MS MS - Pascagoula, Bayou Rosa, WhtMale 30-50, UP10363, pronounced jaw line, deviated toes, Apr'92

Here is a recent addition to the Doe Network. He caught my eye because his body had apparently been frozen for several months before being dumped at the location where he was eventually found, which reminded me of Richard Kuklinski (the "Ice Man").

2562UMMS
NAMUS UP#10363



DEMOGRAPHICS
Age: 30 - 50 years old
Race: Caucasian
Sex: Male
Weight: 150 - 180 lbs
Height: 5'8 - 6'0
Body conditions: Mummified
Postmortem interval: 4 - 12 months

CIRCUMSTANCES
Date: April 17, 1992
Location: Pascagoula, Jackson county, Mississippi

A fisherman found the victim's remains washed ashore at Bayou Rosa on Chevron USA property. It appeared from the autopsy that the victim was placed in a cooler and frozen for an unknown period of time and placed in the water later.

Estimated postmortem interval is between 4 - 12 months. His body had been at that location for 2 to 3 weeks before being found. His cause of death could not be determined, but the pattern of decomposition to his face is indicative of superficial facial wounds.

PHYSICAL/MEDICAL
Hair: Sandy/brown, graying, 1 - 3 inches in length
Body type: Robust to slightly obese
Medical conditions: Gallstones, fatty liver
Distinctive characteristics: Very strong, square jawline. The feet both have lateral deviation of the distal two phalanges of the second toes, straight first toes, slight lateral deviation of the distal two phalanges of the middle toes, more to the left where there is a hammer deformity with dorsiflexion of the distal phalanx, and slight inward deviation of the distal ends of both fifth toes.

CLOTHING
White, jockey-style underwear w/ tag removed

IDENTIFIERS
Fingerprints: Not available (although mummified hands could possibly yield fingerprints)
Dentals: Available. UID also had a filling on the first upper left molar.
DNA: Samples submitted - Tests not complete

The closest PM I have so far is Michael Stricklin.

Age (30) is within range
Race (Caucasian) matches
Height (6'1) is within an inch
Weight (185 - 190 lbs) is within 5 - 10 pounds
Hair color (brown) matches
He looks like he has a strong jawline
Distance (230 miles) is far but reasonable, especially since he went missing with his car
Circumstances seem to line up and his family believes he met with foul play (which would obviously be consistent with the UID)

The timing is iffy, though. He went missing about 2 1/2 months before the UID was found, and the UID's postmortem interval is set at 4 - 12 months. That's 1 1/2 months off. I'm hesitant to rule Stricklin out based only on that though, mostly because the body being frozen does make it much more difficult for a ME to pinpoint an accurate time of death.

I wish we had a better facial reconstruction. I feel like it's kind of pointless to try using the two available for this UID since they're... not very good, haha.

This reconstruction is so crude it seems to almost be a disservice to the victim. Don't imagine that it adds anything to the written description. Is there anyway one could go about doing a new rendering? Some very badly decomposed Does have had multiple artists contribute their works.

They just added a new reconstruction to NamUs a few days ago.

Also, they seem to have added the original autopsy report and other original documents. I feel like there's no way I would have missed this when I first posted, so I wonder if they recently switched the report from "LE Only" to being viewable by the public (maybe by accident). There's some really interesting information there. Some possible identifiers:

- He had greying brown hair, about 1 - 3 inches long
- He had mild athritis in both elbows, which would suggest he's on the older side of the age range
- His height could be 5'8 to 6'0, and his weight anywhere from 150 to 190 lb.
- He had a filling on his upper left molar
- He had gallstones and a fatty liver

Honestly, after seeing this, I'm not very confident in Michael Stricklin as a match. The available photos of him don't show any greying, and I doubt a 30-year-old would have gallstones, a fatty liver, and *especially* arthritis.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Exclusions
MP526 Adam Breaux 08/28/1991 Terrebonne LA
MP15624 JAMES WELTER 01/01/1986 Jackson MS

https://i.imgur.com/ru3j9Vw.png
I humanized the clay reconstruction a bit via ArtBreeder (that site is amazing). I don't know what struck me to add a beard, but I think it fits for the demographic.

victoriarobinson642 said:

https://i.imgur.com/ru3j9Vw.png
I humanized the clay reconstruction a bit via ArtBreeder (that site is amazing). I don't know what struck me to add a beard, but I think it fits for the demographic.

Click to expand...

Wow! Great job and thank you for sharing with us.

YaYa_521 said:

Wow! Great job and thank you for sharing with us.

Click to expand...

Ah, thanks for pasting it here. I couldn't seem to get it to work on my end.

A fisherman found the victim's remains washed ashore at Bayou Rosa on Chevron USA property. It appeared from the autopsy that the victim was placed in a cooler and frozen for an unknown period of time and placed in the water later.

The snip above makes me wonder if the Doe had been on one of the large shrimp boats.

Newspaper clippings from Mississippi case file:

Terry Lee Shyer looks to be a possibility in comparison to
Victoria’s recon photo above.

DLC was October 1988. Height within range and weight within a few pounds. Similar features.

"Badly decomposed body found," Sun Herald [Biloxi, MS], 19 April 1992, B6.


Karen Nelson, "Scientist to give skull a new face," Sun Herald [Biloxi, MS], 20 June 1992, E2.


Karen Nelson, "Identity taking shape for recovered body," Sun Herald [Biloxi, MS], 17 July 1992, B1.

<snip>
Doctors could not determine the cause of death. But Coast Guard officials said the people who fall overboard from boats often strip off their clothing to make it easier to swim.

Deputy Coroner Susan Cunningham said it was possible that the body washed ashore, because the tides fluctuate widely in the area where the body was found.

The chest was so well-preserved by mummification that chest hairs were still in place. But flesh on the back was badly decomposed and all that was left of the head was bone and teeth.

Jim Hannaford, "Rebuilt face draws interest from all over," Sun Herald [Biloxi, MS], 1 August 1992, E2.