Identified! DE - Townsend, WhtFem Skeletal 132UFDE, 33-63, off Route 13, Jun'77 - Marie Petry Heiser

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http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/132ufde.html

132UFDE.jpg


Unidentified White Female
  • Located on June 27, 1977 in Townsend, New Castle County, Delaware.

Vital Statistics


  • Estimated age: 35 - 50 years old
  • Approximate Height and Weight: 5'3"-5'5" ; 95-105 pounds
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: She had given birth to at least two children during her lifetime.
  • Dentals: charts and x-rays available; Teeth- amalgum fillings #3, 5, 7, 11, 12, 14, 15 in upper jaw, 21, 28, 30, in lower jaw. Evidence of heavy accumulation of tar, old extraction in lower jaw, removable appliance in upper jaw, and gum disease.
  • Estimated Date of Death: February 1977 - May 1977
  • Clothing: None located
  • DNA: Available
Case History
On June 27, 1977, County Police detectives responded to a rural area outside of Townsend, Delaware after skeletal remains were found in an open field. The unidentified woman was a homicide victim.
It was discovered that Serial-killer Henry Lee Lucas lived in Elkton, Maryland, which is very close to the area where the remains were found. Investigators also found that writings Lucas made while he was serving time in a Texas prison have many similarities to the crime scene and information that was developed.
It was also discovered that Henry Lucas claimed to have brought a female from Michigan to Delaware and left her body here. In 1983, Lucas confessed to killing 6 women in Delaware, but he later recanted.
No local leads were ever developed making investigators believe that the victim may in fact be from the Michigan area.


http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/33uftx.html


Unidentified White Female Discovered on October 31, 1979 near Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas
Cause of death was homicide.
Estimated Date of Death: Hours prior to discovery
<LI>She has been nicknamed Orange Socks.

Vital Statistics


  • Estimated age: 20 - 27 years old
  • Approximate Height and Weight: 5'8 - 5'10"; 135 - 140 lbs.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: 10-inch-long brown hair with a reddish tint and hazel eyes. Her legs were unshaven and her toenails were unpainted and extremely long. Her fingernails were medium-length and painted reddish-pink.
  • Marks, Scars: She had a 1/4 inch-long hairline scar under her chin; healed scars from insect bites were visible on both of her legs. Her ears were pierced. No previous fractures.
  • Dentals: Available. Her teeth were in very good condition and there was no evidence of dental work or cavities.
  • Medical Information: Suffering from chronic salpingitis, the result of gonorrhea.
  • Clothing: No clothing other than a pair of orange socks. She was wearing a large, elongated oval-shaped silver ring with an unknown shell in the center. Investigators believe the shell may be abalone
  • DNA/Fingerprints: Available

Case History
The victim was located near Interstate 35 in a culvert outside of Georgetown, Texas. The culvery is located 9.4 miles south of the Williamson / Bell County line. The victim was killed by strangulation hours before her body was discovered.
Two matchbooks were found at the scene; one was from a Motel 6, the other from a Holiday Inn in Henryetta, Oklahoma. The only other evidence was determined to be a makeshift sanitary napkin, which was labelled among the evidence as a bloody towel.
The serial killer Henry Lee Lucas confessed to the victim's murder in 1982, three years after her death. He informed authorities that he picked her up while she was hitchhiking in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma the day before her murder in 1979. He claimed that her name may have been "Judy" or "Joanie." Lucas was convicted of her murder in 1984 and sentenced to death; he recanted his confession shortly thereafter. Texas Governor George W. Bush commuted Lucas' death sentence to life in prison shortly before his execution due to the doubt which emerged in this case.
Aside from Lucas' possible involvement in this case, authorities are searching for an anonymous female caller who phoned them on three separate occasions with information regarding this case. The caller claimed that she saw the victim hitchhiking near Georgetown, Texas the day of her murder.

 
Does anyone know if there has been a timeline done on Henry Lee Lucas & Otis Toole that is posted on the internet? If they really killed hundreds of people, like they claim, then we could probably match lots of these missing persons and Does to them.
 
