UNSOLVED NJ - Fair Lawn, Mysterious pile of sliced-up women’s clothes found in woods, Mar 2019

[JerseyGirl]

For me it’s the way the clothes were cut that makes me think they came from an accident victim or someone who was experiencing an emergency of some kind.

That has been brought up in some of the news stories and a paramedic replied in a comment that they don't usually cut a woman's thong (underwear) in an emergency situation.

 

[carbuff]

Thank you for the update! I am really glad that they might make an exception for the DNA test, but a year? I am happy there are advocates though if this does happen to be related to a crime, etc.

According to what I've been told, a year is just what the backlog is at UNT and several other major testing labs. The successes of DNA work have resulted in a flood of cases for testing. Which is good, but it's not fast.

 

[Ibiz]

Mysterious, stained cut-up women's clothes found behind Fair Lawn home

I must say, I'm stumped. It does appear that the clothes have been cut off from someone who had been wearing them thow.

 

[RememberingRyan]

To my untrained eyes, this looks like someone was either shot or stabbed in the right side of the chest while they were lying down, and then the clothing was cut/ripped (knife?) quickly enough that minimal blood saturated the front of the shirt, allowing it to instead pool on/behind the right shoulder of the shirt and right back of the bra. The pants and thong are both cut in the pelvis, with the rip in the jeans veering to the right. A person facing them and inflicting the holes in the shirt/cut in the jeans might be left handed given the position of the damage to the clothing?

The cut in the underwear definitely doesn't look like they were cut for the sake of quick removal... it looks like a cut meant to expose the front of a woman's pelvis. Paramedics are trained to cut pants up both legs for effective and safe removal, not down the pelvis. Similarly, while they generally wouldn't need to remove underwear, they would likely cut them up the sides of the hips if they did need to - not slit the front panel.

I hope they get the go-ahead to run at least basic forensics to confirm or rule out the presence of blood and get the ball rolling on the DNA testing.

 

[carbuff]

Thanks for posting the pictures of the shirt again. There are a couple I hadn't seen. The black area kind of looks like it might have been used as a rag for working on a motor or maybe a bike, to remove some sort of cleaner or fluid that ate away at the cloth.

 

[CSIDreamer]

To my untrained eyes, this looks like someone was either shot or stabbed in the right side of the chest while they were lying down, and then the clothing was cut/ripped (knife?) quickly enough that minimal blood saturated the front of the shirt, allowing it to instead pool on/behind the right shoulder of the shirt and right back of the bra. The pants and thong are both cut in the pelvis, with the rip in the jeans veering to the right. A person facing them and inflicting the holes in the shirt/cut in the jeans might be left handed given the position of the damage to the clothing?

The cut in the underwear definitely doesn't look like they were cut for the sake of quick removal... it looks like a cut meant to expose the front of a woman's pelvis. Paramedics are trained to cut pants up both legs for effective and safe removal, not down the pelvis. Similarly, while they generally wouldn't need to remove underwear, they would likely cut them up the sides of the hips if they did need to - not slit the front panel.

I hope they get the go-ahead to run at least basic forensics to confirm or rule out the presence of blood and get the ball rolling on the DNA testing.

I think it's the 3rd shirt picture it looks cleanly cut with scissors. I never realized how torn up that shirt is. Look at the back of it. Two slashes on the left side and cut/slashed from top to middle?

 

[RememberingRyan]

I think it's the 3rd shirt picture it looks cleanly cut with scissors. I never realized how torn up that shirt is. Look at the back of it. Two slashes on the left side and cut/slashed from top to middle?

I think that if the shirt were ripped in half (i.e. if someone cut a slit at the collar with knife and then ripped the shirt starting from the cut) that it could give the illusion of a straight cut if the rip followed the grain of the fabric. It would be easier to tell if we could see the actual edge of the fabric its self, because a jagged edge would make scissors seem more likely (because you'll often pinch fabric if you are opening and closing the scissors to cut, leaving little jagged spots if you aren't actively trying to cut carefully - and if you use the scissors to cut without opening and closing then you might get a less jagged edge but it still won't follow the grain as closely as a rip)... but if you look at a closeup of the front side, the fabric curls over its self where the "cut" is, so we can't really see what the rip/cut looks like. This is a common behavior for knit fabrics and can occur regardless of whether the fabric is ripped or cut. (I sew and have to work around the curling when dealing with stretchy materials).

The cuts/rips in the back could be knife slashes, or rips from the fabric or person being dragged over rocks or another sharp object. They don't curl as much because they don't follow the grain and you can see that the edges of those holes are pretty rough. The rust colored staining appears to be present near the rips in the back also and could again indicate a blood pattern.

