Found Alive The girl with the purple bell bottoms

[amandab]

Thanks for scaling it down, Carl

 

[bluestarzz]

those are U. S. land yayte cars.....from the 70's
the photo struck me as totally u.s. from then.
in a city..or course.
bluestarzzz

 

[southlaguy]

I don't think it's a one way street. Look at the car in the far background on the top left. It appears to be facing away. The pic might be backwards.

 

[southlaguy]

Also, the buttons on her shirt are on the right and go thru holes on the left side of her shirt. I think women's shirts have buttons on the left and go thru holes on the right. All my shirts have buttons on the right. Can any women comment on this?

 

[not_my_kids]

Also, the buttons on her shirt are on the right and go thru holes on the left side of her shirt. I think women's shirts have buttons on the left and go thru holes on the right. All my shirts have buttons on the right. Can any women comment on this?

By a quick check of my shirt, you would be correct.

 

[HockeyGirl]

The bell bottoms girl picture is 100% in the US or Canada, the second car back is a 70's era Cadillac. There also appears to be a piece of paper with printing on it, on the ground, I wish I could read what it says. I have tried to enlarge it, but with no luck.

 

[CarlK90245]

The bell bottoms girl picture is 100% in the US or Canada, the second car back is a 70's era Cadillac. There also appears to be a piece of paper with printing on it, on the ground, I wish I could read what it says. I have tried to enlarge it, but with no luck.

Agreed. The palm trees and wide sidewalks look alot like Southern California. You don't see scenery like that or cars like that in UK or anywhere else in Europe.

I just checked a website dedicated to old Cadillacs, and it appears to me based on the headlights and bumper that the rust-colored Cadillac is either a 1971 or 1972. From 1973 forward, the bumper does not contour downward underneath the grille. It runs straight across and has two vertical bumper guards (one on each side of the grille).

http://www.100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1970/cad70e.htm
http://www.100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1970/cad71.htm
http://www.100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1970/cad72.htm
http://www.100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1970/cad73.htm

 

[HockeyGirl]

Good call Carl!

The car in front of the Caddy looks to me like a 73-74 Thunderbird, my first thought was an LTD but, I noticed what looks like the more square shaped port window in the back, which makes me lean more toward the T-bird. What do you think?

73

74

 

[CarlK90245]

Here is a closeup of Purple Bells' teeth, and below them is the relevant portion of the dental charts for the UID 587UFCA. (BTW, I flipped the photo before posting it to compensate for the high likelihood that it was printed backwards.)

The charts for 587UFCA say that the UID had "PLASTIC CROWNS - NO METAL COATING" on teeth 8 and 9 (i.e., the two upper front teeth). If you look closely at Purple Bells' teeth the fronts seem a little whiter than her 10 and 11. Also, I am not sure if this is a photographic anomaly, but there appears to be a diagonal border line on her #9.

Could this be an indication that 8 and 9 are not natural teeth, and 10 and 11 are?

I know that my own 8 and 9 are a little darker than the surrounding teeth because they have bonded surfaces, and they have similar border lines.

Also, Purple Bells' #9 is a little crooked, so to whoever calls this in (if they have not already done so), you might want to mention that to LE for comparitive purposes.

 

[CarlK90245]

Good call Carl!

The car in front of the Caddy looks to me like a 73-74 Thunderbird, my first thought was an LTD but, I noticed what looks like the more square shaped port window in the back, which makes me lean more toward the T-bird. What do you think?

It looks right to me. I was also looking at details, such as the headlights, windshield frame, the contours of the bumper, and the side front blinkers.

Although these details are difficult to see, they look about right.

 

[punklove]

I just can't get over the clothing description, even allowing for the issue over the length of the sleeves.

Me either, Its shocking. Looking closely at the larger photo I have a question..

