TX TX - Rockdale, Wht/HispFem 12-16, 542UFTX, Spina Bifida, poss abnormal posture or walk, Nov'86

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The Doe Network:
Case File 542UFTX

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/542uftx.html


Unidentified White or Hispanic Female







  • The victim was discovered on November 4, 1986 near Rockdale, Milam County, Texas
  • Estimated Date of Death: October 25, 1986 - November 4, 1986
  • Cause of Death: Blunt trauma to back of head.
  • Moderate Decomposition - facial features indistinguishable.
Vital Statistics






  • Estimated age: 16-25 years old
  • Approximate Height and Weight: 5'2"; 90-100 lbs..
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: Reddish or dark brown hair which appeared to be bleached to a reddish blonde; double pierced ears; misaligned teeth in poor condition.
  • Dentals: Available
  • Clothing/Jewelry: She was nude except for a cheap yellow metal ring on one of her fingers (it is unknown which finger).
  • DNA: Possible DNA after planned future exhumation.
Case History
The victim was located at 1:45pm on US 77 south of Rockdale by a telephone company repairman, in Milam County, Texas on November 4, 1986.
Her body was lying face down, nude. She had been in the elements for possibly a week. Authorities are in the planning stages of exhuming the body to obtain the skull for a possible reconstruction and DNA submission. The body was buried 20 years ago in a cemetery in Dallas, Texas.
No suspects or leads have ever came forward in this case.

Map of Rockdale, Texas





Investigators
If you have any information about this case please contact:
Milam County Sheriff's Office
Investigator Greg J. Kouba
254-697-7033
You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

Agency Case Number: 10,877


NCIC Number:
U-221806001
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case. Source Information:
Milam County Sheriff's Office
 
Sheriff's investigator Greg Kouba knows little about the young girl whose naked and decomposing body was found 20 years ago, dumped in a bar ditch south of Rockdale.

But two decades and two months after the girl was murdered, Kouba said questions still abound. Who was she? Where was she from? Who killed her? More important, why?

Kouba said he hopes DNA testing and a new forensic sketch will help investigators find the answers.

"There is a family out there somewhere that is missing a daughter or sister," he said, explaining why the department re-opened the 20-year-old case and was pushing to identify the girl. "She deserves at least that."

It was 20 years ago last November when a telephone repairman discovered the girl's body dumped in a grassy area along U.S. 77, less than seven miles south of Rockdale near Yegua Creek. Her body was obscured by the tall grass.

http://www.theeagle.com/stories/010907/local_20070109004.php

There is speculation that confessed serial killer Robert Charles Browne may have been involved.
 
The Doe Network: Case File 542UFTX
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/542uftx.html

Unidentified White/Hispanic Female

The victim was discovered on November 4, 1986 near Rockdale, Milam County, Texas
Estimated Date of Death: October 25, 1986 - November 4, 1986
Cause of Death: Blunt trauma to back of head.
Partial Skeleton; Facial features indistinguishable.

Vital Statistics
Estimated age: 12-18 years old
Approximate Height and Weight: 5'2"; 90-100 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Possibly of Hispanic origin, or possibly from Mexico. Reddish or dark brown hair which appeared to be bleached to a reddish blonde; double pierced ears.
Dentals: Available: see link below for photograph. Teeth are misaligned and in extremely bad shape with no prior dental work. This may have affected her speech.
Clothing/Jewelry: She was nude except for a cheap yellow metal ring on her left ring finger.
Medical: Indications of spina bifida and she may have had an abnormal posture or walk.
DNA: Pending

Case History
The victim was located at 1:45pm in the grass along US Highway 77, 6 7/10 miles south of Rockdale, by a telephone company repairman, in Milam County, Texas on November 4, 1986. Her body was lying face down, nude. She had been in the elements for possibly a week.
These remains were disinterred on November 6, 2006. The jaw bone and maxilla pictured in the link below were not located in the grave. Authorities will not be able to have a 3-D facial reconstruction done without this, however the skull and the autopsy photos of the jaw and maxilla has been delivered to a forensic sketch artist who supplied the above 2-D drawing.
No suspects or leads have ever came forward in this case.

