Identified! IN - Angola, WhtFem, 180UFIN, 30-50, Pachuco Cross tattoo, Sept 1999 - Tina Cabanaw

[hoppyfrog]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/19/grace.coldcase.jane.doe/index.html?hpt=T2

Indiana farmer Maurice "Gene" Headley was driving his tractor to check out his corn and beans one day in September 1999 when he saw what he first thought was a deer carcass.

much more at link

 

[KLCD620]

I think you put it into wrong Alcala thread. It should be the unidentified folder.

 

[fuego]

Nancy Grace recently covered this cold case. http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/07/19/grace.coldcase.jane.doe/index.html?npt=NP1

I'm glad to see some media attention to the unidentified... would love to see this woman's case solved!

 

[Cubby]

bump to merge

 

[RubyRed]

DESCRIPTION
Age: 40 to 50 years old Hair: Auburn or brown
Sex: Female Eyes: Unknown
Height: 5'4" Race: White
Weight: Unknown Complexion: Unknown
Remarks: The victim appeared to have a slight to medium build, pierced ears and a small tattoo of a "Pachuco cross" (symbol shown below) on her upper left arm. She was wearing a size 4 1/2 sterling ring with a turquoise stone (shown below), hoop earrings, and a "Lucky Star" watch with a brown leather band (shown below). Her teeth were in poor condition with a 40 percent overbite.

Sterling ring with turquoise stone, size 4 1/2​

Pachuco Cross

Face of "Lucky Star" watch with brown leather band​

Back of "Lucky Star" watch with
brown leather band​

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/seekinfo/janedoeindiana.htm​

 

[lieber32]

I meant there is no Mexican gang activity where she was found, to speak of.

She was wearing a Lucky Star watch, and Lucky Star is a casino in Oklahoma. If I remember right, the logos were even similar.

LE is just assuming she is from the SW, there is no concrete evidence of it.

How do you know no gang activity exists in Indianna. I live in St.Louis and work for LE and read about gang activity all the time in police reports or when doing a background check using REJIS. Before working for LE and having access to what others don't I'd be of the same mind. Whats reported and what is, is not always the same. By the way while in college and on the debate team we debated a school in Indiana and had to go through Indianapolis. Every year we got lost in Indianapolis in the wrong part of town, way wrong, I personally thnk there is probably gang activity in Indiana.

 

[webrocket]

I did not see any Namus link in this thread so here it is:

https://identifyus.org/cases/4861

only one rule-out is listed, Janeth Rowe.

 

[Still looking in MS]

Ok, please accept my apologies as you read this, but I am unable to get the doenetwork link on this woman's death / case number to work. And, can someone please post some information about when, exactly, this happened in 1999? This has Tommy Lynn Sells written all over it, IF the dates work out. In May of '99, he strangled Haley McHone in Lexington, KY, with her own shirt, spent the night in jail on a public intoxication charge, then hopped a freight and got off in Indiana; he broke into a small office, stole a truck, and headed north. (Still in Indiana) Then he ended up in Madison, Wisconsin, where he also spent some time time in the drunk tank and a few weeks more, thanks to a fight with an inmate. He got out of jail in Madison, WI on 6/24/99 and then headed back home to Del Rio, Texas. Does anyone know if these dates work out for the death of this unfortunate woman? It is true, I should add, that by this time TLS was tending towards younger and younger victims; but it is also said in a couple of sources that he had built up quite a bit of hostility towards his (hispanic) mother-in-law back in Texas, possibly in relation to Child Services investigating whether or not he had engaged in any abuse of his step-children (this investigation was dropped, by the way, and he was at least cleared of that). But: Sells was not one to pass up on an opportunity to vent his homicidal rage on a surrogate for whoever it was he deemed had "done him wrong." Just a thought.

 

[ctaylor]

Ok, please accept my apologies as you read this, but I am unable to get the doenetwork link on this woman's death / case number to work. And, can someone please post some information about when, exactly, this happened in 1999? This has Tommy Lynn Sells written all over it, IF the dates work out. In May of '99, he strangled Haley McHone in Lexington, KY, with her own shirt, spent the night in jail on a public intoxication charge, then hopped a freight and got off in Indiana; he broke into a small office, stole a truck, and headed north. (Still in Indiana) Then he ended up in Madison, Wisconsin, where he also spent some time time in the drunk tank and a few weeks more, thanks to a fight with an inmate. He got out of jail in Madison, WI on 6/24/99 and then headed back home to Del Rio, Texas. Does anyone know if these dates work out for the death of this unfortunate woman? It is true, I should add, that by this time TLS was tending towards younger and younger victims; but it is also said in a couple of sources that he had built up quite a bit of hostility towards his (hispanic) mother-in-law back in Texas, possibly in relation to Child Services investigating whether or not he had engaged in any abuse of his step-children (this investigation was dropped, by the way, and he was at least cleared of that). But: Sells was not one to pass up on an opportunity to vent his homicidal rage on a surrogate for whoever it was he deemed had "done him wrong." Just a thought.

