LA LA - Belle Chasse, WhtMale 16-17, UP88342, hanged, suicide note, Feb'75 #2

[Ciriii57]

Yes, but eye colour also changes after death.

In fact the colour of the eye does not change after death; the cornea develops a hazy film called "corneal opacity" which can make the eyes appear bluish-grey. The colour of the iris underneath remains the same and any coroner or medical examiner worth his salt would know this. Eventually the eyes will turn black as blood vessels collapse- but this happens after a much longer time than BCJD had been there and usually in a outside death nature has already consumed the eyes by the time that happens.
The only reason eye colour would not be able to be determined is due to decomposition; which certainly hadn't occurred in this case.
Corneal Opacity usually occurs about 2 hours after death but can vary depending on environment.

Even if the coroner in this case was totally useless (i'm not saying he was!) he listed the eyes as "brown". That means BCJD's eyes were most assuredly brown. Any mistake by the coroner owing to colour changes after death would have labelled them as blue.
Anyone with blue eyes is not possible to be BCJD; unless the missing person's eye colour was reported incorectly.

The first is corneal clouding. About two hours after death, the cornea becomes hazy or cloudy, turning progressively more opaque over the next day or two. This obstructs the view of the lens and back of the eye. (See A New Look at a Dead Retina, on page 80.) But this clouding may provide a rough estimate in helping to determine time of death.

CS EYE

www.reviewofoptometry.com

 

[Beekarina]

Thank you for explaining the postmortem changes in detail!

Although if we do have some doubts about the qualifications of the local gynecologist who performed the exam, I would venture there is a *slim* chance it was noted as: brown hair/brown eyes, simply as this is the most common combination? Edited to add: and all we have is the media around the case, not the death certificate.

Weirder things have happened!

 

[Courtaine]

IMO severe depression checks a lot of boxes. It can definitely cause anger, lack of impulse control, self-hatred, negativity, a distorted view of oneself, difficulty connecting with others, and (of course and sadly) suicide...

I have endogenous depression, i dont hate myself, I hate my life sometimes, I hate to be alive sometimes but these are external not internal. I hate myself has got nothing to do with the world, the problem is me. IMO

 

[Ciriii57]

a distorted view of oneself

I think this aspect could be important. We have this view of himself, but that may nit be what others saw, therfore any descriptions of missing people may not match up with this person's personality. All the things he describes himself as being may not be accurate at all from an outside perspective. That he felt this way is obvious, but if he had a badly distorted view from depression then it may mean no one else saw this young man as he saw himself.

 

[Beekarina]

Also of note: "Jay" Joggerst does clearly have blue eyes in the photo of him in Namus as a very young child.

It is possible for "blue" eyes to turn darker with age. This is probably a wild stretch for our purposes here, but I'm not sure how comfortable I am with 100% ruling anyone out solely based on eye color. It is a check mark AGAINST them, certainly, but I think anyone who fits otherwise remains possible for me, even if they move a bit farther down the list.

 

[Courtaine]

Thank you for explaining the postmortem changes in detail!

Although if we do have some doubts about the qualifications of the local gynecologist who performed the exam, I would venture there is a *slim* chance it was noted as: brown hair/brown eyes, simply as this is the most common combination? Edited to add: and all we have is the media around the case, not the death certificate.

Weirder things have happened!

Wait, there is a funeral home form in thread 1 where the funeral home detail the deceased they have received and again from memory I believe they also note eye and hair colour.

Also please excuse my double answers, i really should learn to read to the end of the thread before I comment.

 

[JSolt1210]

So, some thoughts after reading the recent comments.

First, thanks @Beekarina for posting that quote of his letter. I wasn't aware that there was a fuller version of the suicide letter. After reading "I refused to express any emotions or deal with people on a social basis. In effect, I refused to accept that I was an animal and that I needed social ties…" I agree that this was a severely withdrawn individual. The linked article also explores the LGBTQ+ angle, and even cites the Upstairs Lounge arson attack that killed 32 people in Louisiana during Pride. But even if he was gay (which I doubt), he doesn't sound like the type to hang out at bars or lounges. I think he actively avoided people at all costs.

