Identified! NV - Washoe Co., WhtFem 156UFNV, 25-35, Sheep's Flat Trail, Jul'82 - Mary Edith Silvani

Ok I should hear back from him today.

Researcher26 said:

At this time my dad would have been in LE in the Reno area. I will ask and see if he remembers the case. Do we have a case #? Just getting into the case, sorry for any redundancy.

The big toe being bruised can be a lot of things, stubbing her toes, dropping something heavy on it etc.. Do we have a picture? I do wonder the growth of the toenail and the color of the bruise. If it is a recent injury the bruise will be usually around the base of the cuticle. As the toenail grows the blood of the bruise moves up the nail bed until you can basically "smoosh" out the blood. Also, if the bruise is newer in origin, it will be a darker color. Bruises of the nails usually start black, blue, purple, purple-red. The bruise being so prevalent, do we know if the toe was broken? Possible kick to attacker?

Also the post-mortem pic, her left cheekbone is sunken in. Do we know if she has a broken cheekbone, direct hit to the face? Or, was she found on her left side?

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BTW, Welcome to Websleuths Researcher26. We can always use a few more good minds

No updates.

Anyone know of any European missing person databases?

Charlie99909 said:

No updates.

Anyone know of any European missing person databases?

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I'm sure it's out there on non-English websites but we were not foreign language experts. The UID foreigners found deceased here can be solved if their websites have English language as translation. Who knows.

Never heard back. I emailed several more times. I assume they are busy, the Brianna Denison case was just wrapped up. Amid rumor of fouled up DNA and a lot of sloppy police work.


The doe was found on a Saturday and killed on Friday.

I went lake tahoe yesterday and in order to get there I have to drive by where this doe was found. I noticed several distinct paths running up the hill side surrounding the actual flat area. It was chilling to drive by there knowing what happened there.

I'll go back near the time she was found and just walk around there.

28 years ago today she was found, laying slumped over face down on a log. A single gunshot was more than needed to end it all for her. Someone out there is responsible for her death. Someone knows who she is. How much longer will she need to wait before someone steps forward to name her and her killer?

Dear Charlie,
I signed up and waited all day to be approved so that I could share some thoughts with you.

I had not heard of this case before, but I also live in Washoe Co. (Reno - downtown Riverwalk) and have lived here since the 90's. After reading this thread through a few times, and looking at all the information I wondered if you minded if I shared a couple thoughts?
I hope not and I hope it's helpful.

I am not an experienced "sleuther" and am only an amateur "critical thinker". My background is in philosophy, debate and theology but these skills have taught me to think outside the box.
My main thoughts are:

1. Isn't it possible that this young woman was in fact American, but had lived in the eastern bloc? I say this because in fact, I myself am such a person. I am now 43 (almost 44) but my father served in the US Diplomatic service abroad. Army brats are not the only "brats" we have overseas. Very often, diplomatically connected families have their dental work done "on the economy" as this is always cheaper and more practical than waiting until you visit State-side. (Northern Virginia is the usual destination of choice for these families if they DO decide to wait. Some of my childhood dental surgeries, which were MANY, UGH! were done in Vienna and McLean, outside of DC.) My own mouth is full of foriegn dentistry. (Iran, Germany and even in one instance, West African. Most recently, I went to Mexico for some serious dental surgery and partials on upper and lower arcs. Earlier in my life, I had a filling done in "Leningrad", now called St. Petersburg. This was unique and may fit this young lady's dental record: I had a tooth filled by "pounded gold". This is a very painful (but effective) procedure favored in the Eastern bloc of that time. They would take pieces of malleable gold and literally pound it into the cavity with a small rubber mallet/hammer. Alas, I forgot to ask for that tooth back, when I had it pulled recently!!! Darn it! ) I spent my entire childhood abroad even until my early 20's. I came to the USA as an adult, although I am in fact an American citizen. If I were to go missing today, and someone found my body and checked my teeth, they might very well assume that I am a Mexican-British-German-African-Middle Eastern person who might have "visited the States". In fact, I am American born and my teeth tell a very different story than what my passport says. For the record, my parents are both from Northern California and their parents are from Texas and Washington state. I myself, was born in Northern Virginia but left the USA when I was six weeks old, not to return to live and actually stay, until i was in my 20s.

2. Even if this young lady is in fact of Eastern European origin, it is possible that she ran away from home and came to the States by a circuitous route (via Germany is especially likely in this scenario) In the late 70's and early 80's when I was going to school in Germany, the former Yugoslavia (now called Serbia, Croatia, etc.) was extremely "open" to emigration of its nationals. I went to school openly with many of them in Germany and later found many in France during the mid-80's. Many of their young people fled at the first opportunity of "openness". (Many people assume that Gorbachev was the first to institute "perestroika". Not so....Yugoslavia was the first and this started around 77-78. That could fit your time frame.)

