UNSOLVED VA - Chesterfield Co, Skeletal Remains, in car in Appomattox River, Jun'10

[reasypeasy]

For me, the mystery is how in the world the car got into the river? Does anyone else think the ex-boyfriend may have been trying to ditch the car and got trapped inside? The article says the car was still running, with all the widows rolled up when it went in. Honestly, my first thought was that the girlfriend may have put it there (with him in it), but I really don't believe this scenario.

If it wasn't an accident, I'd guess he was trying to ditch the car in the river to annoy his girlfriend. Maybe he thought she'd have to pay retrieval costs that way.

 

[reasypeasy]

I was thinking maybe he drove into the river on purpose (don't know how or where) to committ suicide. He had just assaulted his gf and stole her car, so maybe he felt like his life was over?

The gf putting the car there also crossed my mind but I don't think so either. I believe that she had nothing to do with it b/c by all appearances everyone thought he was in jail. I'm really stunned the inmate was able to keep up the charade for so long. Sure would be interesting to see what he wrote in his letters to his supposed "family".

Mostly you'd expect at least one member of a family to make an effort to visit an imprisoned family member, even if only every couple of years, just to eyeball them and see they aren't in bad physical shape, also to give them a chance to voice concerns that they didn't want read by prison staff. I sort of wonder why nobody bothered, but they did bother sending letters and money?

 

[PickieChickie]

Mostly you'd expect at least one member of a family to make an effort to visit an imprisoned family member, even if only every couple of years, just to eyeball them and see they aren't in bad physical shape, also to give them a chance to voice concerns that they didn't want read by prison staff. I sort of wonder why nobody bothered, but they did bother sending letters and money?

Seven years is a long time! Pretty strange if you ask me. This is most puzzling! Maybe they went to see him and he refused to visit with them. After all, if you aren't who they think you are, you'd stay put right in your cell. After one attempt, why go back?

 

[Shutterfly]

Seven years is a long time! Pretty strange if you ask me. This is most puzzling! Maybe they went to see him and he refused to visit with them. After all, if you aren't who they think you are, you'd stay put right in your cell. After one attempt, why go back?

I'm speculating based on knowledge of the area here....that's all it is so take it with a grain of salt. If the deceased man in the car had assaulted his girlfriend and stolen her car, one would assume the police would find him and put him in jail. His family and the girlfriend may have initially assumed that's what happened. The g/f may have assumed he dumped the car. Maybe he told her he was going to and once he took it she didn't expect to get it back. Calls to the jail asking for _____ _______ (insert deceased man's name) when he never came back, may have gotten crossed when someone else by the same name was encarcerated. So someone in records may have said yes, indeed he was an inmate.

Here's where it gets personal. To make calls from jails into this area (Colonial Heights/Petersburg) you have to accept collect calls on a landline, and it costs a fortune. The other option is this prepaid card type thing where you have to pay with a credit card and the jailed individual uses a pin to call just your approved number. It's then deducted from your credit card and still costs a fortune. It's a nightmare. So you have to have home phone service, credit cards or plenty of money. This area of Petersburg, where I suspect this family originated, is not among the wealthy populous of Petersburg. Or they could be from Colonial Heights with a similar set of problems. This family may not have had the option of accepting collect calls from an inmate and perhaps didn't have a phone at all. We know why his g/f didn't visit if not for the assault or for stealing her car. She had no transportation, and I'm sure she was pizzed. Sending letters and a small amount of money every week, plus the cost of a money order, may have been all his family could manage.

Not everyone has internet or is a sleuther. Not everyone can click a mouse and would know where to pull up court records to find out if their relative had been arrested, when, why, and how long they were going to be jailed once they were tried and convicted.

