TX TX - Trinity Co, WhtMale 20-30, 148UMTX (UP4617), hit by train, glasses, clothes, boots, Aug'81

tatertot

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UID:

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/148umtx.html
https://identifyus.org/cases/4617

Missing Person: Gary Dale Mathias

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/3509dmca.html
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/mathias_gary.html

The circumstances don't match one iota. Mathias was believed to have died in a snowstorm along with his four friends, whose bodies were recovered the next spring, and the UID was hit by a train three years later and over 2000 miles away. The photos sure look alike, though.

Vital stats:
The UID was 20-30 -- Mathias was 25 (28 by August 1981)
UID was 6 feet to 6 feet, 2 inches -- Mathias was 5 feet 10 inches
UID was 160 pounds -- Mathias was 170 pounds
UID had brown hair, blue eyes -- Mathias has brown hair, hazel eyes

Both Mathias and the UID have thick hair with a part slightly to the left and a large chunk that falls over the right eye. Their mustaches are similar and they appear to be wearing very similar glasses. Per NamUs they are plastic prescription glasses, which look a lot like the glasses Daniel Fogg (otherwise unrelated to this case) is wearing in his photo: http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/f/fogg_daniel.html Could these have been the type of glasses distributed at the type of residential home Fogg was staying in and by the day program for mentally-handicapped adults that Mathias attended?

Their chins look different and I'm not sure if the way Mathias has his lips pursed in his photo could account for that. Anyone?

I can only think of one circumstance that could make this a match. Per Charley Project, Mathias was mildly retarded and per Doe Network, he was paranoid schizophrenic but he functioned well most of the time and had a drivers license. It's noted that his functioning deteriorates if he's placed in a stressful situation. Of the men who died in the snowstorm, one had made it 19 miles from their abandoned car to a trailer where he lived for 8 to 13 weeks, and Mathias was thought to have possibly made it to the trailer too but left again. Is it somehow possible that he tried to go for help, possibly taking the other man's shoes that were never found, caught a ride with someone and then the stress caught up with him and he left the area? He had been in the Army before so he must have been quite capable and independent.

Photo Comparison:
**WARNING: POST-MORTEM PHOTOS**
http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/index.php?showtopic=63485&st=0&#entry11292563
**WARNING: POST-MORTEM**

Incidentally, NamUs does not yet list any rule-outs for the UID but on Porchlight Daniel Fogg (1980) and Richard Forsyth (1979) are confirmed as rule-outs via the Trinity County, Texas Sheriff's Office.
 
without elaborating, I can guess why the ME can't estimate weight for the UID even though he died the same day he was found. you would think with a known size of jeans, a shirt size and the height range of 6'0" to 6'2" they would have some range of weights for the guy.
 
NamUs gave the UID's weight as an "estimated" 160 but I know what you mean.

This archived news article states that Mathias and his friends and basketball teammates were all over six feet tall, which would match the UID's height (an actual measured height, per NamUs): http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&dq=gary mathias missing&pg=6761,3100027

This article has an additional photo of Mathias, presumably from when he was in the Army: http://news.google.com/newspapers?i...AIBAJ&dq=gary mathias missing&pg=4201,5468925
 
They do look a lot alike. Good find.
Are the ears the same? It looks to me like the UID has smaller ears but it's hard to tell because the size of the face in the photo is different.
 
isn't the different eye colors a big problem between the UID and Mathis? I can understand confusing hazel with brown or green, but not blue.
 
The UID ears seem larger in this sketch.
148UMTX.jpg
 
The Yuba County Sheriff's Department called me today and the woman I spoke to was very appreciative of the potential match. I regret that I didn't get her name. She said the physical resemblance was very strong but the missing man was very close to his mother and would have been highly unlikely to leave home for several years. They are getting in touch with family to view the photos but they don't expect this to be a match.
 
It's good that they're checking it anyway. We hear so often about LE units that blow off MP/UID tips that I really appreciate the ones that do their job.
 
It's good that they're checking it anyway. We hear so often about LE units that blow off MP/UID tips that I really appreciate the ones that do their job.

I had a conversation with a guy from NamUS the other day about LE blowing off leads or tips on the missing/UID's. NamUS employees even get treated the same as we do at times. Very sad.

Glad they are at least looking into Tatertot's lead.
 
No new information on Namus as of June 23 2014.

Doenet includes the information that he's uncircumcised.
 
Okay, I don't know about this one. A lot of things are close. This is the detail that caught my eye, though:
Dale had perfect teeth. His father is a dentist. http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/573dmca.html
UID: All teeth present with no cavities or fillings. http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/148umtx.html

Dale Kelley, 21, missing May 20, 1981 from Sacramento CA. According to Doenet: Kelley was going to drive to Los Angeles, CA to visit his girlfriend. He last spoke with her at 8am that morning. His orange Toyota Celica with California license plate #598TIH was discovered abandoned in New Orleans, Louisiana shortly after he vanished. California to New Orleans would take him through Texas. They suspect foul play but maybe whoever had the car just dumped him out to walk, or something.


He was 5'10" and 165lbs when he disappeared. Brown hair, green eyes as opposed to the UID's brown hair, blue eyes. He didn't have a mustache when last seen, but May to August is enough time to grow one.
 

Attachments

  • Dale Kelley and trinity TX uid.png
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Nice find carbuff but I have my doubts. Kelley had a full head of youthful hair and the UID's hair seems to be thinning. Also, it was said that Kelley's car was found in New Orleans shortly after he vanished. I'm not sure why Kelley would want to be in Texas for a few months without a car. I sort of had the impression that he met his demise around the time someone took his vehicle.
 
Nice find carbuff but I have my doubts. Kelley had a full head of youthful hair and the UID's hair seems to be thinning. Also, it was said that Kelley's car was found in New Orleans shortly after he vanished. I'm not sure why Kelley would want to be in Texas for a few months without a car. I sort of had the impression that he met his demise around the time someone took his vehicle.

Yes, there are certainly several negatives against a match and circumstances are the big one. I was thinking that somebody could have basically carjacked him and left him in Texas to find his way home on his own.
 
I would think that if he were the victim of a carjacking and survived, he would have called home.
 
The Yuba County Sheriff's Department called me today and the woman I spoke to was very appreciative of the potential match. I regret that I didn't get her name. She said the physical resemblance was very strong but the missing man was very close to his mother and would have been highly unlikely to leave home for several years. They are getting in touch with family to view the photos but they don't expect this to be a match.
Any updates???
 
I don’t have a theory (based on what little is known about the MP) explaining the circumstances, but I was comparing this UID’s post mortem photos to men missing shortly before the train accident, and I found Keith. The vital stats fit and though he doesn’t look a whole lot like the reconstruction, I think he does look like the post mortem images. The eyebrows especially.

Keith A. LaLima – The Charley Project
http://charleyproject.org/case/keith-a-lalima
upload_2020-9-26_13-14-42.jpegupload_2020-9-26_13-14-56.jpeg
 

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