Identified! OH - Troy, Miami Co., 'Buckskin Girl' WhtFem 133UFOH, 15-25, Apr'81 - Marcia King

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Have you heard anything about Theresa Rains, Chaddylex? She looks very young for 30 so that might explain the age difference. The eyes don't match (Buckskin Girl's were brown and Theresa's were blue) but Theresa's description is so sparse her eye color might have been a guess by whoever reported her missing.

Tatertot,

I sent Rocky at Doe Network an email last July to ask him about the match to Theresa Rains, and I don't remember if he emailed me back. I just sent an email to the Oakland Police Dept to see what they have to say and hopefully I will hear something back soon.

Stellameredith,
As far as the UID being compared to Sharon Pretorius, I have no idea if she was compared. I looked on the Namus.gov website to see if they listed names of people that were ruled out and they did not with her. (they have done that to a few UID's) -

Tatertot, do you send a match to anyone?
 
I have been thinking about this one. It seems like she would be fairly easy to ID, given her pretty striking features.

1. Very thin, shaped eyebrows. It's obvious that she did quite a bit of plucking.
2. Striking freckles on her face.
3. Horizontal chin scar. I had a friend growing up who had a similar scar from falling on concrete while roller skating.
4. Thick auburn hair.
5. Tan birthmark on her thigh.
6. She had large breasts.

I do wish we could see dental charts to see what her teeth would have looked like if she was smiling. It would be nice to know if she actually wore a plate or had partial dentures.

The detectives don't necessarily think she was a prostitute, and I don't either. I wonder is the possibility of her being a victim of a carjacking was looked into? She wasn't wearing shoes, but otherwise she was dressed for a chilly day. Maybe she was a passenger in a car that was stolen? Were there any other bodies reported around that same time in the same area? Maybe a driver?

Another possibility is that she was killed by someone who knew her well enough to want to keep her dignity by letting her remain fully clothed even while dumping her body. It looks like something that was done quickly, in haste, and they never thought to take the awesome jacket - or maybe it had too much blood on it...
 
This person and this case is what brought me here. I am trying to locate a photo of a missing woman from my area. I believe I have the newspaper article and I am searching for it. She seems earily close. Will be back as soon as I can with more information.
 
Cool, Palmettocase. I look forward to seeing what you have. I'm sure everyone else does too!
 
Me too Palmetto! Someone has to know this girl......
 
Okay I am working on it. You know this may not be a match but it just so much sticks out to me. I went to the local newspaper today to get a 2005 copy of a paper on this and I came back to check some things and I will be going back to get one from 1981. They did not even have a book of the 2005 newspapers. Amazing. I did not know what to say about that...lol I may also hit up the library but I think those are all on microfilm. I of course moved and can not locate my copy of the paper.
 
Anything is worth a shot, she has been unidentified for this long, it's just nice to be able to keep her case known so people can not forget about her and find her true identity.
 
Bumping this case up. It is somewhat unusual in that this girl was obviously healthy, well dressed, and well groomed, yet nobody has reported her missing.

Many questions come to mind.
She was not aparently violated sexually, yet she was strangled and beaten.
She had no shoes on, or nearby.
She was found in a rural area within about 24 hours of being killed.

What were the weather conditions for that time and place?

Where exactly was she found and what places were nearby, such as highways, bars, shopping centers, colleges, etc.?

What other similar crimes had taken place before and after in adjacent statres or counties?

What day of the week was it? What was the moon phase? What holidays were occurring and were schools out for spring break?
 
She was wearing a fringed leather jacket, bell bottoms and pigtails (her hair looks like it would have been rather long when unbraided) and that "free spirit" look seems like it would have been a bit unusual for 1981. Can anyone confirm whether these clothes would have stood out? It's amazing that nobody remembered seeing her especially wearing that jacket.

I guess it depends on location. I graduated from high school in '81 and back then in my area (I was living in southern California at the time) there were many kids my age who were going through a sort of hippie revival stage, as well as some 30-year-olds who hadn't quit the lifestyle yet. Around my area her clothes would not have raised an eyebrow but I imagine it was different in a rural part of Ohio. Since no one there recalled noticing her one could assume her body was just dumped there by someone passing through.
 
Easter 1981 occurred on April 19, a few days before Buckskin Girl was murdered.

She was found on Friday, 24 April, and death was estimated to have occurred 24 to 48 hours prior, which would have meant that she was killed on either:
Wednesday, 22 April 1981 or
Thursday, 23 April 1981

It is quite possible that she was a college student on spring break when she was murdered.

Although one might think that she was dressed somewhat in a "hippie" style, I do not think that. Her buckskin jacket was nothing like the Western Style of fringed jacket which was popular at the time. It looks much more like an authentic American Indian item of apparel.

Wrangler jeans were worn "long and leggy" in 1981, as advertised in a Fall 1980 Sears and Roebuck catalog. Wrangler was a very popular brand name at the time. Jeans then were worn rather high waisted, close to the skin, creased front and back, and down to about an inch above the top of the heel, cut straight across and not breaking at the top of the foot. In other words a bit higher than hippies usually wore them.

