IN IN - Fort Wayne, 'Mary Jane Doe' WhtFem UP16000, 20-25, in basement, May'92

Bombshell

Active Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
65
Reaction score
146
The Journal Gazette-Fort Wayne, IN
May 26, 1992

Woman's death not foul play, coroner says.
Foul play is not believed to be the cause of death of woman whose badly decomposed body was found in the basement of a southeast-side home Friday. "We saw no fractures, no bullets, no evidence of foul play," Allen County Coroner Phillip E. O'Shaughnessy said following an autopsy
Saturday.
A contractor renovating a home at 3512 Reynolds St. found a pink gym shoe containing an ankle bone. That led to the discovery. The body is a white female between 20 and 25 years old with blond or light brown hair, O'Shaughnessy said. The body, wrapped in a furniture blanket, could have been in the basement since December, O'Shaughnessy said. "We think she was trying to keep warm,'"he said. "Unless we
have some clues, we'll have an open verdict on the cause of death". Authorities may perform drug tests to determine whether she died from an overdose, O'Shaughnessy said. The body was found lying face down in several inches of water, and investigators found evidence the woman might have constructed a makeshift bed in the basement, O'Shaughnessy said. The woman was wearing a Windcrest jacket. The color had washed out, but could be gray or light blue, O'Shaughnessy said. She was wearing a knit shirt with white stripes and dark cross-stripes. A gold braided chain and a gold looped chain with three stars were around her neck, O'Shaughnessy said.


Hello everyone,

This is my first time starting a thread and I'm not sure how to begin (go easy on me :facepalm:). She is not in NAMUS, Doe Network, or any other database. She was found May 15, 1992 in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

I have been in contact for several weeks with Detective Young of the Fort Wayne police department about this Jane Doe (her headstone at Lindenwood Cemetery reads "Mary Jane Doe"). He was able to find her file in archives and verify she is still unidentified.

The info in the above article is correct: white female, 20 - 25 years old, long blonde or light brown hair. She was wearing size 10 pink Reeboks, a Windcrest jacket size XL, sweat pants, and two gold necklaces (one possibly with stars). The cause of death was not determined. She may have entered the home in the fall of 1992 and was found in 6 inches of water. A reconstruction was not completed at the time and the only photos in her file are terrible Xerox copies, so any that may be available of her jewelry or clothing would not be helpful.

Today I learned Detective Young is comparing her to a missing girl from Florida. He was unable to give me her name, but did say she is on Findthemissing.org and aged 27. Maybe someone with better search skills than mine can find her. :blushing:

Detective Young is trying to locate the missing girl's dental records. If the records were destroyed, Mary Jane Doe will be exhumed. I will be speaking to him again next week, if anyone has questions or potential matches I will be happy to relay them to him.

Here is a link to her page on Find a Grave: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=unknown&GSfn=unknown&GSbyrel=all&GSdy=1992&GSdyrel=in&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=16541362&df=all#.V9v7yi30trc.gmail

Bombshell
 
Is there any idea of how long she may have been in there?

If she wrapped up in a furniture blanket I am wondering why she didn't have better clothes on for the (assuming it was very cold) weather. Maybe someone who went into jail in June and got out in December of a prior year with no where to go? She would only have left with the clothes she went in with I'm thinking.
 
Today I learned Detective Young is comparing her to a missing girl from Florida. He was unable to give me her name, but did say she is on Findthemissing.org and aged 27. Maybe someone with better search skills than mine can find her. :blushing:

For future reference, bookmark this page:

https://lostandfound.revealnews.org/

Very easy way to search Namus for specific parameters. :)
 
I spoke to Detective Young this morning. He said her dentals were compared to Theresa Kaiser due to a handwritten note found in the case file with her name. He said she was believed to be in Fort Wayne around the time of her disappearance.

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/10939/3

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/k/kaiser_theresa.html

I find this an unlikely match...it is believed by her family she was murdered by her husband (who did not report her missing).

Anyway, her dentals were compared and although close, Florida refuses to have her body exhumed. Indiana won't do it either.
 
The detective suggested I contact the medical examiner's office, because it's now in their hands. The person I spoke to was definitely less than interested in discussing this case. I asked if Jane Doe could be added to NAMUS. He said she was already added "like a month ago". She's not listed.

Detective Young said there isn't much in her case file, he believes the original detective got side tracked by another case. He tried to contact him but said he is in bad health and doesn't remember this Doe.

Now what to do? :(
 
Another article...

