NY NY - Manhattan, 'Midtown Jane Doe', WhtFem 16-21, 337UFNY, under concrete, ring w/ 'P McG', Feb'03

False clues.
its not her ring. The initials are more in a man's style anyway and who would bury the body with the ring.
I think the toy soldier is also a red herring, so she is not a coffee drinker.
The important thing would be the dental work. Lack of dental work would indicate she was poor, good dental work that she was rich.
She would be from a small community with a police force that did not get her into any database.
Quality of clothing is probably not high, since lable is not a high fashion label.
 
"Midtown Jane Doe"

From the Doe Network---


The victim was discovered on February 10, 2003 in Manhattan,




New York City, New York
  • She was a victim of homicide by strangulation
  • Skeletal Remains
  • The time of death occured sometime after 1988


Vital Statistics





  • Estimated age: 15 - 21 years old. Several of her teeth and bones had not reached full maturity, suggesting she was between 17 and 19 years old.
  • Approximate Height and Weight: 5'2"
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: Light-colored hair. Petite build. She wore a size 32 A bra.
  • Dentals: Available. She had expensive dental work at one point in her life, but her teeth also had severe decay, suggesting she may have been from a family of means but may have fallen on hard times, perhaps getting hooked on drugs, living on the streets or working as a prostitute.
  • Clothing/Jewelry: She was wearing a gold-colored ring inscribed with the initials P McG. Other clues include a brassiere and remains of pantyhose and a standard 1966 Bulova watch.
  • Other: Probably of Irish descent. The victim may also have abused drugs, and been a prostitute - scraps of glittery clothing were also recovered at the scene
  • The victim's skeletal remains were found inside a cement coffin, hidden behind a boiler in the basement of a rundown building on West 46th Street in Hell's Kitchen. Construction workers using a sledgehammer in the building's basement discovered the remains February 10, 2003. Police say the building was used by prostitutes and that the basement could be reached from several points inside, as well as through a steel trap door in an adjacent parking lot.
    The killer had bound her hands and feet with an extension cord and circled it around her neck, then wrapped her body in a patch of rust-colored carpet.
    A 1968 coin was found near her body. An International Ladies Garment Workers tag of a type sewn into clothing in 1988 was recovered with the victim.
Some additional info....
The remains of a plastic bag later discovered to have held rat poison was also found near the body. The rat poison was not manufactured before 1979. A plastic toy soldier was also found near the body.

A hair was found on the rug which did not come from the victim, suggesting the killer was a white male.

Police researched every missing persons report the FBI had on file with the initials "P McG" but were able to eliminate all 11 who matched. They then compiled a list of of over 500 women who had been arrested in the US with those initials, but were able to rule out all but five. (I don't know about these remaining five).

The forensic anthropologist who developed the measurements on this girl actually came up with a height range of 4'10" to 5' 4".

Police checked the serial number on the watch, but were not able to develop any clues.

Thoughts..
This area of "Hell's Kitchen" was very rough at the time of this young woman's death. 1988 saw NYC set a new record for homocides, many of them drug-related. Today, the area has been cleaned up significantly. 301 W 46th St now houses small businesses, among them a video store. The basement is used for a large refrigerator storage unit belonging to the restaurant next door.
Workers were clearing the basement in order to build that very unit when "Midtown Jane Doe" was discovered by a worker breaking a concrete slab for removal.

The slab
The slab was roughly 6 feet by 5 feet, and about a foot deep. This is highly significant, I believe...I looked into this, and discovered that in order to build a "coffin' this large, it would require approximately 45 bags of ready-mix concrete weighing 80 pounds each! (Confirmed by my friendly local Lowe's associate). This much concrete would be extremely difficult to pour by hand, and would require a mixing machine or delivery. I have tried to research any construction taking place in the area at the time, but the building permit website is so convoluted it may take a personal visit to obtain any answers.

NYPD would not reveal if the items (the toy soldier, the rat poison bag) were located with the victim or were just on the floor at the time the concrete was poured.

The jewelry
I can find no description of the Bulova watch. The Accutron, the world's first all-electronic wristwatch, was released in 1960 and a large marketing campaign began in 1966 for this very watch. I would be interested in knowing if the watch had a stretch-metal band or leather band. As I recalled my '80s high school history (and confirmed by my favorite fashion consultant) girls would wear men's watches pushed far up on their forearms (you know what I mean if you've seen the Eric Stoltz/Mary Stuart Masterson movie Some Kind of Wonderful).

What is considered the most important clue to this young woman's identity is the ring, variously described as either gold or gold-colored. ( A better photo of the ring can be found on the AMW link below). The ring was found on the pinky of the victim. Consider...The victim was about 5' to 5'2" (an average of the determined height range) and, wearing a size 32A bra, would most likely have been about 100 pounds or so. Therefore, this ring would have been incredibly small for her to have worn it as a pinky ring. It would most likely not have been a man's ring. The letters "P McG" may have been her initials, or may have held some other significance for her, such as a parents' initials. Or, may just have been something she liked. I googled the letters but didn't come up with anything that seemed important.

Police indicate they believe she was of Irish descent. This might seem to confirm the letters being her initials. Is it possible she was visiting from Europe, and thus the lack of a report here in the US?