The pull over turtleneck shirt is somewhat unique. I wonder if it was ever traced by LE as to place and date of manufacture, or distribution. The colors of brown and orange are definitely late 70's or early 80's style, but probably the shirt was something seen in the fall and winter catalogs and stores.

The information does not say whether she had been going barefoot prior to her death, but I would doubt it. April in Ohio is not a super warm time and her other clothing seems to indicate that she was dressed fairly warmly with long pants, long sleeves and a jacket. My feeling is that she might have been wearing moccasins, leather shoes, or even leather boots with her outfit. Where are they?

What personal effects did she have on her? Had she been robbed? What other items of clothing might she have been wearing? Knowing the weather for the days in question might help here.

I feel, based on her braided hair and jacket that she might have either been Native American/American Indian. Or she might have had a strong interest in Indians - perhaps a student of anthropology or of early American History/Prehistory.
 
Although one might think that she was dressed somewhat in a "hippie" style, I do not think that. Her buckskin jacket was nothing like the Western Style of fringed jacket which was popular at the time. It looks much more like an authentic American Indian item of apparel.

"Hippies" or people referred to as such in the late 70's/early 80's did not necessarily have a dress code that was restricted to late 1960's styles, in fact such people often only wore "hippie" tops with regular jeans or even hot pants (for girls). Some of those people still wore ponchos but others among the free spirited preferred Native apparel, East European shirts or, of course, the then ubiquitous lumberjack garb :D

This girl does not seem to be Native (facial freckles are rare in non-Caucasians) but she could have been a mixed-blood or, like you mention, merely interested in Native culture. By itself this could hint that she came from western states or Canada, areas where Native culture is more present and accessible. I imagine she's been checked against lists of missing Canadians at the time?

Or maybe the jacket was simply purchased at a souvenir shop. I wear a Russian hat with ear flaps in winter, some also call it an aviator hat, but that doesn't make me a Russian or an aviator. I wear it because winters are cold in Maine :)
 
"Hippies" or people referred to as such in the late 70's/early 80's did not necessarily have a dress code that was restricted to late 1960's styles...
Or maybe the jacket was simply purchased at a souvenir shop. I wear a Russian hat with ear flaps in winter, some also call it an aviator hat, but that doesn't make me a Russian or an aviator. I wear it because winters are cold in Maine :)

I think that being a hippie is more a state of mind than anything else. The point that I was trying to make is that this young girl did have an eye for a style or fashion, considering her good grooming and choice of wardrobe. She seems dressed for casual travel, but is lacking shoes/boots, a hat, and probably a bag of some sort.

Your ear-flap hat is called a "Chopka" in Russian. I too favor them for cold weather. It brings to mind the dialogue in the movie "Uncle Buck" in which John Candy wears such a hat to drive his neices and nephew to school:

"Do you think she hates me?"
"With a passion!"
"Do you think it's the hat? A lot of people hate this hat, you know. It angers them, just the sight of it. I'll tell you a story about that sometime..."
 
I think that being a hippie is more a state of mind than anything else. The point that I was trying to make is that this young girl did have an eye for a style or fashion, considering her good grooming and choice of wardrobe. She seems dressed for casual travel, but is lacking shoes/boots, a hat, and probably a bag of some sort.

Yes, she was not your typical wanderer. This makes it even more mysterious that no one ever reported her missing, or perhaps she was but no one made the connection.

Your ear-flap hat is called a "Chopka" in Russian. I too favor them for cold weather.

Some also call it a "chapska" I believe. Up here state troopers and various police dept's often wear such a hat in winter instead of the standard police cap, and it's become pretty common among civilian men as well.

Regarding media references to this hat I would like to make it clear that it looks nothing like that idiotic 20-inch hat that George Costanza wore in one episode of Seinfeld. I can't imagine anyone wearing that in public.
 
*Bumping* Thanks, Richard and KarlK, for the clarification on clothing styles. Richard, I also suspect that her shoes might have been moccasins or boots; they would match her style of dress.

Sorry I haven't visited this thread in a while, but I submitted Sharon Pretorius as a possible match today and will let you know as soon as I get a reply.

I bet this would be an easy solve if LE could do a hair analysis test to see where she was from. Once we knew, we could put out a "Do you know me? Did you go to high school with me in the late 70s/early 80s?" notice on Facebook to anyone from that region who would have been around her age in 1981. Chances are someone would recognize her from their yearbook photos.
 
Easter 1981 occurred on April 19, a few days before Buckskin Girl was murdered.

She was found on Friday, 24 April, and death was estimated to have occurred 24 to 48 hours prior, which would have meant that she was killed on either:
Wednesday, 22 April 1981 or
Thursday, 23 April 1981

It is quite possible that she was a college student on spring break when she was murdered.

If she was 18, it could be possible that she was a High School student, most likely in her Senior year of high school.

