CA CA - Van Nuys, WhtFem UP4117, 24-33, @ Sepulveda Flood Basin, Jul'87

[rcoope23]

Please merge if there is another thread for this lady.


Unidentified White Female


The victim was discovered on July 21, 1987 in Van Nuys, Los Angeles County, California
Estimated Date of Death: 3 - 4 weeks prior to discovery
Vital Statistics

Estimated age: 24 - 33 years old
Approximate Height and Weight: 5'8; 110-120 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown, medium-length hair; brown eyes. Appendectomy scar; wore contact lenses. Prior pregnancy. Toenails painted a reddish-pink. Toxicology tests show she had cocaine in her system at the time of her death.
Dentals: Available. Had previous dental work done; missing teeth in upper right molar region and had several fillings. Once wore braces.
Clothing: Wearing light blue, homemade dress (short sleeve with ties at neck in the front and ties at waist in the back), considered out-of-date; bra (size 34B); slip; panties; inexpensive high-heel, open-toe strap shoes (black leather, size 8).
Fingerprints: Not available
DNA: Available
Case History
The victim was located in the 16300 block of Burbank Boulevard, in an isolated area of the Sepulveda flood control basin in Van Nuys. She was wrapped in blankets and a blue plastic tarp. Strangled, her arms cleanly cut off at the elbows, she had been dead two weeks to three weeks when her killer, or killers, dumped her body in the park off Burbank Boulevard just east of Havenhurst Avenue. By removing her hands, the killer ensured there would be no fingerprints.
Jane Doe 53 - the 53rd unidentified female corpse in the county in 1987 - was released to the morgue for cremation August 17, 1987.
Because of the tools used and the precision of the mutilation of her limbs, Jane Doe 53's case is similar to the deaths of six other Southern California women, although police haven't been able to make any definite connection.

 

[rcoope23]

I think Diana Coulta's might be a good match for this doe.

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/11495/10?current_page=physical_characteristics

Diana went missing seven years before so there is a big gap but she has a lot of features in common with this doe.

She wore contact lenses and had been pregnant before. The height is slightly off and the weight is really off but if she was addicted to cocaine then she would have lost weight.

It was really the contact lenses that caught me for this one and just thought I'd suggest her.

 

[Ambercat]

This is her page on NamUs -- https://identifyus.org/en/cases/4117

Her height is listed as 5'5" on NamUs, but the date and circumstances are the same. The only rule outs listed are Hazel Klug and Patricia Schmidt. IMO, Donella Coultas seems a bit more robust than the UID and her eyes are listed as being blue.

 

[Ambercat]

There is something about Johanna Brighton, who was recently listed in NamUs, that reminds me of this UID.

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/17253/37
I'm not sure if there are too many dependencies between the two women, though, and, if Johanna was the unidentified woman found in Van Nuys, where was she all of those years?

The UID's Doe Network page is located at http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/452ufca.html

 

[CherBearSTL]

Julia Salucka went missing from Kansas City, MO on 11/7/1986. She may have gone to California. She previously wore braces, wore glasses, is the right height, but a little young at 19. The only big problem is that Julia had a tattoo on her shoulder.

Sent from my myTouch_4G_Slide using Tapatalk 2

 

[Jigoku Dayu]

Has LE ever said which murders this Jane Doe's case is similar to?

 

[cvaldez1975]

good question.

her drawing is horrifying. it looks like they drew her final expression

Has LE ever said which murders this Jane Doe's case is similar to?

 

[Jigoku Dayu]

Yeah, it'd be nice to have a reconstruction that looks less contorted by extreme emotion.

 

[Tuck]

Not listed in Namus, but Sylvia Lourdes Standley has also been ruled out.

'Comparison of MP LOURDES to our case 1987-06991 is NOT a match per dental x-ray comparison.'

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

*Bump!*
Jane Doe 53 has been unidentified for over 31 years.

452UFCA

Because of the tools used and the precision of the mutilation of her limbs, Jane Doe 53's case is similar to the deaths of six other Southern California women, although police haven't been able to make any definite connection.

Still curious about this connection, though! Any updates?

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Found an interesting blog article on Jane Doe 53
Cops discover woman still alive, reporter mourns

Apparently, one of her femurs were saved and is kept as evidence while the rest of the body was cremated. No recons can be done because of this, so that godawful drawing posted upthread is all we'll ever get. Described, but not pictured, her out-of-date dress is also kept as evidence:

Although considered out of fashion for 1987, the powder-blue dress with a peekaboo opening below the neckline was perfect for summer.