The Doe Network:
Case File 132UFDE

http://doenetwork.org/cases/132ufde.html

132UFDE.jpg


Unidentified White Female

* Located on June 27, 1977 in Townsend, New Castle County, Delaware.
* Estimated date of Death: 1 to 2 Months prior
* Partial Skeletal Remains

Vital Statistics

* Estimated age: 35 - 50 years old
* Approximate Height and Weight: 5'2"-5'6"; 90-110 lbs
* Distinguishing Characteristics: Blonde hair. Thin build. She had given birth to at least two to three children during her lifetime. Scar on right buttock.
* Clothing: None located
* Skeletal Findings: Wear patterns on vertebrae suggests chronic stress in which the victim suffered periods of inflammation and bony reaction. The right second metacarpal was broken at mid-shaft. It may have resulted from a struggle.
* Fingerprints: Not available
* Dentals: Charts and x-rays available. Amalgam fillings #3, 5, 7, 11, 12, 14, 15 in upper jaw, 21, 28, 30, in lower jaw. Evidence of heavy accumulation of tar, old extraction in lower jaw, removable appliance in upper jaw, and gum disease. Work is of poor quality. Individual had not seen a dentist for at least 1 or more years prior to her death.
* DNA: Available

Case History
On June 27, 1977, County Police detectives responded to a rural area outside of Townsend, Delaware after skeletal remains were found in an open field. The unidentified woman was a homicide victim.
It was discovered that Serial-killer Henry Lee Lucas lived in Elkton, Maryland, which is very close to the area where the remains were found. Investigators also found that writings Lucas made while he was serving time in a Texas prison have many similarities to the crime scene and information that was developed.
It was also discovered that Henry Lucas claimed to have brought a female from Michigan to Delaware and left her body here. In 1983, Lucas confessed to killing 6 women in Delaware, but he later recanted.
No local leads were ever developed making investigators believe that the victim may in fact be from the Michigan area.

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Delaware Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
Hal Brown
302-577-3420
Email

You may remain anonymous when submitting information to any agency.

Agency Case Numbers:
32-77-40780
DE0020300
77-433

Source Information:
New Castle County Police
UDRS

Return to the Unidentified Victims' Index
 
While I was going back and forth with Hal Brown on a different Delaware case, I was looking at this case in NamUs, and ran a quick check on cases from that time period. I came across this one.

Maria I. Reyes
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/r/reyes_maria.html

reyes_maria.jpg
___
132UFDE.jpg


As a side-note in the e-mail, I asked him if Maria Reyes had been compared to this case, since the age is about right, and she is from New Jersey, not far from Delaware.

After sending the e-mail, I looked at the DoeNet Page (which provides much more detail than NamUs) and realized it wasn't as strong a possible as I had originally thought. The time-frame is a little too long given the time frame shown in DoeNet, and there is no mention that she has children, and there is all the speculation about the HL Lucas connection (although HL Lucas had a reputation for claiming credit for murders that he didn't commit)

But I had already sent the e-mail. ... and I got the following response from him.

On another matter, missing person Maria Reyes of NJ has potential; thank you for bringing her to my attention. I will contact the Police Department in NJ. Perhaps there are dental records. We have a staff member (Ms. Patricia Monaghan) who is native of Argentina and fluent in Spanish. If we can come up with living biological relatives in Chile, perhaps with Ms. Monaghan making a few calls, there is a chance we can obtain family reference samples. With everything going on in Chile post-earthquake, it may be a real challenge, but worth the effort.

Let me know if you any questions. I will be traveling much of the next week but will be monitoring email as best as possible via a Blackberry.

Again, thank you for your interest and research on our Delaware unidentified persons cases; it is greatly appreciated! -Hal

So, although upon further reflection it doesn't look like a strong enough possible to submit, it is submitted.

And what's more important, he thinks that it is worth looking at.
 
Pros:

1. Age;

2. Location (160 miles from disappearance);

3. Very good physical resemblance. Maria's appearance is more typically "white" than "hispanic" IMO;

4. UID is described as "90-110 lbs" which is very light for a woman at the upper height range of 5'6". The UID was of approximately average height for a woman of her generation (born ca. 1930) but of well below average weight. Maria was even lighter but her height is not given.

5. Poor quality dental work suggests someone possibly of overseas origin, although the UID is of an age when the standard of dental care may not have been as good as it would if she were, say, 20 years younger.

Cons

1. Timescale - 2 months' decomposition suggests (I would hazard a guess, but no more than a guess) that there was significant soft tissue present but no clearly recognisable features. Maria had been missing for 15 months, which would (again, at a guess) lead to skeletal remains with remnants such as clothes, hair etc. But people have chest freezers.

