Identified! DE - Wilmington, WhtMale 1399UMDE, 45-55, In Christina Rvr, Jul'97 - Franklin McClellan

CarlK90245 · Mar 26, 2010

DoeNet just published a new case file using a drawing that I created at the request of Hal Brown of the Delaware State Medical Examiners Office.

The Doe Network:
Case File 1399UMDE

http://doenetwork.org/cases/1399umde.html

Unidentified White Male

* The victim was discovered on July 14, 1997 in Wilmington, New Castle County, Delaware
* Estimated Date of Death: Days prior

Vital Statistics

* Estimated age: 35-60 years old
* Approximate Height and Weight: 71"; 186 lbs.
* Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown short hair. Side burns to mid-ear.
* Clothing: White or grey tank top shirt. Black men’s pants. Black belt, silver colored rectangular buckle. Black work-style, lace-up boots. White socks. Silver-plated necklace with rectangular medal Medic Alert necklace; "Patient has Heart Disease".
* Dentals: Available
* Fingerprints: Right thumb print available.

Case History
The victim was located floating in middle of Christina River near South Market Street Bridge Wilmington, Delaware.

Investigators
If you have any information about this case please contact:
Delaware State Medical Examiners Office
302-577-3420
You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

CarlK90245 · Mar 26, 2010

I found a possible for this case, and submitted it to the Delaware State Medical Examiners Office.

Gregory Downes Howells
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/howells_gregory.html

Here is my e-mail message to Hal Brown.

Hal:

I saw that Doe Network just published a new case file on NamUs UP # 6476.

I started looking for possible matches, and I came across this guy.

Gregory Downes Howells
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/howells_gregory.html

He is the right height, weight and age. With sideburns and a little longer hair, he bears a reasonable resemblance to the decedent. His hairline matches very closely, including the very slight widow's peak and the hairline along the temples.

He disappeared on 17-Jun-97 (27 days before the decedent was found). While he disappeared from California, he was said to be despondent and possibly suicidal, and there is a suspicion that he may have staged his disappearance.

It is quite plausible that under these circumstances, he could have fled to the east coast before committing suicide nearly a month later.

Do you think that this is worth a look?

Let me know what you think

CarlK90245 · Mar 26, 2010

I received the following reply from Hal Brown.

This looks very interesting Carl!

I've sent correspondence to the Office of the Sheriff in Monterey, CA. I will let you know how we make out with the case.

Thank you for your interest and for sending this potential match to my attention! Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Have a terrific weekend, -Hal

Snufamonbobball · Mar 27, 2010

I don't see anything to rule it out, and by the way, I think you did a great job on this reconstruction. For this decedent, your reconstruction makes him viewable for everyone. Nice work on this one Carl.

carbuff · Mar 27, 2010

Nice work on that reconstruction, and on the match, Carl!

CarlK90245 · May 4, 2010

Just got the ruling on the comparison of Greg Howells to this UID. - No Match.

re: Howells, per Forensic Latent Print Examiner Rodney B. Hegman of the Delaware State Police on April 26, 2010 11:44 AM, a comparison between NamUs 6476 thumbprint and Gregory Downs Howells prints are not a match.

Howell's right thumb has a ridge count of 14. NamUs 6476 right thumb has a ridge count of 24+.

None of Howell's fingers have a ridge count that high.

Well, it was a good try and the deputy in California did provide excellent assistance. I've encouraged him to join NamUs... hopefully he will!

All the best, -Hal

CarlK90245 · May 4, 2010

I just submitted another:

Thomas Lee Walters

http://doenetwork.org/cases/4210dmnc.html

Hal:

I was just going through the list again, and came across another for NamUs 6476.

Thomas Lee Walters
http://doenetwork.org/cases/4210dmnc.html

His age, height, hairline, hair color, and overall appearance are all consistent with the Unidentified Decedent (UID).

His comes from Kinston NC, and apparently left in a vehicle on his own volition at the time that he disappeared.

His Date of Last Contact is over a year prior to the discovery of the UID. However, nothing in his circumstances of disappearance would be inconsistent with him being out of contact for a year prior to his death.

And one thing in particular caught my attention:

He has the same vertical ridge at tip of his nose (flanked by two side-by side bulges) as does the UID. I removed this from the reconstruction, thinking that this was a postmortem bloating effect. But perhaps this was an ante-mortem facial feature of the UID. If so, this is a very unusual facial feature that is consistent between Walters and the UID.

Please take a look at your earliest convenience, and let me know what you think.

I have posted a zoom in of the tip of the UID's nose for comparison to Mr. Walters' nose.

Caution: Although I have cropped the photo of a badly bloated decedent to display only the portion of his nose relevant to this discussion, the image at the link below still may be disturbing to some viewers.

http://inlinethumb36.webshots.com/28515/2065420450045078242S600x600Q85.jpg

CarlK90245 · Aug 19, 2010

CarlK90245 said:
I just submitted another:

Thomas Lee Walters

http://doenetwork.org/cases/4210dmnc.html

I have posted a zoom in of the tip of the UID's nose for comparison to Mr. Walters' nose.

Caution: Although I have cropped the photo of a badly bloated decedent to display only the portion of his nose relevant to this discussion, the image at the link below still may be disturbing to some viewers.

http://inlinethumb36.webshots.com/28515/2065420450045078242S600x600Q85.jpg

I received a reply from Hal Brown regarding this submission:

We called Kingston Police in North Carolina, talked to a Det. Lewis who runs the case. He said that Mr. Walters would have a steel rod in one of his legs because of a previous surgery. This doesn't match our NamUs UP#6476.

carmac · Aug 19, 2010

You know it's a wonder any matches are made at all. Why don't they list important items like that in the missing person's info??....

