Identified! PA - White Haven, 'Beth Doe' & Unborn Baby 169UFPA, 16-22, Dec'76 - #2 - Evelyn Colon

[carbuff]

There is a post for another UID who was probably a little older than Beth who was found murdered in Long Beach, CA in 1974, but I think a lot of the reasons why no one is able to find a missing persons report for her would also apply to Beth.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114647

Quoting Zinc's post for Shoreline Jane Doe –

To that list, I would add:

if the person was a minor when reported, report was closed when the person turned 18 , because in many states records of minors have to be purged

missing person was a "throwaway"

person wasn't missing when they left home, but family gradually lost track of them. I have a cousin in this category -- nobody seems to have heard from her since she moved to South Carolina for a new job 15 years ago. We have no reason to believe she's missing, but on the other hand...?

 

[Magnum P.E.]

Most LE I have dealt with have been great, but some in the past were loathe to fill out or properly file MP reports. I surely hope that things are better now, but we are going to be trying to solve some of these old cases for a very long time because someone got lazy or careless a long time ago.

I have become so paranoid about it that I may tattoo my SSN on the bottom of my feet.

Does anyone know of a way that we could get national media to run some of these cases? With the truly amazing visuals that Carl does, if we could get the images out maybe someone would remember her. I am working on "Mr. Bones" and I can't even get an answer from national newspapers when I ask them to run something. There is a recent sketch of him from 2005 (not one of Carl's) that could do some good but few ever see it.
Beth Doe is much more recent and more people are likely to be alive who remember her, Surely she did not live in a vacuum.

 

[CCJD]

Does anyone know of a way that we could get national media to run some of these cases? ....

Beth Doe is much more recent and more people are likely to be alive who remember her, Surely she did not live in a vacuum.

What I've learned (from members of the press) is that often the secret to getting media attention for any given case are those "key" anniversaries. First, certainly, maybe the second, then 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, etc. - something that grabs the readers' attention.

Beth Doe has had quite a lot of media attention. In 2005 (before we even knew she'd been named "Beth") I'd contacted the AP for her 29th Anniversary. Was told to wait for the 30th. So I did. True to his word, in 2006, the reporter did an article marking the 30th Anniversary. AP - it went out all over the country. The case, including quotes from that article, was included in a book by Jack Swint about Pittsburgh murders.

The following year, she and her baby were exhumed and got extensive coverage, including the AP again.

In 2008, Helen O'Neill of the AP did an article on Doe Network members. Beth Doe was one of many cases mentioned. That article went international. This past December, several PA publications carried a story marking the 35th Anniversary.

There's been several others mentions, including one in patch.com this past May, but those "key" anniversaries are really almost a sure bet of media response.

I remember speaking with Greg Bock at the Altoona Mirror in 2005 (again, before we knew the name "Beth") about my frustration with media coverage for missing and unidentified. Who decides which cases get the attention? He wrote quite a good article that addressed that question:
http://pennsylvaniamissing.com/images/NancyArticle.pdf

Next October will be 55 years since Mr Bones was found. Pretty good bet getting coverage for him then will be more successful than what you're encountering now.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

Thanks for that very useful advice. I will have a year to find something new for the media to put in a story, some tidbit that will make it interesting. I hate to go "show biz" like that but I guess that's the way the world turns.
If we had some likely ethnic background for Beth Doe, which should not be hard to do (probably a reading of existing samples), that would be a good new twist that could get some coverage. And lets face it, LE does not have the money to spend on these old cases so we have to look for free methods.

 

[carbuff]

Here's another case of another young woman dismembered with breasts cut off: http://doenetwork.org/hot/hotcase819.html

Not in suitcases though.

 

[Confusion]

I seem to keep coming back to this case and a couple others, so I guess I might as well give in and post my ideas about her.

I see her as someone who left home when she was 18 or close to it. Back then, a lot of girls would go to NY thinking they could get famous on Broadway, rather than in Hollywood like they did later. If her family knew she had moved willingly, and she was considered to be an adult, there'd be no reason to file a missing person's report for a while. If (like me) she wasn't a letter writer, and she was having trouble finding work (so she couldn't afford many calls home), they may not even have realized there was a problem until years later. I'd expect her to be most likely from either the Midwest or a SE state, but I'm not sure why.

I think the suitcases were throw aways the guy had for a while, and the newspapers were some he had laying around. I don't see hotels/motels having 3 month-old papers for patrons to read, so it seems unlikely that they came from there. The bed spread may have come from one, but I think of it as more likely to be one a mother gave to her son to take with him when he got his first apartment or one the girl brought with her from home. For that reason, I see him as younger, maybe 18-24, recently moved out on his own, possibly the father of the baby and definitely suffering from anger issues.

I also think he may have driven an older van, which would have plenty of room for 3 suitcases. I think he stopped on the bridge at night, opened the side door, and pushed the suitcases out. Because it was dark, he probably couldn't see that the land actually juts out some on the side and thought he was above the water. As usual, it's all MOO.