2. Lack of children - but Maria was born ca. 1928 in South America. Had she had children while very young they likely would have been given up for adoption. She might then not have had children with her husband e.g., if she had had pregnancy-induced infertility problems (we are talking about people who would, if living, now be elderly and probably Catholic so being childless by choice seems unlikely).

3. Lack of mention of a mastectomy -but if the corpse were significantly decomposed, and the victim very slightly built to begin with, this might not be detectable.

So there are three good reasons why this shouldn't be Maria but they can all be explained without contradicting what we actually know so that further research could be borne out.
 
Received a message from Hal Brown of the Delaware Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (Re-affirming what we had already discussed on this board after I had sent in the tip).

... Regarding the NJ case, it seems from the record that she had no children, yet our skeletal remains case showed evidence of multiple births. While not officially ruled out yet, it does not look promising.

All the best, -Hal
 
I don't see anyone on Namus who fits the description and I am extra generous with search criteria.

when searching Namus, they use different categories for blonde/strawberry and sandy. and I don't know how they categorize bleached blondes.

but even excluding hair color, I came up with only 6 names in a two year period before the discovery of this UID, none of which are matches
 
I ran a screen again, and thought this one might be fairly consistent, although she might have a taller forehead.

Georgia Darlene Nolan
nolan_georgia.jpg
132UFDE.jpg

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/n/nolan_georgia.html

  • Height is good.
  • Circumstances are good. She was last seen after getting out of a car on an interstate. Might have caught a ride with a drifter.
  • Timeframe (7 months) is a little longer than the estimated 1-2 month postmortem interval, but not too far off.
  • Had deep scar wounds on the back. From what flesh was left on the UID, there was a scar on the right buttock.
  • She was a smoker, and from the photo, appears to have poor dentition. The skeletal findings reveal accumulation of tar on the teeth, and poor dentition.
  • She had recently given birth by caesarian (no indication of other pregnancies) - Consistent if the body was decomposed at the location of the caesarian scar. The UID had given birth on multiple occasions.
 
I ran a screen again, and thought this one might be fairly consistent, although she might have a taller forehead.

Georgia Darlene Nolan
nolan_georgia.jpg
132UFDE.jpg

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/n/nolan_georgia.html

  • Height is good.
  • Circumstances are good. She was last seen after getting out of a car on an interstate. Might have caught a ride with a drifter.
  • Timeframe (7 months) is a little longer than the estimated 1-2 month postmortem interval, but not too far off.
  • Had deep scar wounds on the back. From what flesh was left on the UID, there was a scar on the right buttock.
  • She was a smoker, and from the photo, appears to have poor dentition. The skeletal findings reveal accumulation of tar on the teeth, and poor dentition.
  • She had recently given birth by caesarian (no indication of other pregnancies) - Consistent if the body was decomposed at the location of the caesarian scar. The UID had given birth on multiple occasions.

The Charley project says "...the last of her four children..." so the several pregnancies fit.

She was heading back to Chicago -- that's not quite Michigan but it's pretty close.

It sounds like her husband must have killed her and dumped her, but there's no reason he couldn't be telling the truth about leaving her on the interstate -- which leads directly to the Delaware area.

This looks like a very very good fit. The only negative I see is the dark brown versus blonde hair -- but half an hour with Miss Clairol would take care of that.
 
I ran a screen again, and thought this one might be fairly consistent, although she might have a taller forehead.

Georgia Darlene Nolan
nolan_georgia.jpg
132UFDE.jpg

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/n/nolan_georgia.html

  • Height is good.
  • Circumstances are good. She was last seen after getting out of a car on an interstate. Might have caught a ride with a drifter.
  • Timeframe (7 months) is a little longer than the estimated 1-2 month postmortem interval, but not too far off.
  • Had deep scar wounds on the back. From what flesh was left on the UID, there was a scar on the right buttock.
  • She was a smoker, and from the photo, appears to have poor dentition. The skeletal findings reveal accumulation of tar on the teeth, and poor dentition.
  • She had recently given birth by caesarian (no indication of other pregnancies) - Consistent if the body was decomposed at the location of the caesarian scar. The UID had given birth on multiple occasions.

The arthritis in her hands fits too with the periods of inflamation and bony reaction... pain is highly subjective and she could have felt it more strongly in her hands because she in some way fixated on them or had to use them more or had more soft tissue inflammation there, even while it was mainly damaging her spine.
 
After a closer look at Georgia's photo, I see that what looked like poor dentition is really a reflection off of her lower lip.

