#71, Shadowy Brunette

Truman

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I've looked through all of the threads but cannot find one about "#71", link below. If I've missed it somehow, please forgive me and direct me to the right thread!

Take a look at the two photos of #71

Photo 1

Photo 2


And of Donna Kuzmaak, murdered in March 1979 in Portland, Oregon

Donna Kuzmaak Photo

Though I don't see a strong overall resemblance, I noticed a freckle on the left cheek and possibly on the forehead between the eyes that these women seem to share, although Donna's appears to be slightly lower than #71's. Because of the lighting in the Alcala photo, I'm having a hard time comparing them.

I thought I'd post simply because there doesn't appear to be a thread started for #71 yet - but again, if I am missing it, please let me know!

-Truman
 
vynwhy.jpg
 
The arch in the upper lip looks different to me though that could be due to smiling.
 
Punklove, thanks for putting the two huge shots side by side. After seeing that, I don't believe it's the same person. The lady in Alcala's photo seems to have a rounder chin, among other differences.

Thanks again.
 
Wasn't sure about the first side-by-side so I tried the other picture.

Kuzmaak-Alcala71.jpg


This one looks a lot closer. Same hair. (I'm an all-day sucker for same hair even knowing there must have been beauty parlors turning out the same hairdo all over the country.) Same nose. Same eyebrows. Maybe the same big teeth but there could be more gap on the UID.

If its her and he killed her, she's the only one so far he ever stabbed. No mention of a sex motive in the few reports that I can Google up for her case.
 
... No mention of a sex motive in the few reports that I can Google up for her case.

Googling further, some stories say she was raped. Ultimate cause of death was strangulation. She was beaten savagely. OTOH, she was stabbed repeatedly. That last bit is off-signature for Alcala but I suppose there's nothing impossible about a little variety.

The authorities think they have killer DNA so if it's him, we may hear about it eventually.

I'm not sure how that "studio" look to the Alcala photos goes with her being found in her own basement.
 
Wasn't sure about the first side-by-side so I tried the other picture.

Kuzmaak-Alcala71.jpg


This one looks a lot closer. Same hair. (I'm an all-day sucker for same hair even knowing there must have been beauty parlors turning out the same hairdo all over the country.) Same nose. Same eyebrows. Maybe the same big teeth but there could be more gap on the UID.

If its her and he killed her, she's the only one so far he ever stabbed. No mention of a sex motive in the few reports that I can Google up for her case.


Half the free world had that hair parted in the middle and feathered. However, look at Donna's part. See where at the front of the part it's sparser? If that's a word? It comes from parting your hair in the same place all the time. The female in Alcala's pic doesn't have that. Then again she may have parted it over a tiny bit more.

I'm saying no although it is a good match. I think the bridge of the woman in Alcala's photo goes way up almost to her brows.

Don't get me started on teeth. I mentioned a long ways back that many of the women he photographed had big overbites. That almost always goes with large teeth. Think Carly Simon.

When you have large teeth and an overbite like Donna it's hard to close your mouth full naturally. The woman in the second pic looks like she can't. Just more confusion. I know about the teeth thing and overbite I have it. I always got "You look like Vanna White, Carly Simon, Leslie Carron and insert any woman with a big overbite". It's a feature that really sticks out. No pun intended.
 
There's a remarkable number of things that match well. It looks like there's a little scar on the side of the nose in each picture.

Then again, those tiny cheek moles only match if one of the pics has been flipped horizontally. Some of the other matches go away if you do that.

So, yeah, I don't know.

Edit: I flipped the known Donna on both side-by-sides and the match is still pretty good. The hairstyle is more symmetrical than I thought, just for one thing. I may post them later.
 
Kuzmaak,23, was found beaten, stabbed and strangled to death in the basement of her home on March 21, 1979. Kuzmaak was a young woman on the go working as a realtor at nearby E.G. Strasson in the pre-yuppie age. She left work early on the day of her death and went home.

She would have arrived home about 3pm. About 4:30pm her husband got home from work and found her body. The over-kill could suggest that she knew her killer, which is most often the case, but the 1970s were seeing an explosion of murder of random victims. Ted Bundy to the north and the Hillside Stranglers to the south are just two obvious examples.

http://portlandcrime.blogspot.com/2006/05/portland-cold-case-79-19210.html

Hard to fit Alcala into this, no matter how much the UID looks like her. When does she meet him? How did those pictures get taken? You've got about an hour and a half for everything to happen.

What's he doing in Portland anyway, a month after his release on bail ("Thanks again, Mama!") for the Monique H rape? Nothing is impossible but none of it fits the usual Alcala story.
 

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