Resolved WY - Sweetwater, "Bitter Creek Betty", Wht/HispFem 24-32, 213UFWY, rose tatt/jewelry Mar'92 - N/A

[CarlK90245]

Thanks for finding these possible matches. Have you or will you be submitting them?

Regarding Laura Skaggs, I left telephone messages both with Margaret Loveall of the Tulsa PD, and with two detectives from the Sweetwater County Sheriff's office. But I have not yet received replies from any of them.

Apparently, Det. Mark Ferman (not to be confused with Det. Mark Fuhrman of the OJ Simpson trial fame) is not connected with this case anymore, as the number provided in DoeNet belongs to a different detective. I left a message with the detective at that number, and I also left a message with Sgt. Mizel of the Sweetwater Sheriff's office. I found Sgt. Mizel's number on the Sweetwater County Sheriff website.

 

[CarlK90245]

I just spoke with Det. Mark Ferman (who, contrary to what I said in my previous post, is still on the case). He said that strangely, he has received three or four calls just recently about this case, either regarding a perp, or Jane Doe's identity.

He took down the information, but when he looked up Laura Skaggs' photo, he commented that she doesn't look very much like the photo he has of the victim. He says that the victim looks more Hispanic and has very dark hair.

He looked at the facial reconstructions in DoeNet and said that the facial reconstructions don't look anything like the Jane Doe (just as I suspected).

I asked if he could make the photo available. He said that he could send me the photo to my e-mail address, but he currently doesn't have the photo digitized, so it may take him a week or so because he is currently working on another case.

ETA: The state of Wyoming has no UID cases listed in NamUs, so I should have suggested that he create a NamUs casefile. However, I suspect that he doesn't have a lot of spare time on his hands to do that.

 

[webrocket]

I just spoke with Det. Mark Ferman (who, contrary to what I said in my previous post, is still on the case). He said that strangely, he has received three or four calls just recently about this case, either regarding a perp, or Jane Doe's identity.

He took down the information, but when he looked up Laura Skaggs' photo, he commented that she doesn't look very much like the photo he has of the victim. He says that the victim looks more Hispanic and has very dark hair.

He looked at the facial reconstructions in DoeNet and said that the facial reconstructions don't look anything like the Jane Doe (just as I suspected).

I asked if he could make the photo available. He said that he could send me the photo to my e-mail address, but he currently doesn't have the photo digitized, so it may take him a week or so because he is currently working on another case.

ETA: The state of Wyoming has no UID cases listed in NamUs, so I should have suggested that he create a NamUs casefile. However, I suspect that he doesn't have a lot of spare time on his hands to do that.

I'm glad he offered to send you the pic Carl. my only question is did he specifically or impliedly ask that it not be distributed to the public at large? some in LE get all sensitive about releasing information on a pending criminal case. I can understand that of course, but unless there is a decent image of the deceased out there, she'll never be identified and conversely the killer never apprehended.

 

[CarlK90245]

I'm glad he offered to send you the pic Carl. my only question is did he specifically or impliedly ask that it not be distributed to the public at large? some in LE get all sensitive about releasing information on a pending criminal case. I can understand that of course, but unless there is a decent image of the deceased out there, she'll never be identified and conversely the killer never apprehended.

He first mentioned that he would send the photos to DoeNetwork, but I told him that DoeNet does not publish postmortem photos. I suggested that he send them to me, and I would put them up on the online forums (i.e., here and at Porchlight). He sounded like he was OK with that. He said that the photo was publicly available years ago, but apparently, that is no longer the case.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I should have asked him to set up a NamUs casefile, but I got the impression that he had his hands full with other issues.

 

[zinc]

ETA: The state of Wyoming has no UID cases listed in NamUs, so I should have suggested that he create a NamUs casefile. However, I suspect that he doesn't have a lot of spare time on his hands to do that.

I'd somehow never realized that there are no WY UIDs in NamUs. Not blaming cash-strapped and understaffed people on the ground, but that's damned frustrating.

 

[CarlK90245]

Det. Ferman sent me a PDF with a couple of photos of the UID. The photos are poor quality and they photoshopped open eyes into the photo, but this gives us a somewhat better sense of what she looked like

WARNING POSTMORTEM PHOTOS AT LINK
View attachment betty1992.pdf

ETA: I sent him a reply, suggesting that he (or someone in his office) register to the NamUs system, and create a case file for this Jane Doe.

 

[webrocket]

I wonder if the tattoo artist has any recollection of when he did the work on this UID. depending on that, it could help narrow things down.

I did find this missing woman who at least in my opinion bears some resemblance to the UID and that is Dawn Rene Silvernail. no reference to her being Hispanic, but was last seen in Michigan on November 8, 1991. she was not reported missing for 13 years so one has to question the validity of the date.

Dawn is a little taller than the UID (Dawn's stated height was 5'10") but there was reference to an abdominal scar, source not stated.

she could have gotten the tattoo after she left MI but if this is her, it did not leave a great window of time to get the ink job.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2998dfmi.html

 

[CarlK90245]

I've been trying to do a reconstruction from the two images that are available.

It's pretty tough, given the poor quality of the images and the poorly photoshopped eyes, to get a sense of her overall look. Det. Ferman's described her as having very dark hair and a hispanic appearance, even though I don't see it in the two images. So I emphasized her Hispanic appearance, and here's what I've come up with.

