SC SC: Walter Rice dob 1920, found 1/27/91 McCormick

He was buried, if it weren't for a probate judge, he wouldn't have had a headstone. You can see it on that photo on this thread.
IMO MOO
According to the MSM article, he didn't have any relatives to bury him. The headstone, appears to be the more expensive kind purchased by friends and family. Does McCormick SC pay for those types of head stones to bury unclaimed decedents? I would think the markers would be basic brass plaques versus expensive headstones.

The stated extent of his body decomposition usually dictates cremation, versus embalming. I am speaking from experience from living in SC for 10 years. However, the auto accident could have resulted in the hospital taking tissue samples for testing, and them being held in storage files somewhere.
Cremations can also be placed into a burial plot. Usually inside the urn. But cremains don't usually yield tissue suitable for DNA testing.

I did some very light searching after reading this thread, and came up with some possible information. Of course unable to post here.

I am reposting this link, which was also posted above;
Heirs of Walter Rice

However, another link-states Abbeville SC has no birth record for him.
Strange Company: The Man Who Wasn't There: The Enigma of Walter Rice

Augusta was listed as a hospital he had visited. I do know that Augusta GA has the VA hospital.


IMO MOO
 
IMO MOO
According to the MSM article, he didn't have any relatives to bury him. The headstone, appears to be the more expensive kind purchased by friends and family. Does McCormick SC pay for those types of head stones to bury unclaimed decedents? I would think the markers would be basic brass plaques versus expensive headstones.

The stated extent of his body decomposition usually dictates cremation, versus embalming. I am speaking from experience from living in SC for 10 years. However, the auto accident could have resulted in the hospital taking tissue samples for testing, and them being held in storage files somewhere.
Cremations can also be placed into a burial plot. Usually inside the urn. But cremains don't usually yield tissue suitable for DNA testing.

I did some very light searching after reading this thread, and came up with some possible information. Of course unable to post here.

I am reposting this link, which was also posted above;
Heirs of Walter Rice

However, another link-states Abbeville SC has no birth record for him.
Strange Company: The Man Who Wasn't There: The Enigma of Walter Rice

Augusta was listed as a hospital he had visited. I do know that Augusta GA has the VA hospital.


IMO MOO
Great thoughts about that headstone! Def not a standard marker. The cemetery should have records of who ordered & placed the stone? Even if Rice was CIA, what would still be so top-secret classified after all these years? Super intriguing imo.
 
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IMO MOO
According to the MSM article, he didn't have any relatives to bury him. The headstone, appears to be the more expensive kind purchased by friends and family. Does McCormick SC pay for those types of head stones to bury unclaimed decedents? I would think the markers would be basic brass plaques versus expensive headstones.

The stated extent of his body decomposition usually dictates cremation, versus embalming. I am speaking from experience from living in SC for 10 years. However, the auto accident could have resulted in the hospital taking tissue samples for testing, and them being held in storage files somewhere.
Cremations can also be placed into a burial plot. Usually inside the urn. But cremains don't usually yield tissue suitable for DNA testing.

I did some very light searching after reading this thread, and came up with some possible information. Of course unable to post here.

I am reposting this link, which was also posted above;
Heirs of Walter Rice

However, another link-states Abbeville SC has no birth record for him.
Strange Company: The Man Who Wasn't There: The Enigma of Walter Rice

Augusta was listed as a hospital he had visited. I do know that Augusta GA has the VA hospital.


IMO MOO

Maybe since he had enough money someone in the town cemetery decided that he should get a tombstone. That is all I can think of.
 
Great thoughts about that headstone! Def not a standard marker. The cemetery should have records of who ordered & placed the stone? Even if Rice was CIA, what would still be so top-secret classified after all these years? Super intriguing imo.

The cemetery "might" have records of who placed the headstone. I tried to research the cemetery, but they have no website. Hmm. I do know some people who are from McCormick SC. Still living there even.
I lived in a slightly larger town 50 miles east of McCormick, and they are having an awful time setting up their own city website. I found SC to be very confusing and confused about internet usage for the modern world.

