Identified! AL - Bibb Co, WhtMal UP13483, 14-17, MVA/hitchhiker, tattoo: RY + LOVE Mar'61 - Daniel Armantrout

[BJones68]

I'm going to try and track down this James White -- the man who gave him a ride - he has possibly long ago passed away.

 

[Alleykins]

I wanted to give you all an update. I have recently joined the effort to try and identify this young man -- I am local -- and experienced in ancestral DNA research - so was interested to talk with the locals about the status of the DNA results. WELL - unfortunately, the point person and local official handling this case died unexpectedly only a few weeks ago. The Governor is in the process of appointing a someone to take his place - and I was told to contact them back in about a week - and hopefully there would be someone who discuss where they were in the process.

ALSO -- after reading all the previous posts in this thread -- I was successful in contacting a living relative of the young Mass. teen Robert Rasmussen who went missing before this time - and could fit the time frame. I sent her multiple pictures - both the post mortem and the composite - and she indicated they were NOT the same person -- BUT that was good thinking on y'all's part - and she appreciated us reaching out. ON A POSITIVE NOTE - I am working with her to get Robert entered into NaMUS and the Charley Project - and possibly getting some DNA on file.

Thanks for reaching out and getting the ball rolling for Robert's case.
Sorry to hear the person handling his case has died.

 

[Alleykins]

I found some newspaper articles with quite a bit of information not in NamUs, including:

- A detailed description of the circumstances
- He had a small crescent-shaped scar on his upper right forehead and a second, 4-inch-long scar on his right calf
- Inside his wallet was a picture of him with a girl, with the inscription "Think of me always and remember how we used to go places together"
- The boy told the driver he was heading to San Diego from the Carolinas. It's worth noting the tax stamp on his pack of cigarettes was from South Carolina
- The inscription on his arm wasn't a tattoo, it was scarification (self-inflicted)

Article 1
Article 2
Article 3

Thanks for the updates.

 

[Jake479]

Could someone send me John Doe's postmortem photo? I've never seen it.

 

[Alleykins]

I was able to locate an article that appeared in the Limestone Democrat (a newspaper from Athens, AL) on August22, 1961 about the unidentified hitchhiker that included a postmortem photo and some information that I hadn't seen in the more modern article or his NamUs page -- such as at the time of his death, it was believed that the youth had artificially lightened his hair and it was naturally darker in color.

Because of the photo, I am going to post a link, rather than upload it here -- http://i1353.photobucket.com/albums/q664/amberbluecat/limestdem_aug221961_namus13483_zps6vlayx2u.jpg

I also tried to clean up the photo and make it look a bit less like newsprint (I'm not 100% happy with my editing but it does give a better idea of how the young man looked) -- http://i1353.photobucket.com/albums/q664/amberbluecat/namusup13483pm_zps7v9ceuja.jpg

Maybe I am being overly suspicious, but I can't help but wonder if the bleached hair was an attempt to disguise himself. I don't think the "surfer" look had become popular by the beginning of 1961, although I could be wrong about this since I wasn't around at the time. The only vaguely remote possibility that I could find is a Robert Rasmussen who is mentioned as going missing at the same time as Gerald Montrio (NamUs MP # 14586, Robert doesn't have a NamUs page unless it is unpublished) from Plymouth, MA in 1957, yet by 1961 Robert might be too old (and I really have no idea about his appearance).

Bringing this forward for Jake. This link to photobucket has the best version of the PM photo.

 

[Jake479]

Bringing this forward for Jake. This link to photobucket has the best version of the PM photo.

Thank you for this. Now, I remember seeing this photo. I must've forgotten that I'd seen it.

 

[Karinna]

What a sad & interesting case. He almost looks a bit like some of the old black & white pics. of James Dean the actor from long ago that got killed in a car crash in Sept. 1955 in his Porsche Spyder.

 

[DaisyChains]

It's amazing how all of you advocates have furthered this case. I hope a new case Manager has been assigned since the unexpected death of the very dedicated manager in 2015.

Any updates on who manages his case now?


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[DaisyChains]

I wanted to give you all an update. I have recently joined the effort to try and identify this young man -- I am local -- and experienced in ancestral DNA research - so was interested to talk with the locals about the status of the DNA results. WELL - unfortunately, the point person and local official handling this case died unexpectedly only a few weeks ago. The Governor is in the process of appointing a someone to take his place - and I was told to contact them back in about a week - and hopefully there would be someone who discuss where they were in the process.

ALSO -- after reading all the previous posts in this thread -- I was successful in contacting a living relative of the young Mass. teen Robert Rasmussen who went missing before this time - and could fit the time frame. I sent her multiple pictures - both the post mortem and the composite - and she indicated they were NOT the same person -- BUT that was good thinking on y'all's part - and she appreciated us reaching out. ON A POSITIVE NOTE - I am working with her to get Robert entered into NaMUS and the Charley Project - and possibly getting some DNA on file.