She looks VERY trendy, it looks as if she puts a lot of detail into her look.. Is it possible that she (or someone she knew) handmade the shirt? It looks as if it could be handmade to me, the collar is a little weird and doesnt seem to sit properly, the buttons are ones that you would typically find in a repair sewing kit and not the typical style you would find on a purchased shirt.. They also seem a little oddly placed. The distance between them seems quite different, the distance between the bottom one and the one above it is smaller than the distance between the ones above it, where in a purchased shirt they are typically exactly (or as close as possible) the same distance apart. I think it was also very common then for girls to make clothing. I havent been able to look much, but I found a pattern that barely favors the shirt shes wearing but has some similar things, Im trying to find a better match! If you click the photo at the top of the page, look at the shirt on the right side, the bottom of her sleeve is very similar to the one shes wearing.

http://www.sovintagepatterns.com/catalog/item/4005832/7655975.htm

The bottom part of the sleeve is another thing that makes me think its possible this could be a handmade shirt - the hem looks very hand sewn to me.

The tag in the shirt said "styled in California" was the only thing that made me feel unsure about the homemade vs storebought thing - Until I did a google search trying to find what company made clothes with the label '"styled in California" and it turns out that it seems to be a very typical label that was sold in sewing shops for people to sew into their clothing, adding their name to the end of the label.. So, you sew it in whatever you made and it would read something like ""styled in California by xxxx"

The reason I bring this up - I think its very much possible that she bought that fabric and made (or had someone else make) several different things from that fabric, including a longer sleeved shirt to wear when the weather was cooler. This could also account different amount of snaps on the pants shes wearing in the photo vs the description of the pants found on the victim (also, the victim had pants that had a zipper too, but the ones on her dont seem to).. it doesnt seem unlikely that she would have more than one pair of purple pants as it seems she likes the color purple, so it makes sense that if she DID have two different shirts of that same fabric she would match the other with purple pants as well.

Another note - in the description it says the shift was "Tan multi-colored print blouse, with rust colored tree figures, long sleeves with elastic cuffs, worn midriff style" so that means we are looking at a shirt that *seems* to match exactly except for the sleeve length. If you notice the shirt shes wearing it seems it would be necessary to put elastic (vs a button closure) in the cuffs if it had longer sleeves or it would look silly.

To further the idea that her shirt could be home made (thus her having long and short sleeved versions) is this - "also wearing light green panties with "Thursday" embroidered in darker green stitching". Its really not typical that you would buy purchase panties that have been embroidered, It seems more likely to me that she bought the panties and added that to them though I could be stretching it.

The description of the doe says this "Mid-back length brown hair, with blond traces near scalp" and if you look at the larger photo of the girl you see that she does have blond traces near the scalp.

 

[punklove]

I just noticed something: Why are all the cars parked on the left side of the street?

Is the photo printed backwards, or is she in a country where they drive on the left side of the street?

Those don't look like the kind of cars that you see anywhere but the USA, so I would suspect that the photo is printed backwards.

If you look at the very upper left you can see a car parked on the other side of the street as well, so I assume shes in a place where people can park on both sides. It does seem that the reversed photo seems more of a photo that a photographer would take from the direction of the sunlight, but I dont know.

Below I attached the his photo and then mirrored it, I attempted to stand how she was in the reversed photo and it just doesnt feel a natural stance so that makes me think the original is correct, what does everyone else think?

What is it on the ground to the side of her? It looks like a flyer to me, almost like a missing person flyer but I cant seem to make it out. There is also something pink on the ground behind her.

 

[Cymro]

Can anyone see where the steering wheels are on the cars? I can't quite make it out but that would prove which photo is reversed and which is the original.

 

[Donjeta]

Can anyone see where the steering wheels are on the cars? I can't quite make it out but that would prove which photo is reversed and which is the original.

I can't see the steering wheels but can you tell which way the rearview mirrors are facing? That would be the driver side, presumably.

I was also looking at the bell bottom girl's belt and trying to figure out which way to buckle the belt. I'm righthanded and keep mine the same way she does in the photo that was published and the other way around would feel unnatural to me (but then a lot of people say that I keep my wrist watch in the wrong hand, so I don't know). Can y'all look at your belts and see which way you wear them?