Investigators
If you have any information about this case please contact:
Milam County Sheriff's Office
Investigator Greg J. Kouba
254-697-7033
You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

Agency Case Number: 10-877

NCIC Number:
U-221806001
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/542uftx.html
https://identifyus.org/cases/4234
 
The Doe Network: Case File 634DFTX
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/634dftx.html

Michelle Doherty Thomas
Missing since October 5, 1985 from Alta Loma, Galveston County, Texas.
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: November 16, 1967
Age at Time of Disappearance: 17 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'2"; 85 lbs
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Green eyes; brown hair.
Marks, Scars, Tattoos: She has a scar on the neck. She has very prominent freckles.
Clothing: Last seen wearing a black Harley Davidson tank top, blue jeans, tennis shoes and carrying a beige purse.
DNA: Available

Circumstances of Disappearance
Thomas was last seen leaving her residence in Santa Fe, Texas, in northern Galveston County. She was supposed to meet some friends and then go to a Galveston Island nightclub, but she never showed up. Two days later she was reported missing by her family.
Investigators believe she might have been kidnapped and killed because she had served as a police informant in a drug bust. Foul play is possible.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Galveston County Sheriff's Department
409-766-2300

NCIC Number:
M-170861541
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/634dftx.html
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/t/thomas_michelle.html
http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/mpch/mpdetails.asp?id='M7/16/20033:15:37PM'
 
What do you guys think about this Jane Doe in Rockdale, Milam County, Texas possibly being Michelle Doherty Thomas? The body build and dates of disappearance and death are not totally unreasonable.

There are a few maybe caveats, MDT's description is very brief, so I don't know if any of these matter.
  1. The UID's mild spina bifida leading to a possible limp. MDT's description says nothing about a limp or about any known health issues.
    Edited to add: Many people with spina bifida occulta don't have any symptoms. From the information provided, it's not clear what form of spina bifida the UID has, only that she could possibly have had a limp or posture problems.
  2. The UID's very poor dental health. MDT's description says nothing about dentals and she's not in NamUs. Someone evidently cared enough about her to file a report, though. Would this make it less likely for her to have not gotten any dental care in several years?
  3. Where would MDT have been in the intervening time and why?

I found this old article about Rockdale/Milam County Jane Doe that contains some more discussion and a sketch that looks a little like Michelle Doherty Thomas. The article is from 2007 so DNA ought to be done by now, but we all know how that goes. Doe Network says DNA is pending.

Milam County takes fresh look at old murder case
http://209.189.226.235/stories/010907/local_20070109004.php

Also, I found a mention of MDT in a Google News search that gives her disappearance date as October 26, 1985 instead of October 5.
 

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Pasting the article here for reference in case it disappears.

Milam County takes fresh look at old murder case
By HOLLY HUFFMAN
Eagle Staff Writer
http://209.189.226.235/stories/010907/local_20070109004.php
(Originally located at http://www.theeagle.com/stories/010907/local_20070109004.php)
Milam County takes fresh look at old murder case

By HOLLY HUFFMAN
Eagle Staff Writer
Updated January 9, 2007 7:25 AM
Special to The Eagle

Milam County Sheriff's investigator Greg Kouba knows little about the young girl whose naked and decomposing body was found 20 years ago, dumped in a bar ditch south of Rockdale.

But two decades and two months after the girl was murdered, Kouba said questions still abound. Who was she? Where was she from? Who killed her? More important, why?

Kouba said he hopes DNA testing and a new forensic sketch will help investigators find the answers.

"There is a family out there somewhere that is missing a daughter or sister," he said, explaining why the department re-opened the 20-year-old case and was pushing to identify the girl. "She deserves at least that."

It was 20 years ago last November when a telephone repairman discovered the girl's body dumped in a grassy area along U.S. 77, less than seven miles south of Rockdale near Yegua Creek. Her body was obscured by the tall grass.

Autopsy results would later show the girl - killed by three to five blows to the back of the head - had been dead for about 10 days. After fruitless identification attempts, she was buried the following year in a pauper's grave.

Over the years, the department has taken occasional looks at the case, including a serious review in 2001, Kouba said. But investigators never developed any significant leads. Until November 2006 - the 20th anniversary of her death.

Last November, investigators obtained a warrant to exhume the body and send it for a forensic autopsy, anthropological exam and DNA sample - crime-fighting tools that weren't widely available in 1986. Investigators also had a forensic artist from the Williamson County District Attorney's Office compile a sketch using measurements from the girl's skull, recent autopsy results and the hair found in her grave.

The exams showed the girl was between 12 and 16 and possibly of Hispanic descent. She suffered from spina bifida, which caused her to walk with a limp or abnormal posture. Severe tooth decay and no sign of previous dental work showed she didn't have access to medical care.

The forensic artist suggested the girl could have been mentally handicapped and killed by a caretaker or health-care provider, Kouba said. But the theory, he said, is just that - a theory.

