WA WA - Bellingham, Georgia Pacific plant, WhtMal 20-40, 862UMWA, Continental Airlines ticket, Sep'87

[madamx]

Just a thought here. Could he have been a stoke away on a plane that died of hypothermia then fell out of the plane and actually fell into the chimney? I know .. what are the chances but still I guess could be possible?

 

[MagicCityMan]

Per Namus:
The air was 95 degrees, unless the boiler was running, when temperatures reached 370.

If stuck in an enclosed space at 95 degrees (boiler not running) death from hyperthermia would be possible. Akin to being locked in a hot car which unfortunately happens down here in Florida quite often.

 

[Blurgle]

It's obviously meant to be hyperthermia; there's no way anyone could tell if remains in that condition originally came from a hypothermic victim or not.

Edit: Working back from where the plant was, it seems very unlikely to me that this victim fell from an aircraft wheel well. Bellingham Airport itself doesn't have the kind of overseas flights that you would see stowaways on; the only international flights it has these days are to Canada, and back then you could make it from Canada to the US with little more than your feet - there were lots of places to walk across the border and not be stopped, and you could get a Greyhound ticket in Blaine for a few bucks. The nearest big airports are Vancouver and the Seattle airports, but Bellingham is too far away for an aircraft landing at either city to open the wheel bay doors. You don't do that until you're much closer to the airport; having the wheels down increases drag, and you don't want that until you're lower and slower.

Looking at the video posted above, this poor guy seems to have been found in a fairly wide boiler stack rather than a tall narrow chimney. It would be possible, I suppose, for someone intent on disposing of a body to fly over in a helicopter or private plane and give him the ol' heave ho.

 

[breachtones]

I keep thinking about this case, having been to Bellingham tons of times. Is the DNA really unavailable due to the chimney heat? It makes sense, but then again several sources of info also confused hyperthermia for hypothermia so :/ I'm not exactly sure how accurate it is.

I just don't know with this one. Probably the most baffling case I've ever seen. I really have zero clue why he is there. I believe the airplane ticket is going to be the biggest clue in this case. My family and I used to drive from Canada to Bellingham and fly out from Bellingham to California/Nevada/Arizona etc. because it was cheaper. Which only leaves more doors open I guess, considering the possibility he could be from Canada or any other state besides Washington.

 

[DaisyChains]

This case reminds me of Elisa Lam, but instead of a water cistern we have a stack. I’m thinking mental breakdown lead this UID into that stack. Maybe before/during their manic break they had decided to leave their hometown like Elisa did. Given the claim ticket.

I still find the woman who was so interested in the stacks something to not forget. And I still wonder despite 95% accuracy of determining sex based on pelvic bones if the UID was male. Likely was,but again the woman requesting info about access to the stacks can’t be ignored. Who knows maybe she wasn’t a biological woman.

many times the manic mind Gets paranoid and wants to hide. Many people went in a paranoid manic state run away in an effort to hide. They will even try to put them self in a “secure” or confined space too hide particularly when psychosis is setting in.

I think the UID died an accidental death.

edit: apologies for the initial comment and grammar issues my dictation device was on a good one.

 

[DaisyChains]

Very little info available. I am going to try to find out who is in charge of this case and see what they can tell us.

Detective Revisit Cold Case
Detectives Revisit Cold Case
POSTED: 11:10 am PST October 31, 2006
UPDATED: 12:00 pm PST October 31, 2006

BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Detectives in Whatcom County are asking for the public's help identifying a man whose charred remains were found in a chimney at Bellingham’s Georgia Pacific Plant nearly two decades ago.

this man who left a VA hospital in NY in 1985 looks a lot like the first composit to me and some of the vitals are close-ish like height/weight. His name was Richard Bayne. Not sure what he could have been doing for almost 2 whole years though it’s a pretty huge interval between missing date and the date this UID was found.

still I believe maybe this UID has a similar story. Perhaps he was in the care of a hospital at one point and had some mental issues/PTSD. Perhaps the individual no longer wanted care and ran away.


Cold case: Montrose man missing since 1985

 

[cenazoic]

In re hypo- vs hypertropia, from a previous message:

Lastly, to address the issue of clothing found under the body and cause of death. Assuming the deceased fell 17 feet into the stack, over the Labor day weekend. As I had noted above, the likelihood that he was grievously injured by a fall into a dark stack and onto uneven pipes would likely result in significant injuries to his legs, most likely fractures. Such fractures of the Femur can allow for the loss of several pints of blood into the surrounding tissue. Thus, hypothermia as a cause of death is likely. (10) Additionally, people suffering hypothermia often paradoxically remove their clothing. The results, coupled with the average temperatures that weekend (item 9, show the temp was between 50 and 70 degrees.) would have easily killed him before the boiler was ever fired.

Additionally, the mysterious woman reported by Severson was seen at Western Washington University, not the Georgia-Pacific stacks where this UID was found:

WA - WA - Bellingham, Georgia Pacific plant, WhtMal 20-40, 862UMWA, Continental Airlines ticket, Sep'87

 

[DaisyChains]

In re hypo- vs hypertropia, from a previous message:




Additionally, the mysterious woman reported by Severson was seen at Western Washington University, not the Georgia-Pacific stacks where this UID was found:

yes she inquired in a different location than where the body was found, but the man working at WWU pointed her to the GP stacks.

 

[carbuff]

I keep thinking about this case, having been to Bellingham tons of times. Is the DNA really unavailable due to the chimney heat? It makes sense, but then again several sources of info also confused hyperthermia for hypothermia so :/ I'm not exactly sure how accurate it is.

snipped by me

Yes, heat damages DNA. It sounds like the temperatures in the chimney got more than high enough for that. Possibly some of the new techniques for reconstructing damaged DNA would be useful.

