LA LA - Ouachita Parish, WhtMale 42-50, UP1876, western styled clothes, lizard cowboy boots, Nov'82

CarlK90245

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Case File 36UMLA http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/36umla.html
NamUs UP Case 1876 https://identifyus.org/cases/1876



The Doe Network:
Case File 36UMLA

36UMLA.jpg
36UMLA1.jpg

Reconstructions of Victim

# Unidentified White Male Located on November 14, 1982 in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana.
# Estimated Date of Death: 6-24 Months prior
# Partial Skeletal Remains

Vital Statistics

* Estimated age: 42-50 years old
* Approximate Height and Weight: 5'8"-5'11"
* Distinguishing Characteristics: Light colored, blonde/sandy hair.
* Clothing: Blue denim jeans, "Tenners" brand, size 34 waist; red & white checkered long-sleeved western styled shirt, "Cutter Bills Western Store" brand, size 15.5 x 34; red & white baseball styled cap with red, white and blue logo (cowboy on bucking horse), brown leather top with lizard bottom cowboy boots, Wrangler-Bat Masterson brand, size 10 to 11.
* Skeletal Findings: Antemortem healed fractures on left rib #6 and right rib #7; Schmorl depressions on vertebral disks; ossified thyroid cartilage.
* Fingerprints: Not available
* Dentals: Available. Porcelain over silver bridge noted for teeth #2-4 and #12-14. Crown noted on tooth #30. Amalgam fillings noted on teeth #7 (MLD),8(L),11(L), 15(O),17(O),18(MOL), 19(BOL),29(BOLD)and 31(MOLD). Unfilled caries noted on teeth #15 & 19.
* DNA: Samples submitted - tests not complete

Case History
The victim was located on November 14, 1982 in a wooded rural area in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana.
 
This one has been on my tentatives list for a while.

David Edward Parker
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/p/parker_david.html
36UMLA.jpg
parker_david.jpg


His nose is exactly the same shape, and even skews to his right, and hooks back left in the same way. He also has very similar facial dimensions and shape.

Ouachita Parish is about 270 miles from Mesquite TX, and a straight shot down I-20. His car was found in Mt. Pleasant, which is about 200 miles from Ouachita Parish LA, but about 70 miles north of I-20.

The nine month timeframe is consistent with the UID's 6-24 month estimated postmortem interval.

However, he is slightly tall (6'0"), and slightly old (52) compared to estimates of 5'8"-5'11" and 42-50 years old.

There is no way of knowing whether the cowboy garb is consistent with the type of clothing that he would wear.
 
my only 2 comments on this possible match Carl are the waist size of the jeans and the hair color. I am like 6'1" and at one time I was knocking on the door of 200 pounds and I had to wear a 36" waist. not that a 34" was impossible but it was not comfortable for extended periods of time. so if David Edward Parker was exactly 200 lbs and 6'0", I would think the jeans are just a little too tight.

Parker's hair was reported as brown and the UID was considered blonde/sandy. (by the way the recon has hair I would call brown and not blonde/sandy.
 
... if David Edward Parker was exactly 200 lbs and 6'0", I would think the jeans are just a little too tight.

It depends on whether his weight is in his belly, or in his buttocks. :)

I've seen plenty of aging cowboy types with big bellies and skinny legs and no rear-end.
 
I failed to factor in not butt fat but muscle.

if Donald was a muscular guy or at least solid, the muscle weight might have been evenly distributed about his body and not so much around his waist.
 
That reconstruction seems weird. The face looks way older than 42-50 and the hair looks way younger than the face. It's like they made his face look 60 but then gave him a 30 year old hair style.
 
Carl -
I like the match based on the facial similarity -in my opinion, the hair throws the comparison off visually (the model's hair shown in the reconstruction doesn't match the description given for the john doe) - the reconstruction's hair color has an auburn hue and appears to be thick and course; Parker's hair looks to be either brown or sandy blonde - and more fine in texture.
The eyebrows are also different from the reconstruction with Parker's being more hooded/ his eyes are set back deeper. However, we have all seen different artist provide reconstructions for the same unidentified that give different results. Soft tissue surrounding eyes maybe one of those variables.
The geographic proximity is close. It's amazing that LE hasn't already considered Parker as a match given the timing, physical characteristics, etc. The dentals on the unidentified should make a comparison to Parker easy - that is if Parker's dental records still exist. I have tried to find more info on Parker's medical and dental records, but have not been successful. I do think you are on to something with this possible match. Parker needs to be ruled out at the very least.
 
