Identified! OR - Eugene, Lane Comm College, 'Hampton Doe', UncFem 20-60, UP14746, clothes w/bead work, Oct'05 - Tanice "Tana" Laatch

Local news reporting that a body was found near Lane County Community College in Eugene. The badly composed body was wearing Ecco shoes and some type of hand-stiched jacket. The victim also had long, dark hair. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying close enough attention, and figured I could find additional info on the news channel's website. As of a couple of minutes ago, the KMTR site (www.kmtr.com) didn't have any info on it yet.

First thought was maybe they found Brooke Wilberger, but it seems unlikely because the clothes and hair aren't consistent with her last known appearance. Also, Eugene is the opposite direction from which it is hypothesized (by WSers, anyway,) that Wilberger was taken.

i immediately thought of leah roberts (from NC, who took a mysterious road trip and vanished).. but i think her hair was short at the time she vanished, although in an older photo it was long.. and it was strawberry blond (unless she dyed it later).

annemc2 said:

Local news reporting that a body was found near Lane County Community College in Eugene. The badly composed body was wearing Ecco shoes and some type of hand-stiched jacket. The victim also had long, dark hair. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying close enough attention, and figured I could find additional info on the news channel's website. As of a couple of minutes ago, the KMTR site (www.kmtr.com) didn't have any info on it yet.

First thought was maybe they found Brooke Wilberger, but it seems unlikely because the clothes and hair aren't consistent with her last known appearance. Also, Eugene is the opposite direction from which it is hypothesized (by WSers, anyway,) that Wilberger was taken.

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Here's the link:

http://www.kmtr.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=AF8F8417-1971-460B-918B-C46E8002E39E

Hopefully they can find out who this is soon, based upon the clothing. Prayers for the family.

Last modified Tuesday, November 15, 2005 3:15 PM PST
Investigators stumped over dead woman’s identity



GOSHEN (AP) — Authorities have been unable to identify remains discovered in a wooded area of Lane County last month.

The woman’s body was found by a hunter about a mile south of Lane Community College. An autopsy did not reveal a cause of death, and detectives are awaiting results of toxicology tests, sheriff’s Lt. Randy Smith said Monday.

Information about the woman’s dental work has been sent to the Oregon State Medical Examiner’s Office in Portland.

The woman carried no identification and does not match the description of any local people reported missing, Smith said. An unsigned suicide note was found near the decomposed body.

The woman had been dead for at least a month, and she did not appear to have been transient, Smith said.

She was wearing a maroon Pacific Trail brand extra-large parka, a black sweater with hand-embroidered bead work, a lavender shirt with bead work, nondescript pants and medium-sized black-laced ECCO shoes.

She had extensive dental work and dark hair at least 6 inches long.



http://www.dhonline.com/articles/2005/11/15/news/oregon/state04.txt.txt

Hmm ... I wonder if it's the missing girl? ANNIE JUNE SMOOT?


I'm still looking for other missing persons we have threads on ... it's probably someone we don't even know about

Has there been any identification of this body? My thought was that it might be Kim Forbes.
http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/jazzyrose/Forbes.html

Ella said:

My thought was that it might be Kim Forbes.
http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/jazzyrose/Forbes.html

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Hi Ella,
Kim Frobes has short hair and has been missing for a year. The article said that the body had been there at least a month, which probably means it was shorter than a year.

Ella said:

Has there been any identification of this body? My thought was that it might be Kim Forbes.
http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/jazzyrose/Forbes.html

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I think the hair's too short for Kim Forbes.

If you're interested, here's a link to my thread on missing oregon women.

Missing Oregon Women from the I-5 Area - Cases Related?

Do these women have anything else in common, besides their proximatey to major coridors?

Perhaps this is another victim of Joseph Edward Duncan?

Hi Pinkhammer,

Nice to meet you and welcome to WS! This gal has only been dead for about a month and Duncan was in custody when she was killed. You've got that thinkin' cap on though, and that is how crimes get solved. YaYa


She could have been a friend of most of us I think, had we known her. Judging from how she took care of herself and chose to dress, I might be so bold as to say it would be easy to profile her. I'll try, if you promise not to laugh! OK?

