IL IL - Cook Co., WhtFem UP15494, 71-80, nursing home patient with dementia, Nov'15 - Reba Bailey

[madamx]

I've read this post half a dozen times and this time the Indiana Dunes thing jumped out at me. Is there any chance she's one of the three missing women who disappeared from Indiana Dunes in 1966? (information is the same at all three pages) They were all around 20 at the time, so at the younger end of the estimated age range.

Ann Miller – The Charley Project
Patricia Blough – The Charley Project
Renee Bruhl – The Charley Project

You know carbuff.. I think this is a good lead.. Maybe the girls just disappeared because they wanted too, and her memories keeps going back to that happy place.?

I was looking at the photos of the girls and granted they are in black and white AND we don't know this woman's height eye color or hair color, but I think 2 of the girls Patricia Blough and Renee Bruhl sort of look like the jane doe..
and Patricia is sporting the same exact bangs that the UID has.. another thing I found interesting was they went missing 7/02/1966... Could that be where the name she has Seven stems from? Just some thoughts I had... But good eye carbuff!

 

[Paisley_in_Ottawa]

I did some pretty extensive research on this case last year when I was convinced that this lady was Mary Ann Switalski. I found a retired detective in Chicago who worked on Mary Ann’s case and is still very engaged in finding her. He had not been aware of this lady and the article in the Chicago Tribune, but this possibility peaked his interest enough that he used his contacts in Namus to have their DNA hand matched. Sadly, it was not a match (or maybe not sadly, as Mary Ann could still be alive somewhere) - you can see the rule out in Namus. I still kept the torch going for finding who she was and dug through every possible case that have lead to a proper match. First on my list was Ruth Egnoski, who showed up in Namus last year (back when we could see if DNA, etc. was available) and who was last seen heading to Chicago (as per a private investigator hired at the time). Ruth’s DNA wasn’t in there, but I send my hunch in to Namus at the time. I have their response at home in my personal email, but if my memory is correct, Namus sent the idea to the investigating agency on Ruth’s end in Wisconsin and I don’t know what happened after that. Renee Bruhle (nee Slunenko) was my back-up hunch due to the Indiana Dunes memory and visual appearance, but I’ve never done anything about it, as Ruth Egnoski is still who I believe this is. I’m going to dig out my emails back and forth from the retired detective and Namus when I’m home from work today, as I know I wrote a lot on my theories there. I think this lady is from a Polish American family (see the pattern – Switalski, Egnoski, Slunecko) as I know a lot of people of Polish decent her and again, this is just a hunch. I've taken a rest from my personal sleuthing over the last year, but this case is still close to my heart.

 

[carbuff]

Sounds like you did a lot of really good work. Nice going!

 

[Paisley_in_Ottawa]

My notes from last year on Seven:


Seven – miscellaneous notes:

• Lived in a Catholic Worker home in Chicago from 1976 until 2003 (for 27 years, calling herself Seven real name unknown, as per newspaper articles)
  
• 2003 to November 2015 (death) lived in nursing home as a dementia patient
  
• Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office took a DNA sample from her remains and the DNA was processed and a profile uploaded into CODIS.
  
• She did not have enough teeth to make viable comparisons, although dentals are available.
  
• There is a mole on the left side of her neck.
  
• “Lifelong Cubs fan” implies that she was probably from Chicago or the area.
  
• In 2012, the article was publicized in Chicago, and no one came forward for this woman (I heard that a few others in the article were identified).The article verifies that she had no memories other than childhood trips to Indiana.
  

Catholic Worker Home:


I am guessing that this woman, to qualify for the St Francis Catholic Worker Home, was homeless, mentally ill or probably both. I did a bit of research on this particular Worker Home, and it opened around the time she started living there (27 years prior to 2003), and houses up to 8 homeless, mentally ill residents at a time. It's Catholic in name, but apparently these Catholic Worker Houses are not completely aligned with the Catholic Church and were often at odds with it. I don't think being Catholic is a pre-requisite, either.