McCormick SC-
McCormick, South Carolina

Town of McCormick | McCormick SC | South Carolina
 
The cemetery "might" have records of who placed the headstone. I tried to research the cemetery, but they have no website. Hmm. I do know some people who are from McCormick SC. Still living there even.
I lived in a slightly larger town 50 miles east of McCormick, and they are having an awful time setting up their own city website. I found SC to be very confusing and confused about internet usage for the modern world.

McCormick SC-
McCormick, South Carolina

Town of McCormick | McCormick SC | South Carolina

omg wishbones1962 I just had to laugh.. SC is very confusing hehe...thank you for the chuckle .. I actually needed it... yeah maybe that is why Walter moved there ... it was an easy place for nobody to ever figure him out.
 
Another thought. I highly doubt somebody from Connecticut would even be aware of a tiny SC town in far west of the state. Only IF, there were relatives. OR, Walter Rice knew of it's existence.
What better place to be unseen, as an African American in the deep south in a small well hidden town. In plain sight.

JMO MOO
 
Another thought. I highly doubt somebody from Connecticut would even be aware of a tiny SC town in far west of the state. Only IF, there were relatives. OR, Walter Rice knew of it's existence.
What better place to be unseen, as an African American in the deep south in a small well hidden town. In plain sight.

JMO MOO

Right! why would anyone from CT even know about this little town. Someone he knew must of came from there or even he himself could of been from there. I wonder if he had a Southern Accent??. Or Accent that you could distinguish where he was from. I still would love to know those exotic places that he went to with his passport..

So he stopped working for the restaurant in 1983.. but he stayed in CT until 1990. So where did he live then? Did he still live at the hotel?
And the trailer I guess he only lived there for a year.
 
The cemetery "might" have records of who placed the headstone. I tried to research the cemetery, but they have no website. Hmm. I do know some people who are from McCormick SC. Still living there even.
I lived in a slightly larger town 50 miles east of McCormick, and they are having an awful time setting up their own city website. I found SC to be very confusing and confused about internet usage for the modern world.

McCormick SC-
McCormick, South Carolina

Town of McCormick | McCormick SC | South Carolina
Find a grave says he’s interred at McCormick City Cemetery
303 South Mine St McCormick, SC 29835. Also that he was born in FL- error? I could not find this cemetery on the city site, so no idea who oversees maintenance or records.
Walter Rice (1920-1992) - Find A Grave Memorial
 
Considering the UID couple in SC from 1976 was just recently identified, recovering any DNA might lead to his ID.
MOO
Oh wait that couple found on the side of the road in 1976? Iam I thinking of the right people? They were identified? Omg where have I been?! Ha!
 
Find a grave says he’s interred at McCormick City Cemetery
303 South Mine St McCormick, SC 29835. Also that he was born in FL- error? I could not find this cemetery on the city site, so no idea who oversees maintenance or records.
Walter Rice (1920-1992) - Find A Grave Memorial

oh interesting. born in Florida? But how do they know if they supposedly don’t know who he is.. or maybe they heard from a coworker? I wonder if they know how long he had been walking around pretending to be Walter Rice?

maybe the found some connection of him in Florida before 1973 in CT?
 
Has anyone anywhere seen listed a height or weight for Walter?
 
Precisely! How do they know where he was born or that he was “the youngest of 8 children”?

Guessing he was from around there- but not exactly there. Unless everyone he had known had died? Still some of the other 7 siblings must have had kids who knew him? Or at least knew of him.

If his niece Jane was a daughter of a sister, she’d have had a different last name. They were looking for “Jane Rice”.

Reposting @madamx ’s link about the 7 siblings...
Walter Rice
 
Has anyone anywhere seen listed a height or weight for Walter?
At findagrave link upthread, it lists height as 5. Not sure how accurate...
ETA: the height of “about 5” was stated in link in my previous post.
 
At findagrave link upthread, it lists height as 5. Not sure how accurate...
ETA: the height of “about 5” was stated in link in my previous post.


