CA CA - Tujunga, Hisp/AsianFem 440UFCA, 14-24, wig & St Christopher medallion, Aug'94

• UID female found partially burned
  
  http://doenetwork.org/cases/440ufca.html
  

The victim was discovered on August 7, 1994 in Tujunga, Los Angeles County, California
Estimated Date of Death is August 7, 1994

Vital Statistics

Estimated age: 14-24 years old
Approximate Height and Weight: 5'3"; 133 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Possibly Filipina. Brown eyes; black, medium-length hair, beneath a wig.
Clothing: Tan slacks and a black and red flower-print blouse.
Jewelry: Two yellow metal hoop earrings; A yellow metal chain bearing a medal of St. Christopher the patron of travelers; V-shaped yellow metal ring with a small white stone.

This womans stats are close and she resembles the third reconstruction in my opinion. I would of thought they would of checked her out since she is missing within a reasonable distance of where the UID was found. I did not find a Namus page for the UID.

http://doenetwork.org/cases/396dfca.html

Her NAMUS page: identifyus.org/cases/3673

rene roof was ruled out.

7 Ruleouts listed in NaMus:

Lenay Aguina 1978 California
Angela Chan 1970 California
Melissa Espinoza 1981 California
Donnis Redman 1943 California
Rene Roof 1973 California
Michelle Valadez 1975 California
Joyce Walcott 1967 California

https://identifyus.org/cases/3673

Gardener1850 said:

On August 7, 1994, the remains of an unidentified female were discovered in a vacant dirt parking lot 60 feet north of La Tuna Canyon Road, approximately ½ mile east of the 210 Freeway in Sunland, California. The decedent had been deceased a few hours at time of discovery. The decedent was likely Hispanic, but may have been an admixture with Caucasian or Asian, and had a larger build that was considerably heavy for her size. She had black, shoulder length hair. The decedent had a ¾ inch horizontal scar on her right forehead, as well as many various small moles covering the entirety of her forehead. She had extensive dental work, including at least ten fillings and restorations, with various crooked teeth and gaps that would have been apparent when she talked. She was found wearing a multi-colored flower print blouse, brown pants (“LEVI’s" brand), two yellow metal earrings-one in each ear, a yellow metal ring with a single stone on left her ring finger, a yellow metal chain with attached Jesus figure, and a brown wig (“NEW BORN FREE” brand). She was also found with tennis shoes (“LA GEAR” brand), a math book, and a rubber band tying her hair back. The reconstruction featured above is an artist’s rendering of what the Jane Doe may have looked like. The additional photos have been enhanced to aid in visual identification and may not reflect the original case file images. Anyone with information should contact Los Angeles County Coroner, reference case number 94-06715.

Have you seen this child? JANE DOE1994

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Wish they could say what the math book was, that could help identify her age or school. Based on what she was found with, she's probably:

• Catholic (due to St. Christopher medal)
• A student (due to math book)
• Engaged or in a relationship (due to engagement or promise ring on her left ring finger)

Here are all of the pages that I've found online containing info about this case (I know some of these have already been posted, but some of the domains have changed and I just copied and pasted from my URL list:

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
Have you seen this child? JANE DOE1994
440UFCA
Can You Identify Me? Do You Know Me?: Lila Doe – I Just Want to Be ME Again!
CAF940807
LAPD hopes forensic sketch can ID Jane Doe | ABC7 Los Angeles | abc7.com
Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner


I found this photo interesting because it appears to be a close up of the decedent and not a sketch. It shows the scar and moles on her forehead. I found it on the canyouidentifyme blog. The URL is listed above. I find it odd that a blog has this photo but it's not on NCMEC, NamUs, or doenetwork.

In fact, none of the photos are included on her NamUs page or on the LA County Medical Examiner's page. I emailed the contact with NamUs to see if they can get her photos uploaded to her NamUs page.

I still haven't heard back from the contact that NamUs listed for this case. Yesterday was a government holiday so they were probably off work. If I don't hear from them tomorrow, I'll email them on Thursday. In the meantime, here's a picture of what the decedent probably looked like. I know it was posted above, but I want to keep her memory alive and I'd really like her to get her name back.

I did not hear back from the NamUs contact listed for this case that I emailed on Sunday. I followed up with her just now by email. Hopefully I will hear something back by the beginning of next week.

The other sketch of Lila doe.

I wonder if her lips where still recognizable and really looked like that. I was thinking about this Spanish girl abducted in 1990 at seventeen. Could the wig be used as a disguise forced on her by her abductor?
Maria De Los Angeles Martinez – The Charley Project

She would have been 21 when this UID was found. Hmmm the lips....

I’m not sure about the lips. In both of the composite drawings, her lips are full and there is a distinctive inward dip on the left side of her bottom lip. That makes me think the lips were recognizable since this was done in both composites.

One of my theories is that maybe the math book doesn't even have anything to do with the remains. Sometimes killers will put objects that have nothing to do with the remains in order to throw off investigators.

If the math book is hers then Another theory of mine is that she was studying at a friend's house and something bad happened (maybe she saw something she wasn't supposed to). She was murdered and taken several hours from where she was killed and her body was dumped and set on fire. August 7th, 1994 was a Sunday. They found her body around 11:30 pm that night and PMI was listed as hours.

I've saved a lot of potential matches in NamUs but I have a gut feeling she may have been a runaway who was not reported missing.

Pondering over this case; the modes operandi, what kind of perpetrator would set a body on fire etc...

Her cause of death was homicide by strangulation (per Doe Network). In her Namus file they state the following: "On 08/07/1994 @ 2325 hours the decedent was found on a hillside after firefighters had extinguished a brush fire @ La Tuna Canyon Rd in Tujunga, CA."