This whole thing upsets me terribly. I didn't move away from the area until November of 2005. I lived there my entire life until then. I drove over that overpass twice a day, every day from November 2003 until I left there two years later. I stood on the bank of the river in that very spot, numerous times, and fished for mudcat and crappy between November 2003 and November 2005. I have to carry with me now the thought that maybe one of those things that snagged my fishing line was this late model Oldsmobile. It makes it infinitely worse sitting here wondering if this man in this car is someone I know. That scares me....a lot. It's horrible regardless, people loved him and I'm sure he's been missed, whether I knew him or not. But I have a feeling he was a local, that he and I shared our fondness of that spot, and that perhaps that's what lead him there that night. I am mortified at the thought that his family believed he was in jail all this time and that they thought one day he was coming home to them. never in my wildest dreams could I imagine the horror and the pain they're all enduring at this very moment.

Cubby....thank you for the reminder. I promise you I won't post his name, initials or otherwise, until I can link it with a published news article. As of this posting I'm still not sure who our mystery man is. I have a pretty good idea, but nothing definitive. I just wish LE would come back and say they made a mistake and that it was animal bones, or something. I know that's crazy but I still wish for it. God Bless him, whatever happened that night, and whatever he may have done that was wrong....and God Bless his family and friends.

I'm checking the local papers faithfully. I'm sure they'll give us a name asap because his family will no doubt want to make his funeral arrangements and publish his obituary.

 

[PickieChickie]

This whole thing upsets me terribly. I stood on the bank of the river in that very spot, numerous times, and fished for mudcat and crappy between November 2003 and November 2005. I have to carry with me now the thought that maybe one of those things that snagged my fishing line was this late model Oldsmobile.

This is exactly why I refuse to swim or enter water the I can't see clearly into. Thankfully, I live in the Sierra Mountain Range of California where the streams run crystal clear and have been able to wade through and swim in water without worry about bumping into or discovering a dead body.

The idea that there was a dead man in a car where you were fishing is creepy to say the least.

Every time I tried to water ski in a lake I would be filled with this horrible fear that I was going to bump into a dead body, especially since the first movie I ever watched in a theater was JAWS and I was raised in a home without TV! (I was born in the late 1950's.)

I too feel badly for this family. What an absolute tragedy.

 

[milkymama]

http://progress-index.com/news/river-remains-stay-a-mystery-1.886594

 

[Cubby]

Has anyone found an update to see if this man was id'd? The car was found a little over 2 months ago. I thought they would have an id by now....

 

[Soul125]

Still no official ID released on this man? :waitasec:

 

[Cubby]

Anyone know if an official id was made in this case?

tia

 

[carbuff]

I couldn't find an update, so I assume the man's name was never made public.

 

[DrDMike]

Maybe they haven't made it public because they haven't found next of kin?

 

[carbuff]

There was also mention of difficulty obtaining dental records, so that's entirely possible.

 

[cvaldez1975]

this was an interesting post. anyone know if this guy was ever ID'd?

 

[carbuff]

this was an interesting post. anyone know if this guy was ever ID'd?

I can't find that anything was ever released. Shutterfly, are you still around? Did you ever hear anything?

 

[carbuff]

LE already has a name for this John Doe, they just have not released it as of yet until they are able to get official id. If any sleuths are interested in seeing if they can figure out a possible name prior to LE releasing the name, please remember to only use initials. We will not use full names until LE releases an ID in the media.

Please remember, this John doe is an unidentified person, we don't know if he has a criminal background or not and WS's rules of victim friendly applies in the UID area the same way it does in missing persons cases or other area's of the forum.


thank you
Cubby
moderator

@Cubby, was the name ever officially released? I couldn't find anything.

 

[Melt71]

@Shutter

LE already has a name for this John Doe, they just have not released it as of yet until they are able to get official id. If any sleuths are interested in seeing if they can figure out a possible name prior to LE releasing the name, please remember to only use initials. We will not use full names until LE releases an ID in the media.

Please remember, this John doe is an unidentified person, we don't know if he has a criminal background or not and WS's rules of victim friendly applies in the UID area the same way it does in missing persons cases or other area's of the forum.


thank you
Cubby
moderator

@Cubby do you know if this ID was ever formally confirmed, so this man can be moved to the ID section?