(IMO)

 

[proctorelites]

I apologize if this observation is unwarranted but, there is a missing item in LE photos that may be a valuable item for testing? Wonder if they collected the panty liner separately?
1. The photo of the clothes taken in the woods where they were found: a panty liner attached to the crotch of the thong is clearly visible.
2 The photo from what I assume to be LE: the panty liner is no longer attached to the thong. Am I seeing things? Sorry if this is not up for discussion.

 

[JrzyGirl70]

Just to give you all an idea of the area where this occurred..
Behind the tree line there are some houses. This isn't the type of road where you often see people walking.

 

[RememberingRyan]

Just to give you all an idea of the area where this occurred.. View attachment 178737 View attachment 178738
Behind the tree line there are some houses. This isn't the type of road where you often see people walking.

The wooded area where the clothes were found appears to surrounded by residential and business... it may well have been accessed without anyone having to walk along 208 at all. I don't see a fence leading to or lining the parking lot for the office building adjacent to the wooded area. Given that the clothing was found balled up together, it may have been discarded there rather than removed there. Someone could have parked in that lot and just walked to the hedges and tossed it into the woods.

Picture posted by the person who found the clothes, showing windows of what appears to be a bank, and the hedges lining the parking lot of the office building:

Satellite of the area:



Closer up of the bank with the windows compared with windows in finder's picture:

 

[carbuff]

I wonder if maybe it was found in a house or car by someone's mother or partner, and discarded by that person because she was afraid what it meant about her someone's activities.

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

I apologize if this observation is unwarranted but, there is a missing item in LE photos that may be a valuable item for testing? Wonder if they collected the panty liner separately?
1. The photo of the clothes taken in the woods where they were found: a panty liner attached to the crotch of the thong is clearly visible.
2 The photo from what I assume to be LE: the panty liner is no longer attached to the thong. Am I seeing things? Sorry if this is not up for discussion.
View attachment 178731 View attachment 178732

Look again @proctorelites. My eyes did the same thing. You think you're seeing a whitish liner in the woods photo but it is the plastic bag in the background IMO - not the liner.

 

[Andieinsyd]

Look again @proctorelites. My eyes did the same thing. You think you're seeing a whitish liner in the woods photo but it is the plastic bag in the background IMO - not the liner.

I also think it’s a liner - pic in the very first post of the thread.

 

[inmyhumbleopinion]

I apologize if this observation is unwarranted but, there is a missing item in LE photos that may be a valuable item for testing? Wonder if they collected the panty liner separately?
1. The photo of the clothes taken in the woods where they were found: a panty liner attached to the crotch of the thong is clearly visible.
2 The photo from what I assume to be LE: the panty liner is no longer attached to the thong. Am I seeing things? Sorry if this is not up for discussion.
View attachment 178731 View attachment 178732

Look again @proctorelites. My eyes did the same thing. You think you're seeing a whitish liner in the woods photo but it is the plastic bag in the background IMO - not the liner.

I also think it’s a liner - pic in the very first post of the thread.

I agree with proctorelites’ assessment: Liner in the outside photos; no liner in the inside photo, IMO:

Mysterious, stained cut-up women's clothes found behind Fair Lawn home

 

[RememberingRyan]

The liner may have been removed prior to being photographed for media publication for sensitivity reasons.

 

[Laughing]

The liner may have been removed prior to being photographed for media publication for sensitivity reasons.

Just as long as that's the first item prepped for DNA analysis.

 

[Emilyf886]

would namus test the clothing for DNA?

 

[Two for the road]

would namus test the clothing for DNA?

AFAIK, DNA testing through Namus is done through the UNT where the backlog is.

 

[Al Ka]

This might be a bit stretch but I can't stop thinking about one Jane Doe when looking at these discarted cloth. Jane Doe was found in March of 2018 in Newark NJ floating in the water. There is good description of her but no cloth are mentioned whatsoever, so my assumption is that she was very likely found naked.

No cause of death is mentioned either but homicide squat phone number is listed as her contact for tips.

Newark, as per map seems to be only 28 min away. Could this be her cloth? What you think?

NJ - NJ - Newark - BlkFem, Tattoos: "Tiara", Purple Rose, 3 Stars on Neck, Mar 2018

 

[JrzyGirl70]

So I have been tossing this idea around for several days.. Bergen New Bridge Medical Center (formerly Bergen Regional/Bergen Pines) is about 10 miles from this location, while the facility has an ER and regular medical care it is also well known for being a mental health facility including drug addiction care. My thinking is that perhaps a young woman had a medical emergency, was brought here for treatment where she may have had her clothing cut off of her. Upon on her release, perhaps not wanting any of her family to find out and being afraid, the clothing was discarded on the drive home.