@Ciriii57 wrote that there's a chance that BCJD already acted on his impulses and was ashamed. BCJD said in his letter that "There are no legal consequences of my death or any kind of entanglements." I tend to take him at his word, that he didn't kill or harm anyone. But could he have harmed animals? While of course it's wrong, would it have been technically illegal back in the '70s? Maybe this is the impulse he acted on and was ashamed. And we know now that this is often how serial killers begin.

I agree with @Sweetluv that he was very evasive in his letter. But I know that I've done the same in my own private journals. Some things are just too awkward to write down even if you believe no one's going to read it, or (in his case) you know you won't be around.

Lots of thought is going into Valentine's Day as a sign of something, but this is just the day on which he was found. Neither NamUs or the Doe Network cite an estimated time of death, so he could've killed himself one or two days prior—but not too long since his face was still recognizable.

That year, Mardi Gras was on Tuesday, February 11. The day after is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, a season of penitence and self-discipline in Christianity. In effect, the raunchy festivities of Mardi Gras are a kind of "get it all out of your system before Lent." What if he decided to attend Mardi Gras as a kind of final day out? I still believe he actively avoided people, but even in his letter he admits to being aware that he is an "animal" that "needed social ties." So what if he decided to be around people and just let loose, knowing he was going to end his own life the next day on Feb 12.

Most people know about the custom of giving up something for Lent. Maybe he gave up his life.

 

[Beekarina]

I think this aspect could be important. We have this view of himself, but that may nit be what others saw, therfore any descriptions of missing people may not match up with this person's personality. All the things he describes himself as being may not be accurate at all from an outside perspective. That he felt this way is obvious, but if he had a badly distorted view from depression then it may mean no one else saw this young man as he saw himself.

This one is very hard to sort out if it is self-hatred or he really was struggling with something darker.

Also consider how many times we have serial killers where everyone who knew them was completely shocked they would have done something like that? Either "such a nice person", or "Yeah, maybe a little weird, but nothing like this..."

It's really rare for friends, family, neighbors, etc to come forward and admit how troubled anyone was.

JMO

 

[Ciriii57]

Thank you for explaining the postmortem changes in detail!

Although if we do have some doubts about the qualifications of the local gynecologist who performed the exam, I would venture there is a *slim* chance it was noted as: brown hair/brown eyes, simply as this is the most common combination? Edited to add: and all we have is the media around the case, not the death certificate.

Weirder things have happened!

That is very true. I hate to have doubts about the coroner because I am someone who wants to have faith in LE and coroners and I respect the jobs they do. However...it would be good to know how many autopsies this person had actually carried out on unknown individuals. I suspect none!

However, a gynocologist is still a fully qualified medical professional with many years of university study behid him and this is just basic stuff so I am confident he would have been able to spot this easily

 

[Beekarina]

Lots of thought is going into Valentine's Day as a sign of something, but this is just the day on which he was found. Neither NamUs or the Doe Network cite an estimated time of death, so he could've killed himself one or two days prior—but not too long since his face was still recognizable.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe We DO know the couple who found BCJD drove down the road early in the evening and everything in the area was "normal", but when they returned along the same route around 11:30 pm, noticed BCJD hanging from the tree.

Edited to add: " Acouple drove down a remote section of Highway 23 along the Mississippi River around 16 miles south of Belle Chasse, Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish at around 5:25 pm. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. On their return trip at 11:30 pm they noticed something white peeking through the trees. To their horror they found the body of a teenage boy hanging from a persimmon tree."

via: The Boy in the Tree: a Tragic End in Louisiana

 

[JSolt1210]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe We DO know the couple who found BCJD drove down the road early in the evening and everything in the area was "normal", but when they returned along the same route around 11:30 pm, noticed BCJD hanging from the tree.

Ahh okay thanks for the clarification! I wasn't aware of that—or maybe I just forgot!

 

[Courtaine]

I think this aspect could be important. We have this view of himself, but that may nit be what others saw, therfore any descriptions of missing people may not match up with this person's personality. All the things he describes himself as being may not be accurate at all from an outside perspective. That he felt this way is obvious, but if he had a badly distorted view from depression then it may mean no one else saw this young man as he saw himself.

