Identified! CA - L.A. Griffith Park, WhtFem 725UFCA, 20-28, @Picnic Table, Jun'68 Cheryl McMillan

[CarlK90245]

Are her lips a little too thin in the reconstruction? Something looks not quite right about the mouth.

I found a couple of shots of the hairstyle I was thinking of --
http://timstvshowcase.com/laughin10.jpg
http://timstvshowcase.com/laughin12.jpg
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2598936320/tt0064117

She could almost be Goldie Hawn's double.

I don't think her mouth looked like that in life. People's lips flatten and their mouths widen postmortem, and I usually try to compensate by puffing them up, narrowing the mouth and raising the corners a little. I did the same with her cheeks by giving her cheeks a little body. It may be that the differences that are bothering us are the result of the way she looks in death, vs. the adjustments that I made to make her look more alive.

Those photos of Goldie are pretty good, especially laughin10.jpg, but this woman's hair is longer and wavier. I can usually improvise on simpler hairstyles, but it's pretty tough to improvise on hair that is trussed up like that.

BTW, while you were typing, I was revising the recon in my previous post, so you will need to pick up the quote again from my previous post and edit it into your own post so the recon photo shows up in the quote box.

ETA: Here's are a couple that are close on the sides, but I am looking for something that is pulled back on the top

http://z.about.com/d/beauty/1/0/l/-/1/jennie_garth_short_hair.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/beauty/1/0/8/w/charlize_theron_blonde.jpg

 

[carbuff]

I don't think her mouth looked like that in life. People's lips flatten and widen postmortem, and I usually try to compensate by puffing them up, narrowing the mouth and raising the corners a little. I did the same with her cheeks by giving her cheeks a little body. It may be that the differences that are bothering us are the result of the way she looks in death, and the adjustments that I made to make her look more alive.

Those photos of Goldie are pretty good, especially laughin10.jpg, but this woman's hair is longer and wavier. I can usually improvise on simpler hairstyles, but it's pretty tough to improvise on hair that is trussed up like that.

BTW, while you were typing, I was revising the recon in my previous post, so you will need to pick up the quote again from my previous post and edit it into your own post so the recon photo shows up in the quote box.

ETA: Here's are a couple that are close on the sides, but I am looking for something that is pulled back on the top

http://z.about.com/d/beauty/1/0/l/-/1/jennie_garth_short_hair.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/beauty/1/0/8/w/charlize_theron_blonde.jpg

Yes, I think I am looking for something that looks like the photo, rather than trying to imagine what she looked like asleep. Good point.

The hair in back of a hairstyle like Goldie's is longer than it looks. It's teased, which reduces the length drastically. The top hair is combed over and tucked in. The hair on the back of her head is probably shoulder length when combed out. The hair in front is much shorter.

 

[Billylee]

Too darn bad they don't say how long the hair was. Or if there was sand in her sandals or bikini. Is there a way to get that kind of info or is what "we got what we get"? It would also be nice to know what size the ring was and which finger she wore it on.

I came across this girl a week or so ago, when I was looking for potential Alcala victims. I didn't originally see the date on the ring, 9-4-1920, so I spent quite some time Googling first names of the missing starting with "E", from Edie to Evelyn and I found nothing fit her. Now, with the date, I'm guessing maybe it was her Grandmother's.

 

[CarlK90245]

OK - Here she is with an Up-Do. It seems a little too formal for a young woman hanging out in Griffith Park in the 60's, and her hair isn't quite that bundled up in the postmortem photo.

But it does kind of help out on the facial resemblance, even though I did very little to her face.

Warning: Postmortem Photo at Link
http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums...em Photos/2548619530045078242S600x600Q851.jpg

 

[Billylee]

GREAT JOB! I still say you missed your calling!

Gosh, I still can't get over how someone like her can just not be missed! Sad.

 

[Cubby]

I've removed the post mortem pictures. After speaking with Tricia, please use links to these pics with the general warning post mortem or graphic photo's at link. I will add an explanation in another thread on the WS decision to do so. This thread is for id'ng the Jane Doe.

thank you for your understanding.

I realize some of these posts are now outside the 24 hour edit window. If anyone would like, please send me a link to the photo hosting site with any side by side or post mortem pictures and I will update and add them back into the posts.

explanation posted here:

Found Deceased PLEASE READ- regarding links with graphic photos of the deceased. - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community



thanks!

 

[Billylee]

Someone suggested a side by side. We can compare them to Carl's recon instead of the actual Doe's picture, since they've been removed. Here's one of Lynn Marjorie Bandringa. The CB engraved on the inside of the JD's ring would also fit this last name.