3. This young lady, in my opinion, as a world traveller, looks very East German, or Yugoslavian. The possibilities are endless of course and it's hard to generalize but she also reminds me of some of my current Ukranian friends. (I go to the Russian and sometimes Serbian, Orthodox churches in Reno. These churches have members from many Eastern European countries: Ukraine, Bulgaria, even Czechoslovakia) I was struck immediately by her faint resemblance to the recent Ukranian Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yulia_Tymoshenko
(Cheekbones, eye socket structure, mouth placement, ears, even the conservative hairstyle.)

4. Speaking of her hairstyle, I can confirm that a "bun" would have been the hairstyle of choice for a "proper" young woman of Eastern European background in the late 70's/early 80's. Coming as they did, from formerly "oppressed" satelite nations of the Soviet bloc, they were unfamiliar with the term "avante garde". I was an artist, interested in fashion design, etc. back then and this was a common trend among "Eastern" models ("East" Germany, Yugoslavia, Czech, etc.) . This young lady has the look and bone structure of a model from Eastern Europe of that time. (Very angular, and forgive me for saying it, but the very typical "Aryan" look that was still very fashionable at that time. Redheads and blonds were preferred in Europe in that world, then.)

5. Perhaps she was an exchange student ? There is an organization now at UNR, for international students. If she was, she was probably a member of that club. Perhaps they might have some records of a student that suddenly did not return to school?
On this, it's important to note that many young people who emigrated to the West at that time, had few, if any family left "in the old country". That was a main reason for their emigration in the first place : nothing to hold them there, nothing to lose, find a new life with new people, etc. A scenario like this might explain why there was no "international" inquiry as to her identity/whereabouts. A student who simply did not return to school, who had few friends and no family of record, would not have been reported as "missing."

I hope you will stay on this case and if you ever would like some assistance with research, I hope you will let me know. After reading about her, through YOU, I was very touched also and hope that someday we will find out the answer to her mystery.
No one should die alone, in a foriegn land, with no one to mourn them.

God bless you in your search Charlie!

Best ,
"rindicella" (cinderella, inside out! )

Ran out of time for edits. Would like to add one last thought:

6. If she was Eastern European, there is a good chance she was of the Orthodox religion. At that time, in this area, there was only ONE Eastern Orthodox Church. That would have been St. Anthony's Greek Orthodox Church on Lakeside Drive. I know it well and have attended there many times. Do not let the term "Greek" throw you off. The Orthodox religion is the SAME, whether it is "Greek", "Russian" etc. The only difference is the main language that services are delivered in. If she was Orthodox, she might have checked in with the priest at St. Anthony's at that time. I am pretty sure it is the same priest who serves there NOW, Fr. George. Go see him and talk to him. He is a very nice man. I would be happy to help with this. I have met Fr. George and he is a good priest, with a wonderful memory.

:Welcome-12-june:

Welcome to Websleuths, Rindicella

Those are excellent points. It's great to have you on the board with the insight from your own life experiences. Hopefully it will lead to something. Charlie has put alot of effort into this particular case, and has chimed in on a few others as well. I hope you can find the time to stick around and provide excellent input to this and many of our other cases of lost souls who need their names back.

Nice!

Thank you for your interest and very eye opening contribution! Many of the information you provided I had never even considered and most was unknown to me. The orthodox church on lakeside, that's the one by the shell station? Close to the intersection of moana and lakeside right?

Before your post I felt like I was nearing a dead end, the officer in charge of the case won't return emails and is out of his office about 99.9% of the time I call. I'm going to check up on the church lead and cross my fingers and get somewhere after months of siting idle.

Pm me and we can discuss this case more!


Charlie

CarlK90245 said:

:Welcome-12-june:

Welcome to Websleuths, Rindicella

Those are excellent points. It's great to have you on the board with the insight from your own life experiences. Hopefully it will lead to something. Charlie has put alot of effort into this particular case, and has chimed in on a few others as well. I hope you can find the time to stick around and provide excellent input to this and many of our other cases of lost souls who need their names back.

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Thank you for the warm welcome Carl . To be honest, I don't really know how I ended up here, reading Charlie's story on this girl. Yesterday I was surfing for local news, etc...and just literally, "clicked" over it. I hope that I can be of service to anyone and I am fascinated by what all of you are doing. I never knew anyone who did this work. God bless all of you for doing it!

Charlie99909 said:

Nice!

