Resolved OR - Yamhill Co, HispMale 18-70, UP953, 'Michigan' cap, rosary, crucifix, clothes, Apr'01 - NamUs profile removed

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Kimster

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A partially decomposed body of a fully-clothed male decedent was found in Yamhill, County April 2001.

Weight (pounds) 160, Estimated
Height (inches) 65, Measured

Hair color Black 1/2" long


Levi Strauss denim collared short sleeve shirt, size XL. Calvin Klein, denim jeans, size 36. Plaid boxers, brand Phat Farm. White sweat socks.
Baseball cap with the letter "M" and the word "Michigan" on his chest. White plastic rosary and yellow metal chain with crucifix pendant around neck.

12043
12044

6217


https://identifyus.org/en/cases/953

(More pictures of jewelry at link)
 
Those plastic rosaries are often placed in the entrance of backs of churches for folks to take if they want/need one. They usually come in a pouch with a prayer card.

The crucifix is fairly big compared to what most folks wear (though I have seen a few particularly devout men wear one that large). One this large I have mostly seen worn over the cassock by altar servers, or by a priest,deacon, or monk.

The small ring on the necklace chain looks like a rosary ring. You can buy these at catholic shops. They have little miniaturized "beads" to help you count the rosary prayers. I wish therre were a better pic of the ring, but that is what it looks like to me (the rosary is divided into 5 "decades"... darker "beads" on the ring would be the spot for the Our Father prayer at the beginning of each decade).

Lastly...the man looks like he could be either native American or Hispanic. Are there either of those communities in the area he was found? If he was particularly devout (as it looks like he was by the accessories), he might be known at a parish in one of them. Daily communicants (those who attend mass daily, or on more days than just Sundays) tend to be better known to the priest or other parishioners, as it is a smaller group that attends daily mass than on Sundays.

Hope some of this might be helpful. :)
 
Good sleuthing, Gardenlady! :highfive:

Yes, there are Native American tribes in Oregon. Here's a link to a list: http://www.native-languages.org/oregon.htm

I thought he looked Native American also, but the many Catholic items found on him led me to turn to Hispanic. Not that there aren't Native Americans who are Catholic, but it did give me a reason to focus more on those two ethnic groups.
 
Here is a listing of Catholic parishes in Yamhill Cty:

http://www.thecatholicdirectory.com..._directory&country=US&state=OR&county=YAMHILL

Cross referencing with the Portland diocese web page shows that St Martin de Porres, st James parish (not the one at the college) and St Peter all have Spanish Masses. St Martin has only Spanish masses, so that might be the spot with the highest concentration of hispanic people.

Is there are particular city in the Yamhill county area that has a particularly high population of Native Americans? We could look for parishes in that town/area too.

If you want we could divide up the parishes and email them with a photo and info on this man, and ask if anyone who was around back in 2001 recognizes him. I'm a little busy this afternoon but could probably get some emails sent out tonight or tomorrow.

Anyway... These are just the places I'd start with - there is always the possibility he is white, or non-Spanish speaking Hispanic, in which case if he was devout then that opens up other parishes (and in fact, he might be from outside Yamhill Cty, which further widens the possibilities) to try. I noticed that the diocese of Portland (which includes Yamhill) is fairly large!

Also... I didn't see on Namus an exact location where he was found - have you found that info yet? I tried to see if there were any archived news articles on our man, but came up with nothing... Will keep looking though!
 
I wish they could pin the age frame down a little...
18-70 years pretty much covers it all except small children, runaway teens and senile octogenarians.
 
Hmm I'm confused about something. doe Network describes him as having the word "Michigan" tattooed on his chest. however, Namus does not have the "tattoos" box marked, and further, it says under "clothes" that he has the word Michigan on the chest (possibly indicating that it is a t shirt with the word "Michigan", rather than a tattoo?

I checked through the Charley project's list of Michigan missing, assuming that it was a tattoo, found no one that might match, but then I caught the discrepancy and am wondering if "Michigan" was a tattoo or just on a shirt!!
 
