Identified! FL - Biscayne Bay, WhtFem UP7717, 20-35, Apr'85 - Nilsa Padilla

The Doe Network:
Hot Case 2348 http://www.doenetwork.org/hot/hotcase2348.html
NamUs UP 7717 https://identifyus.org/en/cases/7717

No Image Available

Unidentified White Female

The victim was discovered on April 4, 1985 in Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida.
Estimated Date of Death: 1985.
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Decomposing/putrefaction.
Cause and Manner of Death: Homicide.

Vital Statistics

Estimated Age: 20-35 years old.
Approximate Height and Weight: 5'0" to 5'4" and 110-130 lbs.
She is described as petite.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Short brown hair (above shoulders)
and unknown eye color. Fair-skinned.
Marks, scars: Six-inch scar from a Caesarean section, a horizontal scar
on her chin and a scar extending from her left wrist to the palm of her hand.
Clothing: Plaid two-piece sunsuit described as blue with lavendar
and peach stripes. The top is cropped.
Dentals: X-rays are available. Teeth #4, #17, and #18 in a crossbite.
Described as nice teeth in good condition.
DNA: Sample available - Not yet submitted.
Fingerprints: Partial available. Three fingerprints from the left hand
and a thumb print.
Other: She had been wrapped in a yellow "J.P. Stevens" sheet with a pattern
including butterflies and green flowers. Her right arm was not recovered. Her shoe
size is estimated to be about 6 to 6.5.

Case History
The victim's dismembered remains were found washed upon the beach between April 4th and 8th around the Rickenbacker Causeway and other Dade County waterways.
Her remains were found along with the dismembered remains of an unidentified male. While cause of death is unknown, the victim suffered a head injury made with a blunt object. It is believed that a saw was used for dismemberment. She was wrapped in a sheet and stuffed into a green plastic garbage bag.

Investigators have invested a lot of time and money into the case they've dubbed "Theresa Torso." A drawing and reconstruction of the victim was completed but neither is unavailable at this time.

The decedent has been identified as Nilsa Padilla

The decades-old mystery of female body parts that washed up on South Florida's beaches has been solved.

Nilsa Padilla was murdered, her body dismembered and then tossed into the waters off Key Biscayne.

Her boyfriend, Jorge Nunez, committed the crime, their daughters said – but he will likely never be prosecuted. He is believed to be in his home country of Peru.

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http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/...e-Was-Murdered-and-Dismembered-208438021.html

So the male found with Ms. Padilla (the doe) is still unidentified? I assume he was killed and dumped around the same time?

What a horrendous life the children had.....

deca said:

So the male found with Ms. Padilla (the doe) is still unidentified? I assume he was killed and dumped around the same time?

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Is he listed on the forums?

this is the closest doe that I can find to match the circumstances:

https://identifyus.org/en/cases/1239

and another one

https://identifyus.org/en/cases/8293

neither is "right on" to what we know.

melodyl said:

Is he listed on the forums?

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He is linked on the doe network under her profile.

http://www.doenetwork.org/hot/hotcase2349.html

Namus: https://identifyus.org/cases/full_report/8293

Without getting too graphic, could this be a friend or a lover? Apparently they were both dismembered so we know that they both had the same killer. I wonder why he'd bash her over the head but shoot him? Actually I don't, I'm willing to bet he could subdue her easily but didn't want to risk getting "Hurt" by a guy bigger than him.

Couple more articles from last year on the murder of Nilsa Padilla and the lives her children endured. Unfortunately I find no updates on the case.

Miami New Times: Miami Cold Case Murder Solved With Recovered Memories
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2013-05-09/news/miami-cold-case-murder-nilsa-padilla/full/

Miami New Times said:

"I just need somebody to listen to me," Gloria [Hampton, daughter of Nilsa Padilla] pleaded. The short 29-year-old with wide hips, tan skin, and curly hair had been through years of psychiatric therapy, she said. From the haze of her hurtful childhood, however, she had pulled one particular memory and polished it until clear.

"I saw my father kill my mother when I was 4 years old," she said. "He put her body into an army-green bag."

[Miami-Dade Police Department Sgt. Charles] McCully was still skeptical. Cops don't put much faith in recovered memories, and these were 25 years old. But after Gloria left, he cracked open musty boxes of cold-case files. He flipped through yellowing photographs and police reports for hours before pulling out a thin binder that hadn't been touched in years. It was the unsolved murder from April 4, 1985. And inside was a photo of a woman's body in an army-green bag.

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Miami New Times: Like Cleveland Kidnapping Victims, Miami Sisters Were Nearly Saved Only to Continue Suffering
http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/riptide/2013/05/like_cleveland_kidnapping_vict.php

Miami New Times said:

[...] when [husband and possible murderer of Nilsa Padilla, Jorge Walter] Nuñez was finally caught molesting his own children in March of 1989, his daughters were too terrified that he would be released to tell the truth about the abuse. "If I tell you, will you let my daddy go?" younger child Gloria asked.

Nuñez served just four years in prison. Despite being arrested roughly 50 times in Florida before and after the 1989 arrest, cops never connected him to the two murders until after his 2004 deportation.

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That article's description of the case binder does not fit with the assertion in Doenet that they've spent a lot of time and money on the case. And why did they go to the trouble of having a reconstruction done if they weren't going to release it to the public?

Sigh.

I'm going to go see if there's a thread for the male doe. If not, I'll start one.

eta: didn't find one. The new thread is here: FL FL - Miami "Tommy Torso", Wht/Hisp Male UP8293, 20-40, Apr'85 - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

this case is interesting. there is no memory by the children of the male that was dismembered. are they sure it was the same killer? did they check if the tool markings matched on both victims?

the only scenario that is plausible is this was her boyfriend, but this sounds like the father was so abusive that i dont see the mother having the nerve if she wouldnt even protect her children.

*Bump*

Nilsa and her daughter Alicia's case was featured in an episode of True Crime with Aphrodite Jones called "Memories of Murder", where Aphrodite interviewed Nilsa's other two daughters about their disappearances and, eventually, identification, and the horrid abuse they all suffered at the hand of Jorge Nuñez.
Alicia was jus three years old when she went missing and has still not been found.

Alicia Guzman Padilla's WS thread:
FL - FL - Alicia Guzman Padilla, 3, Miami, Jan 1985