Not from depression, from borderline personality disorder cluster b personality traits. Along with a side of attachment disorder for which there is no apparent reason either than genetically inherited which begs the question why don't we see it in one or both of his parents?

Bpd and AD would fall under the psychopath lump in the dsm 2. Going with your theory Cirii, if he saw a psychiatrist that's probably the diagnosis he would have given him.

 

[Beekarina]

Ahh okay thanks for the clarification! I wasn't aware of that—or maybe I just forgot!

There is so much to keep straight here, I have to keep double checking with every post!

 

[Rolypolyoly]

Re Charles Wallace. Apart form being 1 year older than the faces estimate, almost everything about him fits the description of the body, down to matching dentals and a matching scar in the exact same place, his mother even asked to see the feet and said they looked like Charlie's, which as @Ciriii57 said upthread, leads me to believe he must have had something distinctive about his feet, to me he seems like a 99.9% match.

My question is, if his mother had never viewed the body and said he wasn't Charlie, how many of us would have him down as a match if we were just reading his details from a missing person's report?.

 

[Beekarina]

That is very true. I hate to have doubts about the coroner because I am someone who wants to have faith in LE and coroners and I respect the jobs they do. However...it would be good to know how many autopsies this person had actually carried out on unknown individuals. I suspect none!

However, a gynocologist is still a fully qualified medical professional with many years of university study behid him and this is just basic stuff so I am confident he would have been able to spot this easily

Would the gynecologist have physically entered all the info or dictated it? Splitting hairs, but am curious? If we're dealing with lack of experience, things are just on paper, maybe few checks and balances guy says "brown" to someone else or into a tape recorder, it gets typed out that way and repeated, no one really thinks about it again and on it goes?

I'm not sure how it works but would the funeral home look at the actual eyes and fill out a separate form? I'm genuinely interested, have no idea. If so, and theirs also says brown/brown based on actually looking, then that helps and is more confirmation. Thanks!

 

[Beekarina]

Re Charles Wallace. Apart form being 1 year older than the faces estimate, almost everything about him fits the description of the body, down to matching dentals and a matching scar in the exact same place, his mother even asked to see the feet and said they looked like Charlie's, which as @Ciriii57 said upthread, leads me to believe he must have had something distinctive about his feet, to me he seems like a 99.9% match.

My question is, if his mother had never viewed the body and said he wasn't Charlie, how many of us would have him down as a match if we were just reading his details from a missing person's report?.

I do not 100% rule out CW, but I personally do not feel he looks like the sketch to the degree everyone else seems to.

It is also very difficult to discount his mother entirely because almost everything we do know about CW comes from her observations, and she was understandably under duress and grieving.

So we have in CW someone who is just outside the age range. For me, I consider this reasonable, even though I personally feel we are dealing with a younger teen.

We heard the dentals match. This is encouraging. We do not know what this means though, since charts are not available. I agree with you though that it is compelling.

The scar is also very compelling. Again, I'd like to know more about it. Normally we would have photos or something in a case like this, and we do not. We just have a reporter giving second hand info.

Re the feet: This for me is the least compelling. I personally think poor Mrs. Wallace was just lost and in pain. Either she was up to something super weird and nearly impossible to comprehend in leaving her son there still "unidentified", OR she was so blinded by pain that everything and everyone reminded her of Charlie--as evidenced in seeing Charlie in another random young man out on the street.

 

[Beekarina]

With Mrs Wallace leaving Charlie there as an "Unidentified John Doe":

1. Her neighbors called attention to the media reports. So clearly her community, her social circles? Everyone knew Charlie was struggling.

2. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wallace were willing to be interviewed and spoke publicly about Charlie's drug use, his mental health, his prior suicide attempts and Mrs. Wallace agreed to publicity surrounding her journey to view the body.