"We don't know anything," the investigator said, stressing the need for leads in the case.

It could take six months to a year for DNA test results to come back because of the crime lab backlog, Kouba said. Once her DNA is entered in the registry, the department could get an immediate match if one of her family members already is in the system, Kouba said, acknowledging the chances of such an outcome were slim.

In the meantime, the department is circulating the forensic sketch, which has been posted in state and national missing persons databases, as well as a database compiled by the Mexican government. Kouba said the image - though not an exact likeness - could play a key role in identifying the girl.

Once she is identified, Kouba said, the department can begin thoroughly investigating her death. Finding the family is key because relatives can give officers important information such as to where she was living, where she was from and if she was a runaway, he said.

"We can try to pinpoint a location and see who she was last seen with," Kouba said.

The case remains one of two unsolved murders investigated by Milam County sheriff's officials over the past 20 years. The second involves 18-year-old Clarissa Carvett "Vett" Turner, a Bryan resident who was found in October 1989, sexually assaulted and strangled under the Brazos River bridge on U.S. 79. She was last seen in Bryan the previous day.

Kouba said that case remains active, but no one has been charged in Turner's death. But, he noted, people are more likely to come forward as time passes.

"She deserves justice. She deserves for us to keep working to find out who is responsible for killing her. She didn't deserve what she got, left under a bridge like that," Kouba said, explaining why law officers continue to search for answers in cold cases. "We have a duty to keep working."

AT A GLANCE

Autopsy and anthropology exam results:

• She was between the ages of 12 and 16 and could be of Hispanic descent, possibly a Mexican national.

• She suffered from spina bifida and may have walked with a limp or had abnormal posture.

• She had severe tooth decay and no sign of previous dental work, which indicates she didn't have access to medical care and likely suffered from significant mouth pain prior to her death.

If you have any information about either of Milam County's two unsolved cases, call Milam County Crime Stoppers at 888-697-TIPS. You do not have to provide your name, and you could be eligible for a $1,000 reward if your information leads to the arrest and grand jury indictment of the person or people responsible for the deaths.
Click to expand...
 
I don't think it's her. Although the height and weight are either exact or very close, something tells me we'd know if MDT would have had spina bifida. But I can't judge this one very well if details are left out of MDT's description.
 
Yeah, I'm iffy on the spina bifida aspect. One reason why I don't discard her is that if the UID indeed had the "mild" kind, she may have had a limp, or she may not have known she had spina bifida at all. Many people with spina bifida occulta don't have any symptoms.
 
There's a resemblance (the nose especially, IMO), though it's hard to tell by that drawing. It doesn't seem like MDT would be mistaken for Hispanic as she has very pale skin tone with prominent freckles, but Jane Doe's body may not have been in a condition where they were sure. The timeline makes sense, though, as long as the Oct 5 disappearance date for MDT is the accurate one. And the place where MDT disappeared is only about a three-hour drive from the place where Jane Doe was found, so that's definitely within the realm of possibility...
Just my :twocents:
:)
 
Could this be Angelica Maria Longoria? She went missing in 1985 in California. The police originally thought she was an endangered runaway, which could explain the timelapse. Problem is, she was really tiny; she was about six inches to one foot shorter (she could potentially be barely 4 feet tall) than the Jane Doe, but all of her other stats match up. I sort of feel that there isn't enough information on her to list spina bifida as a medical condition.
 
Joyce Irene Walcott

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/w/walcott_joyce.html

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/3063/0/

Missing since April 29, 1986 from Reseda, Los Angeles County, California.
Classification: Endangered Missing


Vital Statistics

Date Of Birth: January 5, 1967
Age at Time of Disappearance: 19 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'3; 106 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; brown eyes. Walcott's nickname is "Sneezie."
Scars, Marks, Tattoos: Scar on abdomen, scar on left buttock, scar on neck, scar on thigh, unknown which one. Joyce had an operation in which a bone from another part of her body was implanted in her neck to replace the bone that had been shattered after a severe car accident.
Clothing: Blue and white short sleeved pullover top, blue Sol Levi's, white tennis shoes with turquoise stripes.
Jewelry: LCD Timex watch; a yellow metal necklace with a unicorn charm.
Dentals: Dental X-rays Available.
DNA: Available in CODIS.

Circumstances of Disappearance
Walcott disappeared from Reseda, California on April 29, 1986. Walcott left her aunt's apartment shortly before noon, and walked the two blocks up Sherman Way to a 7-11 convenience market to drop off a job application. She then walked next door to Sav-on, picked up an application and took it over to Winchell's Donuts to meet two girlfriends and fill out the form. The application never got dropped off, and Walcott never made it back to her aunt's apartment. Foul play is suspected.

