WA - Unidentified Male: "Lyle Stevik", Grays Harbor, 17 Sept 2001 - #5

[Damarna]

How hard would it be for someone from Croatia to sound like he may be from Canada? My 50 year old cousin immigrated from Poland when he was 14. He still has a fairly "thick" accent. Of course it's not impossible and maybe I'm just thinking out loud regarding the Stevik/Dukic connection .

 

[emeraldine]

How hard would it be for someone from Croatia to sound like he may be from Canada? My 50 year old cousin immigrated from Poland when he was 14. He still has a fairly "thick" accent. Of course it's not impossible and maybe I'm just thinking out loud regarding the Stevik/Dukic connection .

I don't know, but my personal experience makes me think it would be very difficult.

My grandmother and her cousin came from Germany in the 1940s as war brides, and, even all these years later, they both still have exactly the same accent as any continental German does when speaking English.

Since they were adults and your cousin was nearly so, I think the accent was permanent. It might be different for someone who comes to a new country as a younger child(and that would not have been the case for Dukic, either).

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I don't know, but my personal experience makes me think it would be very difficult.

My grandmother and her cousin came from Germany in the 1940s as war brides, and, even all these years later, they both still have exactly the same accent as any continental German does when speaking English.

Since they were adults and your cousin was nearly so, I think the accent was permanent. It might be different for someone who comes to a new country as a younger child(and that would not have been the case for Dukic, either).

Exactly right! He would have a very thick accent not one considered as Lyle's was described to be a slight accent.

There is no getting around this one unless he had a great acting/voice coach. Pretty much puts that theory of him being Dukic to bed. Thanks!

 

[emeraldine]

Exactly right! He would have a very thick accent not one considered as Lyle's was described to be a slight accent.

There is no getting around this one unless he had a great acting/voice coach. Pretty much puts that theory of him being Dukic to bed. Thanks!

Well, maybe. If Dukic had been fluent in English from his childhood, he could still be Lyle.

 

[DanInOz]

Exactly right! He would have a very thick accent not one considered as Lyle's was described to be a slight accent.

There is no getting around this one unless he had a great acting/voice coach. Pretty much puts that theory of him being Dukic to bed. Thanks!

My DH arrived in Australia at the age of 15 with no English & has no accent
My Dad arrived here at the age of 19 & he also has no accent. Both sound true blue Aussie

 

[Sutton]

My DH arrived in Australia at the age of 15 with no English & has no accent
My Dad arrived here at the age of 19 & he also has no accent. Both sound true blue Aussie

I'm not in on this discussion bc I don't think Lyle and Ilijah are the same person. But some accents are easy to overcome, while others are nearly impossible.

Neither here nor there, but who wouldn't try to convert to an Australian accent? Those are the best, everyone loves them. I want an Australian to live with me so they can talk to me all the time, and maybe some of the accent will rub off on me!

 

[DanInOz]

I'm not in on this discussion bc I don't think Lyle and Ilijah are the same person. But some accents are easy to overcome, while others are nearly impossible.

Neither here nor there, but who wouldn't try to convert to an Australian accent? Those are the best, everyone loves them. I want an Australian to live with me so they can talk to me all the time, and maybe some of the accent will rub off on me!

That's so sweet :blushing:

Whilst I've always had a fascination with America in general. I finally visited 2 years ago but only for a short time. Keep trying to convince my DH to move there, mainly for shopping purposes haha

sorry to derail

 

[carbuff]

You're absolutely right. I shouldn't have used the word "connections" as there aren't any. And, I agree about the shared characteristics...as they aren't unusual. What I do find unusual though is that combination of similarities and the fact that they were both found in the same month and all of these years later not even a sniff of a tip as to who they are. Are there many other UID's here on WS that have similar characteristics? It's very possible there are, but I just haven't had a reason or the opportunity to notice them.

I am also well aware that I may be falling into the "if I have a hammer, everything is a nail" trap! I think of this often when I am mulling about the potential link between Lyle and Israel Keyes. I see IK's victims everywhere!

That's a good question. I know there are a number of people of both sexes who seem to have traveled some distance to commit suicide anonymously. It's not common but it does happen. Many of them used aliases that on the surface seemed to be valid names. "Mary Anderson" in Seattle comes to mind. But for men who share the characteristics of these two men -- I dunno, I'd have to go look.

 

[carbuff]

How hard would it be for someone from Croatia to sound like he may be from Canada? My 50 year old cousin immigrated from Poland when he was 14. He still has a fairly "thick" accent. Of course it's not impossible and maybe I'm just thinking out loud regarding the Stevik/Dukic connection .

I would say unlikely but possible. A Canadian accent is slight but quite distinctive and people who live along the northern tier where it's encountered more often are less likely to mix it up with anything else. On the other hand, when Mr. Carbuff and I were in Australia, nobody identified us as from the US. They thought we were from other parts of Australia. His accent is Queens NY and mine is Montana, neither of which is commonly thought of as "American."

