LA LA - New Orleans, WhtFem 32-45, UP848, in vacant lot, decayed teeth, scar, Feb'02

CarlK90245

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The Doe Network:
Case File 324UFLA
http://doenetwork.org/cases/324ufla.html
NamUs UP Case 848 https://identifyus.org/cases/848

324UFLA.jpg

Reconstruction of Victim

Unidentified White Female

* The victim was discovered on February 24, 2002 in New Orleans, Orleans County, Louisiana
* Estimated Date of Death: 2-24 Hours prior

Vital Statistics

* Estimated age: 32-45 years old
* Approximate Height and Weight: 5'4"; 110 lbs.
* Distinguishing Characteristics: Dyed reddish-brown shoulder-length hair dyed blonde with visible gray roots; green eyes.
* Marks, Scars: Vertically oriented, well-healed scar below and to the right of the right popliteal fossa (depression located at the back of the knee-joint). Probable perimortem trauma to the nasal bones and several ribs were noted.
* Fingerprints: Available
* Dentals: Available. The top right incisor tooth was decayed and her two left front teeth showed signs of decay. Teeth #1,17 and 32 not seen, may be antemortem loss or congenital absence. Unfilled caries noted on teeth #4, 7, 10, 11, 15, 20, 21, 23 and 31. Portion of enamel missing on tooth #10.
* DNA: Available in FBI NMPDD

Case History
The victim was located in a vacant lot in the 1200 block of Eliza Street on February 24, 2002.
The woman's nude body had been damaged by exposure, and no identification could be made through dental records, DNA or fingerprints.
Detectives think the woman was killed while she was in town for Mardi Gras Carnival or the Super Bowl.
 
I already had the first and second posts of this thread put together when I started realizing the inconsistencies with my possible match. All in all, I would say this is close, but not close enough.

Since there is not a thread started yet for the UID I went ahead and started one.

I am also including this possible match along with the pros and cons in case someone else spots her case while looking for possibles for this Jane Doe.

Tawnya Fay Parker
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/p/parker_tawnya.html

324UFLA.jpg
parker_tawnya.jpg


Height and weight are spot-on. Her age is close enough.

She and Jane Doe have very similar small chins and squared jawlines.

Her history of drug abuse would be consistent with the poor dentition of the UID. Given her "transient" lifestyle and history of prostitution, it's reasonable to think that she may have traveled to New Orleans during Mardi Gras and the Super Bowl on a "business trip".

As for inconsistencies, the eye-colors don't match (Jane Doe's Green vs TFP's Blue), and Jane Doe's body was not noted for needle tracks on the arms. Also, if she had ever been arrested for drug use or prostitution, her fingerprints probably would have been in AFIS.

I've seen eye color mistaken in other cases, but in combination with the other inconsistencies, I would say that all things considered, this one is doubtful.
 
Estimated Date of Death: 2-24 Hours prior

The woman's nude body had been damaged by exposure, and no identification could be made through dental records, DNA or fingerprints.

http://doenetwork.org/cases/324ufla.html

CarlK Why would they not be able to get fingerprints? She had only been deceased 1 day at most. Is that what they mean or am I misunderstanding it. So if this Jane Doe was ever arrested they wouldn't be able to match her anyway.
 
Eye color is subjective, even more so post-mortem.

Age is actually spot on the lower range - 32 for the missing person at the time of recovery - and she'd probably be more aged than average with a hard lifestyle so it fits well.

You don't have to inject heroin - you can smoke it - or you could move on to meth or a heroin substitute.

RubyRed's quote is interesting as it could indicate that the body was too damaged to provide fingerprints (and presumably also wouldn't reveal signs of intravenous drug use) but it could also suggest that the body, though damaged, provided that evidence but it didn't match to any databases. Grr, ambiguity.
 
Estimated Date of Death: 2-24 Hours prior

The woman's nude body had been damaged by exposure, and no identification could be made through dental records, DNA or fingerprints.

http://doenetwork.org/cases/324ufla.html

CarlK Why would they not be able to get fingerprints? She had only been deceased 1 day at most. Is that what they mean or am I misunderstanding it. So if this Jane Doe was ever arrested they wouldn't be able to match her anyway.