A lot of public schools in Ohio were on Easter or Spring break during that week back in April of 1981.

Miami County, Ohio is North of Dayton, Ohio. I-75 runs thru Miami County. Miami County is also about 35 miles from the Indiana border and about 65 miles from the Kentucky border.
 
Hi, I'm brand new to this forum.

This case has interested me for quite awhile, I'm from this area of Ohio, and every so often this case is brought up again on local news channels. I have a thought on this, which most likely won't help this case at all, but I felt the urge to post anyway.

Several references were made to her style of clothing. I wonder if instead of being a "hippie", if she were interested in Native American history? The reason this came to me was because of the area she was found in. There are many Native mounds and earthworks in the area, there is a large one in Enon, which is not too far from where she was found.

If she were a college student doing research or even just interested in the mounds, there is a big chance that is why she was in the area. Many of these mounds and earthworks are in out of the way locations and are in forested regions, that could be a reason why nobody in the area remembered seeing her around.

I would be interested to know if anyone from colleges that have courses on NA history or archeology have been shown her sketch.

Thank you in advance for reading my rambling.
 
HockeyGirl, welcome to the forum! We're glad to have you here. :woohoo:

You have an interesting theory. I haven't thought about indian mounds, but you're correct, there are plenty of indian mounds in Ohio.

If she was a college student, I think the chances are good that she could be a college student from Ohio, Indiana, or Kentucky.

I have a question regarding the Buckskin Girl. When her body was found back in 1981, did the police ever release her morgue photo to the news media when they couldn't identify her?
 
Hi, I'm brand new to this forum.

This case has interested me for quite awhile, I'm from this area of Ohio, and every so often this case is brought up again on local news channels. I have a thought on this, which most likely won't help this case at all, but I felt the urge to post anyway.

Several references were made to her style of clothing. I wonder if instead of being a "hippie", if she were interested in Native American history? ....

Welcome to the forum. I think that you may be correct in regard to this girl having an interest or background in Native American culture and clothing.

I have always felt that the deer skin jacket looks more like those I have seen in places like the American Indian museum in Washington DC than like anything that the hippies used to wear.

I would suggest to the police investigators that it might be worth while contacting the Smithsonian American Indian Museum to see if anyone could look at the jacket and other items to determine if it might be Native American and if so what tribal association or geographical location it might be connected with.
 
I got a reply yesterday from Steve Lord, Miami County PD:

The lab called me back and confirmed that both our Jane Doe and Sharon Pretorius are in the CODIS system. They cannot be a match based on DNA.

I sent him a thank-you for the quick reply.

HockeyGirl, it's good to hear from someone local to the area. It sounds likely she could have been researching Native American history, whether it was for a high school senior project, a college assignment or for personal interest. Spring Break would have been a good time to get away for a few days, and she might have hitched a ride if she lacked a car.

Her complexion was noted as "freckled and ruddy" (ruddy means reddened) and it wasn't believed she was on the road for long, so I wonder if the redness was from the wind and/or sun exposure and from being outside for longer than she was used to.

Here are two ideas that are a little more far-fetched:
a) Could she have been a "living history" re-enactor? Were there any such events in the area? People travel everywhere for those; I once met a young guy who traveled to Ren fairs by Greyhound bus and performed as a juggler. If she was from far away and hadn't been in Ohio for long, that would explain why nobody from the area recognized her, and if the living history camp was a traveling exhibit and she didn't show up in the next town, maybe they assumed she'd gone home and didn't see any cause for alarm.

For example, there's a "Fair at New Boston" living history camp only 40 minutes from Troy but it looks like it was first held in 1983, two years after BG was found: http://www.fairatnewboston.org/index.html

b) Could she have been mistakenly targeted by someone who preyed on Native American women? I seem to remember someone had preyed on Native women in Canada but I can't recall exactly when...
 
Thank you very much for the welcome!:dance:

Nerosleuth, to the best that I can remember, I don't think I have ever seen her PM photos, in the newspapers or on the news channels themselves, the only "photo" I can remember seeing is a sketch. I'll try to g oback through old newspapers here to see if I can find more info from when she was originally found.

Richard, that is a really good idea, there is a rather large native learning and cultural center, in Chillicothe, Ohio, I would love to see what they would have to say about her jacket.

Tatertot, your first idea about her being a living history re-enactor isn't that far fetched. There is a outdoor drama about the life of the Shawnee war chief Blue Jacket, located in Greene County Ohio, which is not far at all from Miami County. Tecumseh is another large outdoor drama held in Chillicothe.There are also huge Pow Wows held several times a year in nearby Warren County at a large mound group. Also the University of Cincinnati, at one time anyway, had programs for grade schools in which a re-enactor would go to local schools and teach about the local tribes.
I'm not sure about anyone praying on NA women, but I would be happy to try to research this.

I hope I have helped in some way, I'll try to see what I can do about asking about re-enactments in the area, and see if I can find info for Pow Wows, in Warren County around that time.
 
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