I had a professor in college who was from Uttar Pradesh in India. He spoke excellent English--with a strong Northern Irish accent, because that's where the teacher he learned English from had grown up.

 

[Spurser]

About the video: remember the Michael Jackson video for Black or White? They morphed all those people together so seamlessly. Is the same effect used on the Lyle/Dukic video? If that is the case, then I can easily see how the two appear to "match up". Its just an illusion IMHO.

 

[mountainash]

Can someone make Lyle's hair look like Ilija's in the photo?

Quick and dirty photoshop.

 

[prd2bokie]

Wow, mountainash!

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Well, maybe. If Dukic had been fluent in English from his childhood, he could still be Lyle.

My limited research suggests English is definitely is not a common second language in Croatia.

The Slavic dialects are more difficult to lose unless people are raised in an American English speaking family or were raised here from an early age, imo. I just do not see 2 war torn soldiers from Croatia being American English speaking gents so quickly with faded accents. Didn't happen, imo.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

My DH arrived in Australia at the age of 15 with no English & has no accent
My Dad arrived here at the age of 19 & he also has no accent. Both sound true blue Aussie

My Aussie nephew came here at 18 and now at 30, he still sounds like a true blue Aussie. I did note when his Aussie family visits, he gets an even thicker accent. lol (And yes..we adore Aussie accents!)

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Quick and dirty photoshop.

View attachment 75784

Let's go through this step by step:

Lyle has a very square face. Dukic does not.
Lyle's outer right nostril is raised and is not even with the left. Dukic's are even.
Lyle's ears sit flat against his head. Dukic's right ear sticks out considerably and the left is not flat either.
Lyle's chin is wider and has a cleft.
Lyle's jawline is squared where Dukic's is oval.
Lyle has no pronounced adam's apple. Dukic does.
Lyle's top lip is rounded. Dukic's top lip has pronounced peaks and the lip has a slight curve under on the sides.
Lyle's eyebrows are significantly thicker and wider. They also form a uni-brow. Dukic's eyebrows do not go clear across.

Not the same person.

 

[Vabrownid1]

Just a thought, but would/could a hanging break an adam's apple?

 

[dotr]

Wonder if Lyle had a particularly deep voice?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam's_apple

bbm.
"Although both sexes have it, the Adam's apple is considered to be a characteristic feature of adult men, because its size tends to increase considerably during puberty.[2]

Its development is considered a secondary sexual characteristic of males that appears as a result of hormonal activity. Its level of development varies among individuals and the widening of that area in the larynx can occur very suddenly and quickly"



"Another function of the laryngeal prominence is related to the deepening of the voice. During adolescence, the thyroid cartilage grows together with the larynx. Consequently, the laryngeal prominence grows in size mainly in men. Together, a larger soundboard is made up in phonation apparatus and, as a result, the man gets a deeper voice note"

 

[dotr]

rbbm.
"In suicides where hanging has been used as a means of taking one's own life there will be several ligature marks around the neck area as the process of hanging can be sometimes a tricky one and may need several attempts. In addition to these extra ligature marks there may also be imprints of knots tied in rope or cord to indicate that the individual was trying to make sure that they could not be cut down easily from their makeshift noose."

http://www.exploreforensics.co.uk/ligature-marks.html

 

[emeraldine]

Let's go through this step by step:

Lyle has a very square face. Dukic does not.
Lyle's outer right nostril is raised and is not even with the left. Dukic's are even.
Lyle's ears sit flat against his head. Dukic's right ear sticks out considerably and the left is not flat either.
Lyle's chin is wider and has a cleft.
Lyle's jawline is squared where Dukic's is oval.
Lyle has no pronounced adam's apple. Dukic does.
Lyle's top lip is rounded. Dukic's top lip has pronounced peaks and the lip has a slight curve under on the sides.
Lyle's eyebrows are significantly thicker and wider. They also form a uni-brow. Dukic's eyebrows do not go clear across.

Not the same person.

Actually, yes. All of these. The only one that might be a "maybe" is the Adam's apple, but the rest still make it obvious that they aren't the same person.

I had considered that all the small differences in appearance could be explained by aging, but no.

They look similar enough to be relatives, and that's all.

 

[outofthedark]

rbbm.
"In suicides where hanging has been used as a means of taking one's own life there will be several ligature marks around the neck area as the process of hanging can be sometimes a tricky one and may need several attempts. In addition to these extra ligature marks there may also be imprints of knots tied in rope or cord to indicate that the individual was trying to make sure that they could not be cut down easily from their makeshift noose."

http://www.exploreforensics.co.uk/ligature-marks.html

Which might explain the state of Lyle's belt.