 

[carbuff]

I seem to keep coming back to this case and a couple others, so I guess I might as well give in and post my ideas about her.

I see her as someone who left home when she was 18 or close to it. Back then, a lot of girls would go to NY thinking they could get famous on Broadway, rather than in Hollywood like they did later. If her family knew she had moved willingly, and she was considered to be an adult, there'd be no reason to file a missing person's report for a while. If (like me) she wasn't a letter writer, and she was having trouble finding work (so she couldn't afford many calls home), they may not even have realized there was a problem until years later. I'd expect her to be most likely from either the Midwest or a SE state, but I'm not sure why.

I think the suitcases were throw aways the guy had for a while, and the newspapers were some he had laying around. I don't see hotels/motels having 3 month-old papers for patrons to read, so it seems unlikely that they came from there. The bed spread may have come from one, but I think of it as more likely to be one a mother gave to her son to take with him when he got his first apartment or one the girl brought with her from home. For that reason, I see him as younger, maybe 18-24, recently moved out on his own, possibly the father of the baby and definitely suffering from anger issues.

I also think he may have driven an older van, which would have plenty of room for 3 suitcases. I think he stopped on the bridge at night, opened the side door, and pushed the suitcases out. Because it was dark, he probably couldn't see that the land actually juts out some on the side and thought he was above the water. As usual, it's all MOO.

All of that seems fairly plausible.

I agree that he thought he was dropping the suitcases in the water. I wonder if that means he had been past this place in the spring, when the water is high, and didn't realize it wouldn't be like that in the winter.

Since cellphones became common, people have forgotten that it used to be somewhat difficult and slow to keep in touch with distant loved ones. Long distance rates used to run up to $3/minute depending on where you were calling from and to. If it was as you speculate somebody who you didn't expect to hear from very often in the first place, it could easily be a couple of years since her family had heard from her.

Here's a scenario: Young married couple from the midwest travel east looking for work. (1976 wasn't a very good year, economically speaking.) She gets pregnant. He doesn't find any work. He's in a panic over having another mouth to feed. He wants to go back to the midwest and she doesn't. They fight, he kills her (maybe even by accident). He puts her in the suitcases and heads home, dumping her on the way at what looks like a dark and isolated rural area. He gets back home and tells their families she's still in New York, she left him so he came home.

 

[alliemay]

The NamUs listing doesn't list any rule outs. I was wondering if there were any and who they were?

I also wanted to know how they came up with the nickname "Beth." Was there something with the body to indicate this was her name in life (like Valerie Doe from Northern Nevada) or someone thought that she looked like a Beth, or ???

I have been interested in this case since they exhumed her body in 2007. I remember reading somewhere that a female working in the morgue gave her that name after realizing that no one was coming forward to claim her. Searching the other night for female's missing in the New Jersey area I noticed that there were a few Beth's or names close to it such as Elizabeth. Maybe its possible this female worker was trying to match Beth Doe with some of these missing girls? Hard to say since the name of this person wasn't given in the article and may not even be around now. Interesting question to think about though.

 

[alliemay]

The NamUs database does show that there was DNA tests done on the fetus. Look in the DNA section and it lists an ID number for the fetus. https://identifyus.org/cases/8913

As for the father ever being in trouble, I don't think that LE routinely take DNA on everybody arrested, just if they are suspected of a crime that would involve DNA (rape, murder, etc.) I am pretty sure that they were not using DNA tests in the late 1970's.

Changing the subject: This is the first that I have come across this case. I grew up in NJ less than an hour from where Beth Doe was found. I graduated high school in 1977, so we would be close to the same age. Something about her image is eerily familiar. I can't place it, but it could be a childhood memory of a girl that was in the foster care system. I can't remember her name but I think it started with a D - Darlene, Donna or Debbie? She was in our school district for maybe a year or two, probably around 1972/1973. I remember the place where she lived, it was a sort of group home or home for "wayward girls" as my mother described it. It seems to me that she was of Italian descent, which would match the Mediterranean mentioned.

Another thought is that she could have been part of culture that practiced arranged marriages when the girls were in their mid-teens. One of my high school friends was from Greece and her family arranged to have her husband brought over when she was 16. She was pregnant by the time she was 17 and by the time she was 20 she was divorced. The guy had beat her pretty badly but still she was shunned from the family when she left him. Beth Doe's murder seems very personal, not just random. So could it be that she was pregnant when the man she was promised to came to the US and when he found out, he killed her? Just a thought...

If she was in the foster care system that would explain why no one came to claim her, I think you are on the right train of though there.

 

[alliemay]

I've always thought the notations were directions (I may have said so way earlier in this thread, I don't really remember). It's the only thing, IMO, that really makes sense. I still do that and this case made me realize just how often I do it. I always have a pen, but not always paper so I write on my hand. It's almost second nature to do so.

I don't think the notations have anything to do with a clue to the killer's ID. Too cryptic, for one. If she had presence of mind to leave a clue, I think it would be plainer. Again, jmho.