The overall look might be completely off. But not any more off the mark than the other two images in DoeNet.

 

[CarlK90245]

I wonder if the tattoo artist has any recollection of when he did the work on this UID. depending on that, it could help narrow things down.

I did find this missing woman who at least in my opinion bears some resemblance to the UID and that is Dawn Rene Silvernail. no reference to her being Hispanic, but was last seen in Michigan on November 8, 1991. she was not reported missing for 13 years so one has to question the validity of the date.

Dawn is a little taller than the UID (Dawn's stated height was 5'10") but there was reference to an abdominal scar, source not stated.

she could have gotten the tattoo after she left MI but if this is her, it did not leave a great window of time to get the ink job.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2998dfmi.html

Dawn does have similarly wide-set eyes, and there is the abdominal scar, but she has a stronger chin and jawline, IMO.

If the PM photo was of better quality, you could see whether there was a scar on the forehead.

 

[webrocket]

Dawn does have similarly wide-set eyes, and there is the abdominal scar, but she has a stronger chin and jawline, IMO.

If the PM photo was of better quality, you could see whether there was a scar on the forehead.

it is not clear where on the forehead Dawn's scar was and it could be obscured by the hair, although there was no mention of a scar on the forehead of the UID.

for what it is worth, I tried to see if there were any birth records at ancestry.com that might indicate whether Dawn Rene Silvernail had given birth, but there were no matches.

 

[webrocket]

I've been trying to do a reconstruction from the two images that are available.

It's pretty tough, given the poor quality of the images and the poorly photoshopped eyes, to get a sense of her overall look. Det. Ferman's described her as having very dark hair and a hispanic appearance, even though I don't see it in the two images. So I emphasized her Hispanic appearance, and here's what I've come up with.

The overall look might be completely off. But not any more off the mark than the other two images in DoeNet.

Carl, your depiction has a basis in the photograph. I looked back at the two images at Doe Network and never in a million years would I think the deceased looked anything like the drawings.

 

[Julessleuther]

I have a few possibles:

Pamela Dalton:
Time frame is right, weight is off, height is off--both have rose tattoo.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1764dfmo.html

Susan Cassell: Weight and height are similar. No mention of tattoo, and Susan was pregnant when she went missing--maybe the killer kidnapped her for her baby (done by C section) and then kiled her? The facial structure with the Does morgue photo is so similar, and Susan is from AZ.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/584dfaz.html

 

[carbuff]

Did somebody already suggest Servia Alves? http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1010dfwa.html Missing from Washington in January 1992. There's almost no information about her or what might have happened to her, but I notice she's listed on Interpol.

 

[webrocket]

I have a few possibles:

Pamela Dalton:
Time frame is right, weight is off, height is off--both have rose tattoo.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1764dfmo.html

Susan Cassell: Weight and height are similar. No mention of tattoo, and Susan was pregnant when she went missing--maybe the killer kidnapped her for her baby (done by C section) and then kiled her? The facial structure with the Does morgue photo is so similar, and Susan is from AZ.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/584dfaz.html

Pamela had a second tattoo that does not appear on the UID.

Susan had green eyes. the UID had very dark eyes.

 

[webrocket]

Did somebody already suggest Servia Alves? http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1010dfwa.html Missing from Washington in January 1992. There's almost no information about her or what might have happened to her, but I notice she's listed on Interpol.

I could not find Servia in Namus.

for what it is worth, Servia seems to have a wider face than the UID and possibly (not clear from the photo) a darker complexion.

 

[Marie]

Det. Ferman has been with Rock Springs area LE for a long time. The town is not cash strapped, but you know how it is, cold cases get put on the back burner.

Carl your reconstruction is much better than what is up at Doe, good job. I'm so glad you took the time to do that. She seems to have pretty good front teeth.

 

[Snufamonbobball]

I agree with Marie- Your reconstruction is good Carl, and thanks for getting the photos, this is one of my pet cases and I always wondered if the reconstructions that were available were actually accurate.

Thank You for your tireless work CarlK, and I'm sure Sweetwater JD is thanking you too!

 

[tamar]

Here is my take on "Rose Doe"

 

[CarlK90245]

They finally added this Jane Doe to NamUs.

https://identifyus.org/cases/8894

 

[CarlK90245]

This woman's photo was recently added to her previously "no-photo" NamUs casefile.

Sherry D. Bynum
https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/7172/36

I immediately thought of this Sweetwater WY Jane Doe.

There is a five-year lag between her DLC (August 09, 1987), and discovery (March 1, 1992), but no evidence or suggestion that she might have died on the date that she disappeared.

She has a very similar facial shape, about the same cheekbone and chin/jawline structure. She also has very widely spaced eyebrows as does the Jane Doe.

Like the Jane Doe, she is a little taller than average. Her listed height is an inch taller (5'8") than Jane Doe's upper limit (5'6" to 5'7").

Both she and Jane Doe have brown eyes.

She also has a scar on her abdomen, as does Jane Doe. There is no indication of a tattoo, but the five year lag between her disappearance and discovery is plenty of time to get a tattoo (which was thought to have been created in Arizona, and looks to have been recently done).