They sure do look similar to me. The height is a full three inches off though, could that be a possible mistake?

http://dojapp.doj.ca.gov/missing/detail.asp?FCN=4360507400302

 

[CarlK90245]

Someone suggested a side by side. We can compare them to Carl's recon instead of the actual Doe's picture, since they've been removed. Here's one of Lynn Marjorie Bandringa. The CB engraved on the inside of the JD's ring would also fit this last name.

They sure do look similar to me. The height is a full three inches off though, could that be a possible mistake?

She doesn't have the same strong chin that GPJD has. She also has a different jawline

 

[ThePhantom]

Great find!!!!!!! Wow!!

And on a separate note, I was re-reading prior posts when I saw this:

"fwiw: Robert Kennedy was assassinated June 5, 1968.
From reading the brief info. available,
she was staying at a motel, under the name Sheryl Miller.
She had a ring on.
She was wearing a bikini, white coat and black sandals.
She was found at 9:30am, June 6, 1968."
You know what guys, this is really, really wierd. And maybe it's just a coincidence, but you know what? The timing on this, amongst other things, is quite odd...very odd indeed, to me.

 

[CarlK90245]

Great find!!!!!!! Wow!!

And on a separate note, I was re-reading prior posts when I saw this:

"fwiw: Robert Kennedy was assassinated June 5, 1968.
From reading the brief info. available,
she was staying at a motel, under the name Sheryl Miller.
She had a ring on.
She was wearing a bikini, white coat and black sandals.
She was found at 9:30am, June 6, 1968."
You know what guys, this is really, really wierd. And maybe it's just a coincidence, but you know what? The timing on this, amongst other things, is quite odd...very odd indeed, to me.

... and you forgot to mention that RFK was killed in Los Angeles.

Disclaimer: For the record, i'm not quite ready to chalk it up to anything more than coincidence.

 

[forthelost]

I thought of Lynn Luray first. Two inches shorter than the uid, but she could have grown in four years.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2880dfca.html

edit: height's an approximation, so...

 

[CarlK90245]

... and you forgot to mention that RFK was killed in Los Angeles.

Disclaimer: For the record, i'm not quite ready to chalk it up to anything more than coincidence.

Just a thought on the RFK angle.

Griffith Park is quite a large place, and I don't know where in Griffith Park the picnic table was located, but the Greek Theater at Griffith Park is about four miles from the former site of the Ambassador Hotel (where RFK was killed). It's a straight shot up N. Vermont Ave (See Map at Link).

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sou...52,-118.309708&spn=0.079326,0.130806&t=h&z=13

As for Marilyn Monroe style conspiracy theories, I am not going there. But considering that she was booked into a motel on the night of the California presidential primary election, it is not inconceivable that she might have been somehow connected to RFK's campaign and did herself in (either deliberately or accidentally) from the grief of his death.

If any of you think that this is something more than a strange coincidence, and think that she might have been somehow connected with the primary campaign of RFK, we could probably send an e-mail with her photo to radio talk-show host Michael Medved. Although he is now a conservative, he was a volunteer for the RFK campaign in 1968, and was at the Ambassador Hotel on the night that RFK died.

If she had any connection to the RFK campaign, he might know who she was.

ETA some completely irrelevant info: The cemetary at the north end of Griffith Park is where Michael Jackson was laid to rest.

 

[Billylee]

According to the farmer's almanac.com this was the weather on June 5, 1968 in LA: (Bikini weather?)

LOS ANGELES MUNICIPA
Temperature
Minimum Temperature

60.1 °F

Mean Temperature

64.7 °F

Maximum Temperature

69.1 °F

 

[Billylee]

Just adding some info, may not be pertinent at all. But there was a Dodgers game @ 2:30 on the afternoon of the June 5, 68. No idea how far Dodger Stadium is/was from Griffith Park. Does anyone know if either the Dodgers or the Pirates used bikini clad ball girls back then?

 

[carbuff]

Too darn bad they don't say how long the hair was. Or if there was sand in her sandals or bikini. Is there a way to get that kind of info or is what "we got what we get"? It would also be nice to know what size the ring was and which finger she wore it on.

I came across this girl a week or so ago, when I was looking for potential Alcala victims. I didn't originally see the date on the ring, 9-4-1920, so I spent quite some time Googling first names of the missing starting with "E", from Edie to Evelyn and I found nothing fit her. Now, with the date, I'm guessing maybe it was her Grandmother's.

Back when I was a young woman, it was not uncommon to buy an antique wedding ring to wear if you had a job that put you in a situation where guys would hit on you a lot. It was especially effective against middle-aged married men. If she had a bikini-girl type of job, she might have needed defense .

 

[carbuff]

Just a thought on the RFK angle.