Thank you for your work with Robert and this UID. It's so amazing you are making Robert's profile more thorough by collecting familial DNA.

Is there a new point person handling his case now? TIA




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[MelmothTheLost]

- Inside his wallet was a picture of him with a girl, with the inscription "Think of me always and remember how we used to go places together"

Is this photo available?

Perhaps if nobody knows the boy someone may recognise the girl. There's every chance she is still alive and wondering what happened to the boy she used to hang out with.

 

[Alleykins]

Is this photo available?
Perhaps if nobody knows the boy someone may recognise the girl. There's every chance she is still alive and wondering what happened to the boy she used to hang out with.

I haven't been able to find it, from what I understand, it's very small and not very clear?

 

[MelmothTheLost]

I haven't been able to find it, from what I understand, it's very small and not very clear?

That's disappointing. I wonder if it's still in the police file and if so whether it could be enhanced using modern photo technology to make it clearer.

 

[folieadeuxnola]

Hope is all we have ..


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[madamx]

here are some quotes from the article Ms Suzanne had posted at the beginning of the thread.. sadly I thought it would have the photo of the boy and the girl.. I wonder where the photo and why nobody ever published it. someone could of recognized them or their clothing.. I also wonder if it was ever printed in and of the South Carolina papers. And any photos of his bag or clothing that again someone could of recognized.
anyway here is some of the article from the link http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20051211/NEWS/512110375

The boy -- he looked to be around 14 or 15 years old -- had been thumbing his way across central Alabama.
He hadn’t said much to the drivers who gave him a lift. Not one of them knew his name or where he was from.
There was a hint. Though it was late March and the heat of an Alabama summer was just around the corner, the boy wore “really heavy clothes, thick clothes,” Oakley remembers.
The last person to give him a ride was James White, a 36-year-old Cottondale man who stopped to pick up the boy on Alabama Highway 25 north of Centreville.
Not far up the road, White made a left on Bibb County 26, which leads to River Bend Bridge

“He was cutting through the country going to Cottondale,” Oakley says. “Evidently the boy didn’t care where he was going. He just got in the car and took off.”
It was a little after 6 p.m. Twilight was settling over the Cahaba basin.
River Bend Bridge, a wooden structure, crossed the Cahaba at the foot of a long hill. Old and rickety, it was an accident waiting to happen.
In the gathering darkness, White missed a curve and caromed into a guardrail. Smashing through the wooden beams, his car plummeted 250 feet down the rocky river gorge.
As water poured in, White busted out the driver’s window and swam for shore. There was no sign of the hitchhiker.
The authorities summoned a trio of divers from Montgomery to recover the body of the hitchhiker. They found him still in the front seat of the car, under 20 feet of water.
It was around 9 p.m. when they brought the body out of the Cahaba.
Lee, the funeral home owner, also was the county coroner. He determined that the boy had broken his neck. His left hand was broken in two places as well; perhaps he had tried to cushion himself from the shock of the collision.
But who was he?
“He had absolutely no identification,” Oakley says. He didn’t even carry a wallet. Nobody had ever seen him around Centreville, either.

Some long-sleeve shirts and pants made of heavy fabric were stuffed into his knapsack. People took that as a sign that he was from somewhere up north.
Also, the dead boy didn’t exactly fit the profile of an activist. The only thing about him that suggested a lack of conventionality was a tattoo on his left arm. This was an era when most nice youngsters didn’t get tattoos.
“RY in Love” it read. Or maybe “R+Y in Love.” The tattoo was crude and hard to read.
The only other clue was a photo in his personal belongings that showed the boy with a girl. The images were so small that you couldn’t tell much about either of them.

Supposedly the boy told someone who’d picked him up that his mother and father had separated and he faced the choice of joining the Navy or entering an orphanage. He didn’t want to do either, so he hit the road.
That didn’t make a lot of sense. For one thing, the boy looked too young to go into the military.
Still, it seemed possible that he came from what was euphemistically called “a broken home.” Where that home may have been remained an open question.

