NV NV - Donnis Redman, 14, & Michael Griffin, 18, Las Vegas, 1 March 1958

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It is not easy to find a list of missing from that time frame, as LE were not quick to take missing person reports if they were over the age of consent which I think was 18.

Reading old newspaper archives takes time but we are proceeding a little bit at a time. Thanks for the suggestions
 
I was able to track the full name of the woman who's myspace is listed on page one of this thread. That is not this Donnis. IMHO.

The MS Donnis, has a maiden name that is seperate and can be tracked back to a Father and Mother with same surname as she has as a maiden name.

I am not posting her vitals here because IMHO she isn't connected. But she looked enough to be that I dug deep looking for her to either rule her in or out.
 
I pray they find out what happened to her.I'm glad people are still looking for her.
 
http://www.azdailysun.com/news/loca...cle_59f913a2-3a1f-5465-a3e2-2c778b355182.html

August 13, 2010 5:20 am

Long-buried case to be exhumed

snipped:

Nobody knows where the skeleton came from.

What is known is that the skeleton was discovered in a casket packing crate in the attic of the former Flagstaff Mortuary on Oak Street in May 2001. A new funeral director was cleaning the attic and came across the crate.

The medical examiner's office had operated out of the mortuary for a period of time in the 1970s. An invoice with the crate was addressed to the T.J. Ruffner Mortuary and dated Aug. 9, 1965.
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and:

Their findings: The bones belong to a Caucasian male, 14 to 18 years old, with no signs of injury to the bones. The cause of death is "undetermined."...

... a check of dental records against the teeth of the skeleton was not made before burial. The clothing also possibly has evidentiary value...
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and:

Rucker said that there is one possibility. A young couple, Michael Griffin and Donnos "Pinky" Redman, were last seen in San Pedro, Calif., in the 1960s before they eloped. Their vehicle was found abandoned in Williams. Skeletal remains found in the area, belonging to a female, also had a cosmetic case with the initials "PR" nearby.

Coconino County Sheriff's Office cold case detectives are looking into whether the remains found at the scene belong to Redman. She had died as a result of homicide, Rucker said.
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Is this Griffin, and was the female found Pinky? I haven't heard of a female skeleton having been found before today. JMHO
 
I've never seen her first name spelled "Donnos" before. I wonder if that's a typo or if the "Donnis" has been a misspelling all along. Interesting article, Kat. I really hope the remains found near the car with the cosmetic case initialed PR belong to Ms. Redman, and Michael Griffin is the person who was in the casket packing crate. Odd though, that her death was said to be a homicide and his skeleton showed no injuries. It would be great to clear up the mystery of what happened to these two kids.
 
Given the approximate time the bones landed at Flagstaff Mortuary, Rucker said chances are good the skeleton might belong to Griffin.
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It really does seem this may finally be solved, its heartbreaking her mother never got to know what happened. :(
The car was found in williams, which is less than 30 miles from where the skeletons were found. It would be amazing to finally have this case solved, though I still wonder what killed them.
 
Cambria said:
I've never seen her first name spelled "Donnos" before. I wonder if that's a typo or if the "Donnis" has been a misspelling all along. Interesting article, Kat. I really hope the remains found near the car with the cosmetic case initialed PR belong to Ms. Redman, and Michael Griffin is the person who was in the casket packing crate. Odd though, that her death was said to be a homicide and his skeleton showed no injuries. It would be great to clear up the mystery of what happened to these two kids.
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Hi Cambria, I was curious after you mentioned the spelling of Donnis as Donnos. I had just assumed it was a typo but you brought up a good point about which spelling was the typo?

I went to Ancestry.com and found her name spelled as Donnis. I wasn't able to access the entry but from a previous subscription I had before to that website, IIRC the entry is from the CA birth recordings done by the state. Not personal entries.

I think Donnis is probably the correct spelling. Middle name Marie I think (IIRC).

