Identified! NY - Mount Vernon, WhtFem 51UFNY, 18-25, Left Near Junkyard, Feb'88 - Veronica Wiederhold

[jessr927]

Thank you Lewie and Mrs. Badcrumble. So many of us never forgot about Veronica or gave up hope that she would get back her name. Now on to the next part of the mission - finding her killer.

I never did hear back on where she is buried. Recently, in another case in Westchester, I found out a charity funded a burial at a private cemetery for the man in question. Westchester does not have a potter's field like NYC does. I'm wondering if that's possibly the case. Years ago I had called the main cemetery here and asked if any Jane Does were buried there, but there weren't.

 

[Springrain]

Just a heads-up for those possibly coming from Facebook or the Lohud article: I'm seeing some confusion with the pic featured in the Lohud article. I believe some people think it is a picture of Veronica in life. However, it is actually a filtered/discolored and lower quality copy of one of Carl's recons of her. There have not been any photos of Veronica in life publicized yet.

 

[Feme98]

Just a heads-up for those possibly coming from Facebook or the Lohud article: I'm seeing some confusion with the pic featured in the Lohud article. I believe some people think it is a picture of Veronica in life. However, it is actually a filtered/discolored and lower quality copy of one of Carl's recons of her. There have not been any photos of Veronica in life publicized yet.

Yes, it’s a filtered photo of one of Carl’s reconstructions.

 

[Eman317]

RIP Veronica.

 

[MadMcGoo]

Wonderful! I was so glad to see this identification on my FB thread. Rest peacefully Veronica.

 

[MadMcGoo]

Just a heads-up for those possibly coming from Facebook or the Lohud article: I'm seeing some confusion with the pic featured in the Lohud article. I believe some people think it is a picture of Veronica in life. However, it is actually a filtered/discolored and lower quality copy of one of Carl's recons of her. There have not been any photos of Veronica in life publicized yet.

Thank you for clearing that up! It is a bit misleading.

 

[Fanboi92]

I wonder if there going to release any new info about her.

 

[houndpounder]

Personally I have wondered if she was buried in a paupers' grave, possibly at Hart Island, but I'm not sure what the rules for Hart Island burials are, like if the decedent has to die in NYC proper or what. I'm not sure of NY laws.

I couldn't find any Jane Doe's from 2/14/1988. She may have been cremated for all we know.

 

[Alleykins]

I wonder if someone noted her date of death wrong when interring her.

 

[houndpounder]

This is how the decedents are listed buried on Hart Island, date of death and date of burial. Hard to believe but most of them have names. It is just that no one claimed them.
The Hart Island Project.

In addition Hart Island is a public cemetery for all of NYC. Mt. Vernon is Westchester which really doesn't fall into that category. I went through 136 pages of people that died in 1988 in Westchester County and not one Jane Doe, Mt Vernon Doe or anything else. Maybe she was is in an unmarked grave or unmarked mass grave.

She was found 1/4 mile from the Bronx. I also went through all the Bronx Cemeteries 27 pages of deaths that occurred in 1988.

I would watch Legacy to see if the family publishes an obituary.

 

[Al Ka]

Wow, I just saw the news and I am absolutely speachless. Such a unbelievable update when I thought her identity will never be known. I am so thrilled, as may others here and very thankful that new detective Gamble in some miracle way convinced FBI to use genetic genealogy in her case even though it is still not allowed in New York State.

RIP Veronica.

 

[Al Ka]

With regards to her remains. It was discussed in full lengths some time ago here and some pages back. NY does not cremate unidentified.

She is not buried at Hart Island. Jessie, her biggest advocate works for Hart Island and made searches long time ago, plus Westchester unidentified/unclaimed are not buried there, only unidentified and unclaimed found in NYC.

However, there have been numerous scandals with regards to NYC morgues which came on surface in last decade with regards to how they dealt with with unclaimed and unidentified in 80s'-90s' and I personally had always feeling this was probably fate of her body too. When we discussed this here few years back, I have posted links to that scandals too (some pages back on this board).

Adding again link to Jessie's FB page for Veronica - Mount Vernon Jane Doe no more - Log into Facebook

 

[Springrain]

With regards to her remains. It was discussed in full lengths some time ago here and some pages back. NY does not cremate unidentified.