Theories on name “Seven”:

• Seven is very significant in the Bible (God resting on the 7th day, and apparently numerous references to the number throughout both Old and New Testaments). It signifies completeness or perfection. A lot of schizophrenics have a religious leaning to their delusions, and if this is the case, maybe Seven is a name she gave herself along with or during a religious-type psychosis.
  
• Catholic schools in the 1950s and 1960s were still teaching a lot more about Mary than they do now, and apparently Mary's Seven Sorrows and Seven Blessings were part of the curriculum. Could an amnesia patient (as Seven is described in the Tribune article) pull this fragment out of her memory possibly when asked her own name (food for thought)?
  
• Not as interesting, but I know of a woman in Turkey whose first name really is Seven. It isn’t a number in Turkish, just a woman’s name (Seven or Sevin). I don’t see any connection here, but to consider all possibilities.
  

Other possibilities post Mary Ann’s rule out (May 2017):


Ruth Egnoski was last seen headed for Chicago in 1966 from Delavan WI. She actually looks just as much like Seven as Mary Ann did (yes I started with young women of Polish decent for this very reason, who disappeared in the 60s and 70s). Unfortunately, she has no DNA in the system at all, so I put a story together for Namus and just received this back:

Even though this is an old case, it is a new case to us and we are working on this with the police department and we hope the family will be willing to provide a DNA sample. I will let the investigating agencies know that you are proposing the below match so they can take it into consideration (May 2017).​

Seven was most likely someone never reported missing (although I have a secondary theory that she may be one of the 3 Illinois girls who disappeared from the Indiana Dunes in 1966 - specifically Renee Bruhl - nee Slunecko - but as there is no DNA to compare to, I can't chase this one...and I say "secondary theory", but it's nowhere close to as strong as my first one; just interesting...). There is absolutely no other woman on any of the missing person's sites or Namus that has any potential to be her - I've gone through it all.

 

[madamx]

Wow Paisley you seriously have done A lot of extensive research Thank you for sharing it with us!! Hopefully one day Seven will have a name a no longer be a number.
Ruth and Rene are so close in their facial features to Seven. But not knowing eye color height really does not help matters either.

I also want to ask if this woman was ever looked into? or DNA compare by hand. I just read now that Seven had a mole on her neck and I remembered Elaine did too. but what struck me with Elaine is the time of 1976 and her age fits what they believe Sevens age is.
Also about the Catholic home. I just want to mention my mothers first cousin left New York after a breakup with a man.she left all of her stuff with my mother(which she never came back for) She went to San Francisco and ended up moving into one of those catholic places. She said she lived with nuns but not a convent. This was the late 60s when she left. I believe there were a lot of gay people that left and did that because it was a safe place to be and they could leave their old life behind and be accepted and ok here.(it was thought that you had mental issues if you were gay for the longest) I say this because it turns out my mothers cousin was a lesbian although she never officially said it you could tell and my mother who knew her most said she was. Times were very different then. So with that I just have the feeling that is what happened to Seven and that is why I keep thinking she could be Elaine.
I am sure you guys looked into her already. But just wanted to share my thoughts anyway.
1078DFCA - Elaine Faye Lehtinen

My notes from last year on Seven:


Seven – miscellaneous notes:

• Lived in a Catholic Worker home in Chicago from 1976 until 2003 (for 27 years, calling herself Seven real name unknown, as per newspaper articles)
• 2003 to November 2015 (death) lived in nursing home as a dementia patient
• Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office took a DNA sample from her remains and the DNA was processed and a profile uploaded into CODIS.
• She did not have enough teeth to make viable comparisons, although dentals are available.
• There is a mole on the left side of her neck.
• “Lifelong Cubs fan” implies that she was probably from Chicago or the area.
• In 2012, the article was publicized in Chicago, and no one came forward for this woman (I heard that a few others in the article were identified).The article verifies that she had no memories other than childhood trips to Indiana.

