Identified! NJ - Knowlton, 'Tiger Lady', WhtFem 17-19, UP1593, tiger tatt on calf, Oct'91 - Wendy Louise Baker

[cvaldez1975]

So sad. She was born the same year as myself. She had her whole life in front of her at being only 16 when she lost her life.

right, she was literally born 12 days after me.

 

[summergirl1]

I found her father's 2017 obit, I believe, and she is listed as surviving him as you sometimes run across in missing persons cases where the family thinks or prefers to think they are off living their life somewhere. I wonder what the tiger tattoo meant to her, as she was born in 1975, not 1974. Even for people in circles where motorcyles, etc, were popular, it seems like a very bold tattoo for a teenager her age to have in 1991.

 

[onceuponadecember]

I found her father's 2017 obit, I believe, and she is listed as surviving him as you sometimes run across in missing persons cases where the family thinks or prefers to think they are off living their life somewhere. I wonder what the tiger tattoo meant to her, as she was born in 1975, not 1974. Even for people in circles where motorcyles, etc, were popular, it seems like a very bold tattoo for a teenager her age to have in 1991.

It's not surprising to me - despite living in the "Mormon" state in my childhood, it's not uncommon to see even 13 year olds with tattoos nowadaus. One of my past students had a tattoo on her wrist and I teach middle schoolers to put it in perspective.

 

[chaddylex]

right, she was literally born 12 days after me.

I was born in August 1975. I know at 16 I did some crazy things...it's an age where you don't think of bad things happening.

 

[rob525]

I just don't know what I find more frustrating. Cases where the family has never reported the person missing (particularly a child) or cases where the police have completely botched / refused to put forth effort regarding the investigation. Both situations are mind boggling to me. I just can't wrap my mind around a family not, at some point in the last 30 years, filing a report.

 

[chaddylex]

I just don't know what I find more frustrating. Cases where the family has never reported the person missing (particularly a child) or cases where the police have completely botched / refused to put forth effort regarding the investigation. Both situations are mind boggling to me. I just can't wrap my mind around a family not, at some point in the last 30 years, filing a report.

I know how you feel. With all these missing people cases being solved with DNA over the last few years, I can't understand either how some of these poor people were never reported missing, or they were reported missing and law enforcement can't find a police report.... It is so sad.

 

[MarziPanda]

I can understand it. A lot of the time their families assume the person went off and had their own life, not wanting to talk to them anymore. Families didn't like to think the worst and UIDs weren't really a thing that was well known. They probably assumed that if their missing family member was dead, they'd find out about it somehow. Families aren't easy sometimes and some people understand if a sibling etc wants to cut ties with parents and everyone else. Sometimes these people will try to look for their loved one years later but will still assume they're alive, searching online directories etc. It just doesn't occur to them that the loved one might have died decades ago.

Then there's cases where they have no idea where to report their family member missing. If they've been travelling around the country and you don't even know where they last were, which state do you report them missing in? Especially back then, lots of places wouldn't take a MP report from someone who wasn't even known to be in their state at all. Try to report them missing in your own state? Lots of police will just say 'but they left the state, it's not our problem anymore'. At least back then.

And then you have people on the very edge of society. People whose families don't really want them in their lives. Addicts, abusers, people who have done things to hurt their families. Theft, abandonment, alcoholism. People who have been given every opportunity to change by their family, given so many second chances, and still haven't changed. I know someone who has no idea where her sister is but won't report her missing because her sister is an addict, and if the police found her and said 'your sister reported you missing', she'd show up at the door trying to beg for drug money because it gives her the impression that she's open for contact.

And you also have to consider that a lot of the families themselves had such issues. Parents who were addicts, who were petty criminals, who had untreated mental health issues. It's not a surprise that they'd just think the kid was better off away from the family and wouldn't report them missing.

It's a lot more complicated than just not caring, I think, even though it is sad.

 

[rob525]

I can agree with much of what you said, but. This UID was found two hours away and for thirty years had no name. An adult ok, but a child? I will never understand that.

 

[summergirl1]

I'm surprised the dots weren't connected at some point as to her identity..I think they would more likely to have been in an age of more technology like the internet. 2 hours away likely seems shorter with the way technology is nowadays vs way back in 1991.

 

[Springrain]

I am guessing it was a combination of being across state borders, even though it wasn't a far distance, and lack of publication about "Tiger Lady" for her family to have seen. She may have also just been transient, which wouldn't have helped. Fond Du Lac County Jane Doe was just ID'd as Amy Yeary from Rockford, IL, found dead in Campbellsport, WI, which is about the same distance as where Wendy was from to where she was killed, and Amy died in 2008. It happens more often than you'd think.

 

[LucyOso]

RIP Wendy. 6 months older than I am. This hit home, I remember those days. I "ran way" for 6 months at one point. No one was looking for me, life goes on. I gathered she went between FL and PA. Family most likely thought she was with other family members. Lost track of her. And most likely didn't know she had a tattoo. It seemed she was reported as "older" as well. I am happy you can go home, sweetheart.

 

[ntt1]

'We do not forget about them.' NJ state police unit aims to solve decades-old cold cases

"Clean slate. We had nothing on her, we had no idea who she was or where she came from," says Detective First Class Rick Kuhrt. "That tattoo was the red herring. The family members had no idea she had a tattoo."

 

[MadMcGoo]

Rest peacefully now Wendy.

 

[Beekarina]

They mentioned thinking she was in Ohio, maybe with kids of her own, etc. Perhaps she was involved with someone in Ohio when she disappeared? I'm thinking along the lines of Evelyn Colon?

Edited: an older boyfriend may have paid for the tattoo? A larger tattoo like that on a 16 yo would have been fairly unusual in 1991.