Do they still have the picture of him and a girl with him. They can enhance that picture now.I feel if they put that picture out with his picture now. Someone might remember him.It could be his girl friend,sister or someone close to him. The article says The only other clue was a photo in his personal belongings that showed the boy with a girl. The images were so small that you couldn’t tell much about either of them.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/article/20051211/NEWS/512110375

 

[madamx]

here is the photo drawing they made at the time. the post mortem photo that they printed in the news paper looks so different he actually looks good and just like he is looking down...and nothing like the drawing.. but I am posting the drawing from the link aThousandYearsWide posted
I wonder if he had siblings out there looking for him. or even his parents in the Carolinas

From http://www.missingkids.com/poster/NCMU/1250767

Date Found: Mar 27, 1961
Location Found: Centreville, AL
Sex: Male
Race: White
Hair Color: Lt. Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Estimated Height: 5'6"
Estimated Weight: 120 lbs

On March 27, 1961 an unidentified boy was a victim of a vehicle accident along River Bend Road in Bibb County, Alabama. The boy was picked up hitchhiking along Alabama Highway 25 south of Wilton, AL by a man traveling through River Bend. The driver survived the accident but the child did not. The child supposedly told the driver that he ran away after his parents separated but the child wasn’t in the car long enough to tell any more of his story. The child is estimated to be 14-17 years old. He had light brown hair and blue eyes. He stood approximately 5’6” tall. He had a homemade tattoo on his left arm that read “R.Y. in love” or “R+Y in Love”. The clothing he was wearing is unknown but he was wearing a Timex wrist watch. He also carried with him a suitcase full of clothing, a brown wallet that did not contain identification, and a pack of Pall Mall cigarettes with a South Carolina tax stamp on it. The image above is a facial reconstruction created by a NCMEC forensic artist and depicts what the boy may have looked like in life.

 

[madamx]

Bumping this little kid up his Funeral anniversary is tomorrow April 7th


http://centrevillepress.blogspot.com/2011/04/50-years-ago-bibb-citizens-honored.html

Bibb County residents were shocked to hear reports about a 14-17 year old Caucasian male hitchhiker who died in a crash when the vehicle he was being escorted in collided with the bridge rail and plunged into the Cahaba River near River Bend.* The young boy drowned.
On his person besides the clothes he was wearing, was a Timex wrist watch, a carrying bag with several shirts and pants, a brown plastic wallet without any identification, and a pack of Pall Mall cigarettes with a South Carolina tax stamp.*
The boy was 5’6” 120 lbs, with blue eyes and light brown hair.* The boy had a tattoo which bared the inscription RY + LOVE.* The autopsy revealed that the unknown boy might have walked with a slight limp.*
For over a week the description of the boy was circulated nationwide.* While many people inquired, either by way of personal visit or by phone, none claimed to know the boy.

A funeral was eventually held at Jack Lee Funeral Home on April 7, 1961.* It was a joint community service presided over by 3 separate ministers of 3 differing religious denominations.* Rev. Marcus Smith of Centreville Methodist Church, Rev. Bob Barnes of Centreville Baptist Church, and Rev. George Vernon of Brent Wesleyan Methodist Church each gave benedictions.
*







http://wvua23.com/some-still-searching-for-answers-after-unknown-hitchhikers-1961-death/

His body stayed at the Rocko Funeral Home Chapel for days. Hundreds came from all around after they saw the reports, most of them curious about the mysterious story.

But there was one visitor who came several times, all alone, and no one knows why.
“She was grey-headed,” Oakley said. “A little heavyset, well in her 60s. … Stood there and looked at that body for a good long while. A little bit longer than the average person did. And then she left.”
She returned a second day, staying again, but before anyone could ask who she was or if she knew the boy’s identity, she vanished. No one heard from her again.



http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2016/06/exhumation_underway_for_body_o.html

On March 27, 1961, the boy - believed to be between the ages of 13 and 17 - was picked up while hitchhiking on Alabama Highway 25 south of Wilton by a man traveling through River Bend, said Bibb County sheriff's spokesman Kevin Lawrence.

 

[madamx]

I guess he has not matched anyone as of yet. At least they have the DNA

http://m.mohavedailynews.com/news/l...3dc-b2ff-5072-91ad-668aad6c7771.html?mode=jqm
I wonder if they ever contacted Robert Rasmussen's sister for her DNA?

Great news. His DNA test is complete. His NamUs appears to have been updated as of 09/30/2016.

 

[madamx]

one more link with info

http://z10.invisionfree.com/usedtobedoe/ar/t71634.htm

 

[madamx]

The boy mentioned that he ran away because his parents had divorced.. I wonder if anyone checked on Divorces in South Carolina from 1961... Maybe that could of lead somewhere.. just thinking out loud

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Supposedly the boy told someone who’d picked him up that his mother and father had separated and he faced the choice of joining the Navy or entering an orphanage. He didn’t want to do either, so he hit the road.
That didn’t make a lot of sense. For one thing, the boy looked too young to go into the military.

Would he have been too young for the merchant marine? Since teenagers tended to leave school much earlier in those days it's possible he could have been taken on as a cabin boy on a freighter to learn the trade. Since we also know he was carrying cigarettes with a SC tax stamp, perhaps he was from the SC coastal. Maybe his father also had connections in the merchant marine and told him he would no longer be responsible for him but he could get him a job with X on the Y.