 

[breachtones]

View attachment 331521

this man who left a VA hospital in NY in 1985 looks a lot like the first composit to me and some of the vitals are close-ish like height/weight. His name was Richard Bayne. Not sure what he could have been doing for almost 2 whole years though it’s a pretty huge interval between missing date and the date this UID was found.

still I believe maybe this UID has a similar story. Perhaps he was in the care of a hospital at one point and had some mental issues/PTSD. Perhaps the individual no longer wanted care and ran away.


Cold case: Montrose man missing since 1985

Mental breakdown theory.. maybe. There's so many possibilities for this one.

Murder - What would have to happen here is likely him being unconscious and thrown into the boiler or him being pushed into the boiler. Which begs the question, why is a non-worker up there in the first place? If it's murder, I lean towards it being a worker of GP who committed it. Say they, pushed him in there knowing the boiler was both isolated enough that he wouldn't be found for a while and then was involved in firing it a short while later, burning him if he hadn't died already.
Accident - The thrill-seeker story of the guy from NY, if proven true, would probably corroborate with him accidentally falling into the boiler. I tend to think an accident is most plausible but god knows why he is up there to begin with.
Mental breakdown - Again, what an odd place to go during an event like this? Though I suppose it isn't that unlikely considering Elisa Lam's story happened.
Suicide - I doubt this one. The scratches on the walls indicate he was trying to get out and of all the ways to commit suicide, this is really out there.

 

[carbuff]

I know there are groups and networks of people who bungee jump from bridges or towers. Maybe there's something similar for illicit climbing of towers and chimneys?

 

[Onfortuneswheel]

Maybe it's Jack Lutter and one of the wives got to him

 

[forthelost]

The Man in the Chimney: The Unidentified Man of Whatcom County, Washington

 

[Springrain]

OMG this is close to me...gotta read up!

 

[CptCari]

Just a thought here. Could he have been a stoke away on a plane that died of hypothermia then fell out of the plane and actually fell into the chimney? I know .. what are the chances but still I guess could be possible?

I find this theory interesting. When I explained the case to my husband he said, "Well, it doesn't sound like he fell the full 17 feet....so how did he get those injuries. 17 feet isn't even 2 stories. I'm a big guy and I think even if I fell two stories I wouldn't have those injuries."

As a former orthopedic nurse, I can see why he'd think this. A fall from 15 feet CAN, most definitely, result in a broken pelvis and ankle(s), however. But were those pipes the full 17.5 feet down the stack?

 

[victoriarobinson642]

I wonder if @othram would be able to get DNA in this case - I know very little about how that process works.

 

[Laughing]

The Man in the Chimney: The Unidentified Man of Whatcom County, Washington

Behind a paywall for me.

 

[DaisyChains]

I wonder if @othram would be able to get DNA in this case - I know very little about how that process works.

From earlier posts and archives it seems there was nothing left to gather DNA from. This is strange bc I’ve heard of cases where victims were burned to ashes in funeral pire, but even tissue could be found in a bit of tooth left behind. This UID was cremated, but dentals are on record which could help ID them. It wouldn’t be a DNA ID, but could be ID’d none the less.

 

[Vern]

I find this theory interesting. When I explained the case to my husband he said, "Well, it doesn't sound like he fell the full 17 feet....so how did he get those injuries. 17 feet isn't even 2 stories. I'm a big guy and I think even if I fell two stories I wouldn't have those injuries."

As a former orthopedic nurse, I can see why he'd think this. A fall from 15 feet CAN, most definitely, result in a broken pelvis and ankle(s), however. But were those pipes the full 17.5 feet down the stack?

There is a cross-pipe 10 feet down from the top of the chimney that runs one side to the other through the center of the stack, then another set of pipes running through the entire expanse of the stack 7.5 feet below the cross-pipe (probably a bracing pipe the top one).

Below the first layer of full pipes, there is another full layer of pipes.

The remains were found atop the first layer.

0 feet - top of stack. The stack is only 4.5 feet wide at this point.
10 feet from top of stack - single cross-pipe
?? feet - "just above first layer of parallel pipes, stack abruptly widens to 11 feet diameter" (taken from the written description of the stack, but no specific height given)
17.5 feet from top of stack - layer of 11 parallel pipes with remains laying atop
21 feet from top of stack - another layer of parallel pipes

IMO the injuries (broken femurs, perhaps pelvis) were caused by him striking that single cross-pipe on the way down as it was most unavoidable given stack was only 4.5 feet wide at this portion if I understand the written evidentiary description correctly, followed by the pelvis and ankle break when landing on the set of parallel pipes he cam to rest on. He lived, at least for a little bit as earlier case points note that an ankle was wrapped with cloth as if to assist with an injury. He must have been in a hell of a lot of pain - how horrible for him it must have been.

May 2022 be the year he finds his name and makes his way home to those who loved and miss him.

Great post linked here that has the police evidentiary diagrams made of the stack:
WA - WA - Bellingham, Georgia Pacific plant, WhtMal 20-40, 862UMWA, Continental Airlines ticket, Sep'87

 

[DaisyChains]

Is Marc on the rule outs?

CANADA - Canada - Marc April, 25, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 31 Jan 1987

pretty close vitals. Disappeared in January 1987 from a hospital in Canada. Not sure on specifics. If anyone can dig up more info on him IF he isn’t on the exclusions list I would so appreciate bc I’m I’ve hit a wall with info. TIA

I would think LE could see missing persons that have left Canada after having gone missing, right? I have no clue how it all works.