Identified! CA - L.A. Griffith Park, WhtFem 725UFCA, 20-28, @Picnic Table, Jun'68 Cheryl McMillan

[deca]

I have scanned through the posts quickly.

Where in Griffith Park was she found? How far away from the Griffith Park swimming pool?

 

[CarlK90245]

I have scanned through the posts quickly.

Where in Griffith Park was she found? How far away from the Griffith Park swimming pool?

I didn't know there was a swimming pool in Griffith Park, but from what I can gather, she was found somewhere around the northeast corner of the park in the vicinity of the zoo.

 

[i.b.nora]

I am interested in Los Angeles area history, so this thread caught my attention.

Mt. Hollywood Drive is still in existence. Its just that it is actually off of Griffith Park Drive which is off of Zoo Drive. With a little bit more research I found that there is the site of the 'Old' Griffith Park Zoo and the site of the 'New' Griffith Park Zoo.

This web site talks about it some and has a map to the Old Zoo Picnic area, which I think is the exact area in which she was found at a picnic table.

Here is the website:

http://www.hikespeak.com/trails/old-zoo-griffith-park/

Also, the Google Map does not easily show the Mt Hollywood Drive but a Mapquest map does: http://mapq.st/K1Gs8W

I am pretty sure that the two maps are of the same approximate location.

 

[deca]

I didn't know there was a swimming pool in Griffith Park, but from what I can gather, she was found somewhere around the northeast corner of the park in the vicinity of the zoo.

There is a public pool that was built in the late 20s. It mentions it somewhere on this page http://www.laparks.org/dos/aquatic/poolsReport04/background.htm


I have also heard from various sources on the web that above the zoo (new location I think) there is an old pool and poolhouse in the hills? There are a lot of "lost" things up there.

I have been to the park numerous times and I really don't know where the pools are. My grandparents lived there after the war and my parents grew up in the area so I am going to ask them.

I am only bringing up the pool thing because I think LA, June, its hot and maybe she was going to meet a friend to go swimming? I know some people said modeling: but why not model swim suits at the beach when it isn't that far away?

 

[i.b.nora]

http://www.laparks.org/dos/parks/griffithpk/swimming.htm

"The Plunge," Griffith Park's swimming pool, located at the Riverside Drive and Los Feliz Boulevard, is open during the summer months. For more information, call 323-644-6878. it was built in 1927,

Its located on the extreme south eastern edge of Griffith Park. Quite a distance from where she was found.

 

[deca]

Thanks, ib nora- I looked a bit yesterday and couldn't find where the pool was. I wonder if the old abandoned pool above the zoo was open during Jane Does visit to LA? Can't find any info on that.

I wonder what the detectives found when they searched her hotel room? There had to have been a bag and makeup case at the least. I would assume that her purse had been with her and maybe another bag with a change of clothes. Someone MUST have been with her or passed by to steal those. Unless they were with her and not mentioned by the LAPD?

When she was staying at the hotel she must have called people. It seems like they would have had phone records of outgoing calls or maybe the clerk would have remembered if people met her in the lobby or left messages for her.

I wonder if the LAPD would be willing to release a little more info. For example, if she called some other state after she arrived- that would be a great clue.

 

[i.b.nora]

There was a link posted earlier to a picture of the Hollywoodland Motel. The link is no longer good, but I found an image (probably an old postcard) here:

Hollywoodland Motel | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[deca]

That motel pretty much looks like many of the low budget motels around the southern california area. I am assuming LE questioned the manager and other tenants and came up empty.

There are so many things that have not been investigated/released that could help solve this id case. At this stage in the game, I wonder why LE won't release more info? It doesn't look like a murder. JMO

 

[deca]

I think these two women look similar to the deceased. Circumstances are way off for Nancy Leicher. Ruth Egnoski could be a runaway.

Sorry, still learning how to post pics here. The top photo is Ruth E., bottom photo is Nancy L.


http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/e/egnoski_ruth.html

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/l/leichner_nancy.html

 

[deca]

Just reposting the Griffith Park Jane Doe picture here.

 

[Ambercat]

"Sheryl Miller" is in NamUs -- https://identifyus.org/en/cases/10960

 

[DrDMike]

Is there a way to find out how she died?