Carl -
I like the match based on the facial similarity -in my opinion, the hair throws the comparison off visually (the model's hair shown in the reconstruction doesn't match the description given for the john doe) - the reconstruction's hair color has an auburn hue and appears to be thick and course; Parker's hair looks to be either brown or sandy blonde - and more fine in texture.
The eyebrows are also different from the reconstruction with Parker's being more hooded/ his eyes are set back deeper. However, we have all seen different artist provide reconstructions for the same unidentified that give different results. Soft tissue surrounding eyes maybe one of those variables.
The geographic proximity is close. It's amazing that LE hasn't already considered Parker as a match given the timing, physical characteristics, etc. The dentals on the unidentified should make a comparison to Parker easy - that is if Parker's dental records still exist. I have tried to find more info on Parker's medical and dental records, but have not been successful. I do think you are on to something with this possible match. Parker needs to be ruled out at the very least.

I agree. All of the things that look different from the recon to Parker (i.e., hairstyle, ears, eyebrows, shape of eyelids, and jowels) are all things that a forensic artist would not know from just a skull.

If the remains were sitting in the open for 6-24 months (as is estimated), there probably wasn't more than a few strands of hair left from which they determined his hair color. It is very doubtful that there would be enough hair left to determine a hairstyle.
 
Carl - no doubt I would submit. The small differences in ht and age are too close to dismiss. Especially after we just saw snuf's match where they were listed with a 4" difference in ht. IIRC.

Also, various descriptions on a dark blonde hair can be incredibly wide. So wide a darker ash blonde might be described as blonde by some and brown by others. I'm thinking along the lines of a natural medium blonde as a child and how the hair darkens so much it hardly appears blonde anymore in adulthood, though someone might still call the color blonde.

I think the nose is too similiar to not submit.

jmo
 
Definitely submit, CarlK. There are enough strong data points to make a case. After reading a 2003 series by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on how NCIC has made one match in its entire history and the many mistakes human judgment can make in describing victims' remains (depressing yet fascinating read!), I wouldn't let the discrepancies deter you since they are all hard to gauge from a skull.

The only trace I could find of David Edward Parker was a USGENWEB archive of Texas birth records from 1929. It only listed his parents, no siblings born in the same county. It seems sad that all these years, he might have no family to search for him.
 
The only trace I could find of David Edward Parker was a USGENWEB archive of Texas birth records from 1929. It only listed his parents, no siblings born in the same county. It seems sad that all these years, he might have no family to search for him.

I hope this is not one of those cases that remain forever unsolved due to lack of identifiers. DoeNet does not indicate any identifiers in his casefile

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/580dmtx.html

I just kicked off an e-mail to Helen Bouzon of LSU Faces Lab.
 
I hope this is not one of those cases that remain forever unsolved due to lack of identifiers. DoeNet does not indicate any identifiers in his casefile

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/580dmtx.html


I just kicked off an e-mail to Helen Bouzon of LSU Faces Lab.


I take it back! I just did another search and I think I found a marriage listing for David Edward Parker on a genealogy site. I will PM the information to you in case it comes in handy :).
 
tifflee can you please give a link to the article on NCIC?
 
What has me hooked on the possible match is the similarity of the noses.. The height and age range is close in ranges... I hope you hear back soon.
 
Reply from Helen Bouzon:

Carl,
I called the Texas Department of Public Safety. They do not have any dental records for David Parker and his DNA has been entered into CODIS. So, this is one of those cases we will leave up to CODIS since ours has also been entered.
Helen
 
Cutter Bill's Western Wear was apparently from a chain of Cutter Bill's stores in Houston and Dallas. It was a time when cowboys, texas, etc. were "cool." (J.R. Ewing, anyone?)

The jeans are probably then Teners brand, and not Tenners as spelled, for which I can find nothing. Teners Western Wear is a brand.

I did find also a listing for some vinage Wrangler W.B. Masterson men's boots, although they don't have the lizard print from what I can tell:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/26277223/wrangler-special-edition-cowboy-cowgirl

So are we thinking actual cowboy, cowboy costume, or somewhere in between?
 
Rule outs:

Clarence Dellis 1940 Louisiana
Jimmy Long 1953 Louisiana
 
Although an LA decedent, note @Irish_Eyes comment (Nov 2011) above, about a possible TX connection.
 
NAMUS Rule Outs - 07/10/2020

Dellis, Clarence - MP4087
01/25/1980 - Orleans, LA

Long, Jimmy - MP4155
11/18/1979 - Ouachita, LA
 

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