I wonder why LE hasn't released any visuals on the dress? I mean, if it's blood stained or otherwise hard to show to the public, why can't they release an recon of it instead? A homemade dress should be easier to remember than a store-bought dress.

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

*Bump*

Throwing out a couple of suggestions here; feel free to submit if you feel strongly about them. I do not have access to the NamUs' ruleout list, so they could already be ruled out for that I know.

June Carpenter Gilkerson, missing since Nov. 8th, 1986 from Midland, TX. Stats are a bit off, but not entirely "out there". She wore contact lenses. Is believed to have been taken against her will (held captive for six-seven months and taken to California?).

Cynthia Dyann Coleman, missing since Sept. 3rd, 1986 from Barona, CA. I don't think she's Jane Doe, though; her height is way below VNJD's, and Cynthia's hair is reportedly blond/strawberry blond. What made me think about Jane Doe was the fact that Cynthia had tattoos on both her hands, which could also be a possible reason for the killer to have them removed.

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Bumping thread with Jane Doe 53's updated NamUs link:
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

On another note, Jane Doe 53 has always hit me as a bit misplaced, like she hadn't found her way in LA before she was murdered. Let me elaborate: I came to think of Jane Doe after I recently watched a documentary about Colleen Applegate, a young woman who ran away from her small town home in Minnesota to Los Angeles, CA, in the beginning of the 80s, and shortly after arrival ended up in the adult industry under the name Shauna Grant. She developed a serious cocaine addiction, and tragically ended her life a couple of years later. Not that I think Jane Doe was in the adult industry, but more that she was from a small town place like Colleen, "new in town" in LA, naive and not yet street smart, and perhaps placing her trust in the wrong kind of people? But that is just a wee theory of mine.

 

[Tuck]

Could be Westie Knaeur? She had a criminal record which could be a reason for someone to remove her fingerprints. Also seemed to have sporadic contact with her family which could mean that things like a pregnancy or appendectomy hadn’t been noted.

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Could be Westie Knaeur? She had a criminal record which could be a reason for someone to remove her fingerprints. Also seemed to have sporadic contact with her family which could mean that things like a pregnancy or appendectomy hadn’t been noted.

Good point, but wouldn't pins and fractures have been noted during the autopsy? I mean, there are many details about Jane Doe, so why wouldn't those things have been noted? I recognise that mistakes and mishaps can be done (it has happened several times before), but I find this a bit odd.

(and please, add links in the future!)

Westie Knauer's WS thread:
OR - OR - Westie Knauer, 32, Portland, 1 April 1987

 

[Tuck]

Good point, but wouldn't pins and fractures have been noted during the autopsy? I mean, there are many details about Jane Doe, so why wouldn't those things have been noted? I recognise that mistakes and mishaps can be done (it has happened several times before), but I find this a bit odd.

(and please, add links in the future!)

Westie Knauer's WS thread:
OR - OR - Westie Knauer, 32, Portland, 1 April 1987

Originally thought the same thing, but would that have been noted with the state of remains? If things such as appendectomy scars were noted, would they have checked for things such as internal pins and fractures which were not externally obvious?

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Originally thought the same thing, but would that have been noted with the state of remains? If things such as appendectomy scars were noted, would they have checked for things such as internal pins and fractures which were not externally obvious?

Well, there's also noted a prior pregnancy, but I don't know what kind of method ME used to get to that conclusion. The only body part that wasn't cremated is her femur, so it seems like LE have been quite thorough with obtaining identifiers from her (except for the recon..), so I find it weird if they didn't X-ray her, as well. If you feel strongly about Westie being Jane Doe 53, then call her in

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Bumping with the original article from post #11. The article is from 2007, and unfortunately, there seems to be no updates. I have several questions every time I read this, but I always find it strange and a bit backwards that a lengthy and detailed article about a Jane Doe and her unique blue dress -that could hold the key to getting VNJD53 identified- would be written and publish WITHOUT including a pic or a rendering of said dress

Blue dress one of few clues in unsolved 1987 slaying – Daily News


Blue dress one of few clues in unsolved 1987 slaying

ENCINO – Although considered out of fashion for 1987, the powder-blue dress with a peekaboo opening below the neckline was perfect for summer.

Little did police know when they found the badly decomposed body of a young woman wearing the dress 20 years ago this month that it might one day represent their last hope of unraveling the mystery behind her death.

Through the years, detectives have followed every lead, with little luck. Now, they’re hoping somebody recognizes that dress or some other peculiarity about the case.

They not only want to find her killer, they want to find out who was the woman they call Jane Doe No. 53. The woman’s mutilated body was discovered on the morning of July 21, 1987, by a 32-year-old transient in the thick underbrush around the Hjelte Sports Center in the Sepulveda Dam basin area.