I think what they were saying is that they have DNA, Dental, and Fingerprints on her, but were unable to make any matches via the national databases.

I thought it was odd that a body dead for less than 24 hours would be damaged from exposure. Even considering how hard it rains sometimes in New Orleans, I can't imagine that a single day of exposure would damage a body .
 
while not a great match, there are only so many that had green eyes. there is Karen Denise Wells which I found at Namus.

officially she was 5'6" and had blonde hair although some of the pictures of her look like it was more reddish. while Karen disappeared in Pennsylvania in 1994 at the age of 23, she had been in various parts of the country and had some criminal past.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2632dfpa.html
 
CarlK, did you submit her as a possible match?
 
CarlK, did you submit her as a possible match?

I brought it up to Helen Bouzon of LSU Faces Lab, and she pointed me to Tawnya Faye Parker's Doenetwork page which says that there was a large amount of TFP's blood found in TFP's boyfriend's Redondo Beach CA apartment. This is was a pretty solid indication that she was murdered on the date that she disappeared, and consequently, it would be extremely unlikely that she was alive and in New Orleans more than two years later.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2752dfca.html

This info is not indicated on TFP's Charley Project page, and I had not checked her DoeNet page prior to that.

Secondly since TFP had an arrest record, her fingerprints would have been in AFIS, and would there would have been a hit when they ran a fingerprint check.
 
Some info about the Superbowl in 2002, just as a backgounder. All just info from wikipedia that caught my eye as I tried to work out how likely it was she was attending the game.

-New England Patriots defeated St Louis Rams on Feb 3rd.
-The game had originally been scheduled for the 27th of Jan, but had to be rescheduled as a consequence of the terrorist attacks on the 9th of September 2001.
-Moving the date of such a major event with less than six month's notice was a very difficult thing to accomplish and included having to move forward the date of a National Automobile Dealers Association Convention that was booked to the sporting facility.
Source, wikipedia.

Mardi Gras 2002 was Feb 12th.
Source http://nutrias.org/facts/mgdates.htm

Also, New Orleans seemed to be a very busy city in 2002 and if she was visiting to attend an event she could just as well be associated with any of the dozens of trade conventions or cultural events like music festivals that happened there.
 
I don't see Dana Becker listed as a rule-out.

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/436/34/

Dana has a resemblance, (more I thought to the pics on Namus where she is not wearing glasses.) She was known to dye her hair, and the description of the scar on her right knee sounds right for this Jane Doe.

She is a little low for height and weight for this Doe, but not impossibly so. Her age is right. Plus since she had been missing for almost 2 years weight could have fluctuated, especially if she had a substance abuse problem and later got herself a little more together. I see no reason to think she couldn't have decided to travel to Mardi Gras or the Superbowl, or just NOLA in general.

Thoughts?
 
I'm gonna have to second Dana Becker as a possible match. From flipping back and forth through the UID sketch and Dana's pictures on NamUs, the chin shapes look similar, and both describe a scar on the knee (The MP report even says "deep scar"). Eye color is a match as well. Maybe Carl can throw a side by side on the forum to be sure? (also of note, no dental records on the MP, but fingerprints. The UID has dentals, but no fingerprints)

Also, there is DNA available for Dana and the UID. So maybe she's been checked automatically and ruled out :(
 
I'm gonna have to second Dana Becker as a possible match. From flipping back and forth through the UID sketch and Dana's pictures on NamUs, the chin shapes look similar, and both describe a scar on the knee (The MP report even says "deep scar"). Eye color is a match as well. Maybe Carl can throw a side by side on the forum to be sure? (also of note, no dental records on the MP, but fingerprints. The UID has dentals, but no fingerprints)

Also, there is DNA available for Dana and the UID. So maybe she's been checked automatically and ruled out :(

2836661080045078242S425x425Q851.jpg
324UFLA.jpg
2815496350045078242_zps754fed2d.jpg


All the vital stats certainly fit. There is a couple years lag, but she could have gone anywhere in that period of time. Her jawline looks a little different IMO, but who's to say that the artist got it right?
 