The Journal Gazette Fort Wayne, IN)
May 17, 1992

Body found in basement of city house

City police are trying to identify a badly decomposed body found Friday in the waterlogged basement of a southeast-side house.
The body was floating face down in 8 to 12 inches of water and may be an adult female with long hair, said Sgt. Jim Zamora, city police public information officer. The body was too decomposed to determine its age, race or the cause of death. Zamora said the corpse had probably been in the basement for several months . A contractor renovating the vacant house found a pink sneaker with an ankle bone in it and asked a neighbor to call police. The neighbor, David Lewis, was visting his father nearby. Lewis said he saw the body, partly covered by a blanket, as he looked through the basement window of the one- story house at 3512 Reynolds St. The contractor didn't want to discuss the discovery Friday, saying only that he was painting the house that used to belong to his grandfather when he found the shoe inside.
Lewis said he wondered whether a body was inside the house when his 3-year-old son picked the shoe up and began looking at it. It's not known where in the house the shoe was found. Lewis, who used to work in a morgue, decided to investigate. He said he walked inside the house but didn't find anything. It was then he walked around outside and looked in the basement window. "There was no odor," Lewis said. He said it was hard to identify the body, which he
described as "unrecognizable, bloated." Zamora said it couldn't be determined whether the corpse was clothed. Police had to pump water out of the basement before removing the body. "The only reason they're
saying it's a female body is because of the long hair and pink gym shoe," Zamora said. Officials hope to identify the body through an autopsy and by looking through missing-person records. It could be several days before the body is identified, Zamora said.
 
Thank you for finding her profile! I can't believe the pics though (yuck)...I really hope they can find pictures of her jewelry, I think it would be helpful in identifying her.

I have really bad reception atm so I can't look for myself but are the pictures graphic or just bad quality pictures of the clothing?
 
I have really bad reception atm so I can't look for myself but are the pictures graphic or just bad quality pictures of the clothing?

A little of both. The body and the clothing were in the water for a long time. I personally have seen worse linked on the site, but it really depends on your tolerance.
 
I have really bad reception atm so I can't look for myself but are the pictures graphic or just bad quality pictures of the clothing?

More gross than graphic. There are no pictures of the body, except one where she is wrapped in a blanket floating in the basement. Only some parts can be made out if you zoom in.
 
Street view, where she was found. Not sure if the house is behind bushes or on the other side of the street.

I wasn'table to see any photos of her on namus anymore though.


Google Maps
 
The Allen County Coroner’s Office is looking for the public’s help identifying a woman that was found in a Fort Wayne basement in 1992.
(Then) on March 17 of 2017, an exhumation was conducted on the body. Her left femur was then submitted to the University of North Texas Center of Human Identification, for DNA examination. Additional remains were submitted to the Indiana State Police Laboratory for further DNA examination.

Recons by Beth Buchholtz:

mary-collage-1024x576.jpg

Coroner seeking help identifying pregnant woman found in 1992
 
Facial reconstruction done to help identify remains

Authorities hope a clay facial reconstruction will help identify a woman whose remains were found 27 years ago in a water-filled basement in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The Allen County coroner's office is calling the victim Mary Jane Doe and described her as being white, in her early 20s and 4-foot-6 inches to 5-foot-2 inches tall at the time of her death. She is believed to have died in late 1991 or early 1992.
---
Authorities determined that she was about 26 weeks pregnant. Healing fractures also were found to her right and left nasal bones.

Facial reconstruction done to can help identify remains
 
Allen Co. Coroner looks for answers in almost 30 year old cold case

Mary Jane Doe, a female, white, approximate age is early twenties, 4’6” to 5’2” tall, less than average muscularity and stature, was found on May 15, 1992, in a water filled basement in the 3500 block of Reynolds Street in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Due to the condition of the remains, it’s estimated she might have died in late 1991 or early 1992.

In August of 2016, a new effort to identify Mary Jane Doe began. As the investigation progressed, it was determined an exhumation would need to be completed in order to obtain new dental radiographs, to conduct a complete autopsy, to complete an anthropology study, and to conduct deoxyribonucleic acid examinations.
---
On March 17, 2017, this office conducted an exhumation of Mary Jane Doe. Dr. Scott Wagner, forensic pathologist, completed an autopsy of the remains, Dr. Craig Nelson, Forensic Odontologist completed a dental study, which included radiographs, and members of the University of Indianapolis Anthropology Unit transported the remains to their department for Dr. Krista Latham to complete an anthropology examination of the remains.

The left femur was collected and submitted to the University Of North Texas Center Of Human Identification, for deoxyribonucleic acid examination. Most recently additional skeletal remains have been submitted to the Indiana State Police Laboratory for deoxyribonucleic acid examinations.

Allen Co. Coroner looks for answers in almost 30 year old cold case | 963XKE | Fort Wayne's Classic Rock | Fort Wayne, IN
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
197
Guests online
2,399
Total visitors
2,596

Forum statistics

Threads
589,956
Messages
17,928,316
Members
228,017
Latest member
SashaRhea82
Back
Top