Georgia's DoeNet page indicates that "Her teeth were in good condition".

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1515dfky.html

This would seem to be in conflict with the description of the decedent having poor dentition, and evidence of a "removable appliance in her upper jaw". The NamUs dental chart indicates multiple teeth missing antemortem.

ETA:

DoeNetwork has an article indicating that they seemed to be pretty confident that Georgia is the Rockingham County VA Jane Doe.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/568ufva.html

http://www.doenetwork.org/media/news191.html

I wonder if this was ever resolved.
 
Anyone know a more precise location as to where she was found? The best I've been able to find is that she was found approx. 1 mile east of Route 13 on Union Church Road in Townsend, Delaware.
Thanks,
Rick
 
Three more ruleouts now, so nice to see they are working this one.

I thought perhaps Glenna West, who is from Mich and in the ballpark and I think there is an OK likeness except for the chin. (Could they have gotten a chin that wrong CarlK, or would you rule out based on that?) Her LKA date is December of '77, but there's not a lot of info about her, so IDK if that is someone's best recollection or a firm date.

132UFDE.jpg
west_glenna.jpg
 
Any updates or any more ruleouts? Georgia looked promising

Nevermind about the ruleouts, Just saw the list. Georgia isnt on it though.
 
Ruleouts as of January 12 2018 https://identifyus.org/cases/2170

Exclusions
The following people have been ruled out as being this decedent:

First Name Last Name Year of Birth State LKA

Geneva Adams 1922 Missouri
Ida Anderson 1937 Michigan
Melanie Flynn 1952 Kentucky
Ann Fulton 1929 New Jersey

Added to "skeletal findings" section. I couldn't find the report it refers to.

New Skeletal Exam Data added June 2012;

SUMMARY

I have examined the remains recovered in this 1977 case, including the cranium, mandible, and postcranial elements. I have also reviewed the photographs from the 1977 investigation associated with the NAMUS case documentation.

These remains belong to a caucasoid female with an estimated age of 33-63, but probably near the middle of that range. The estimated skeletal stature is 5&#8217; 2.8&#8221; to 5&#8217; 5.6.&#8221; This individual exhibits significant dental pathology and attrition (see odontology report).

Although her right upper incisors had reconstructed crowns, the left central and lateral incisors were missing (and the sockets had recently healed) at the time of death, these missing front teeth might have been noticed by others.

She also has some skeletal anomalies that might be observed on an x-ray, even if the xray quality is not high enough to do an identification. These include bilateral enthesophytosis at the superior iliac crests, bilateral epipteric bones in the cranium, and unilateral sacralization of the first caudal segment.

Staining seen on the inferior occiput near the foramen magnum may be hemorrhagic, associated with perimortem trauma. The right third metacarpal has a perimortem fracture.

I cannot rule out that there may also be traumatic fractures in the mid-facial region; however, the maxilla dissection and facial reconstruction has obscured the differentiation of trauma from postmortem artifact.

Additional details and photographic documentation from the 1977 autopsy might clarify this issue. Based on the amount of soft tissue preservation seen in the photographs, my preliminary impression is that the estimated postmortem interval of about one month may be too brief for a wooded environment in early summer in the state of Delaware.

The decomposition rate and tissue loss may have been slowed by desiccation, or by cooler temperatures; it may also have been accelerated by the activities of scavengers. A broader range, perhaps &#8220;two weeks to six months&#8221; would incorporate those possibilities. To summarize, I suggest expanding the estimated age range to 33-63, expanding the stature estimate to 5&#8217; 3&#8221; to 5&#8217; 6&#8221; and expanding the estimated postmortem interval to &#8220;two weeks to six months.&#8221;

In addition, I suggest noting the missing left maxillary front teeth, which had been lost some time prior to death.

Marcella H. Sorg, Ph.D., D-ABFA Forensic Anthropologist
June 10, 2012 (see full anthropology report in documents section)
 
Do you know this woman? New Castle County Police used DNA to determine this is what a murder victim looked like

5b631eb2abf0e.image.jpg
Individual predictions included her ancestry, eye color, hair color, skin color, freckling, and face shape. They determined what the victim may have looked like at 48 years old, with a BMI of 22. Those values were used because they can't determine those values specifically using DNA. Police determined the victim to be roughly 45 years old during their investigation. She was between 5'3" and 5'6", with blonde or light brown hair.
 

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