Oh thank you JudgeJoe! I had not seen that. Iam trying to go through old copies of the Florida sheriffs star to see if I come across any wanted photos of him.since there was a mention someplace he came from Florida ( even though the fake birth certificate said Abbeville SC
The Florida Sheriffs Association

I so far found one guy that has connection to Florida and SC.. he has the receding hairline and the thick mustache but his ear and nose off.. and it says he has a tattoo.. so prob not but I thought I would post him anyway. The mugshot is from like 1969 or 70
 

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I found this. The obituary of the owner of the place he worked at. Says he bought the place in 1972 so Walter started working 1 year after the new owner. I don’t know. Just thought I would post it because it has a photo of the owner in the restaurant with all the food.
William Winterer was his name
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/hartfordcourant/obituary.aspx?n=william-g-winterer&pid=177793063
Actually... this might be the best clue yet. The owner of this hotel was a pretty prominent, connected, affluent guy. Perhaps very important people stayed at that hotel, conducted meetings, etc. What better way to collect intel than through an unassuming, older, short, black server/staff member? They would have assumed him poor, uneducated, and far beneath themselves- he lived in the hotel dorm, no family, etc. In fact he was probably highly educated & laughing all the way to the bank.

Walter Rice worked at the hotel (cook/waiter) 1973-1983. William G. Winterer owned the hotel from 1972-1997. He died in 2016. How much did he know about Walter?

The Griswold Inn:
“By the 1960s, pleasure craft were in abundance, I-95 had been completed and lots of weekend travelers from New York City and further found their way to Essex. The dining rooms of the ‘Gris’ were expanded and the Lovell’s purchased adjacent historic properties to offer additional lodging. This expansion continued when the “Gris” was sold to William Winterer in the 1970s with the addition of several buildings across Main Street.”
About Us - Griswold Inn
 
Precisely! How do they know where he was born or that he was “the youngest of 8 children”?

Guessing he was from around there- but not exactly there. Unless everyone he had known had died? Still some of the other 7 siblings must have had kids who knew him? Or at least knew of him.

If his niece Jane was a daughter of a sister, she’d have had a different last name. They were looking for “Jane Rice”.

Reposting @madamx ’s link about the 7 siblings...
Walter Rice

The whole thing is so strange. He is under unclaimed but has an elaborate tombstone ... o_O.
Did he buy and pay for his burial and tombstone before.. I know some people do that...
 
Actually... this might be the best clue yet. The owner of this hotel was a pretty prominent, connected, affluent guy. Perhaps very important people stayed at that hotel, conducted meetings, etc. What better way to collect intel than through an unassuming, older, short, black server/staff member? They would have assumed him poor, uneducated, and far beneath themselves- he lived in the hotel dorm, no family, etc. In fact he was probably highly educated & laughing all the way to the bank.

Walter Rice worked at the hotel (cook/waiter) 1973-1983. William G. Winterer owned the hotel from 1972-1997. He died in 2016. How much did he know about Walter?

The Griswold Inn:
“By the 1960s, pleasure craft were in abundance, I-95 had been completed and lots of weekend travelers from New York City and further found their way to Essex. The dining rooms of the ‘Gris’ were expanded and the Lovell’s purchased adjacent historic properties to offer additional lodging. This expansion continued when the “Gris” was sold to William Winterer in the 1970s with the addition of several buildings across Main Street.”
About Us - Griswold Inn

Oh wow I think you are on to something there!
 
Okay... so this may seem a bit out there, but bear with me.

In the 1960s & 1970s the CIA employed black agents to infiltrate, monitor & report back regarding Black Panther activity in the US & abroad. This is what came up with a google of “African American CIA agents of the 1970s”. This would explain Rice’s exotic passport locations (if Asia, Africa, Algeria) as well as time as kitchen staff in CT- where the BPs were active, living, working, etc. Some famous trials from those days in CT. Were members of the Black Panther Party employed at the “Gris”? What better way to “infiltrate” if you work along side a member & are “brought in”?

New Haven is a 35 min drive from Essex. Similar coastal town with ties to NYC, Boston, etc.

C.I.A. Reportedly Recruited Blacks For Surveillance of Panther Party (Published 1978)

New Haven Black Panther trials - Wikipedia
 
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