3. Even though there are compelling reasons for BCJD to be CW, there are not equally compelling reasons for me for Mr and Mrs Wallace to leave their son there, unidentified. It makes no sense at all. He was already living in a half way house, had already attempted suicide, and they were already willing to be featured in the national news to go and look at the BCJD's body. These are not people who were ashamed or embarrassed, even if they were sad and probably frustrated by a son who had been doing well when he worked at P&G, etc.

 

[Courtaine]

I asked CarlK to open a pics and links thread attached to this so we can pull everything and put it there.

 

[Ciriii57]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe We DO know the couple who found BCJD drove down the road early in the evening and everything in the area was "normal", but when they returned along the same route around 11:30 pm, noticed BCJD hanging from the tree.

Edited to add: " Acouple drove down a remote section of Highway 23 along the Mississippi River around 16 miles south of Belle Chasse, Louisiana in Plaquemines Parish at around 5:25 pm. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. On their return trip at 11:30 pm they noticed something white peeking through the trees. To their horror they found the body of a teenage boy hanging from a persimmon tree."

via: The Boy in the Tree: a Tragic End in Louisiana

Thank you for this....I don't know how but I had never seen mention of the times before!
So it seems that he ended his life at some point on February 14th between about 5.30 and 11.30 pm. Thats probably not relevant but I am storing it away for future use.

BTW Sunset was at 5.48pm. So that means he probably did it in the dark.

Sunrise, Sunset Time for New Orleans, Louisiana, USA :

New Orleans Sunrise, Sunset Time, Sunrise, Sunset Time of New Orleans, Calculate Sunrise, Sunset Time, Solar Noon Time, Solar Noon Elevation, Sunrise Azimuth, Sunset Azimuth, Astronomical, Civil, Nautical Twilight Info for New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

www.world-timedate.com

And interestly the moon was a New Moon, and therefore full, which might be how he could see and why those who discovered him saw somethig glinting; probably something was reflected moonlight.

Moonphase Date of New Orleans, Louisiana, USA ( 1975 ) - World-TimeDate.com

This page generates New Orleans Lunarphase Date, Moonphase Date, Lunarphase Time, Moonphase Time, Lunation Number for 1975.

www.world-timedate.com

And weather was fine with no wind or rain and balmy temperatures of 19C (about 66F)

Historical weather data for New Orleans | Visual Crossing

View historical weather data in a dashboard for any worldwide location. Weather history includes temperature, rain, wind & map showing nearby weather stations.

www.visualcrossing.com

 

[Courtaine]

With Mrs Wallace leaving Charlie there as an "Unidentified John Doe":

1. Her neighbors called attention to the media reports. So clearly her community, her social circles? Everyone knew Charlie was struggling.

2. Both Mr. and Mrs. Wallace were willing to be interviewed and spoke publicly about Charlie's drug use, his mental health, his prior suicide attempts and Mrs. Wallace agreed to publicity surrounding her journey to view the body.

3. Even though there are compelling reasons for BCJD to be CW, there are not equally compelling reasons for me for Mr and Mrs Wallace to leave their son there, unidentified. It makes no sense at all. He was already living in a half way house, had already attempted suicide, and they were already willing to be featured in the national news to go and look at the BCJD's body. These are not people who were ashamed or embarrassed, even if they were sad and probably frustrated by a son who had been doing well when he worked at P&G, etc.

I don't see that happening, I'd want to bury or cremate him but one way or another my child is going home with me.

Someone said earlier we might well be dealing with someone that hasn't been mentioned yet.

There's always indigent families, I'm sure there must have been indigent families in LA in 1975 who literally couldn't afford to identify him. 1% chance.

In the same news article we all keep going back to which mentions dentals match (nice if you still have the xrays, but if they were part of any file, they are gone now, and dentals no longer matter because 1- second hand knowledge by reporter and 2- even if the remains are exhumed there's nothing to compare it to.) there is also talk of a sheriff in Texas who forwarded a file to the Plaquemines Sheriff and it was generally understood that it was the young man found hanged. Again, no records.

The only records are the Mothe Funeral home records.

The only way this gets solved is if LE open a new MP case and take it to a judge and grovel to get as many names on the list to test against the remains as possible, while not forgetting that there is no crime, not then, not now, so this is the lowest pole on the totem pole.