She was brought up in a family of means, becoming discresionary {sp} about her appearance. This of course followed through in her life with everything she did. I think she was a prefunctory gal, paying her bills on time, had a college education from the U of O, lived in her own apt which was decorated with a few lovely old antiques she had acquired over the years from her family. She loved colored glass, and think if you walked into her organized home you would see them up on the mantle or in the window where their polished surfaces would sparkle with light.

I think she had a hobby of making her clothes very special by beading when she was alone at night watching the national news on TV. She probably had become proficient at an instrument like the piano or the violin when she was growing up. Plants were also a love of hers, and she had many growing in her home that she had had for years. And she often listened to classical music, but could enjoy country music and do a two-step with the best of them. She loved the music of Josh Grobin and Mel Torme, the Beatles and Santana.

She was pretty but not drop dead gorgeous, and although she was well liked in school and got good grades, she was really a loner. She didn't have a steady guy, just knew that someday the perfect one would come along.

There was nothing sinister or off about anything in her personality. She was basicly very happy in her life now that she was out on her own and was the apple of her parents eyes.

If she had a fault it was that she was naive and gullible, having been sheltered much of her life. A young professional, nothing had stopped her yet from her magic dream to buy a house. She was saving and had big plans for the future. She was a true friend to who those who were lucky enough to have known her.

I honestly think she was in the wrong place at the right time, didn't have any realization that someone would gauffle her like they did, and because she was not prepared to know what to do to defend herself, she did not fight back and was succomed easily by the predator who took her away from us.

How sad. I would love to have known her. And there are people out there in the Eugene area who are now just finding out what happened, putting 2 + 2 together from the simple description the public was given. Those people will miss her dearly as they always enjoyed her company.


Scandi

Any news on the identity of this woman?

I searched google and found nothing on this other than the original article posted way back when they found the body. Maybe it's a Canadian woman which is why she's not matching any missing in the US database.

Well, Oregon's searchable records for things like the County Coroner's/Medical Examiner's office are pretty lousy. And go figure for a media outlet to drop a story about an unidentified body. I haven't heard anything since they first broke the story and even then it seemed like a really quick news blurb and nothing more.

Wouldn't the body have been missing at least a month, but more than a month since it is not really cold weather yet? A shirt, a sweater, a parka, and lace up black shoes would be worn in colder weather than the past 6 months or so. I'm not even so sure that beaded blouses under sweaters have been in style for awhile unless they're mixed in with sequins and are sort of a tank top under a sweater. I wonder if she could be one of the missing Aboriginal women in Canada.

It does get pretty cold here in Oregon in September/October. Yesterday it was in the high sixties but just the day before it was in the mid fifties and quite chilly in the evening. Right now it is chilly, long sleeve weather and I do not get cold often.

The Pacific Trail brand is easily found all over the northwest and they make parkas of all different weights and with zip in liners, I have a Pacific Trail jacket that I would say is autumn to early winter weight and I have worn it already this year in late August. I can add a liner to it to carry me through the winter. Her Ecco shoes would be around $100.00 shoes and I would say the brand would appeal to the hippie/granola/free spirit type and would be carried in stores that also sell Birkenstock and other comfort over high fashion style shoes. Her beaded clothing also makes me think she was probably a real free spirit with eclectic style with at least middle income given the shoes, clothes and extensive (ie: expensive) dental work.

It sounds to me like a lady who would be missed and who at least spent some money to care for herself, I can't picture a transient fitting the description. I wonder if they have compared her to missing Canadian women. Guess with our crap searchable databases we might never know.

I may have missed it but did they disclose height or any other characteristics other than hair/teeth?

Did anyone out in OR ever hear if this body was IDed?

http://www.lanecc.edu/torch/issues/Spring2006/June0806/Torch_6_8.pdf

This is from a year ago, saying she still hadn't been identified, but that they think it is a suicide, and there was a note.

Why wouldn't they have released the note? Did she sign her first name on it??

I asked a friend who lives in Eugene and she said there have been no updates in their local papers. I didn't see an unidentified located female on Jane Doe that matches this, either.