UT UT - Price, Coal Car JD, WhtMale 50-55, UP9872, tattoos 'Dorothy Jan 8 1950', snake, daggers, Sep'78

[folieadeuxnola]

Carbon County, Coal Car John Doe

Date Discovered: Wednesday, September 20th, 1978
Discovery Location: Price, Carbon County, Utah

Physical Description:
Race: Caucasian
Sex: Male
Age: 50-55 years old
Height: 5’5” (65”)
Weight: 158 lbs.
Hair: Partially gray, short
Eye Color:
Clothing:
Misc. Items: Backpack, bottle of Byron Ditton lotion, County Steel Liquor Store book of matches (Lincoln, Nebraska), Westgate Bank book of matches (Lincoln, Nebraska), empty vodka bottle from Utah State Liquor store, prescription eyeglasses, eye glass case B Botions Sullivan Union National Building (Wichita, Kansas)
Jewelry:
Characteristics/Medical/Scars: Burn scar on right thigh, Tattoo; right arm snake, right forearm “Dorothy Jan 8, 1950”, right forearm dagger, chest (2) daggers
Condition of Remain: Not recognizable
Transportation:
Postmortem Interval: Days
Estimated Year of Death: 1978
Fingerprint Status: Available (Elsewhere)
Dental Status: Not Available
DNA Status: Not Available

Circumstances:
A moderately decomposed male was found at the bottom of a coal car at Banning Coal Landing 17 miles east of Price, UT. The coal car had traveled from Grand Island, Nebraska on Sept 9th and traveled through Salt Lake City and Helper before arriving in Carbon County on Sept 18th.

Based on the items found with the man it is presumed that he had been in Lincoln, Nebraska and Wichita, Kansas sometime prior to his death.

Investigating Agencies:
Carbon County Sheriff’s Office
751 E 100 N
Price, UT 84501
Contact: David Brewer
UID Case # 197800841A
Web: Carbon County Utah > Administration > Public Safety

Information Sources:
NAMUS
MP Case # UP9872: Unidentified Person Case
Case Manager: Dustin Driscoll
Tele: 817.240.4106
E-Mail: dustin.driscoll@unthsc.edu

 

[MelmothTheLost]

If he was at the older end of the estimated age range he'd have been born around 1923, so could have served in WWII. If at the younger end, he'd have been born c1928 so might well have served in Korea. It would be useful to know if the snake and dagger tattoos had any military significance.

The "Dorothy Jan 8, 1950" tattoo seems likely to commemorate either his wedding or the birth of a daughter.

 

[folieadeuxnola]

The Dorothy tattoo is an excellent clue, could possibly a daughter know a couple of people with their children's names and birth dates and death date. Looked around there are a lot of Dorothy's born that date it would take some time to sift through

 

[MelmothTheLost]

The Dorothy tattoo is an excellent clue, could possibly a daughter know a couple of people with their children's names and birth dates and death date. Looked around there are a lot of Dorothy's born that date it would take some time to sift through

There were almost 75,000 Dorothy's born in the US during the 1950s.

Top names of the 1950s

That theoretically means 7,500 per year and 20 per day. If there was a publicly accessible central database that would be very manageable.

Assuming it was a daughter's birth of course. It could be a marriage.

 

[folieadeuxnola]

There were almost 75,000 Dorothy's born in the US during the 1950s.

Top names of the 1950s

That theoretically means 7,500 per year and 20 per day. If there was a publicly accessible central database that would be very manageable.

Assuming it was a daughter's birth of course. It could be a marriage.

Lightly breezed through ancestry and yes indeed their were many Dorothy's born on that date. It could be a date of birth/death for a daughter, wife, mother (death) or even a wedding date several variable possibilities. It's a date and name that would take a lotc of time and work to sleuth out but probably worth vesting into.