America's Most Wanted link:
http://www.amw.com/features/feature_story_detail.cfm?id=145&mid=0
 
Shadowangel,

Just thinking... I wonder how rare it is to use Strontium Isotope Analysis in helping to identifying older remains in cold cases. This is something new I have been studying.

Because dentition forms during childhood, the strontium found in tooth enamel will generally reflect where that individual was born and raised. In contrast, bones continue to absorb strontium, and can reveal where that individual spent the last years of his or her life. If the two differ, researchers can suggest that a person spent their childhood in one locale and migrated (or were taken) to another region later in life.

A combination of both methods, DNA & Strontium Isotope Analysis, would narrow the search area for identifying bodies. Once an area of probable residence was concluded then the state could be saturated with information on the missing person.

I am going to research institutions using this method in archeological digs. They may have a database and need more bodies to add to it. If LE and these institutions could hook up on some of the identified bodies it would certainly enhance their database and someday the DNA and SIA databases could work together to help identify bodies more quickly.
 
Shadowangel, I received responses to both my emails today with this information. I have also posted this information on the Boulder Jane Doe thread.

Response #1
It has the potential to work well. It gets more complicated for recent
remains because so much of our dietary intake doesn't come from local
sources.
  1. Do you have a Strontium Isotope database at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and if so, what regional areas are maintained in the database?
    Not as such. We have many analyses, but they belong to the individual investigators who have paid for them. Most are published fairly rapidly, so they could be mined from the literature. The bulk of our work is from ancient European and Middle Eastern individuals. We have only recently been involved in modern forensic cases and those results are confidential.
  2. Do you know of other Strontium Isotope databases being maintained at other Universities?
    I do not. However, if I was looking for such a thing, I would begin with Doug Price at Wisconsin.
  3. Are you excepting identified human data sources at this time to add to your database?
    We're happy to do analyses.
  4. Do you except private samples for Strontium Isotope Analysis?
    Absolutely. We can make recommendations about what to analyze the more we know about the question to be answered.
  5. What is the cost to have a private sample tested?
    $75 a sample assuming we do all the work.

    Please let me know if you need any additional information.
Response #2

Dear Ms. Smith,
Thanks for your interest in strontium isotope analysis. Unfortunately,
it is not always very helpful for modern populations. This is because
the strontium isotope signature in human bones and tooth enamel comes
from the food you eat. If you eat food from the region where you were
living, you will have the local geologic strontium isotope signature in
your bones and teeth. However, most people now eat foods that were grown
in a wide variety of geologic regions, so their strontium isotope
signatures are a mixture of many different regions and can't be used to
track mobility or movement between different geologic zones.

We don't have a strontium isotope database though we are looking into setting one up at ASU in the next couple of years. Labs charge $200-500 per sample for strontium isotope analysis. The geologic literature in the United States would be the place to look for regional strontium isotope signatures. I
work mostly in South America, so I don't know as much about the
signatures in the United States.

Hope this helps!
 
Shadowangel, I just wanted to make the suggestion on the ring since I didn't see it posted here or on the AMW site info that the ring is custom engraved with those initials and not only by jewelry stores but dept. stores started doing that some time ago just like mothers rings and what not. Also I think the initials could be for a boyfriend and not hers, just like the style with the watch you pointed out I remember the id bracelets and then rings shortly after having your bf's initials when you were going steady. The ring size also is not given whereas petite women tend to wear small size rings, I'm a size 5 so a seven or so may indicate it wasn't hers. From the AMW info I don't agree with the other variance of the initials because as a woman I wouldn't have it done in that order. Instead of say ex: Patricia McGowen reverse to Patrick for instance.
 
This may have been an assumption on the part of the investigators, based in part upon the ligature around her neck and possible damage to the cartiliage of the neck. ??Excellent question, actually.
 
I was just looking at the ring on AMW.com and I'm wondering if her initials could be P.G.Mc instead of P.Mc.G. I know sometimes when they do initials like that on bags and rings they put the last initial in the middle. Just a thought...
 
Can you disregard my last post as a brain fart? I just saw on the AMW site under the picture of the ring that they have P G Mc written under it.
 
She only went missing in 1992, it sounds like LE thinks the UID was found in the 80's. Could be possible though.
 
Dail was also attending school in Georgia for a short time and then she returned to Virginia, I found this in a write-up by her father. I think the second picture on the Charley Project listing looks alot like the Jane Doe, though I don't know why she would have ended up in New York.

I wish I knew if she was seeing anyone, maybe with the initials on that ring.
 
I really don't think it is Dail. As Paradise mentioned, investigators seemed to think the body had been there since the 80s, while Dail disappeared in the early 90s.

OT, but Dail's case is what drew me to this forum. I was looking at colleges in SC right around the time of her disappearance. I saw her face everywhere and her story has haunted me ever since.
 
Masterj said:
I really don't think it is Dail. As Paradise mentioned, investigators seemed to think the body had been there since the 80s, while Dail disappeared in the early 90s.

OT, but Dail's case is what drew me to this forum. I was looking at colleges in SC right around the time of her disappearance. I saw her face everywhere and her story has haunted me ever since.

The investigators only said she had died after 1988. It could be her, though I don't know how she would have ended up in New York entombed in cement.
 

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