Other sources say:
She had been set on fire and body partially burned or "On August 7, 1994, some passersby noticed what they thought was a pile of trash burning below a yellow guardrail in an open area at La Tuna Canyon Road half-mile East of the 210 freeway off ramp in the Angeles National Forest, in Tujunga, California. They got out of their car to take a look and to kick dirt over the trash (to put out the fire) – only it wasn't trash burning. It was me!"

Still wondering if she was set afire on purpose or if her body was dumped there before a brush fire occurred, causing the body to be burned. The sources contain slightly different stories or leave info out.

For now let's keep it on set on fire on purpose.

I found a very interesting Dutch study about arson-related homicide. The whole study is interesting but for this thread I will bring some relevant parts (IMO) over
https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/83797/Boer_N_CSM_2017.pdf?sequence=1

Arson-related homicide:
A case of homicide with one or multiple lethal victims, in which arson was used either as a modus operandi to kill the victim(s), or in which a fire is set after a homicide is committed. Five types are distinguished:

• Primary arson: ∙ Setting fire to a structure or vehicle in which the victim is present (ante-mortem)
• Person burned: Setting fire to the body of the victim (antemortem)
• Secondary arson: Setting fire to a structure or vehicle in which the victim’s body is present (post-mortem)
  
• Body burned: Setting fire to the body of the victim (postmortem)
  
• Evidence burned: Setting fire aimed at pieces of evidence (flight vehicles, for example), leaving the victim unaffected by firesetting (post-mortem)

According to this study this kind of crime is most likely committed by a male, between 30 - 39 years, with a motive as revenge, jealousy and relation problems and thus a known person to the deceased.

In cases in which arson was involved post-mortem, the majority of deaths were caused by sharp object injuries (22%, n=39), gunshots (20%), followed by blunt object injury (14%, n=25) and asphyxia (smothering or strangling; 14%, n=24).

Grasping at straws here. There is no mentioning of her maybe traveling to America. She was 16 in 1987, in 1994 she would have been 23. 5'2

We need your help - WILMA DALISAY PATALOT was last seen on 25 January 1987 before her family migrated to Bicol. Wilma is believed to have worked in Baclaran area during that time. Her family never saw her again; there are concerns for her safety and welfare.

If you have any information of the whereabouts of the disappeared email us at missingpersons.ph@gmail.com

wilma dalisay patalot - Philippines Missing Persons

Bit of hope said:

Still wondering if she was set afire on purpose or if her body was dumped there before a brush fire occurred, causing the body to be burned.

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It was set on fire. The police detective said in the abc7 article above that the fire was an attempt to conceal the identity of the victim.

That is an interesting study. I'm seeing on the chart that relationship related arson had perpetrators in their late 20s. Was there another part of the article that I missed where it said relationship related arson perpetrators were between 30-39? I see on the chart that it says disorganized arson perpetrators are between 30-39 years old. It seems like this case (in regards to this study) fits more of the relationship related arson though. I'm attaching a screenshot of that chart for reference.

Bit of hope, I think you are on to something. Don't know why I didn't think of it before. Young attractive girl with an older jealous boyfriend, maybe? There are so many domestic violence deaths. Maybe she was a runaway living with him and he knew her family wouldn't actively look for her.

I don't know. I'm grasping at straws. And I have a big imagination.

This case probably didn't get a lot of attention on the news considering what had happened in California just two months prior (Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman murdered in June 1994).

WebSleuth91 said:

It was set on fire. The police detective said in the abc7 article above that the fire was an attempt to conceal the identity of the victim.

That is an interesting study. I'm seeing on the chart that relationship related arson had perpetrators in their late 20s. Was there another part of the article that I missed where it said relationship related arson perpetrators were between 30-39? I see on the chart that it says disorganized arson perpetrators are between 30-39 years old. It seems like this case (in regards to this study) fits more of the relationship related arson though. I'm attaching a screenshot of that chart for reference.View attachment 234539

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Going over it again. I found this
"Dalhuisen (2016, p. 193) found the mean age of firesetters (evaluated at the Pier Baan Centre, n=389) was 29.1 years, and that the population of firesetters consisted for 91% of male offenders and 9% female offenders".

And this on page 27 of the study
https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/83797/Boer_N_CSM_2017.pdf?sequence=1
"The distribution of age amongst arson offenders is different: 40% of the offenders in this category are between 30-39 years of age (n=18). The age group of 40-49 years is the second largest (29%, n=13), and the third largest group consists of offenders aged 18-29 years (24%; n=11). There are no arson-homicide offenders over 60 years of age."

Not to be right or wrong...just trying to get a broad perspective on this case, motive and profile of a perpetrator.

WebSleuth91 said:

Bit of hope, I think you are on to something. Don't know why I didn't think of it before. Young attractive girl with an older jealous boyfriend, maybe? There are so many domestic violence deaths. Maybe she was a runaway living with him and he knew her family wouldn't actively look for her.

I don't know. I'm grasping at straws. And I have a big imagination.

This case probably didn't get a lot of attention on the news considering what had happened in California just two months prior (Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman murdered in June 1994).

Click to expand...

I'm not sure about the runaway scenario. (Illegal) immigrant or a post-order bride estranged from family? Like a lot of murder cases in California there is not much media attention. I think because the amount is overwhelming.

Bit of hope said:

I'm not sure about the runaway scenario. (Illegal) immigrant or a post-order bride estranged from family? Like a lot of murder cases in California there is not much media attention. I think because the amount is overwhelming.

Click to expand...

Could be. Honestly I haven't given as much thought to the profile of the perpetrator as I have to the identity of the victim. On Doe Network, it says her dentals and fingerprints are available, but that she has insufficient DNA for profiling. I'd really like to get her photos on NamUs because I would imagine that victim profiles with a photo(s) get more clicks than those with no photo(s).