TX TX - Houston, WhtMale 13-15, UP4543, 'Jericho Surf Shop' TShirt, pocket watch, Sep'71

They think the man that died in jail was innocent? It does happen, people make mistakes...but it still has to be hard for his family to swallow - as well as for the family of the boy that was murdered - now they don't know...that's such a shame...makes you wonder just how much injustice there is out there.
 
How horrible that innocent man died in prison! The perp was allowed to live a free life and probably laughs about it every day that someone else served his time. :(

Wow! What a list! I am glad you brought this to our attention. I am sure we probably have a lot of those listed here...but not sure we connected the I-45 corridor to them. Very interesting!
 
Saving a quote for posterity now that it still works:

In early 1972, police found the girls’ skulls in Turner Bayou, a month apart. However, months earlier, in the same area, a torso had turned up. Police ascribed the remains as belonging to Phillip Manning, a 13-year-old boy from Pasadena who had gone missing weeks earlier.

A few months ago, police learned that Manning, now 49, was alive and well. At 13, he had left home with a trucker, who had offered to make him an apprentice, of sorts. However, months later, Manning abandoned the truck driver, who was abusive.

At 14, Manning joined the U.S. Army, even though he was four years below the age requirement. When his true age was discovered more than a year later, he was discharged and sent home, although he ended up in Louisiana. After a lifetime of moves and brushes with the law, Manning now lives in Austin.

Galveston police detective Fred Paige said that Manning’s life prompts the question, “Whose bones were those?”
 
A new article on this case. It looks like police will be exhuming this body and testing DNA to see if it could be Rhonda Renee Johnson...

http://www.chron.com/news/article/21-BODIES-NO-CLEAR-ANSWERS-1571169.php

A snippet of the article relating to Rhonda
Johnson's skull was found in Clear Lake in early 1972, not far from where Shaw's remains were recovered with bits of cloth and a surfer's cross.

But Johnson's body never was found — or so it seemed.

Today, forensic investigators are trying to determine whether the headless corpse of a 13- to- 15-year-old recovered 40 years ago a half-mile from Johnson's skull in the same bayou might be hers. Working on a theory by Galveston police officer Alfred Paige, investigators suspect the body may have been mislabeled, as a male, and subsequently remained unidentified.

DNA samples from Johnson's younger brother and the eventual exhumation of the unidentified body could resolve part of the mystery.....

This is the Doe Network link that was originally filed as an unidentified male http://doenetwork.org/hot/hotcase1443.html
 
https://identifyus.org/en/cases/4543 Heres the NamUs link. No rule outs. The body hair was described as "light brown to blonde", also, this is still listed as an unidentified white male (age 13-15), so I'm not sure where you're getting the female thing from.
 
Refreshing the thread...
Thanks for the bump! How is it that rarely even know what day it is and have trouble remembering what I did last week but all of the info regarding the Jericho Surf Shop pops right into my head along with all of the 90s rap lyrics? I guess my brain is just already filled up with that stuff!

I wonder if local shooting ranges were checked out back then? Having a live hollow point cartridge and an engraved pocket watch with Bulls Eye written on it alludes to a likely hobby.
 
LOL I hear ya on the strange memory...it amazes me what I can and can’t remember these days :D

This reeks of Dean Corll to me. Not sure exactly why, but this case made it on my list of possibilities when I was researching his crimes.

I agree about the bullet and pocket watch possibly indicating a hobby. It’d be nice to have a picture of the pocket watch so it could be circulated to see if anyone recognized it.

I’m also a little confused now too...is there a chance this could be a female? I may be missing something if that’s the case. The original link doesn’t work for me though.
 
Not according to Namus - he's a 13-15yo boy with blonde/light brown body hair.
That’s what I thought. There was just chatter in the beginning of the thread about missing females. Just making sure I wasn’t overlooking something.
 
For future clarification, The Houston Chronicle article linked above discusses the murders of at least 4 girls from Galveston in 1971.

The John Doe comes into play because the police assumed the remains were male because they thought they knew who it was. However, that boy had actually just run off to join the military.

This JD was found in close proximity to at least one of the girls’ remains, so, in 2011 (original Chronicle article, updated in 2015. (New link), there was a theory the John Doe might actually be a Jane Doe. I couldn’t find any other updates, and as mentioned, this Doe is still listed as male in NamUs.
 

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