Identified! FL - Big Coppitt Key, 'Valentine Jane Doe' 49UFFL, 16-25, Feb'91 - Wanda Deann Kirkum *killer died*

[oviedo]

IDENTIFIED!! rbbm.
June 15 2020
Florida Keys murder cold case from 1991 solved, sheriff says

This picture of Wanda Deann Kirkum was taken in 1989, two years before her death , investigators say. (Monroe County Sheriff's Office)
''MONROE COUNTY, Fla. – It became known as the “Valentine Jane Doe Homicide” and was chronicled on “Unsolved Mysteries” and other shows.

Three decades later, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office says it has cracked the cold case.

Sheriff Rick Ramsay announced Monday that the previously unknown young woman discovered on Feb. 15, 1991, in a wooded area off U.S. 1 near Mile Marker 35 has now been identified as Wanda Deann Kirkum, who was 18 and lived in Hornell, New York.

The Sheriff’s Office says that her killer has been identified as Robert Lynn Bradley, who was himself killed in a homicide in Texas in April 1992 at age 31.

The agency says that its major crimes unit detective Vince Weiner partnered with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and used new DNA technology to ID the victim and killer.

“I would like to personally thank Major Crimes Unit Detective Vince Weiner and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for their efforts in solving this very serious and tragic crime,” Ramsay said. “This case is a testament and shining example of this agency’s commitment to solving crime, no matter how old the case and no matter the challenges.”

Investigators say that Kikhum was never officially reported missing to law enforcement. Both her parents are now deceased.

Bradley’s DNA was obtained from the 1991 crime scene in the Keys, the Sheriff’s Office says. That DNA was recently compared to DNA from the Tarrant County, Texas, scene where he was killed and determined to be a match. There’s evidence that suggests Bradley lived in Miami in late November 1990, investigators say.''

This gives hope to all the other unidentified - yay for LE! Well done
JMO

 

[leilarose68]

I read on another forum a post from a family member who stated she had a difficult life with her parents and had runaway about 2 years prior to her disappearance. At some point the family started looking about 10 years after she left. It may have been just search on Internet. The poster was much younger than Wanda and did not know her. It seems odd she would have so few clothes if she had been in Florida long. Where had she been since she left New York? I am curious to know more about the killer. Unlikely this was his first murder. Very sad case.

Are you talking about those reddit comments? We need to be careful about taking those claims at face value because unfortunately there are people out there who lie about being associated to a case for attention. Happens WAY too often, especially with solved Doe cases. This person may be telling the truth but we need to be mindful that they might not be. Unfortunately /r/unresolvedmysteries doesn't really do their due diligence with people who claim to be associated with a case like websleuths does

 

[Arz]

Are you talking about those reddit comments? We need to be careful about taking those claims at face value because unfortunately there are people out there who lie about being associated to a case for attention. Happens WAY too often, especially with solved Doe cases. This person may be telling the truth but we need to be mindful that they might not be. Unfortunately /r/unresolvedmysteries doesn't really do their due diligence with people who claim to be associated with a case like websleuths does

Exactly.
Remember the case when in reddit a guy claimed to be Clinton John Doe brother and he said his name was Henry ? He faked a whole story about being in foster care and his identity.

We still don't know who Clinton John Doe was but for sure he was not Henry and this was been confirmed by Dna Doe Project ane CarlK who been working on his case.

Sad that people like this exist.

 

[carbuff]

We here at WS tend to assume that families care about their missing members and that it would be a good thing if they come home. But the sad truth is that too many families are evil, abusive, and toxic, and the missing person may have been glad to escape. And the "family" may have been glad to see them go. Or they were too busy coping with life, younger children, illness, etc. to even have time to care.

I wish it was different. Too often it's not.

 

[SisterGrimm]

I'm so glad she has been identified. I had dreams of meeting Valentine Doe. I'm so thrilled that Wanda has her name back!

 

[cocomod]

I am curious about why/how the murderer was murdered. Glad that there was some karma.

 

[faithx]

From a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article on April 20, 1992:

"In an-unrelated shooting, a man found dead in a ditch in northern Tarrant County on Saturday morning had been shot multiple times in the head, officials said today.

Robert Lynn Bradley, 31, was found by three passersby about 8 a.m., lying in a ditch in the 2600 block of J.T. Ottinger Road in Westlake, about a half mile south of the Denton-Tarrant county line, officials said.

Officials estimate he had been killed sometime Friday night or early Saturday. Bradley's last known address was only a mile or two from where his body was found.

No arrests had been made this morning."

 

[JerseyGirl]

In this undated photo made available by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, Robert Lynn Bradley is identified as the man who murdered a teen age girl in 1991. Officials say they solved the murder of 18-year-old Wanda Deann Kirkum of Hornell, NY. Bradley was murdered a year later in Texas at age 31.

Man murdered in Texas pinned with 1991 cold case killing

 

[Otterly]

From a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article on April 20, 1992:

"In an-unrelated shooting, a man found dead in a ditch in northern Tarrant County on Saturday morning had been shot multiple times in the head, officials said today.

Robert Lynn Bradley, 31, was found by three passersby about 8 a.m., lying in a ditch in the 2600 block of J.T. Ottinger Road in Westlake, about a half mile south of the Denton-Tarrant county line, officials said.

Officials estimate he had been killed sometime Friday night or early Saturday. Bradley's last known address was only a mile or two from where his body was found.

No arrests had been made this morning."

Based on all the articles I've seen, it seems Bradley's murder was never solved. It's a weird parallel that the man who killed a girl he probably didn't even know the name of who stayed nameless for three decades, ended up being killed by a nameless person to everyone but that man and his killer.

 

[Sneaker33]

Are you talking about those reddit comments? We need to be careful about taking those claims at face value because unfortunately there are people out there who lie about being associated to a case for attention. Happens WAY too often, especially with solved Doe cases. This person may be telling the truth but we need to be mindful that they might not be. Unfortunately /r/unresolvedmysteries doesn't really do their due diligence with people who claim to be associated with a case like websleuths does

 

[Sneaker33]

Yes. I was unsure if I should bring it up. It is impossible for me to verify. I hope someone will come forward who really knew Wanda. If she was gone for two years I doubt she was in Florida.

 

[JerseyGirl]

The Texas investigation included evidence that suggested Bradley had lived in Miami in late November 1990.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article243552692.html

 

[Sneaker33]

Based on all the articles I've seen, it seems Bradley's murder was never solved. It's a weird parallel that the man who killed a girl he probably didn't even know the name of who stayed nameless for three decades, ended up being killed by a nameless person to everyone but that man and his killer.

 

[Sneaker33]

I thought the same. I think it is very important to find out who killed him and to know more about him. It could provide answers to other unsolved cases. If he alone killed Wanda then there might be others out there.

 

[Arz]

According to someone who was in same school as Wanda she was in special need classes.

 

[PropaneYeeter]

According to someone who was in same school as Wanda she was in special need classes.

Source?

 

[PropaneYeeter]

There's a woman by the name of S. Kirkum commenting on YouTube videos who claims that Wanda was her father-in-law's half-sister. Here's what she's said:
"My father in laws half sister she ran away at 14 years old and no one knew what happened to her. She can finally be at peace "
"She ran away from home at 14. Her mom was mentally ill and her dad a deadbeat. My father in laws family have been looking for her "

 

[MadMcGoo]

Rest peacefully now Wanda!

 

[Grungster]

I don't think that this was Robert's first time doing this...

 

[Grungster]

I don't understand how Robert could have done such a brutal job on his "first time"