She is not buried at Hart Island. Jessie, her biggest advocate works for Hart Island and made searches long time ago, plus Westchester unidentified/unclaimed are not buried there, only unidentified and unclaimed found in NYC.

However, there have been numerous scandals with regards to NYC morgues which came on surface in last decade with regards to how they dealt with with unclaimed and unidentified in 80s'-90s' and I personally had always feeling this was probably fate of her body too. When we discussed this here few years back, I have posted links to that scandals too (some pages back on this board).

Adding again link to Jessie's FB page for Veronica - Mount Vernon Jane Doe no more - Log into Facebook

Yeah, I asked her about the possibility of Veronica being buried in Hart Island after I posted that and she told me it was not a possibility.

What are the NYC morgue scandals? Are they discussed in this thread? Imo, the worst possibility for the family is that Veronica's remains were cremated and dumped into a mass grave of cremated remains. Or even if the morgue lost her body, too...

 

[Alleykins]

According to USA today from 2016:

She is the only Jane Doe ever found in Mount Vernon, and to this day investigators still aren't sure who she is.

So, if she were the only Jane Doe ever found in Mount Vernon, how could they lose track of her? It
wasn't like she could have gotten lost in the shuffle.
Also, was she exhumed at some point, was that how they lost track of her? Or did that happen from the get-go?
30 years later, N.Y. Jane Doe remains mystery

 

[Springrain]

So, if she were the only Jane Doe ever found in Mount Vernon, how could they lose track of her? It
wasn't like she could have gotten lost in the shuffle.
Also, was she exhumed at some point, was that how they lost track of her? Or did that happen from the get-go?
30 years later, N.Y. Jane Doe remains mystery

Since Mount Vernon is so close to NYC, I can't help but wonder if she was buried in some (non-Hart Island) pauper's grave or cremated and dumped in a common grave with the remains of many other cremated decedents, as I speculated above. I honestly think she may have gotten lost in the shuffle, albeit the shuffle of NYC and not Mount Vernon.

I have seen speculation that her DNA sample was taken before she was buried, cremated, etc. so they may not have needed to exhume her to begin with. Maybe a hair or teeth sample?

 

[Alleykins]

Since Mount Vernon is so close to NYC, I can't help but wonder if she was buried in some (non-Hart Island) pauper's grave or cremated and dumped in a common grave with the remains of many other cremated decedents, as I speculated above. I honestly think she may have gotten lost in the shuffle, albeit the shuffle of NYC and not Mount Vernon.

I have seen speculation that her DNA sample was taken before she was buried, cremated, etc. so they may not have needed to exhume her to begin with. Maybe a hair or teeth sample?

I was just wondering when her DNA sample may have been taken. Miss X in AZ was exhumed for more testing a long time ago, and got lost when they re-buried her. I was wondering if that may have happened to Veronica's remains, too, and her re-burial date used as her death date in the records, instead of her original date of death.

 

[houndpounder]

The New York City morgue is still identifying remains from the World Trade Center. Need I say more!

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

I just realised that Mount Vernon Jane Doe is the last remaining of the Valentine Does who's still unidentified.

It just occurred to me that all three Valentine Does were identified in a little over a year

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Thirty-three years after a young woman was strangled to death and her body left on a Mount Vernon sidewalk, she is a Jane Doe no more.

Advanced DNA analysis helped investigators identify the woman killed on Valentine’s Day 1988 as Veronica Wiederhold, the first success for new cold case units in the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office and the Mount Vernon Police Department.

Her identification has resurrected an investigation that was mostly dormant for years. Finding Wiederhold's killer is the ultimate goal, said Assistant District Attorney Laura Murphy, but the DNA result has shown that success comes in multiple forms in cold-case work.

"If we can identify a victim, we've done good work," said Murphy, chief of the cold case bureau that District Attorney Mimi Rocah set up when she took office this year.
DNA identifies Veronica Wiederhold as Mount Vernon homicide victim

 

[Diavola]

Has there been only one article about her?
Also I think many people are confusing the filtered reconstruction for a real pic of her.