The fact that she had severe injuries from a car accident really seems to keep me wondering if this could be her. Also, date, age, weight, height and hair match. Only thing bothering me is Joyce's teeth look beautiful in her picture and Jane Doe's are misaligned and in bad shape. So this is just a shot in the dark...
 

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I'm reluctant to post this missing person because of the distance from where she went missing to where this woman was found BUT there are some similarities:

Erica Jayne Franolich

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/f/franolich_erica.html

Erica Jayne Franolich
Missing since October 13, 1986 from Middleburgh, New York
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics
•Date Of Birth: August 12, 1960
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 26 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'3"; 100 lbs.
•Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; brown eyes.
•Marks, Scars: Mole on left knee
•Clothing: Baggy shirt, blue denim overalls.
•Dentals: Buck teeth
•AKA: Erica Poprafsky

Circumstances of Disappearance
Erica was last seen at approximately 21:00 in the vicinity of Main Street and Rail Road Avenue in Middleburgh, NY.


She wasn't reported missing for five months after she went missing...she went missing around the time they think this woman was murdered. They are about the same size/height and this woman has protruding teeth.

I also just read that they had recently moved to Ny from somewhere else...the article didn't mention where.
 
Mysteryphile said:
Erica Jayne Franolich

[...]

I also just read that they had recently moved to Ny from somewhere else...the article didn't mention where.
Click to expand...

Huh. Via some Googling I found that Mrs. Franolich and her family relocated to New York from Texas. The Franoliches were married in 1985 in Travis County, Texas, which is only 2 counties over from Milam County, where the UID was found.

However, the UID's age estimate of 12-16 or 13-18 years strikes against her being Erica Jayne Franolich.

The UID's dentals are not in NamUs. Doe Network says her maxilla and mandible could not be located in the grave when she was disinterred, which I don't see reported in other articles. They apparently took dental photographs before burial and must have noted her permanent second and third molars status while deriving her age, I assume. Mrs. Franolich has only dentals, no DNA in NamUs.

NamUs MP # 643: Erica Jayne Franolich
https://findthemissing.org/en/cases/643
 
Another few articles about the UID:

KMIL News: January 8, 2007: SHERIFF'S OFFICE RELEASES FORENSIC DRAWING ON 1986 UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE
http://www.kmil.com/Localnews2007/0108IDwoman.htm
KMIL said:
Kouba said that the autopsy performed last November indicated that the young girl was between the ages of 12-16 years of age at the time of her death and possibly of Hispanic origin and that she suffered from spina bifida. The girl may have walked with a limp or had abnormal posture. Serious tooth decay was prevalent throughout and with no prior dental work, the young girl was probably in a lot of pain according to medical examiners.
Click to expand...

Temple Daily Telegram: Unsolved mysteries leave Milam sheriff, deputies perplexed
http://www.tdtnews.com/archive/article_9364f6d9-6669-5ac3-95a4-e40b0cf2ab7c.html
Temple Daily Telegram said:
"Jane Doe" was characterized by investigators as an impoverished field laborer from Mexico or South America. Her shoulder-length dark brown hair had been lightened to a red-blonde shade. Her ears had been pierced twice, but no earrings were found. She wore a "cheap yellow metal ring" as if it were a wedding band.
Click to expand...
 
I hadn't realized that the ages were that far off...and I suppose they estimated the age by how closed the fissures in the head were so it's probably pretty accurate. :(

I knew the age was more than the UID's but I'd seen ages listed before on Doe etc...and when the person was found sometimes the age was way off...that's the only reason why I wasn't ruling her out only because of that.

Thank you Zinc for posting the additional articles...they were very interesting to read.
 
Houston Mom said:
I found this girl, but need help translating:
Click to expand...

Name: Maricela Lopez Savedra
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: March 7, 1973
Age: 14 years
Height: 162 cm (about 5’5” to 5’6”)
Weight: 68 Kilos (about 150 lbs)
Physical Appearance: Thin
Complexion: Light
Face: Small and Oval
Eyes: Small and round, Light Brown
Hair: Normal, black and moderately curly.
Mouth: Small
Nose: Small, flat and thin
Forehead: Wide
Eyebrows: Thin
Lips: dark and thin
Chin: Round and Small
Date of Disappearance: April 8, 1984
Place: La Turvina
Circumstances: Involuntary Departure
 
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