Hi, this is the Doe Network link http://doenetwork.org/cases/180ufin.html

 

[Classito]

Jo Sendejas

The date is off...allegedly missing since Dec 24, 1999...Not sure how flexible that date is..Sometimes people wait about reporting then feel guilty and don't give the right date of missing...Everything else seems to fit pretty good...Bad dental, Curly hair, Height within estimation, hoop earrings, a silver ring (pinkie), 40 yrs old...Nose, overbite, Hispanic...

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/9053/0/

Classito

 

[cvaldez1975]

yes, it is usually on the hand

Actually, a local TV crew went to the FBI office when they did this, and said that their recreations are amazingly close to what they did look like! (based on cases that had been solved as a result.) So I think it may be reasonably close.

Interesting info on the tattoo, thanks! I agree that it is most likely that no one is looking for her.

There was a LOT of interest in her watch and possibly the other jewelery, but not real sure why. Any ideas?

Thanks, again, for the help!!

PS: I just a bit more research on the pachuco cross tattoo, and the hispanic gang members that wear it are supposed to tattoo it in the web of their hands between their finger and thumb, and hers was on her upper arm. And as you said, she was supposed to be white.

 

[cvaldez1975]

the tattoo doesnt link her necessarily to tx in my opinion. they are common in ca too, and translate to "mi vida loca".

Bump.

I've read all three pages. I looked at the doenetwork webpage for her and I looked at the items found with her individually and then as a whole (context).

gatetrekker44 talked about the ring above. It is handmade surely I agree. It is of poor quality and although not mass produce probably was rather inexpensive (IMHO).

The watch I disagree on the value. It was probably a mass produced import. From WS member Marie http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b93/4Susan/LUCKYSTAR.jpg

A quick google search lead me to an Asian company that produces such items. Although they might have a following that collect them now? I don't know.

The tattoo.

In context two of those items lead me to believe that this Jane Doe was from the area in which I now reside (until next month). El Paso area of Texas (which can include Southern NM, and Juarez Mexico).

El Chuco. El Paso is still called by the nickname "El Chuco" but the meaning has been lost over the years. Now it's just a nickname. In fact, some people I have talked to say it translates to "the dirty". Meaning EP is dirty.

She had a tattoo that was representative of El Chuco on her shoulder. I would take that to mean that she was probably from this area or spent time in this area that was significant to her. She could easily have had that tattoo without any gang affliations. IMHO. Easily.

When I look at the context of the items found with her it gives me the idea that she was more than likely living below the line of poverty (teeth included too) and more than likely came from this area or the surrounding areas.

If you look at a map of where EP is, it shares a border with NM and Mexico. When I say it shares a border with NM, I could leave my home right now and travel over the Franklin Mnts (transmountain hwy) and be in NM in less than 25 mins.

I do agree with the above poster who suggested that perhaps even though she was identified as Caucasian that her race be looked at again because Hispanic is not a race, it is an ethnicity and almost every hispanic in EP will tell you that they are caucasian of hispanic descent. I have seen hispanics that looked as caucasian as any european I have seen. JMHO.

I do think she was a transient in IN from this area possibly. I will nose around the local LE's and see if they have anything posted on their websites for a missing person that might match her description.

 

[carbuff]

They're pretty common in New England, where they aren't necessarily on the hand and tend to be related more to Catholic identity than to any particular ethnicity.

 

[carbuff]

Ruleouts https://identifyus.org/cases/4861

Tina D'Ambrosio 1961 Arizona
Parley Pate 1959 North Carolina
Janeth Rowe 1947 Virginia
Patricia Schmidt 1964 Virginia
Tiffany Sessions 1968 Florida
Charlene Villinger 1958 Virginia
Karen Wells 1970 Pennsylvania
Billie Willard 1941 North Carolina

She has dentals and DNA, and there's a mention of a congenital skeletal deformity that might be visible on chest x-rays.

They also indicate the ring was made by jewelry maker Fred Henry.

 

[taramarie]

Identified! LE is contacting next of kin. Informal news conference Monday to release her name.

WTHD - LaGrange Indiana Radio - Today's Hot New Country & Your All Time Favorites

 

[Gardener1850]

DNA testing, old-fashioned police work lead to identity of unidentified body

ANGOLA — Steuben County Sheriff’s Department Detective Chris Emerick, with the support of county-approved funding through the Steuben County Coroner’s Office, used some of the latest technology to identify Tina Len Cabanaw, the woman whose badly decomposed body was found in September 1999 and has remained until May a cold case.

The identity was officially confirmed in June.

Cabanaw was 36 when her body was presumably dumped in a farm field off of C.R. 200N on land that’s now part of Glendarin Hills Golf Club.