 

[cj1132]

I graduated in 1973 and I can tell you that I wore the same type of bell bottoms and we'd wear a wide belt. We called them hip huggers. Jeans with buttons were a big thing. As a matter of fact, my favorite pair of jeans were purple. We also wore the short shirts like that. In high school, the principal had to ban the short shirts. I look at some of these girls and it's like seeing myself back in the early 70's. I had the long straight hair all one length, including the bangs.

 

[CarlK90245]

... Is it possible that she (or someone she knew) handmade the shirt? ... I think its very much possible that she bought that fabric and made (or had someone else make) several different things from that fabric, including a longer sleeved shirt to wear when the weather was cooler.

That sounds quite reasonable to explain why she would have two different similar shirts with different sleeve designs.

I was thinking that maybe he asked her out on a date, and they went out later in the evening, and she changed into a different shirt that also matched the purple pants that she was wearing.

To further the idea that her shirt could be home made (thus her having long and short sleeved versions) is this - "also wearing light green panties with "Thursday" embroidered in darker green stitching". Its really not typical that you would buy purchase panties that have been embroidered, It seems more likely to me that she bought the panties and added that to them though I could be stretching it.

The days of the week embroidered on women's underwear was a common thing back then, They were sold in packages of seven, one for each day (i.e., a marketing strategy to justify selling more per package).

This could also account different amount of snaps on the pants shes wearing in the photo vs the description of the pants found on the victim (also, the victim had pants that had a zipper too, but the ones on her dont seem to)

There isn't a discrepancy in the number of snaps. The description says two and there are two in the photo. The snaps are there only for decoration and zipper is hidden. No discrepancy there.

The description of the doe says this "Mid-back length brown hair, with blond traces near scalp" and if you look at the larger photo of the girl you see that she does have blond traces near the scalp.

I don't see that in the photo, it looks like she has blond highlights with darker roots.

 

[JoeFromLB]

Has anyone submitted these matches yet-- like Debra Kidwell, the girl in purple bellbottoms, and Sherry Pickle all looked good to me. I'd love to hear what the result ends up being!
I wish LE would tell us which photos have been ID'd - even if they don't tell us who they are, just which ones were accounted for.

I sent the detective an Email yesterday about the possible match to Dorothy Clitheroe.

The detective's name is Patrick Ellis, and his Email is pellis@hbpd.org.

The phone number: 714-375-5066

 

[yosande]

If you look at the very upper left you can see a car parked on the other side of the street as well, so I assume shes in a place where people can park on both sides. It does seem that the reversed photo seems more of a photo that a photographer would take from the direction of the sunlight, but I dont know.

Below I attached the his photo and then mirrored it, I attempted to stand how she was in the reversed photo and it just doesnt feel a natural stance so that makes me think the original is correct, what does everyone else think?

What is it on the ground to the side of her? It looks like a flyer to me, almost like a missing person flyer but I cant seem to make it out. There is also something pink on the ground behind her.

I think a previous poster was correct in that the car on the opposite side of the street is facing the other way than the ones in the forefront. I think the the second pic is the correct one. jmo fwiw

 

[bugaboo]

I think a previous poster was correct in that the car on the opposite side of the street is facing the other way than the ones in the forefront. I think the the second pic is the correct one. jmo fwiw

My husband, who is a graphic designer and familiar with photoshop and other programs, said the 2nd one looks correct to him, if that helps.

 

[Sterling]

Has anyone submitted these matches yet-- like Debra Kidwell, the girl in purple bellbottoms, and Sherry Pickle all looked good to me. I'd love to hear what the result ends up being!
I wish LE would tell us which photos have been ID'd - even if they don't tell us who they are, just which ones were accounted for.

After reveiwing his timeline, I think he may have been incarcerated in 1972 when Sherry Pickle went missing.