The doe has nucDNA. I'm wondering if the MP only has mitochondrial? She has no dentals.

Carl, or anyone who knows....this MP has children. If her children submitted NucDNA, could they not do what would essentially be a maternity/paternity test as a way of confirmation? I've always wondered that.



ETA: I did find an article about her. I'll have to go back and find it again and link it here. Dana Becker has a sister Dawn who is very much looking for her. The article I found also said that Dana Becker grew up in Texas. She was in New Mexico for a little bit staying with relatives, but she didn't really know anyone there. They were trying to help her quit drugs (crack). It sounded like the sister said that she was an amazing person who just fell in with the wrong crowd and got herself into a bad situation. She said that Dana left saying she was going to the store and never came back, and that she thought that couldn't be right because Dana was excited about picking up her children in Nevada in a few days or weeks.

Sadly, I do know that a friend of mine has a son who has struggled with crack addiction. He lost his wife and kids because he would do exactly that - say he was going to the store and he'd be right back and then wind up gone for days. So I don't think it's impossible that she could have headed back to her bad crowd friends in Texas, and at some point taken a jaunt over to New Orleans.
 
Sent off the below message to the contact for Dana Becker's case. I'm still new at this so if anyone has future suggestions for how to write these letters, I appreciate it. I'm just kind of winging it.

Dear Mr. Somershoe:

I'm a private citizen/volunteer who looks to reunite missing persons with their families.

I had been discussing your missing person, Dana Becker, with others online at websleuths.com

I think Dana Becker bears a strong resemblance to an unidentified female found in New Orleans in 2002.


(I inserted the three photos from above)

The smaller picture is the sketch of the unidentified victim.

Both the unidentified woman and Dana Becker have dyed hair and green eyes. Also both Dana and the unidentified woman are listed as having a significant scar below the knee on the right leg.

I do not see Dana listed in NamUs as a rule-out for this UID.

NamUs lists the contact agency for this match as:

Agency Orleans Parish Coroners Ofc
Phone 504-658-9660
Agency Case Number: CO-0656-2002; LSU 05-06

I did read an online article interviewing Dana's sister Dawn, who lives in New Mexico and is very much still looking for her sister. I'm sure she could provide you additional information if necessary. I hope this information ends up being helpful to close your case.

Regards,

((Irish_Eyes, but I used my real name))
 
Sadly, I do know that a friend of mine has a son who has struggled with crack addiction. He lost his wife and kids because he would do exactly that - say he was going to the store and he'd be right back and then wind up gone for days. So I don't think it's impossible that she could have headed back to her bad crowd friends in Texas, and at some point taken a jaunt over to New Orleans.

Yes. My mother was a drug addict that this was classic behavior. She'd say she was going to be gone an hour and you wouldn't hear a word for weeks on end. Who KNOWS where she was all those times.
 
My daughter is a High School Cheerleader and is going to cheer at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan 3rd. When the trip was being planned I told her about this UID and how I am scared for her that she is going there for 5 days...(she thinks I am crazy, for looking up dead people to begin with)

That large of a city, with things going on and my daughter only being 16... It's scary.

I hope they run a match against Dana, I think it looks like a possible match!
 
2836661080045078242S425x425Q851.jpg
324UFLA.jpg
2815496350045078242_zps754fed2d.jpg


All the vital stats certainly fit. There is a couple years lag, but she could have gone anywhere in that period of time. Her jawline looks a little different IMO, but who's to say that the artist got it right?

On a side note, these 2 pictures of Dana make me so sad. You can tell how hard she lived to even get from the one on the right to the one on the left. What a beautiful girl. Drugs are awful. Bless her heart, wherever she is.
 
My daughter is a High School Cheerleader and is going to cheer at the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Jan 3rd. When the trip was being planned I told her about this UID and how I am scared for her that she is going there for 5 days...(she thinks I am crazy, for looking up dead people to begin with)

Are you irish? My family thinks I'm crazy, too. I tell them it's the irish blood, and soon they'll be doing it too. I told them I'm going to teach the dog how to sniff out hidden bodies and start doing my runs in places where people have gone missing and they all just stared at me like I had grown a second head.
 

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