

What other establishments, including libraries, chambers of commerce and police stations should do is to also have such posters available for the public to see. The more exposure these cases receive, the better the chance of them being identified, as they are more likely to be recognized if more people see them. A way to bring attention to these unidentified children was in 2011 when NCMEC created a Facebook page dedicated to the cases unidentified in the United States. Already, multiple leads have unearthed additional information with several cases (WUSA9, 2014). To start a page on one of the world’s most popular websites is a great start. The issue with this is that other things need to be done to grab attention from those who do not use social networks such as Facebook.

            NCMEC uses one of the earliest methods to locate missing children, involving placing posters in several stores, such as Walmart, which have many customers per day. They have also created posters for unidentified children and young adults that illustrate their estimated physical characteristics and the most lifelike reconstructions available. However, although they are available online, unidentified victims are not often displayed across a state, impairing the need for awareness for unidentified victims. Nonetheless, at least a hundred children were identified by 2007 after their computer generated faces were released to the public (PR Newswire, 2007). With the new technology we have today, we can likely increase the chances of an unidentified victim to be returned to their family.

Although efforts made by NCMEC have made tremendous progress, there is simply much more that needs to be done. As mentioned before, methods of investigation are expensive, as well as reconstructions. To solve such a problem, the public must be made much more aware of this issue, most definitely increasing the chances of more donations, which would result in more means to further efforts of finding the true identities of these unfortunate victims. Some may state that investigation toward identifying these people would be a waste of time, as some have remained without their names for years, but for some, the answer would be correct, such as for that of a Wisconsin victim found in 1921. The child’s parents and his killer are more than likely deceased, which leaves no loved one’s questions to be answered.

However, some older cases are not hopeless. There have been numerous unidentified bodies from the 1960s and before that have been identified in the past few years.  Martha and Sandra Stiver’s bodies were identified in July 2014, forty-six years after they were murdered, in 1968. An individual came across their cases and submitted a tip to authorities, leading to their bodies being exhumed and tested for DNA (Burdo, 2014). A second notable case is that of Dorothy Gay Howard, whose lifeless corpse was found in 1954. It was not until 2009 when the victim’s DNA was compared to the then-missing person and resulted in a positive match, giving her family some sense of peace. There is also no need to pursue further investigation of the killer, as the man presumed to have taken Dorothy’s life was convicted and has since been put to death (Auge, 2009). If these cases weren’t enough, due to the efforts from NCMEC, a boy who died in 1852 was identified using their state-of-the-art reconstruction technique (Ruane, 2007). It is indeed clear that cases that are fifty or so years old can be solved – as long as adequate investigation is conducted.

            Ultimately, the fact that so many unidentified decedents remain without their identities needs to be brought to the public’s attention, in turn, resulting in more funding, leading to more means for further efforts to identify America’s unknown children. By updating more policies, giving advanced training to forensic artists to simply putting up a poster, more and more of these cases would become increasingly solvable, putting to rest a missing person’s family’s unanswered questions and providing closure to those who have become involved with these cases.

Epilogue:
The Jane Doe introduced at the beginning of this essay was identified as sixteen-year-old Tammy Jo Alexander in January 2015. Tammy was a runaway from Brooksville, Florida.
The Yuma victim was identified as eighteen-year-old Angel McAllister in 2017. She lived in a foster family and left when she became an adult.

Works Cited

Auge, Karen. "After 55 Years, Boulder Jane Doe's Story Finally Coming Together." The Denver Post, 15 Nov. 2009. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.

Betz, Dean. "Cold Cases: Forensic Expert's Project Could Resolve Decades-old Deaths." Newswatch. Houston Chronicle, 26 May 2011. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.

Burdo, Allison. "46 Years Later, Missing Girl Case Solved." NBC 10 Philadelphia. NBC, 7 July 2014. Web. 05 Nov. 2014.

Deem, James M., PhD. "Featured Netherlands Mummy Museums: Drents Museum in Assen: The Yde Girl, Reconstructed." James M. Deem's Mummy Tombs. N.p., 2008. Web. 09 Oct. 2014. <http://www.mummytombs.com/museums/nl.assen.drents.yde.reconstruct.htm>.