I was confused too but I thought the word Michigan was in the baseball cap which was on his chest..?

Clothing with body
Baseball cap with the letter "M" and the word "Michigan" on his chest.
Click to expand...
 
Donjeta said:
I was confused too but I thought the word Michigan was in the baseball cap which was on his chest..?
Click to expand...

Ack... Didn't think of that possibility ... So it could be:

A tattoo of the word "Michigan" on his chest (per Doe Network) OR

A shirt or hat with the word Michigan, on his chest.

:banghead:
 
JMO, it's the ball cap. That's what it says on Namus which lists no tattoos.

Doe Network says their source information is from Namus. I think someone just read it a little carelessly.
http://doenetwork.org/cases/1484umor.html
 
Mamashawn, I noted him too. namus said he might be working at a winery in CA, and when I was looking for info on Yamhill, it mentioned info on there being wineries in the area. Perhaps he travelled up/down the west coast doing work at wineries?
 
He was last seen camping outside Omak, WA. RockWall Cellars is in Omak.
 
IMO could be italian too, or even biracial. Short black hair and wearing rosaries.

If that nose is a true representation of what he probably looked like, then I am definitely leaning toward white/italian or biracial.

The 'MICHIGAN' thing, whether tattoo or shirt, I think needs to be cleared up in order to make search & identification more accurate; for instance, if his shirt merely had the word 'MICHIGAN' on it, then he could have gotten it anywhere, been from anywhere; but if he had a 'MICHIGAN'tattoo, then in my mind that would indicate much more strongly that it was possible he was from Michigan, or had lived there at some point.

We know sports fans tattoo the names of their favorite teams on their bodies all the time, but MICHIGAN refers to the U of MICHIGAN, and IMO it is much less common to see tattoos of college teams on a person who didn't live in the area. Of course it's not completely unheard of, but I think I'm safe in saying it's less common.

Case in point, there is a dude at my work who has a MICHIGAN 'M' tattoo'd on his calf; he grew up in Detroit.

Long story short, we need clarification whether 'MICHIGAN' was a tattoo or an emblem sewn on a shirt. :twocents:

Kimster said:
Good sleuthing, Gardenlady! :highfive:

Yes, there are Native American tribes in Oregon. Here's a link to a list: http://www.native-languages.org/oregon.htm

I thought he looked Native American also, but the many Catholic items found on him led me to turn to Hispanic. Not that there aren't Native Americans who are Catholic, but it did give me a reason to focus more on those two ethnic groups.
Click to expand...
 
IMO Namus makes it clear that the letter M and the word Michigan were on a baseball cap that was placed on his chest. Michigan is listed under "clothing with body", not medical and physical features.

Doe Network's info is second hand from Namus and the tattoo thing is a mistake imo. Someone jumped the gun seeing "michigan on his chest" and the context got lost.
 
I called and spoke with Howard at the ME's office, and asked for clarification about the location of "Michigan". He couldn't find the case in the records, so I gave him the NAMUS# and the Doe Network Case#. He said he would look into this and give me a call back.

I had called to submit George McDonald as a possible match, but he wanted me to wait until he actually found the case information.

Hopefully I'll hear back soon.
 
I think we're going to figure this one out.

It seems like I've seen someone who looks like this gentleman before. It's really gnawing at me. I'll keep digging.
 
Still digging here too.

He could be Italian...but the shape of his face and nose make me think more mestizo (Hispanic euro/native mix) or full native American. In fact he looks in the recreation a lot like an older version of a Colombian guy I dated too many years ago to count, but with much shorter hair. :innocent:

The winery link Between our UID being located in a region with vineyards, and George MacDonald working at them is pretty good, IMO, but there is something about the face that looks off, maybe because of the mustache and longer hair in George's picture. Mamashawn please let us know as soon as you hear back.
 
I wish we had a profile shot of George McDonald. That would help a lot, as I can't tell if his nose curves up instead of down.
 
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