Match! OK - WhtMale 1813UMOK, 18-99, Self-Hanging From Stairwell, Nov'94 *Donald Merrills*

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The Doe Network
Case File: 1813UMOK http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1813umok.html
NamUs UP5118 https://identifyus.org/cases/5118

NO IMAGE


Unidentified Male

Date of Discovery: November 26, 1994
Location of Discovery: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Estimated Date of Death: One week prior to discovery
State of Remains: Recognizable Face
Cause of Death: Asphyxiation by hanging

Physical Description

** Listed information is approximate
Estimated Age: 18-99 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 5'9"
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Blue
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Circumcised.

Dentals: Available. Tooth #2 full chrome steel crown with mesial post; #5 occlusal amalgam restoration; #6 missing with well healed socket and space closure; #12 and #13 occlusal amalgam restoration; #14 occlusal and occlusal lingual amalgam restorations, not crossing the transverse ridge; #15 occlusal amalgam restoration, crossing the transverse ridge; #18 Occlusal and buccal amalgam restorations; #19 mesial occlusal amalgam restoration; #29 occlusal amalgam restoration in the distal pit; #30 occlusal amalgam restoration; #31 occlusal buccal amalgam restorations
Fingerprints: Available. On file with OCPD.
DNA: Sample available - not yet submitted.

Clothing & Personal Items

Clothing: Black and white plaid shirt, blue jeans, black undershorts, and brown boots.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Case History

A security guard found the remains of the decedent in a parking garage corridor at 103 Dean A. Mcgee Avenue. He was in a restricted area where he had had to climb over a chain link fence to get to the upper most floor stairwell. He had tied a rope to a hand railing and draped the rope over the wall and was hanging above the stairs on the flight below. There were no signs of trauma. No suspicion of foul play.
 
ModNote: The following four posts were copied from Donald Merrills' missing persons thread.


This is my first official solved case! More info to follow. I'm glad his family will be getting him back.
 
Dear Mr FINDERS :)
I want to thank you for the tip you provided back in January 2017 requesting acomparison of Oklahoma Unidentified Person NamUs #5118 vs NamUs Missing Person#22177 Mr Donald Merrills. Because of your efforts, we were able topositively identify this individual as Mr Merrills via fingerprints and DNAcomparisons. I appreciate the time you took in searching for matches andcontacting us with this information. Thank you so much!

Best regards-
Angela


Angela Berg, M.A.
OCME Anthropologist -Unidentified case management
918-295-3400Tulsa
918-585-1549Tulsa-fax
angela.berg@ocme.ok.gov
 
Dear Mr FINDERS :)
I want to thank you for the tip you provided back in January 2017 requesting acomparison of Oklahoma Unidentified Person NamUs #5118 vs NamUs Missing Person#22177 Mr Donald Merrills. Because of your efforts, we were able topositively identify this individual as Mr Merrills via fingerprints and DNAcomparisons. I appreciate the time you took in searching for matches andcontacting us with this information. Thank you so much!

Best regards-
Angela


Angela Berg, M.A.
OCME Anthropologist -Unidentified case management
918-295-3400Tulsa
918-585-1549Tulsa-fax
angela.berg@ocme.ok.gov

Nice work!
 
From Donald Merrills' Missing But Not Forgotten thread:

The Doe Network:
Case File 145DMCA

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/145dmca.html

Donald Lamont Merrills
Missing since October 1, 1994 from Lomita, Los Angeles County, California.
Classification: Missing


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vital Statistics

•Date Of Birth: October 10, 1963
•Age at Time of Disappearance: 29 years old
•Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'9"; 195 lbs.
•Distinguishing Characteristics: White male. Brown hair; blue eyes.
•AKA: Don Merrills
•Dentals: Not available


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Circumstances of Disappearance
Merrills was last seen in Lomita, CA on October 1, 1994.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department
323-526-5541
Email

Agency Case Number:
97-0306817

NCIC Number: M-036167219
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
California Department of Justice

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/m/merrills_donald.html

Not found to be listed in NamUs at this time.

No archived articles found under following searches: Full name, first and surname, AKA.

Don has been missing almost 16 years. Come home soon.
 
Congratulations, Finders

:cheers: :takeabow: :happydance:
 
Congratulations Finder, awesome job! Thank you for your hard work.
 
Congratulation Finders!!! So pleased to see WS helped another person to go home to finally rest in peace.

Finders, would you mind to share with us how you have connected the dots between the two cases? Information were quite limited in both cases, there was no post mortem photo or sketch of UID and Donald was last seen by family in 1987, only to follow 7 yeas later by one phone call in 1994 - http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?115135-CA-Donald-Merrills-29-Lomita-1-Oct-1994. Apart from close time frame between the two, nothing else would tell me that it could be match, not even location. I am glad that someone did look more into it.

Congratulations once again!
 
Congratulation Finders!!! So pleased to see WS helped another person to go home to finally rest in peace.

Finders, would you mind to share with us how you have connected the dots between the two cases? Information were quite limited in both cases, there was no post mortem photo or sketch of UID and Donald was last seen by family in 1987, only to follow 7 yeas later by one phone call in 1994 - http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?115135-CA-Donald-Merrills-29-Lomita-1-Oct-1994. Apart from close time frame between the two, nothing else would tell me that it could be match, not even location. I am glad that someone did look more into it.

Congratulations once again!

It feels great to have helped his family find the truth about their loved one!
My pet project is the couple found in Oklahoma in 95 so I was looking at their case when I stumbled across Mr. Merrills. I did have limited resources but the vitals matched as did the time frame. Something just really stood out to me that these were the same people, I can't really explain it, I just looked at his habit of going missing and figured travel was included in that because it is hard to go missing in your hometown. I was tracking highways and also train tracks and I noticed that Lomita to OKC was essentially a straight shot via I-40.
 
OUTSTANDING work finders!

Congrats and thank you!
 
Great job, Finders. Thank you for your hard work.

Prayers for the family of Donald Merrills.
 
What a blessing for the family after all of these years. Rest in peace Donald and congratulations Finders on a job well done. <3
 
I had to use this parking garage for a forensics class that I was taking. I always found it extremely creepy. I had no idea that this had happened. I always chalked the creepiness up to the area having a high homeless population.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
 

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