Griffith Park is quite a large place, and I don't know where in Griffith Park the picnic table was located, but the Greek Theater at Griffith Park is about four miles from the former site of the Ambassador Hotel (where RFK was killed). It's a straight shot up N. Vermont Ave (See Map at Link).

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sou...52,-118.309708&spn=0.079326,0.130806&t=h&z=13

As for Marilyn Monroe style conspiracy theories, I am not going there. But considering that she was booked into a motel on the night of the California presidential primary election, it is not inconceivable that she might have been somehow connected to RFK's campaign and did herself in (either deliberately or accidentally) from the grief of his death.

If any of you think that this is something more than a strange coincidence, and think that she might have been somehow connected with the primary campaign of RFK, we could probably send an e-mail with her photo to radio talk-show host Michael Medved. Although he is now a conservative, he was a volunteer for the RFK campaign in 1968, and was at the Ambassador Hotel on the night that RFK died.

If she had any connection to the RFK campaign, he might know who she was.

ETA some completely irrelevant info: The cemetary at the north end of Griffith Park is where Michael Jackson was laid to rest.

I don't think we have to get into conspiracy theories to think there might be a connection. There were probably thousands of young people from all over the country in California that day doing last minute campaign work for their man. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the campaign rallies included bikini girls.

And I do know -- did know, rather -- somebody who killed themselves that night because they thought all hope had just been murdered. So the idea she might have done so doesn't strike me as implausible, either.

 

[Billylee]

I agree Carbuff, EVERYONE was soooo devastated. Those close to the campaign must have felt totally deflated and hopeless. Going back and reading about some of the things going on around that time, and where we seemed to go as a nation after this senseless murder, brings back so many memories. You would think, though, that if she had been part of the campaign, someone would have missed her.

I'm still trying to figure out why this girl was in a bikini when the temp outside wasn't all that warm. Call girl? That's where my head keep going with this one.

Has anyone contacted the coroner's office to find out COD? It would be noteworthy to find out which finger the ring was on also.

 

[carbuff]

I agree Carbuff, EVERYONE was soooo devastated. Those close to the campaign must have felt totally deflated and hopeless. Going back and reading about some of the things going on around that time, and where we seemed to go as a nation after this senseless murder, brings back so many memories. You would think, though, that if she had been part of the campaign, someone would have missed her.

I'm still trying to figure out why this girl was in a bikini when the temp outside wasn't all that warm. Call girl? That's where my head keep going with this one.

Has anyone contacted the coroner's office to find out COD? It would be noteworthy to find out which finger the ring was on also.

People were much more casual about coming and going in those days. They probably just assumed she went back home, or decided to hitch up to SF, or something.

 

[CarlK90245]

I just kicked off an e-mail to Michael Medved's radio show. Sure it's a long shot, but I think that he will at least take a look.

Michael:

I have been involved in my spare time with the effort to resolve some of the 110,000 missing persons (MP) cases, and 42,000 Unidentified Decedent (UID) cases throughout the United States. In furtherance of that goal, I have been involved with an online bulletin board called Websleuths.com.

One of the cases that has been of particular interest is that of a woman, approximately 20 to 28 years old, blonde hair, brown eyes who was found dead at a picnic table in Griffith Park in Los Angeles on the morning of June 8, 1968 . Her cause of death is unavailable. She most likely died on the night before she was found. To this date, she has never been identified, although authorities had learned that she was checked into a nearby motel under the name Cherryl (with two r’s) Miller.

An interesting fact about this case is that she she died within 48 hours of the death of Robert F Kennedy in a park located less than five miles from the Ambassador Hotel.

On the Websleuths message board, we have speculated based on the fact that she was checked into a motel in the vicinity of RFK’s campaign event in the days following that event, that maybe she was somehow connected (perhaps as a volunteer) to the Robert F Kennedy presidential campaign and perhaps the grief of the RFK assassination led her to engage in self-destructive behavior (e.g., drugs or alcohol) that led to her demise.

Granted, this is an extreme long-shot, but it is an angle that I would not want to leave unexplored.

I recall you saying that you were a volunteer for RFK’s campaign and were at the Ambassador Hotel on that fateful night. Consequently, I thought that perhaps you may be able to recognize this woman.

Please take a look at the attached photos and artist’s reconstructions.

Do you remember a woman among RFK campaign volunteers with whom you associated, who might have gone by the name Cherryl Miller, and who resembled this woman?

Any assistance that you might be able to provide would be greatly appreciated.

I don't think we have to get into conspiracy theories to think there might be a connection.

I just wanted to put that disclaimer in to make it clear that this was not the direction that I was trying to take this discussion.

 

[ThePhantom]

Again, hats off to the person(s) who made the timeline connection to Kennedy, wow...definitely worthy of a full analysis