That's neither here nor there :)

Just thought I'd share! :)
 
We are looking for information on a Michael James Griffin who is/was from the San Pedro area of California. It is our understanding that he and Donnis Marie (Pinkie) Redman were a couple. Why they ran away, we don't know, while we have not found any marriage information in either Reno or Las Vegas it does not mean they did not use fake id to get married.

On the missing site for Donnis the information states that the boyfriend's car was discovered near Williams, AZ. In an old newspaper, a researcher found a listing for a car that was found abandoned which may have matched Michael's. But it is speculation until we locate further information on the car.

So far we have been looking for match of LMX with Donnis Redman, but I would like to gather what information we can about both Donnis and Michael. Even small pieces of this case pieced together could make it whole.

The DNA testing from remains and evidence found in Flagstaff is going to take considerably more time than first thought, but it is still being attempted. Stay tuned for updates.
 
talelights said:
We are looking for information on a Michael James Griffin who is/was from the San Pedro area of California. It is our understanding that he and Donnis Marie (Pinkie) Redman were a couple. Why they ran away, we don't know, while we have not found any marriage information in either Reno or Las Vegas it does not mean they did not use fake id to get married.
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As far as marriage is concerned, if they did get married somewhere, I would guess they likely got married either in Arizona or Nevada.

Now if they didn’t get married in Las Vegas or Reno, could they gotten married in a rural area of Nevada? Did they have marriage chapels in rural Nevada or would they go to a justice of the peace to get married?

As far as id for a marriage license, Donnis could have used Donna, Marie, or Donna Marie as her first name. Another possibility is that for a surname, she could have used her mother’s maiden name or her grandparent’s surname.

As for finding out information about Michael James Griffin, I would look at city directories around that time. You may be able to find out who his parents were if he had family living in that area.

If he did have parents living in that area, they are likely to be deceased. If you’re able to find their obituaries from a newspaper on microfilm, the obituary may give you information about the parent’s next of kin and where they were from.
 
Kat said:
http://www.azdailysun.com/news/loca...cle_59f913a2-3a1f-5465-a3e2-2c778b355182.html

August 13, 2010 5:20 am

Long-buried case to be exhumed


Is this Griffin, and was the female found Pinky? I haven't heard of a female skeleton having been found before today. JMHO
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Just bumping.....
and wondering if anything ever became of this (above)
Seemed promising. Does it usually take a long time to determine information from an exhumed body??

I'm more of a lurker and I'm not very good at digging up and researching information, but very curious,
 
nerosleuth said:
As far as marriage is concerned, if they did get married somewhere, I would guess they likely got married either in Arizona or Nevada.

Now if they didn’t get married in Las Vegas or Reno, could they gotten married in a rural area of Nevada? Did they have marriage chapels in rural Nevada or would they go to a justice of the peace to get married?

As far as id for a marriage license, Donnis could have used Donna, Marie, or Donna Marie as her first name. Another possibility is that for a surname, she could have used her mother’s maiden name or her grandparent’s surname.

As for finding out information about Michael James Griffin, I would look at city directories around that time. You may be able to find out who his parents were if he had family living in that area.

If he did have parents living in that area, they are likely to be deceased. If you’re able to find their obituaries from a newspaper on microfilm, the obituary may give you information about the parent’s next of kin and where they were from.
Click to expand...

Private Eye Dot Com lists a "Michael James Griffin" who has lived in Las Vegas at some point, but mostly in Michigan. As to his family and associates (which is notoriously unreliable on PR), the closest to Donnis is a "Diana J. Griffin."
 
DNA is taking longer that hoped, since it is such a small amount and so long ago they are hoping new science will help them isolate it for testing.

Meanwhile, I don't know much about the exhumation but do know they local LE are investigating all leads and the case is crawling forward.
 
I checked yesterday by google search and nothing new popped up except the article about the exhumations before the ground froze again.

If anyone wants to do so there is an email address for the reporter that wrote that article listed at the bottom of the article at the link provided back thread.

I just don't have the time. I really wish that I did, I'm very sorry. I am eager to hear if the exhumation took place and if the DNA testing is underway?

TIA to anyone that has time to do so!
 
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