While cutting cleaning and wrapping her arms you would think he would notice something written on her hand and wipe it off, maybe he wrote it for whatever reason, maybe just to confuse authorities, I think he wanted her to be found but maybe not in that location. If he wanted them to go to the bottom of the river he would have put something heavier in them but instead he wrapped everything in neat packages. My son told me that black paint acts as a sealant, and maybe the handles were cut off so they would not be caught up on tree branches as they floated down the river. Just some random thoughts.

 

[carbuff]

While cutting cleaning and wrapping her arms you would think he would notice something written on her hand and wipe it off, maybe he wrote it for whatever reason, maybe just to confuse authorities, I think he wanted her to be found but maybe not in that location. If he wanted them to go to the bottom of the river he would have put something heavier in them but instead he wrapped everything in neat packages. My son told me that black paint acts as a sealant, and maybe the handles were cut off so they would not be caught up on tree branches as they floated down the river. Just some random thoughts.

Riffing off your speculation:

If he was working in poor light -- afraid to turn on a light at an odd time of night, for instance, or in poorly lit bathroom -- he might not have noticed. Also if he was too grossed out by what he was doing. Or if he was dropping her quite a distance from where he killed her, he might not have cared.

Maybe there were other marks that he did wipe off, and what we have is just what he missed.

 

[alliemay]

Riffing off your speculation:

If he was working in poor light -- afraid to turn on a light at an odd time of night, for instance, or in poorly lit bathroom -- he might not have noticed. Also if he was too grossed out by what he was doing. Or if he was dropping her quite a distance from where he killed her, he might not have cared.

Maybe there were other marks that he did wipe off, and what we have is just what he missed.

Yes he could have missed seeing the letters on the hand, it totally blows my mind though that he was able to see well enough to cut her in half and not do any damage to the baby, the articles say "he knew what he was doing", makes me think he was a butcher...just makes me sick.

 

[carbuff]

Yes he could have missed seeing the letters on the hand, it totally blows my mind though that he was able to see well enough to cut her in half and not do any damage to the baby, the articles say "he knew what he was doing", makes me think he was a butcher...just makes me sick.

In one of the other threads -- and unfortunately I can't remember which one -- it was mentioned that "knew what he was doing" often means that the body was dismembered at the joints rather than just sawed apart wherever. I don't know whether that's the case here.

Not to be crude, but I would think that anybody who has ever cut up a chicken would know that much.

I keep thinking that it was someone with a hunting background, who knew how to cut up game animals. Maybe even used those tools for this murder.

 

[alliemay]

In one of the other threads -- and unfortunately I can't remember which one -- it was mentioned that "knew what he was doing" often means that the body was dismembered at the joints rather than just sawed apart wherever. I don't know whether that's the case here.

Not to be crude, but I would think that anybody who has ever cut up a chicken would know that much.

I keep thinking that it was someone with a hunting background, who knew how to cut up game animals. Maybe even used those tools for this murder.

Yes hunting background makes sense also...and lol it was kind of a crude comparison.

You probably saw the "knew what he was doing" statement on pennsylvaniamissing.com site under case history.

 

[notamisfit]

I always wondered if the killings had an organized crime angle to them, personally. Dismemberment and dumping is a fairly common method to dispose of contract victims, and the area she was found in is about 1.5-2 hours away from Philadelphia, NY, and Scranton-Wilkes Barre.

Could explain why she hasn't turned up in MP reports. Family may have been paid off or intimidated into keeping quiet.

 

[alliemay]

Random searches: WSR Winnebago Scout Reservation, Boy Scouts, uniforms have patches with WSR and numbers after it....just looking for initial/number combo's.

 

[alliemay]

Carbuff...I think Reed looks like a good match, especially the shape of the chin when you compare it to the original sketch right after she was found, I just wish there were more info on Reed, like for instance, her car was impounded, why can't the police give us the type of car it was color, make, model...and didn't she have one family member that knew if she had scars or other marks...frustrating.

 

[carbuff]

Carbuff...I think Reed looks like a good match, especially the shape of the chin when you compare it to the original sketch right after she was found, I just wish there were more info on Reed, like for instance, her car was impounded, why can't the police give us the type of car it was color, make, model...and didn't she have one family member that knew if she had scars or other marks...frustrating.

Reed has been submitted a couple of times and nothing has come from it. I suspect there's not enough information to rule her in or out.

I guess if the car was impounded and she's still missing, there's no need to look for the car, so we don't need to know the details. But I've run across quite a number of cases where there's identifying information about the missing person that for one reason or another hasn't been made public. For instance, there's a woman missing from Canada whose description includes no mention of a tattoo -- but in her picture she has quite a prominent one right on her neck.

 

[alliemay]

Just wondering if in the 1970's LE would have used two different ways to file a report on someone, missing or runaway's? Maybe Beth's information is under a different type of file, such as Runaway. Think I will continue searching under the assumption that she was a foster child that ran away....constantly digging...

 

[Ambercat]

I'm sorry if this has already been suggested, but I was wondering if "WSR" could be West State Route? Maybe the address she was hitchhiking to?