Identified! PA - Export, BlkFem UP13512, 10-14, shallow grave in landfill, Sep'67 Teala Thompson

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This 1967 UP case for a young girl was just recently added to NamUs. I've never heard of this one before.

There are no publicly listed girls from that era who even remotely fit the description. But I am starting this thread, so that everyone is aware of her case.

NamUs UP 13512 https://identifyus.org/en/cases/13512

No Image Available

Unidentified Female

The victim was discovered on September 19, 1967 near Story Road (formerly County Road) in Export, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.

Body Condition: Not recognizable - Insect/animal activity​

Vital Statistics

Estimated age: Adolescent - About 10-14 years of age.
Approximate Height: 5'5" (65 inches).
Approximate Weight: 115 pounds.
Hair Color: Reddish/Brown
Eye Color: Unknown

Clothing & Accessories

Clothing: None on Body. Small piece of white cloth clutched in the right hand

Footwear: White footie on left foot, Possible shoe 6-7

Accessories: Green zippered clothes bag

Identifiers
Fingerprints: Fingerprint information is currently not available
Dentals: Dental information / charting is available and will be entered later
DNA: Sample is currently not available

Case History
The body of this young girl was found on Tuesday morning, September 19, 1967 near the Colvan Sanitary Landfill on County Road about 1/8 mile off of Route 66, roughly 2 1/2 miles west of Slickville. She was partially buried a few yards off the road leading to the landfill. A passerby noticed a foot sticking up out of the ground and called authorities.

She has never been identified.

She was buried in the "Potter's Field" on the grounds of the Westmoreland County Home, just south of Greensburg
 
Wow, I never heard of this case, this isn't too far from where I live.
 
I am wondering if that landfill was used to dump at from different states? Export PA is located in the Southwestern part of PA.
 
It is interesting case.

After first reading my guess is that she might be a runaway (from home, foster family, some reformatory school, orphanage). They found bag for clothes with her, right? So, maybe, just maybe she ran away, maybe hitchhiked and unfortunately died (got killed).

One detail: It is said that she was clutching in her hand piece of white cloth/or something similar. Maybe it would be a piece of clothing coming from someone who she was fighting?

I don't know... Somehow I feel she was never reported, or if she was runaway, it was not taken seriously...
 
Wow, I never heard of this case, this isn't too far from where I live.

I knew you would be right onto this one, seeing as how this is right in your neck of the woods.
 
http://www.pennsylvaniamissing.com/salemtwpjane91967.html

I found this on the PA missing website. It lists she was a black female, where NamUs lists Unsure as the race.. Humm

The Coroner's report - not really a full report, looks like a summary, has her described as "colored". The News Dispatch referred to her as "Negro female" and the Daily Courier said "unknown minor Negro female" (both terms the verbiage of that time) so that's what I went with when adding her to PA Missing back around 3 years ago. My age estimate is also different but that, too, came from the above sources.

Glad to see they've finally added her to NamUs. Made me smile a bit when I saw that the Circumstances on NamUs came from PA Missing. I didn't have the sock, bag or cloth info but edited the site to include that info.

Hoping now she'll get some much needed attention.
 
Reddish brown hair is more common in mixed race people, I think.

Quoting myself because it's too late to edit: more common than in purely AA people, I mean. That could also explain the differing opinions about the victim's race.
 
Court Grants Exhumation Of 2 Bodies In Westmoreland Co. Cold Cases
October 27, 2015 6:56 PM By Ross Guidotti

State police say they want to use new technology to try to identify the two bodies, one a teen girl and the other an hours-old baby boy, dumped back in the 1960s.

State police are now asking a court to allow the bodies to be exhumed to continue the investigation.
Marker A-608 marks that spot of a pauper’s grave at Westmoreland County’s Potter’s Field. It’s where two unknown victims of violence were found.

[...]
Trooper Gross took it upon himself to investigate. The court granted permission for the veteran trooper to exhume the remains and find out who they were and maybe who killed them.

“We’re going to be assisted by Children’s Hospital who has offered to do a CT scan of the victims’ skulls, so that we can do a reconstruction, a facial reconstruction, and then we will have some DNA work done by the University of North Texas,” said Trooper Gross.

(The baby boy's death is unrelated to the girl's, but they're buried in the same grave.)
 
http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2015/10/30-year-old_alabama_cold_case.html

GREENSBURG, Pa. – A judge on Tuesday gave permission for a Greensburg state trooper to exhume the bodies of two children who’ve been dead for nearly 50 years in hopes that new evidence might crack the cases.

Trooper Brian Gross said the bodies, which are buried in a field near the Westmoreland County Prison, are those of a teenage girl and a baby.

The baby was found in the Jeanette sewers in 1967, and there was never a police report, cause of death or even a name associated with the case.

The teenage girl was found naked in a Salem landfill in the 1960s. She was never identified, although a coroner’s report at the time did not rule out homicide in the case.
 
[video=youtube;JAuGAWNNa04]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAuGAWNNa04[/video]
 
It doesn't seem like there's a good, if any chance, of identifying the baby boy--probably a baby from an unwed mother, who concealed her pregnancy. It's still worth looking into, of course.

Is there a Doe Network page for this Jane Doe? What about COD?

ETA: What about Darlene Polizzi? She would be missing for a couple months before death. She had "reddish brown hair". She seems to have tan skin for a Caucasian woman. She is a bit over the age estimate, but we've all seen those--Marilee Bruszer being much above, Michelle Garvey being a year younger. Height is within 2 inches, and it may be hard to even estimate with decomposed remains.

Also, the only means of identification for this Jane Doe are dentals, and Darlene's are not available. Therefore it couldn't be a rule out.

What do you think?

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/18331/180
 
I really hope these children are identified, but I agree that identifying the baby might be harder. Hopefully, the unidentified girl has family looking for her.
 

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