Read more: DNA testing, old-fashioned police work lead to identity of unidentified body

 

[Gardener1850]

20-year mystery of unidentified body solved

ANGOLA — When Jessica Gallegos started receiving messages from a Chris Emerick in Angola, Indiana, she thought it was some sort of a scam, so she didn’t return the calls from the detective from the Steuben County Sheriff’s Department.

But Emerick would not let up. After his phone messages went unreturned, Emerick turned to Facebook and found Gallegos, who lives in Colorado, and he messaged her. Emerick wanted to tell her that he thought he found her mother, whose body had been found in rural Angola in 1999.

“I was pretty confident it was who I was looking for but I could not get her to call me back,” Emerick said of the conclusion of his search for the identity of Tina Len Cabanaw, who was from the Detroit area.

Gallegos started looking into who this Emerick guy was and found out it wasn’t a scam.

“I just had this gut feeling. I Googled his name and found out he was a real police officer,” Gallegos said. So, she answered Emerick’s May 23 Facebook message and they finally connected by phone.

“I got this call at 5 o’clock in the morning and I just dropped to my knees. I had to have my husband take the call because I just could not talk,” Gallegos said.

“Through that conversation, everything was matching up, through everything I learned from Detroit and what we knew about the body,” Emerick said, then he arranged for DNA testing of Gallegos for final determination that the woman known as Jane Doe could be identified.

Read More: 20-year mystery of unidentified body solved

 

[Al Ka]

20-year mystery of unidentified body solved

ANGOLA — When Jessica Gallegos started receiving messages from a Chris Emerick in Angola, Indiana, she thought it was some sort of a scam, so she didn’t return the calls from the detective from the Steuben County Sheriff’s Department.

But Emerick would not let up. After his phone messages went unreturned, Emerick turned to Facebook and found Gallegos, who lives in Colorado, and he messaged her. Emerick wanted to tell her that he thought he found her mother, whose body had been found in rural Angola in 1999.

“I was pretty confident it was who I was looking for but I could not get her to call me back,” Emerick said of the conclusion of his search for the identity of Tina Len Cabanaw, who was from the Detroit area.

Gallegos started looking into who this Emerick guy was and found out it wasn’t a scam.

“I just had this gut feeling. I Googled his name and found out he was a real police officer,” Gallegos said. So, she answered Emerick’s May 23 Facebook message and they finally connected by phone.

“I got this call at 5 o’clock in the morning and I just dropped to my knees. I had to have my husband take the call because I just could not talk,” Gallegos said.

“Through that conversation, everything was matching up, through everything I learned from Detroit and what we knew about the body,” Emerick said, then he arranged for DNA testing of Gallegos for final determination that the woman known as Jane Doe could be identified.

Read More: 20-year mystery of unidentified body solved

Have to add two more snippets relevant to her case and her life:
===
The body was found near a fencerow that’s a part of the club off the main entrance, near a parking area where trash receptacles are kept. When found, Cabanaw was nude except for a bra she was wearing.


On duty late the Saturday afternoon of Sept. 6, 1999, was sheriff’s reserve officer Jeff Sine, who worked with the detective bureau. Headley came to the jail, he didn’t call, to report he had found a body while out inspecting his corn.

Sine asked Headley if he was certain it was a body and not, perhaps, a deer. Headley responded that deer aren’t known for wearing wristwatches. And the investigation began.
===
Gallegos was 16 when her mom went missing. But this was not the first time.

When she was 14, Gallegos was staying with a neighbor one night and her mom didn’t return home. It was two days later that she would show up and would be found in her car, suffering from an overdose of drugs.

“One night, she just didn’t come home,” Gallegos said.

At that time, Gallegos was put into foster care and she finished out the school year. From there, she was moved to live with her father in Colorado.

“I don’t want to say anything bad about her. She was my mom. But she was having problems. She relapsed back into drugs,” Gallegos said. Also, her mother got in with the wrong crowd.
===

 

[Al Ka]

Body of woman found in Steuben County in 1999 identified

After 19 years, the Steuben County Sheriff’s Department identified a woman found dead in a field northeast of Angola.

She has been identified as Tina L. Cabanaw.

On September 6, 1999, the Steuben County Sheriff’s Office received the report of a body being discovered in the field, about 2.5 miles east of I-69, and just north of CR 200 N. The location is the present day Glendarin Golf Course.

The Sheriff’s Office says the body had been in the field for approximately 6-8 weeks before being discovered.

Investigators believed the body was of a white woman, approximately 50-years-old, 5’4” with a medium build. She had brown hair, and a tattoo on her left shoulder depicting a “Pachucco Cross.”

Body of woman found in Steuben County in 1999 identified

 

[Owutatangledweb]

Great news!!! Thread needs to be marked as IDENTIFIED.