Strangled, her arms cleanly cut off at the elbows, she had been dead two weeks to three weeks when her killer, or killers, dumped her body in the park off Burbank Boulevard just east of Havenhurst Avenue, police believe.

“Who holds a murder victim that long and moves a body?” wondered Los Angeles Police Department Detective James Nuttall. “It takes a tremendous amount of risk.”

Jane Doe 53 is not alone. Since 1987, there have been 5,535 unsolved homicides in the city of Los Angeles. In 53’s case, a bit of bad luck and timing have made the process of identifying her – and the prospects of identifying her killer – more difficult.

By removing her hands, the killer ensured there would be no fingerprints. After her death, detectives were on the lookout for any severed hands that turned up, hoping for a match.

They haven’t found any.


And since the woman had been dead for weeks when they found her, police were unable to detect whether there had been sexual contact. In today’s advanced scientific environment, such evidence might have led to the killer.

“We have her DNA,” Nuttall said. “We have nothing from the suspect.”

They also don’t have a corpse.

The Los Angeles County Department of Coroner routinely hands over unidentified bodies to the county morgue, which cremates the remains.

Jane Doe 53 – the 53rd unidentified female corpse in the county in 1987 – was released to the morgue for cremation Aug. 17, 1987, said Craig Harvey, coroner operations chief. A femur from her leg was saved and remains in evidence.

On a recent weekend, the coroner’s office had 207 bodies in its possession. Identifying them can sometimes prove difficult, Harvey said.

“One of the biggest problems in identifying people is the fact that nobody’s looking for them,” he said. “They don’t file missing-person reports, so you really have nothing to go on.”

This is a scenario detectives have considered with Jane Doe 53.

It’s possible they never saw a missing-persons report for her because she was killed by a husband or boyfriend, the very person who would normally report her missing.

“Right now, if we had the skull, we feel pretty confident we could get close (to identifying her), but unfortunately, it’s not available,” Nuttall said.

With the skull, they could do a facial reconstruction. That process could provide a highly accurate bust or drawing, something they could put out to the public to see if anybody recognized her.

Which leaves the blue dress.

Considering the horror she endured, the woman’s dress is in remarkably good shape. Police determined it was “not commercially manufactured.”

But who made the dress? The woman? A loving mother or grandmother? Police don’t know. They do know it was considered out-of-date.

“Not San Fernando Valley 1980s,” Nuttall said, which leads detectives to believe the woman might have been from out of state or perhaps from another country.

Wearing black-strap high heels with her toenails painted a reddish-pink, the woman could have been out dancing, going to dinner or engaging in prostitution, detectives said. Toxicology tests show she had cocaine in her system at the time of her death.

Police believe their Jane Doe was a small-framed white woman, between 24 and 33 years old.

The brown-eyed woman wore contact lenses and had medium-length brown hair that fell just past her shoulders. She was approximately 5 feet 8 inches and weighed between 110 and 120 pounds. She wore a size 7 shoe.

Examiners concluded that at some point, her appendix had been removed and that she was once pregnant.

And due to the fact that she wore contacts and once wore braces, it’s possible she came from an upper-middle-class background, police said.

“She had perfect teeth,” Nuttall said.

Because of the tools used and the precision of the mutilation of her limbs, Jane Doe 53’s case is similar to the deaths of six other Southern California women, although police haven’t been able to make any definite connection.

Every stone has been turned. Now, they need help.

“There’s really no place else for us to go,” Nuttall said. “Barring some breakthrough in modern science, it’s going to take a phone call.”

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Today marks 33 years since Van Nuys Jane Doe 53 was discovered.

her drawing is horrifying. it looks like they drew her final expression

I don't want to criticize the works of forensic artists, especially when the reconstructions are of decomposed and skeletal remains, but I am saddened to know that this is what we'll ever get, so I figured I'd bump her thread with various renderings I made of her through the face generator app suggested by @victoriarobinson642 in the Bensalem Jane Doe thread, based on the original drawing. I guessed the more the merrier, so at least we'd have several different takes on what she might've looked like.

 

[Vern]

Well, there's also noted a prior pregnancy, but I don't know what kind of method ME used to get to that conclusion. The only body part that wasn't cremated is her femur, so it seems like LE have been quite thorough with obtaining identifiers from her (except for the recon..), so I find it weird if they didn't X-ray her, as well. If you feel strongly about Westie being Jane Doe 53, then call her in

IMO, the "scar noted on abdomen" was probably a C-section scar and ergo their ability to determine that without any remains today.