NJ NJ - Depford, WhtFem 16-20, UP1489, in woods, pearl necklace, sweatpants, Feb'90

Rosa said:

I put this together for someone I contacted about this who expressed doubts that police in the past refused to take missing persons reports and all missing persons reports were not put into the national databases. I also sent a link to the article on the Moorestown girl dismissed as a runaway (link found in this thread).

This article, http://www.thecrimereport.org/news/articles/nj-law-requires-police-to-take-missing-person-reports is about a NJ law passed in 2008 requiring that police take missing persons reports. It does not say they have to at some point place those people on the national missing persons databases. The article indicates that there are over 1,500 missing persons and 272 unidentified bodies in NJ. There are 147 missing people and 257 unidentified bodies listed on the NJ State Police's Missing Persons site. Given that the number of unidentified bodies may have gone down since the article was written, it seems that it is much more likely that a body will be added to the databases. The number of missing most surely has changed too, but I doubt it went from 1,500 to 272 in 5 years. Anyone that police refused to take a missing persons report on, because they were "runaways" or adults that left on their own, would not have made it into the tally at all.

I had noticed what appears to be a statistical anomaly for NJ in this search before. Looking at the Doe Network for missing women for all of the 1980s, I get an answer of NONE! There are 11 missing men. Either women were much safer than in other states, their cases were cleared faster than men's, or their disappearances were not taken as seriously. If I had the statistical chops, I would love to compare the number of reported missings to the population across states. It might help highlight where the missing missings are.

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Filly said:

Our paper here did a story on Donna Fontana today. I was not sure where to put it so I tried here.




http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130707_No_bones_about_it__She_solves_mysteries.html

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Filly said:

Our paper here did a story on Donna Fontana today. I was not sure where to put it so I tried here.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130707_No_bones_about_it__She_solves_mysteries.html

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kg0421 said:

I have been reading in the news about the surge of unidentified people being identified or close to identified in part due to this site and I am so grateful for everyone here who invests their time and energy into giving these people a name. It gives me hope that maybe this Deptford girl will be next.

I did hear something recently that was like an "a-ha!" moment for this case. A coworker of mine who is an avid hunter was telling me how he had to go get new pantyhose for the trip... When I questioned his fashion choices, he explained that he wears pantyhose under his pants during cold trips to help keep him warm. He told me a lot of hunters do this and it's a pretty well-known trick in the outdoor community.

Given that Deptford Doe was found with pantyhose, sweatpants, and socks, and that she was most likely murdered during the fall or winter, is it possible she was planning on spending some time outside and wore pantyhose under her sweatpants and socks? The field she was found in was not a likely place for an overnight camping or hunting trip, but it's possible she believed she was on her way to an outdoor overnight destination. There is also the possibility that she was running away and knew she might be spending a lot of time outside. Any thoughts?

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Roselvr said:

I don't remember them making a come back in the US; especially for her age group. I could be wrong... IIRC from the articles; the jewelry was not near the body; so how positive can we be that they even belonged to her?



I noticed that too. Someone from NamUs posted the article on their FB wall; mentioned they know DF. I'm debating going back to the post & asking if any of her cases have been solved so that I can look at the recon to make an opinion.

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cvaldez1975 said:

a few years previous (about 87) pearls were made popular by madonna.

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reasypeasy said:

There was a lot of layering of costume necklaces in the mid eighties, especially strings of pearls. Madonna was a big style influence that way. It wouldn't be terribly surprising for a 16 year old to own and wear a strand of them. If she was wearing them with odd earrings and sweat pants and pantyhose I'm guessing she either had very little jewellery and liked to wear it all (homeless maybe?) or she was trying for a little bit of that quirky look from the movie Desperately Seeking Susan.

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carbuff said:

I wish they had a picture of the "sweatpants." I wonder if they could be leggings, which would be much more consistent with the rest of her outfit.

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kg0421 said:

Does anyone have any ideas on how we can get this identification jump-started again? So far this year multiple high-profile persons have been identified after 30+ years thanks to the tenacity of the Internet, and it gives me hope that we could start to see more of this happening as each case gets more exposure. Is it realistic to write a letter or email to her case manager asking for a new push or offering any help, or do they generally not respond to stuff like that?

I would really like to see a better sketch or recon than is available. A lot of the sketches of other UID's provided by the NCMEC are really beautiful and lifelike. Deptford Jane Doe's makes her look much older than she is.

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CarlK90245 said:

She came up on my screen, and she does have a very similar facial structure. Her height at age 15 was a little low even if you figure that she was probably still growing. Also, I was looking for MP's with deformities around their upper lip, or teeth that were askew like Jane Doe's. Her upper lip looks perfectly straight, and of course, you can't see her teeth to compare on that basis.

However, none of these points would be a solid reason to rule her out. They probably should check her out.

BTW, I was looking pretty close at Amber Carrie Potts, but moved on based on the description that her "teeth were in good condition", and there were no obvious issues with her philtrum. However, that's not a solid reason to exclude either.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/312dfon.html

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