 

[Ambercat]

I was trying to match this UID to a missing person and I noticed that her PM photo that is linked to the site was a bit fuzzy, yet after comparing with Carl's reconstruction, the UID has a nose similar to a lot of ladies from an Irish background and the missing persons nose looks more pointy. I really don't mean this in a negative way, but I was wondering, Carl, when you made your reconstruction if you cleaned up the linked PM photo (to make it clearer) or if there is another PM photo that is clearer/in color. I really don't mean this negatively -- I just haven't ruled this missing person out 100% and am trying to judge how much wiggle room I have on her nose.

 

[maima]

I'm not sure if this has been discussed yet, but it looks like the UID has an underbite. Does anyone agree? If the underbite is natural (i.e. the jaw wasn't just pushed forward, somehow, when - or after - she died), I would think it would be a characteristic to look for in photos of potential matches.

 

[CarlK90245]

I was trying to match this UID to a missing person and I noticed that her PM photo that is linked to the site was a bit fuzzy, yet after comparing with Carl's reconstruction, the UID has a nose similar to a lot of ladies from an Irish background and the missing persons nose looks more pointy. I really don't mean this in a negative way, but I was wondering, Carl, when you made your reconstruction if you cleaned up the linked PM photo (to make it clearer) or if there is another PM photo that is clearer/in color. I really don't mean this negatively -- I just haven't ruled this missing person out 100% and am trying to judge how much wiggle room I have on her nose.

The blurred B&W photo is the only one that I am aware of. The only modification I made to it was to turn it upright and unskew it because it was a photo of a photo. The photo was on a table and filmed with a digital camera, but the digital camera was not directly over it. Thus, the photo was a little bit skewed.

As for her nose, I see it as having an almost vertical dorsum and a bulbous tip.

I'm not sure if this has been discussed yet, but it looks like the UID has an underbite. Does anyone agree? If the underbite is natural (i.e. the jaw wasn't just pushed forward, somehow, when - or after - she died), I would think it would be a characteristic to look for in photos of potential matches.

Yes, she does have an obvious underbite and her chin juts forward. I don't think that's a postmortem effect. I think she did have the forward jutting chin with very little crease between her chin and lower lip (AKA"labiomental fold").

But with this thread being bumped up, I took another look at the recon and decided to revise again. I never thought those big eyes looked right, so I gave her different eyes, and fixed her mouth to make her lips look a little more natural.

 

[Ambercat]

The blurred B&W photo is the only one that I am aware of. The only modification I made to it was to turn it upright and unskew it because it was a photo of a photo. The photo was on a table and filmed with a digital camera, but the digital camera was not directly over it. Thus, the photo was a little bit skewed.

As for her nose, I see it as having an almost vertical dorsum and a bulbous tip.



Yes, she does have an obvious underbite and her chin juts forward. I don't think that's a postmortem effect. I think she did have the forward jutting chin with very little crease between her chin and lower lip (AKA"labiomental fold").

But with this thread being bumped up, I took another look at the recon and decided to revise again. I never thought those big eyes looked right, so I gave her different eyes, and fixed her mouth to make her lips look a little more natural.

Thanks, Carl! I wanted it to be that the photo was just blurry, but I don't think that's the case. I'm wondering if she really is Sheryl Miller, a tourist from who knows where who was never reported missing or whose missing persons report was lost over time. Really, she could have been from anywhere; it would be interesting to know how much LE looked into it at the time. Also, another thought occurred to me -- things used to be different back in 1968, I wondered if her first name was in fact, Sheryl, and Miller was the last name of a man who she was seeing and she had told the hotel desk something to the extent of, "my husband is going to join me here later," or something like that?

 

[fiberoptick]

If the date were different and she had been a blonde, I'd think it was Mary Boston.

 

[DrDMike]

What was the cause of death?

 

[CarlK90245]

What was the cause of death?

That has not been disclosed AFAIK. Based on the circumstances, I was figuring that it was probably drug or alcohol related.

But that's just me figuring.

 

[DrDMike]

That has not been disclosed AFAIK. Based on the circumstances, I was figuring that it was probably drug or alcohol related.

But that's just me figuring.

Why would they not disclose it? I think it's kind of important.