VA VA - Richmond City, WhtFem 18-25, UP11172, skeletal remains, Oct'72

No exclusions listed on this one...

Date Body Found: October 16, 1972
Location Found: Richmond City, Virginia
Estimated Age Range: 18-25 Years
Estimated Age Group: Adult - Pre 30
Estimated Year of Death: 1947-1950
Estimated PMI: 25 Years
Height & Weight: Cannot Estimate
Circumstances of Recovery: A human skull & mandible, left femur & two long bone pieces were turned over to OCME by Virginia State Police.
Condition of Remains: Not recognizable - Partial skeletal

I found the following missing person and thought it might be worth comparing...

WV - Lora Skaggs, 27, Charleston, 1948 - 1950

MadMcGoo said:

I came across Lora today while searching for possible matches to UP11172:

Unidentified Person / NamUs #UP11172
Female, White / Caucasian​

Date Body Found: October 16, 1972
Location Found: Richmond City, Virginia (Charleston, West Virginia)
Estimated Age Range: 18-25 Years (28-30)
Estimated Age Group: Adult - Pre 30
Estimated Year of Death: 1947-1950 (1948-1950)
Estimated PMI: 25 Years
Height & Weight: Cannot Estimate
Circumstances of Recovery: A human skull & mandible, left femur & two long bone pieces were turned over to OCME by Virginia State Police.
Condition of Remains: Not recognizable - Partial skeletal

Without much else to go by for both the MP and UID, I'm not sure how else these two would be compared other than DNA. (I see that Lora's was available at some point - not sure about UID)

As of 2013, Lora had a daughter and son who were still searching for her. I found the photo that's attached to her missing profiles along with a note from her family on ancestry. That provided a little more information...
View attachment 216835
Posted Sept. 6, 2013:
View attachment 216836
“Missing, 1949, Cabin Creek, West Virginia”
“lora skaggs cains born feb.27th in coalton ky. disappeared 1949 while supposedly making trip to charleston from decota, wva place of residence. no social security number available. s.s.a. will not give it out to us. only thing they will tell us is they have no record of her death.any information would be appreciated by her daughters and son. thank you.” [sic]

Name: Lora Lorraine Skaggs Cains
Date of Birth: February 27, 1920
Place of Birth: Elliott County, Kentucky
Height: 5'0"-5'4"
Weight: 115-130 pounds
Married Leonard Theodore Cains (who passed away in 2002) and had 3 children with him.
The same person who posted the note listed "Troy Stark Ohio, USA" as Lora's place of death. I could not find such a place...
________________________________________
Current list of exclusions for Lora per NamUs:
UP5211 09/30/1968 Will IL
UP5211 09/30/1968 Will IL
UP6279 12/18/1996 Fairfax VA
UP6249 11/14/1980 Rockingham VA
UP16160 10/17/2016 Cuyahoga OH (link not accessible)
UP16689 11/14/1969 Cuyahoga OH
UP6661 02/03/1991 Stafford VA (link not accessible)
UP6629 02/03/1991 Frederick VA
UP5556 05/30/1976 Virginia Beach VA
UP8493 12/06/1993 Fairfax VA
UP8579 01/25/1981 Hanover VA
UP6642 08/07/1986 Chesterfield VA
UP12683 06/06/2014 Newport News VA
UP10026 05/10/1950 Morgan WV

Click to expand...

With a PMI of up to 25 years (making the year of death anywhere from 1957 to the early 70s), there are so many possibilities from across the country but no comparisons listed in Namus.

This makes me wonder if VA were unsuccessful in getting DNA from these bones at all - one thinks they would have been picked up in the VA review of all their cases a few years ago and had lots of ruleouts if they had been successful.

@othram hopefully when you have success with VA Fairfax County case and others we'll see VA looking you up for other difficult ones like this.

Bumping