SC SC - Fort Motte, UnkMal 45-55, UP92477, In Lake Marion, Sep '84

[victoriarobinson642]

NAMUS:

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Sex - Male
Race / Ethnicity - Uncertain (Though the newspaper articles believe him to be mixed Black and Hispanic)
Estimated Age Range (Years) - 45-55
Height - 5' 9"-6' 0"(69-72 inches) , Estimated
Weight - 145-155 lbs, Estimated
Type - Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found - September 3, 1984
NamUs Case Created - June 21, 2022
Location - Santee, South Carolina 29142
County - Orangeburg County
GPS Coordinates (Not Mapped) - 33.501125, -80.457760
Found On Tribal Land - No
Circumstances of Recovery - A human skull was pulled in on a fish line by a woman out fishing at Lake Marion. The skull was recovered from about 25 feet of water under the U.S. 301-15 bridge in Santee on Labor Day. South Carolina Department of Natural Resources divers discovered additional portions of skeletal remains two days after the initial discovery. It was reported that the skeletal remains were wrapped in a steel cable around a 200-pound piece of metal.
Condition of Remains - Not recognizable - Near-complete or complete skeleton
Distinctive Physical Features - Newspaper articles mention an arthritic neck

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[Melt71]

Was Maxwell Graham MP5595 in some kind of trouble? Missing from Pinewood SC 7 years earlier in 1978, 45 miles away. Last seen leaving his home with another man, in a pickup truck.
Maxwell has dentals - but the skull only had 4 teeth and I guess they were able to identify that these were lost while he was alive. Maxwell also isn't hispanic or black or 45-55yo but then none of this data appears in Namus so perhaps there is so doubt on that data?
www.doenetwork.org/cases/1985dmsc.html
www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/5595?nav

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Donna Whitaker Rogers, "Bone search in lake halted by weather," State [Columbia, SC], 5 September 1984, 3C.

Nathaniel Hubbard of the sheriff's department said Monday that the woman who found the skull was fishing from a boat in 12 feet to 14 feet of water near Ballard Landing when she reeled in the skull, thinking it was a fish.

Donna Whitaker Rogers, "More bones found near Lake Marion skull site," State [Columbia, SC], 6 September 1984, 1D, 7D.
[part 1] [part 2]

Coroner Paul Simmons said the rib cage, vetebral [sic] column, hip, pelvic bones and left leg bone of a human were found Tuesday. Searchers also found a dental plate, he said. The skull was found Sunday near Santee.

[...]

The skull, which was retrieved by a woman fishing on the lake, has a hole in it, but it hasn't been determine [sic] if the opening was caused by a bullet.

"Autopsy narrows skeleton's identity," State [Columbia, SC], 13 September 1984, 3D.

A human skeleton, retrieved from Lake Marion after a woman fished a skull from the water, was that of a white man between the ages of 35 and 50, according to preliminary autopsy results released Wednesday.

Results of the tests also showed the skeleton was that of a man who was between 5 feet, 9 inches and 5 feet, 11 inches tall and wore dentures, Orangeburg County Coroner Paul Simmons said.

 

[ProductiveOne]

I've submitted the following cases to NamUs.

Roy Frank Laney arrived home from work on July 11, 1980, and reported to have been in a fight causing severe injuries. Witnesses reported him being hit in the head with a bat. After the fight, witnesses stated he walked away from his residence and was not seen again.

On September 3, 1984, a skull was pulled from Lake Marion on a woman's fishing line under the U.S. 301-15 bridge in Santee, SC. Divers discovered additional portions of skeletal remains two days later. It was reported that the skeletal remains were wrapped in a steel cable around a 200-pound piece of metal.

The distance between Roy's last location, and the unidentified's is about 209 miles (straight line). Aside from the unidentified's eyebrows being placed higher than Roy's, the two men look the same. Roy's shirt looks tan in the photo, and the unidentified had on a tan shirt. The two shirts look identical.




Notable Discrepancies:

Roy is described as having no teeth, while the unidentified had 4 teeth.

Roy is Caucasian while the unidentified is believed to be of mixed origin (possibly Hispanic and African-American).

Roy would have been missing for a little over 4 years while a newspaper article states that the unidentified was submerged in the lake for several months.



Roy Frank Laney (NamUs #MP103517)
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)


Santee, SC Unidentified (NamUs #UP92477)
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)