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Huge article - Victim of 1982 homicide identified - Nearly 32 years after his murder, the male victim of a 1982 double homicide in Archuleta County was identified last week.
That male, who was previously dubbed Richard Miller, was positively identified Feb. 19 as Stewart Eric Simmons, 20 years old at the time of his disappearance....
...In July 2013, Barter, with the help of the New Mexico FBI, exhumed John Does body from an Albuquerque cemetery with hopes of finding additional DNA to help identify the victim, though the DNA proved to not be needed thanks to the availability of dental records for Simmons...
...The lead into John Does possibly being Simmons came to Barter through e-mail from an amateur sleuth, Barter explained.
The unidentified sleuth, Barter said, is part of a group of amateur sleuths who pore over websites filled with missing persons and cold cases, such as The Doe Network and NamUs (National Unidentified and Missing Persons System).
Ive spent literally hours and hours and hours in those databases, Barter said, adding he believed the tip from the sleuth because other investigative work led him to believe the victim was in the Navy in California.
I was jumping up and down, I know this is him, I know this is him, Barter said. I was just positive it was him.....
I'm always interesting in comparing the stats of a missing person to the stats given for their body when they were still unidentified. Here's the comparison between Simmons and 1282UMCO:
Age: 20 for Simmons, 20 - 28 for UID
Race: White for both men
Height: 5'9 for Simmons, 5'10 - 5'11 for UID
Hair color: Light brown to blond for Simmons, brownish-blond for UID
Timing: Simmons disappeared on June 19th, UID is estimated to have died in late September.
Distance: San Diego, CA is 869 miles from Archuleta, CO.
The only differences in stats between Simmons and the UID were the beard (I guess Simmons grew one in the 5 months he was missing), and there's no mention of a healed clavicle fracture on Simmons' profile. The clothing is negligible because 5 months had passed between the disappearance and the UID's discovery.
No weight estimate or eye color were given for the UID because of decomposition.
I wonder what he was doing in those 5 months. And why he was in Colorado when he had ties to several other states.
I hope we get to learn those things, and that his killer is found and (if he's still alive) is brought to justice.
So not sure if Margo has been identified or if she even has a thread here but look at this lady:
Nickname: Margo
She went on camping trip to CO w/an unknown sailor. Has to be her right?
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/w/walden_margaret.html
This should be listed as a match. I was the tipster. Wanted to remain anonymous, but brother I told shared it with Facebook. Wouldn't post here, but I've tried to send private messages to two mods and my sent box isn't showing anything.
I asked that Websleuths be credited, but the name didn't appear in the Pagosa Sun article. On the plus side, I guess I can blog about how many things had to go right with the info available online for the match to happen, in hopes that helps someone searching for a lost friend/loved one. Can forward email conversation with Detective Barter to a mod for verification, if they'd like. I'd just hoped this forum would get the credit.
By the way, the person who deserves by far the most credit is Detective Barter. He's a true mensch. If he hadn't reanimated this case in 2009, I would never have found it online. But it goes further than all the incredible time and effort he's put into this case from the time he took it on. The quality of the newspaper articles in the various papers are a credit to the journalists, but also a reflection of the deep discernment of the Detective in getting out the right details without overwhelming them with noise. The families here did their own investigations, and provided Meaghan and the other profile writers at Charley Project and elsewhere with important details that might have seemed too trivial to include. The people who wrote the case profiles wrote them clearly, and included that important information. Charley Project arranged the profiles in an easily accessible chronological order, which happened to be exactly what was necessary in this case. And you guys . . . you taught me all the little I know about how to go about these things, and provided me with a forum in which to do it. So, I was the lucky guy who just happened to stumble across this, but without all that, this serendipity would never have happened.
And I have to say, reading Stewart's family's comments made me feel great that they were alive to know, though theologically I am one of those people who believes they would have known this and much, much more had they already moved on from here. It's strange, but there you have it, and I'm happy for them they have this much resolution.
And as many of you have mentioned many times, when you or I have done what we can, the job for the investigators has just begun again. I'm confident from having communicated with Detective Barter that if the crime is capable of a solution at this point, he and his team will solve it.
By the way, the person who deserves by far the most credit is Detective Barter. He's a true mensch. If he hadn't reanimated this case in 2009, I would never have found it online. But it goes further than all the incredible time and effort he's put into this case from the time he took it on. The quality of the newspaper articles in the various papers are a credit to the journalists, but also a reflection of the deep discernment of the Detective in getting out the right details without overwhelming them with noise. The families here did their own investigations, and provided Meaghan and the other profile writers at Charley Project and elsewhere with important details that might have seemed too trivial to include. The people who wrote the case profiles wrote them clearly, and included that important information. Charley Project arranged the profiles in an easily accessible chronological order, which happened to be exactly what was necessary in this case. And you guys . . . you taught me all the little I know about how to go about these things, and provided me with a forum in which to do it. So, I was the lucky guy who just happened to stumble across this, but without all that, this serendipity would never have happened.
And I have to say, reading Stewart's family's comments made me feel great that they were alive to know, though theologically I am one of those people who believes they would have known this and much, much more had they already moved on from here. It's strange, but there you have it, and I'm happy for them they have this much resolution.
And as many of you have mentioned many times, when you or I have done what we can, the job for the investigators has just begun again. I'm confident from having communicated with Detective Barter that if the crime is capable of a solution at this point, he and his team will solve it.
Of Barter, she said, He has given us a gift that nobody else in this world could have given us. We will be eternally grateful for that.