Sorry just had to get that out....

webrocket · Jan 11, 2011

here is the namus profile for this UID. they list only 3 rule-outs and they did not include Carl's last submission Thomas Lee Walters:

https://identifyus.org/cases/6476

I'm not finding any missing persons on Namus remotely matching this guy.

CarlK90245 · Jan 12, 2011

Looking throught the dentals, I noticed that he has an "anterior open bite". This means that when his back teeth are clinched, his front teeth (uppers and lowers) do not make contact or overlap.

So any smiling photos of this guy would probably appear like his teeth were slacked.

CarlK90245 · Jan 12, 2011

CarlK90245 said:
Looking throught the dentals, I noticed that he has an "anterior open bite". This means that when his back teeth are clinched, his front teeth (uppers and lowers) do not make contact or overlap.

So any smiling photos of this guy would probably appear like his teeth were slacked.

Here's a guy that appears to have an anterior open bite. His hair doesn't look dark enough though.

Daniel L. Fraher.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/f/fraher_daniel.html

... and BTW, his height is spot. on. His nose doesn't look as broad at the tip, but considering the significant bloating of the UID, the true shape of his nose is very difficult (if not impossible) to determine.

ETA: Here's another possible whose height is right and "often has trouble with his teeth"

Bruce Berthelot

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1586dmon.html

CarlK90245 · Jan 12, 2011

CarlK90245 said:
Here's a guy that appears to have an anterior open bite. His hair doesn't look dark enough though.

Daniel L. Fraher.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/f/fraher_daniel.html

... and BTW, his height is spot. on. His nose doesn't look as broad at the tip, but considering the significant bloating of the UID, the true shape of his nose is very difficult (if not impossible) to determine.

I dropped an e-mail to Hal Brown last night on this one.

He was already able to do a dental comparison and was able to rule-out Daniel L Fraher based on major inconsistencies in dentition.

CarlK90245 · Jun 4, 2011

I re-did the reconstruction for this John Doe.

Hal Brown indicated that the decedent didn't have long hair as it appears in the postmortem photos. The mud and shadows created the illusion of long hair.

Of course, given the decomposition and bloating, alot of this was based on guesswork. Particularly, the jawline, thickness of the lips, and fullness of the cheeks.

CarlK90245 · Jun 5, 2011

In my e-mail exchange with Hal Brown, we were discussing the "anterior open bite" noted of the decedent. He sent me a quote from the Forensic Odontologist who did the examination.

According to the FO, this man would have had difficulty eating a pizza or sandwich due to his inability to properly clinch his front teeth. The FO also said that this person's tongue might have been evident between his front teeth, and he might have spoken with a lisp.

I asked Hal if any photos were available of the decedent's teeth, so that I could depict them in my reconstruction. He said that no photos were available of the victim's teeth. He said that this was unusual, since most cases in that era were well documented with dozens of photos.

But he says that he intends to exhume the body and he will fill-in the missing info when he does.

webrocket · Jun 5, 2011

CarlK90245 said:
But he says that he intends to exhume the body and he will fill-in the missing info when he does.

glad to know someone has the financial resources to devote to this sort of inquiry. not blaming the others as govt across the board is suffering.

I hope there are other things they are going to look at besides the teeth because, more precise dental records (in my opinion) are not going to help US find a match. I'm just not finding anyone within this guy's demographic in the MP databases even without looking at his teeth.

OkieGranny · Jun 20, 2013

According to NamUs, the body was exhumed in April 2012, but I still don't see any images of the teeth.

There are 25 rule-outs now listed.

carbuff · Jun 20, 2013

Here are the 25 listed ruleouts as of 20 June 2013:

Robert Allison 1952 Pennsylvania
Michael Avicolli 1943 Pennsylvania
William Bleakley Unknown California
James Bradford 1942 Arizona
Jose Caballero 1959 Texas
Brian Carlstrom 1959 California
Timothy Crissman 1957 Pennsylvania
Daniel Fraher 1949 Illinois
Linda Grimm 1961 California
Thomas Hall 1966 Mississippi
Dennis Harrington 1961 California
Gregory Downs Howells 1954 California
Ronald Kinser 1968 Kentucky
William Lank 1950 Delaware
Joe Luiz 1954 Nevada
Douglas Mann 1958 Florida
Gregory Neveu 1940 Virginia
Michael Scully 1961 Delaware
Philip Sheridan 1943 Delaware
William Smolinski Jr 1973 Connecticut
Charles Teets 1949 New Jersey
Charles Thomas 1948 Connecticut
Larry Trent 1950 Tennessee
Tommy Walters 1945 North Carolina
Christopher Zahl 1951 New Jersey

Angie4b1g · Jun 21, 2013

Good thing we know he's not Linda Grimm. WTF?

carbuff · Jun 22, 2013

Angie4b1g said:
Good thing we know he's not Linda Grimm. WTF?

Yeah, isn't that bizarre? I went and looked at her NAMUS entry (https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/1216/0/), and I'll bet the system flagged a potential match because of similarities in the teeth. She looks like she has a pronounced misalignment of some sort.

Identified! DE - Wilmington, WhtMale 1399UMDE, 45-55, In Christina Rvr, Jul'97 - Franklin McClellan

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