Catholic Worker Home:


I am guessing that this woman, to qualify for the St Francis Catholic Worker Home, was homeless, mentally ill or probably both. I did a bit of research on this particular Worker Home, and it opened around the time she started living there (27 years prior to 2003), and houses up to 8 homeless, mentally ill residents at a time. It's Catholic in name, but apparently these Catholic Worker Houses are not completely aligned with the Catholic Church and were often at odds with it. I don't think being Catholic is a pre-requisite, either.


Theories on name “Seven”:

• Seven is very significant in the Bible (God resting on the 7th day, and apparently numerous references to the number throughout both Old and New Testaments). It signifies completeness or perfection. A lot of schizophrenics have a religious leaning to their delusions, and if this is the case, maybe Seven is a name she gave herself along with or during a religious-type psychosis.
• Catholic schools in the 1950s and 1960s were still teaching a lot more about Mary than they do now, and apparently Mary's Seven Sorrows and Seven Blessings were part of the curriculum. Could an amnesia patient (as Seven is described in the Tribune article) pull this fragment out of her memory possibly when asked her own name (food for thought)?
• Not as interesting, but I know of a woman in Turkey whose first name really is Seven. It isn’t a number in Turkish, just a woman’s name (Seven or Sevin). I don’t see any connection here, but to consider all possibilities.

Other possibilities post Mary Ann’s rule out (May 2017):


Ruth Egnoski was last seen headed for Chicago in 1966 from Delavan WI. She actually looks just as much like Seven as Mary Ann did (yes I started with young women of Polish decent for this very reason, who disappeared in the 60s and 70s). Unfortunately, she has no DNA in the system at all, so I put a story together for Namus and just received this back:

Even though this is an old case, it is a new case to us and we are working on this with the police department and we hope the family will be willing to provide a DNA sample. I will let the investigating agencies know that you are proposing the below match so they can take it into consideration (May 2017).​

Seven was most likely someone never reported missing (although I have a secondary theory that she may be one of the 3 Illinois girls who disappeared from the Indiana Dunes in 1966 - specifically Renee Bruhl - nee Slunecko - but as there is no DNA to compare to, I can't chase this one...and I say "secondary theory", but it's nowhere close to as strong as my first one; just interesting...). There is absolutely no other woman on any of the missing person's sites or Namus that has any potential to be her - I've gone through it all.

 

[carbuff]

I keep coming back to Elaine, too. They just look so much like they have the same background.

Our lady looks like she could be Polish, but she could be lots of ethnicities.

 

[Paisley_in_Ottawa]

Well it turns out Lehtinen is Finnish, so the same neck of the woods . No, I never looked at Elaine as I was looking for connections to Chicago, but anything is possible especially as she disappeared in 1976. I was so clouded by my conviction (that was wrong) that she was Mary Ann, and also that Chicago has a huge population of people of Polish decent, that I wasn't considering anything else for the longest time. I even did a photo overlay that lined up so perfectly - her eyes lined up so exactly it was scary. I had it open in the living room and my partner walked in and said "that's her, no question" - that was the day before I heard the DNA didn't match and I was shocked.

I'm feeling inspired again on this case - I just sent a follow-up email to Namus asking if DNA was ever uploaded for Ruth after my inquiry last year.

 

[madamx]

I keep coming back to Elaine, too. They just look so much like they have the same background.

Our lady looks like she could be Polish, but she could be lots of ethnicities.

It would be interesting to know What month in 1976 did Seven appeared at the Catholic center. If it was after or before Elaine disappeared.

 

[Paisley_in_Ottawa]

I'm also extremely frustrated with the new format in the "new and improved" Namus that doesn't show DNA, dentals, etc. I wouldn't have even known that Renee's DNA isn't in the system except for an email I had sent to the retired detective as I could see it in Namus at the time. I think that's partially why I haven't been doing my freelance matches as much lately. The unique thing while I was in the heat of this last year was that I'd found someone who had a special interest in Mary Ann's case, and he took me seriously and helped. In Ruth Egnoski's case, they clearly think she was murdered there and even dug up a backyard to no avail a few years back. Her luggage and ID were found where her father worked and I guess that's what the police hung their theory on. I had found an article that a private detective had discovered she had taken a bus to Chicago. Who knows the real circumstances, but maybe she had a history of running away and her family hid the luggage and ID to prevent it happening again (my theory). Anyway they never found anything in the backyard. And there was no DNA available in 2017. In the case of the girls who disappeared in the Indiana Dunes I've read that there was a property under suspicion for where the girls remains were, but that it was never searched. And Renee has no DNA in the system either. Anyway, I'm rambling, but I think where I'm going is that I'd have to find someone with a special interest in their cases to help too - to get familial DNA or something.

