WA - Unidentified Male: "Lyle Stevik", Grays Harbor, 17 Sept 2001 - #4

necco said:

Unless he was in summer session, he wouldn't have taken exams for months. If he was found in June or December, I'd buy that theory. JMO

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necco said:

Has the issue of him being AWOL from the Navy come up? Grays Harbor is not so far from a number of bases. Perhaps Sept. 11th made him realize he'd have to see real combat and set him over the edge.

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Magnum P.E. said:

I am new here after lurking for a while.

My highly inexpert observations;

"Lyle" never served in the US military and was never arrested in the US. If either had happened, his prints would have shown up as a match. He likely WAS American or Canadian or had been in one of those countries a long time. as his clothing was all of US origin and no one reported a foreign accent except maybe Canadian. The little writing we have from "Lyle" is in good English. Looking at missing persons reports has proved fruitless, so there was never a missing person report filed or he would have matched by now. He looks like he could be of Lebanese or Iranian descent.

Since he (quite successfully) went to great lengths to conceal his identity, I see three courses of action that could help to establish it.

1) Familial DNA, which could find relatives or a potential surname. Why on earth is this not used more often with UIDs?
2) Analysis of the bones to determine where he had been living, from his diet.
3) Better dissemination of his image might prompt someone to recall him.

My gut feeling is that someone, family or friends, knows who he was and what happened to him, and prefers to leave the situation alone.

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Woodland said:

I think what Magnum P.E. means by dissemination is to spread the image further afield than it has been or repeat showing the image where it was shown previously. I agree it would be worth the effort as the right person(s) did not see it as yet.

The isotope testing and familial DNA would go a long way as well - the cost might produce brick walls though.

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Magnum P.E. said:

I am new here after lurking for a while.

My highly inexpert observations;

"Lyle" never served in the US military and was never arrested in the US. If either had happened, his prints would have shown up as a match. He likely WAS American or Canadian or had been in one of those countries a long time. as his clothing was all of US origin and no one reported a foreign accent except maybe Canadian. The little writing we have from "Lyle" is in good English. Looking at missing persons reports has proved fruitless, so there was never a missing person report filed or he would have matched by now. He looks like he could be of Lebanese or Iranian descent.

Since he (quite successfully) went to great lengths to conceal his identity, I see three courses of action that could help to establish it.

1) Familial DNA, which could find relatives or a potential surname. Why on earth is this not used more often with UIDs?
2) Analysis of the bones to determine where he had been living, from his diet.
3) Better dissemination of his image might prompt someone to recall him.

My gut feeling is that someone, family or friends, knows who he was and what happened to him, and prefers to leave the situation alone.

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Gainsbarre said:

I agree with the possibility of Lyle begin of Lebanese or Iranian descent. I recall coldcaseman mentioning in one of his posts that Lyle was circumcised, and I think that any man of Lebanese or Iranian descent (born in North America or elsewhere) would be circumcised. I think that the fact that Lyle was circumcised makes it far less likely that he was an immigrant from Europe, unless he was Jewish or Muslim.

I know that where I live (Alberta, Canada), there is a long history of people of Lebanese descent in this province (e.g. Canada's first mosque was built in the 1930's in Edmonton by Lebanese immigrants). I should get around to showing Lyles picture to one of my good friends who is of Lebanese descent whose family has been in Alberta for generations (all of whom speak with very "Canadian" accents). Just need to think of a good way of bringing it up....

I'm also probably looking way too much into this, but I also find it odd that Lyle has a unibrow in his morgue pictures. I believe that coldcaseman also mentioned that he had very little/no hair on his chest (suggesting Lyle may have shaved/waxed his chest). Assuming that Lyle did do that, why wouldn't he get rid of his unibrow too? I'll admit, he was a handsome man who looks to have taken good care of his appearance (even looking to have shaved his face not too long before he hung himself), so I find the unibrow puzzling. Then again, I'm probably looking way too much into it...

Magnum P.E. brings up a good point about family or friends perhaps not wanting to bring it up. If Lyle was of Lebanese or Iranian descent, then there's a good chance of him coming from a Muslim family. Suicide is taboo and a grave sin among Muslims, so I could see Lyle going unclaimed because of his final act.

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Magnum P.E. said:

Budget is a good point; I bet one of the companies that does familial DNA might do it free for the publicity, though the cost is now less than $200.00 I think. Isotope analysis might be more expensive but is more general and less useful anyway.
Anyone know how to connect LE and one of these companies?

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Gainsbarre said:

I agree with the possibility of Lyle begin of Lebanese or Iranian descent. I recall coldcaseman mentioning in one of his posts that Lyle was circumcised, and I think that any man of Lebanese or Iranian descent (born in North America or elsewhere) would be circumcised. I think that the fact that Lyle was circumcised makes it far less likely that he was an immigrant from Europe, unless he was Jewish or Muslim.

I know that where I live (Alberta, Canada), there is a long history of people of Lebanese descent in this province (e.g. Canada's first mosque was built in the 1930's in Edmonton by Lebanese immigrants). I should get around to showing Lyles picture to one of my good friends who is of Lebanese descent whose family has been in Alberta for generations (all of whom speak with very "Canadian" accents). Just need to think of a good way of bringing it up....

I'm also probably looking way too much into this, but I also find it odd that Lyle has a unibrow in his morgue pictures. I believe that coldcaseman also mentioned that he had very little/no hair on his chest (suggesting Lyle may have shaved/waxed his chest). Assuming that Lyle did do that, why wouldn't he get rid of his unibrow too? I'll admit, he was a handsome man who looks to have taken good care of his appearance (even looking to have shaved his face not too long before he hung himself), so I find the unibrow puzzling. Then again, I'm probably looking way too much into it...

Magnum P.E. brings up a good point about family or friends perhaps not wanting to bring it up. If Lyle was of Lebanese or Iranian descent, then there's a good chance of him coming from a Muslim family. Suicide is taboo and a grave sin among Muslims, so I could see Lyle going unclaimed because of his final act.

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Ambercat said:

He might be a swimmer. Some people shave to be more aerodynamic.

This may be sort of a strange question, does Grays Harbor bury or cremate their UIDs? Does anyone know?

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Gainsbarre said:

Based on coldcaseman's earlier posts, it certainly sounded like Lyle was buried, not cremated.

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