Thank you for your interest and very eye opening contribution! Many of the information you provided I had never even considered and most was unknown to me. The orthodox church on lakeside, that's the one by the shell station? Close to the intersection of moana and lakeside right?

Before your post I felt like I was nearing a dead end, the officer in charge of the case won't return emails and is out of his office about 99.9% of the time I call. I'm going to check up on the church lead and cross my fingers and get somewhere after months of siting idle.

Pm me and we can discuss this case more!


Charlie

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Hi there Charlie! I'd be happy to chat about this case anytime. I am working today so will be in and out, reading this thread again and thinking about it some more.

You are correct about the location....there's also a Jewish synagogue over there, and their sign is a similar size so you have to kind of really look at the signs. It's on the west side of the street, as you travel south from that Shell station. If you hurry, you can make it for the Liturgy at 10 am. (About 20 minutes. ) If you go over there today, realize that in the Orthodox world, there is always a lunch/coffee hour after Sunday services. Over at St. Anthony's, this usually winds down around 1 - 1:30 or so. So you will want to time it so that Fr. George is available, not busy with parishioners etc. If you want to talk to him privately, which I recommend, you can just ask him for a private word. He will take you to his office.

Let me know how that goes! I would love to actually be there for that but understand if you want to go alone. Tell Fr. George that "Columbina" (My church name) says hello!

Come to think of it Charlie, it would not be a bad idea to wallk over to the Synagogue while you are over there. There were many Jewish people leaving Eastern Europe back then and this young lady might have been Jewish? Many went to Israel but some people came to western Europe or the US. that's a possibility too. If she was Jewish, the Rabbi at the synagogue may know something????

Wherever someone is in a foriegn land, they are going to look around for their "tribe" so to speak. People always need support from people who understand them, speak their language. Trust me, with my background, I know what an "identity crisis" is! LOL!

If I wasn't working right now I would head over there and see what I could do. I think what I might do is phone him this week and try to set something up on my day off. I'm really excited.

Charlie99909 said:

If I wasn't working right now I would head over there and see what I could do. I think what I might do is phone him this week and try to set something up on my day off. I'm really excited.

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:woohoo:

Me too Charlie!!!
I can't wait to hear what happens. Now, I have read all the thread again and I have some more thoughts:

If you ever find out that she was wearing jewelry, please post descriptions or pictures if available. Europeans ( both western and eastern) are fond of wearing religious jewelry. Where Americans tend to be more secular in their attitude to culture, a European is very much defined by three things:
1. National origin
2. Language
3. Religion
These three things combine to create a personal identity for Europeans. Don't believe me? Ask a German what makes him "German".

Here's a true story: I was in a bar....(I know...bear with me)
I once spotted an Eastern Orthodox style cross around the neck of a soccer player. I said to him, "HEY! I didn't know you were Orthodox --- you said you didn't believe in ANYTHING???"
His response: I may not believe in it but I am still A RUSSIAN!
I WOULD NEVER GIVE UP MY RELIGION.

ROFL! Proof that, you can take the boy out of Russia, but you'll never get Russia outta the boy and the Church is a huge part of that.
Religious jewelry can pinpoint down to the language....a Greek cross is different from a Serbian one, and an Irish Roman Catholic is just as likely to wear a Celtic crucifix...see what I mean??? A European of any nationality is going to choose religious jewelry that reflects their OWN heritage. A Jewish European will choose jewelry that is reflective of Hebrew, etc....

Now I wish I could contact the officer! This is gonna bug me all day until I can talk to someone!

still thinking Charlie....

Tattoos: Religious Eastern Orthodox usually do not have them ....the Church takes a dim view of tattooing. (In spite of what you have read about the Russian mob...they're different.)
Same would go for someone who is an observant Jew.

Her surgical scar ---- could have been a C-section .... Hmmmm....still thinking.

They mentioned she had possibly given birth

Charlie....wonder if there were any "abandoned babies/children/toddlers" around that time?????

Charlie....!!!!!

Look at this:
From the Washoe Co. Coroner's website:
http://www.co.washoe.nv.us/coroner/unidentifiedremains.htm

Date Found: February 24, 1982
Washoe County Coroner Case #0145-82
Newborn, white, infant female, found at Flash Dam, Truckee River, Sierra County, California.
Cause of Death: Undetermined/Homicide
Agency: Sierra County Sheriff

Related???? Time frame fits with our young ladie's murder, as well as her possible C-section scar.

Pure speculation on my part but here's a theory:
European girl hooks up with local fella. She's pregnant, no other family, he doesn't wnat the baby....he or they get "rid" of it, and later he decides to get rid of her too?

It could be far fetched, but not totally impossible.


I'm gonna makes note of it for if I ever get face time with the officer.

Nice find.