 

[Paisley_in_Ottawa]

And lastly, one thing that really bothers me about Seven's case is that her fingerprints couldn't be read - disfigured somehow. This had to have either been done to her, or done by her - either scenario makes me very sad.

 

[Paisley_in_Ottawa]

It would be interesting to know What month in 1976 did Seven appeared at the Catholic center. If it was after or before Elaine disappeared.

I know I never found the month. You are right, that would be helpful.

 

[madamx]

And lastly, one thing that really bothers me about Seven's case is that her fingerprints couldn't be read - disfigured somehow. This had to have either been done to her, or done by her - either scenario makes me very sad.

Yes the fingerprints is another thing that makes me think she is Elaine. Elaine was a Naval Officer when she went missing. Iam wondering if she did it to herself in order Not to be identified and to get in trouble by the Navy for going AWOL. Again, that is in fact if she is Elaine of course.

 

[Al Ka]

And lastly, one thing that really bothers me about Seven's case is that her fingerprints couldn't be read - disfigured somehow. This had to have either been done to her, or done by her - either scenario makes me very sad.

Just to bring it out there again - details about Seven Jane Doe fingertips: "She became a ward in 2003 after going into diabetic shock and landing in the hospital. Before that, she lived for 27 years at St. Francis Catholic Worker House in the Uptown neighborhood in Chicago. Police said Seven has "unreadable" fingerprints, something that is common with fire victims and others who have deformities."

So not necesseraly something that it was done to her.

Another thing I remember when I published case online that there were lots of people discussing her discoloration of the front hair wich was not mentioned here yet. Many stated that her front white hair is not due to coloring but illness called Waardenburg Syndrom. One lady stated that they she has the same illness and it was hereditary in her family for 6 generations. Not sure if that would be the same case for JD and her family, but it is interesting to note.

Waardenburg syndrome -https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320549.php?fbclid=IwAR1RJdvosOF5PwTMydpv4LkGJrleq0_I5REsxsXTH2XA9AaNJ0viZ5qjV3E

Link where it was discussed originally - Unidentified And Missing People

Her photo, so you can see the hair again

I do agree that she strongly resemble Renee Bruhl.

 

[Al Ka]

Yes the fingerprints is another thing that makes me think she is Elaine. Elaine was a Naval Officer when she went missing. Iam wondering if she did it to herself in order Not to be identified and to get in trouble by the Navy for going AWOL. Again, that is in fact if she is Elaine of course.

I have looked into Elaine Faye Lehtinen extencively first time you have brought it forward few month ago. There are pictures out there of her where she does not look that masculine as on her last and most used photo.

Most importantly though - Elaine was in Navy and stationed at Mare Island Naval Facility in CA. There are quite a few information out there and also most interestingly that there was billion dollars project in that same place on building nuclear submarines. She had special clearance and also just to add Cold War was at full swing... All I can say and feel, she was definitely dead when she went missing.

Elaine thread here on WS - CA - CA - Elaine Lehtinen, 31, Napa, 14 June 1976

Nuclear poject is not mentioned in that thread though but you can find information here - Mare Island Naval Shipyard and also in other sources on Elaine.

 

[madamx]

ok First off. AlKa you totally rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!..
THANK YOU for bringing in the super clear photos!... its Helps sooo much .. OMG... the bad over copied photos that are used kill me.. THANK YOU AGAIN..I felt like I just put on my glasses ha!! I can see!!