 

[T rex]

Lightly breezed through ancestry and yes indeed their were many Dorothy's born on that date. It could be a date of birth/death for a daughter, wife, mother (death) or even a wedding date several variable possibilities. It's a date and name that would take a lotc of time and work to sleuth out but probably worth vesting into.

I bet Dorothy was a popular name during this time. And this man's possibly from Kansas. Good luck.

 

[rats]

Wow, nice sleuthing to find them folie! It would take so much work... I wonder if they would eventually get lucky with an avid genealogist or family tree that they stumbled upon?

 

[MadMcGoo]

So many clues!

 

[Tabirey]

To me, it seems more like a memorial tattoo. I wonder if LE has thought about checking with the Social Security office to see what Dorothys passed on that date. I did find 2 on findagrave, their husbands are accounted for, but I'm looking for obits to track down children.

 

[DS2021]

Imo its either a wedding date or a birth. Correct me if I'm wrong but don't most memorial tattoos list date of birth and date of death? I'm digging through ancestry records and am not finding anything useful.

 

[carbuff]

updated link: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

No exclusions listed.

Using @MelmothTheLost's age calculations, 1950 would be about right for a wedding date. He'd have been in his mid-twenties.

 

[Caring1]

Does anyone know if ‘Byron Ditton’ is a brand of lotion? I am unable to locate anything on this. Although, some interesting information comes up (in Nebraska) when researching this name. Wish we had a picture of UP belongings for review. This might be worth looking into a little further.

 

[carbuff]

Find a Grave for a Byron Ditton in Nebraska who would have been around 25 in 1978. Too young and since he died in 1996 he can't be the decedent.

Byron Leslie Ditton (1940-1996) - Find a Grave...

His father is also a Byron Ditton, born in 1914 and died in 1993. There's a Dorothy in the extended family but she doesn't seem to have any dates in 1950.

 

[HopeRains]

Assuming age estimate of 50-55 is accurate, he would have been within the appropriate age range to serve in the Korean War. Per Google, there were 6.8 million American men and women who served during the Korean War period, June 27,1950 to January 31, 1955.

 

[DS2021]

Fingerprint Status: Available (Elsewhere)
Dental Status: Not Available
DNA Status: Not Available

Would they be able to verify his identity by comparing tattoos?

 

[Caring1]

Find a Grave for a Byron Ditton in Nebraska who would have been around 25 in 1978. Too young and since he died in 1996 he can't be the decedent.

Byron Leslie Ditton (1940-1996) - Find a Grave...

His father is also a Byron Ditton, born in 1914 and died in 1993. There's a Dorothy in the extended family but she doesn't seem to have any dates in 1950.

I was thinking more along the lines as Byron Ditton being a friend, acquaintance, cellmate or possible co-resident at the city mission/shelter given the timeline and location of the two. This was just to narrow originating location for UP.

Does anyone have experience with requesting/obtaining investigative case file information? I am wondering how far LE took this and what leads had been followed and exhausted. Pictures of the belongings is always helpful as well.

 

[carbuff]

Would they be able to verify his identity by comparing tattoos?

Possibly. More likely they could rule somebody out, but not positively identify. It would depend on which ink the missing person had when last seen.

 

[UnlicensedPI]

The timing and the state details...but after the UID was found???? This can't be a coincidence. Too freakin' weird.
The Wichita Beacon from Wichita, Kansas on November 2, 1978 · 44 (newspapers.com)

 

[UnlicensedPI]

This paper says they identified Byron Ditton and confirmed the UID is someone else.
NamUs #UP9872 - Newspapers.com

The real BD spent time in the county jail in Nebraska in Feb/Mar/Jul 1978. Maybe that's where the UID picked up his lotion?

 

[carbuff]

This paper says they identified Byron Ditton and confirmed the UID is someone else.
NamUs #UP9872 - Newspapers.com

The real BD spent time in the county jail in Nebraska in Feb/Mar/Jul 1978. Maybe that's where the UID picked up his lotion?

Oh, good thought.