The Doe Network. "Case File 195UFAZ." 2011. Web. 09 Oct. 2014. <http://doenetwork.org/cases/195ufaz.html>.

"Case File 218UMNY." Web. 09 Oct. 2014. <http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/218umny.html>.

"Case File 296UFWA." 17 Nov. 2011. Web. 09 Oct. 2014. <http://doenetwork.org/cases/296ufwa.html>.

Gallucci, Jaclyn. "Identifying Princess Doe: 30 Years After She Was Slain, New Technology May ID Her and The Killer." LongIslandPress.com. Long Island Press, 2 Aug. 2012. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. <http://archive.longislandpress.com/2012/08/02/identifying-princess-doe/>.

Houston Chronicle. "'Eklutna Annie' Tells Tale of Alaska Murder - Her Own."  McClatchy Newspapers. 21 July 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2014.

Hicks, Brad. "Unraveling the Jane Doe Mystery." FOX6Now. Fox News, 29 Feb. 2012. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. <http://fox6now.com/2012/02/29/unraveling-the-jane-doe-mystery/>.

Jordan, Michael, dir. "The Day the Music Died." Forensic Files. Prod. Vincent Sherry. HLN. Atlanta, Georgia, 14 Nov. 2007. Television.

Meincke, Paul. "'Jane Gary Doe' Images Released in Gary Cold Case." ABC7 Chicago. American Broadcasting Company, 3 July 2014. Web. 08 Dec. 2014. <http://abc7chicago.com/news/jane-gary-doe-images-released-in-gary-cold-case/154419/>.

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, "JANE DOE 1980." Missingkids.com. N.p., 2012. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.

"JANE DOE 1999." Missingkids.com. 2014. Web. 09 Oct. 2014. <http://www.missingkids.com/poster/NCMU/1224544/1#poster>.

 "JOHN DOE 1998." Missingkids.com. 2012. Web. 09 Oct. 2014. <http://www.missingkids.com/poster/NCMU/1224544/1#poster>.

"Forensic Imaging Training.” Missingkids.com, 2014. Web. 08 Dec. 2014. <"Forensic Imaging Training." National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 2014. Web. 08 Dec. 2014. <http://www.missingkids.com/Training/ForensicImaging>.

<http://www.missingkids.com/poster/NCMU/1184520/1#poster>.

National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. "NamUs UP # 489." NamUs, 30 June 2007. Web. 9 Oct. 2014. <https://identifyus.org/cases/489>.

"NamUs UP # 4845." NamUs, 13 Feb. 2009. Web. 09 Oct. 2014. <https://identifyus.org/en/cases/4845>.

"NamUs UP # 10217." NamUs, 1 May 2012. Web. 09 Oct. 2014. <https://identifyus.org/en/cases/10217>.

The Paris News. "Unidentified Woman 1979."  17 June 1998. Web. 09 Oct. 2014.

<http://www.newspapers.com/image/13810955/?terms=orange+socks>.

PR Newswire. "Technology Used by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Helps Put Face on Child Who Died in 1852."Technology Used by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children Helps... PR Newswire Association LLC, 2007. Web. 20 Nov. 2014. <http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/technology-used-by-the-national-center-for-missing--exploited-children-helps-put-face-on-child-who-died-in-1852-58243332.html>

Ruane, Michael E. "After Years Lost, Identity Reclaimed." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 20 Sept. 2007. Web. 20 Nov. 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/19/AR2007091902409.html>.

WJBK-TV. "Bodies Exhumed at Plymouth Cemetery by Police for DNA Testing." My Fox Detroit. Fox News, 10 Nov. 2014. Web. 20 Nov. 2014

WUSA9. "Help ID Unknown, Dead Children on NCMEC Facebook Page."  CBS News. 18 Apr. 2014. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. <http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/local/dc/2014/04/18/missing-children-dead-unidentified-facebook-kids-help-id-me/7873953/>.