Ok now that they are clear.. I CAN totally see Rene.. Her nose even slopes the same way.. her eyes and her teeth and lips look so similar.... her hair is curly but I guess it can be blown out... and thank you on the info on the hair pigment I never even heard of that... (see its true you learn something new every day)

Elaine..she has a shadow under her nose and glasses. I see her lips shape though. and the short hair. But seriously this photo is amazing.. I personally don't want to throw her out of the mix until (if possible we could find out when in 1976 did Seven appear at the Catholic House).. that is just me..
Thank you again!!!

 

[Paisley_in_Ottawa]

I received a response from Namus for my follow-up to see if DNA had been uploaded yet for Ruth Egnoski:

We can not release any case information that is not publicly viewable. This includes biometrics as they are protected by HIPAA.
​

So I guess that's that. I had to look up HIPAA - now we know what legislation is preventing the public from seeing these details on Namus. It's strange then that we could see this information from 2010 to when the updated system appeared earlier this year.

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996) is United States legislation that provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information.
​

 

[Paisley_in_Ottawa]

I seriously need a weekday off to do some research on this - in the meantime, I'm just bumping this thread up so it doesn't get lost. We need to find out more about Seven - height, when she went into the Catholic Worker home, and anything else someone that knows these things could share.

BTW - from the post-mortem pic it's pretty clear she has blue eyes. Or terribly advanced cataracts. I'm going with blue eyes.

 

[b741ma]

This case has always fascinated me when I first read about it in a 2012 Chicago Tribune Article. A living Jane Doe who was only known by the name she called herself. Seven. For the longest time her case had no Namus or Doe Network page, so recently I decided to change that. I sent an email to the Namus cordinator for a similar case in the same area and asked him to create a Namus profile for Seven. Although I didn't receive an email back from him, he must've listened because now Seven has a Namus profile. Unfortunately the victory was bittersweet as I found out that Seven had passed away on November 18, 2015 never knowing her true identity. Although we may not be able to identify Seven in life we may be able to identify her in death. In this thread I'll share with you all the information in the case and you can post any theories or suggestions you may have.

UP15494 or Seven Doe

Photo of Seven from the 1980s

Another Photo of Seven from the 1980s

Seven Circa 2012

Note: Namus also includes a PM photo of Seven. I didn't include it here but if you want to see it you can go to her namus page. (Warning PM)

Sex: Female
Race: White / Caucasian
Estimated Age Group: Adult - Pre 80
Estimated Age Range (Years): 71-80 (Note: In the Chicago Tribune story from 2012, Seven claimed she knew she was 71 years old)
Year of Death: November 18, 2015
Height: Cannot Estimate
Weight: Cannot Estimate

Circumstances of Recovery: Decedent suffered from amnesia and had been living at St. Francis Catholic Workers House in Chicago since 1976 when, on February 16, 2003, she was brought to Weiss Hospital diagnosed with diabetic ketoacidosis. She had been wandering the streets. She called herself "Seven" when police found her, so was called Seven Doe from that time. Was in a nursing home until her death on November 18, 2015.

Inventory of Remains: All parts recovered
Condition of Remains: Recognizable face

Additional Notes: Seven's fingerprints were described as unusable. I read somewhere that this is common in people who have birth defects or suffered previous burn injuries. She was described as a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan and had fleeting memories of visiting the Indiana Dunes as a little girl. But due to Dementia and Amnesia she could remember little else.

If you have any possible theories to her identity, please suggest them. We may be able to put this case to a close.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) (Warning PM)
Identities of 5 in state care elude authorities (Publish when she was still alive)
5 State Wards Remain John And Jane Does (Also published while still alive)

 

[PayrollNerd]

This is really interesting and sad. Perhaps she was the 7th child in a large family with an overwhelmed parent who could not care for her.

DNA has been around for quite some time now. I wonder why no one did DNA on her prior to her passing away in 2015. Not that she wouldn't still be in state care of course. She was someone's child and while they are probably long gone, her remaining family will always wonder about her.

 

[j_in_c]

This reminds me of the Mary doefour story - I can't find the original articles, but it looks like that journalist wrote a book about it.