Identified! NY - Titicus Reservoir, North Salem, White Male, Jun'93 - Andrew Bookless

anthrobones

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http://doenetwork.us/cases/302umny.html



Unidentified White Male




  • Discovered on June 12, 1993 in the Titicus Reservoir, Town of North Salem, Westchester County, New York.


Vital Statistics



  • Estimated age: 30 - 40 years old
  • Approximate Height and Weight: 6'3"; 154 lbs.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: Shoulder-length, straight brown hair.
  • Clothes: He was wearing a black Alpacuna overcoat (Pictured); a black scarf; a brown, tweed, sports coat (Pictured); two sweaters; an orange t-shirt; Levi blue jeans, and brown leather shoes, size 10 1/2(Pictured).

  • Recovered with the body was a green and blue knit pouch (Pictured) and a black and white photograph of an older gentleman holding a child (Pictured).
Case History
The victim was found floating in the Titicus Reservoir in North Salem, N.Y.
He was neatly, if not well dressed, wearing an overcoat and scarf over a sport jacket, sweater, sweat shirt, T-shirt and jeans. He carried no identification and had obviously been in the water for months.
Authorities believe he had drowned sometime during the previous winter. Gases that form in the body during decomposition brought him to the surface, although he wore a day pack full of rocks that initially weighed him down.
Investigators don't know whether the man committed suicide or if he was drowned by being tossed into the water wearing the pack.
The only clues to his identity were an old, black-and-white Polaroid photograph and a set of Chrysler keys. The photo shows an elderly man holding an infant in the foreground, and a long, low, brick building, possibly a school, in the background. Police think the victim could have been the baby in the old man's arms.

 
I was wondering the same thing, RKnowley. Why no recon? Happy New Year, almost:)!

Lion
 
The Doe Network:
Case File 302UMNY

302UMNY.jpg

Photo found with the Victim
Unidentified White Male

  • Discovered on June 12, 1993 in the Titicus Reservoir, Town of North Salem, Westchester County, New York.
Vital Statistics

  • Estimated age: 30 - 40 years old
  • Approximate Height and Weight: 6'3"; 154 lbs.
  • Distinguishing Characteristics: Shoulder-length, straight brown hair.
  • Clothes: He was wearing a black Alpacuna overcoat (Pictured); a black scarf; a brown, tweed, sports coat (Pictured); two sweaters; an orange t-shirt; Levi blue jeans, and brown leather shoes, size 10 1/2(Pictured).
  • Recovered with the body was a green and blue knit pouch (Pictured) and a black and white photograph of an older gentleman holding a child (Pictured).
302UMNYShoes.jpg
302UMNYPouch.jpg
302UMNYOvercoat.jpg
302UMNYCoat.jpg

Items found with the Victim

Case History
The victim was found floating in the Titicus Reservoir in North Salem, N.Y.
He was neatly, if not well dressed, wearing an overcoat and scarf over a sport jacket, sweater, sweat shirt, T-shirt and jeans. He carried no identification and had obviously been in the water for months.
Authorities believe he had drowned sometime during the previous winter. Gases that form in the body during decomposition brought him to the surface, although he wore a day pack full of rocks that initially weighed him down.
Investigators don't know whether the man committed suicide or if he was drowned by being tossed into the water wearing the pack.
The only clues to his identity were an old, black-and-white Polaroid photograph and a set of Chrysler keys. The photo shows an elderly man holding an infant in the foreground, and a long, low, brick building, possibly a school, in the background. Police think the victim could have been the baby in the old man's arms.

Investigators
If you have any information about this case please contact:
New York State Police
Bureau of Criminal Investigation
Troop K, Somers, NY
914-277-3651
You may remain anonymous when submitting information.
NCIC Number:
U-880250567
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.
Source Information:
New York State Police
The News Times

Source: http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/302umny.html
 
Yes, I wonder if they could trace the keys to a year and model at least. I wonder if this picture was widely diseminated. The longer it goes, the harder it will be to identify. We really need another show like Unsolved Mysteries.

AMW is very fussy about the cases they put on and I'm sure some of these cases could be solved with a prime time audience watching.
 
This man was:
  • born about 1953-1963
  • had shoulder length, straight brown hair
  • was about 6'3"
  • was about 165lbs
  • may have been homeless or lived in a car (had the chrysler keys with him)?
  • may have committed suicide. He may have put on all of his clothes to make room for the rocks that were put in his back pack.
I am still wondering about the keys. Is there a photo of them somewhere? Could a locksmith possibly be able to tell what year and model they are for?
 
This is so sad, he committed suicide.. had pics right there with him, he was hurting so badly.. =(
I hope someone has those Chysler Keys still as there are ways to tell what year make and model it went to.
 
Would it be possible that at one point he was away from his car, his car got towed away and he wouldn't have been able to afford the fee to get it out of impound and for towing?
Is there any way a reconstruction of what his face would have looked like at the time could be done?
 
For 15 years, authorities have been unable to put a name to the man they found dead in a Westchester County, N.Y., reservoir.

The decomposed body left little to identify him. And police found no ID, like a driver's license, to go by.

But with the body, police found a photograph [see below] — apparently taken some years before the death — of a child in the arms of an older man. The two pose in front of a building and a utility pole.

Today, police hope a new revelation about the photograph — possibly connecting it to Western Massachusetts or, specifically, Berkshire County — could shed light on this cold case.

New York investigators say the utility pole — seen prominently in the photograph — contains wiring similar to that used by Northeast Utilities in Western Massachusetts. Northeast Utilities is the parent company of the Western Massachusetts Electric Co. And that's what is pointing police to this region.

A Boston resident who collects utility poles provided that information to police, according to New York State Police Investigator Joe Fiebich.

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_8017674?source%3Dmost_viewed.20F88DA3D7D369F5BB70F372987EAE1F.html
 
Maybe I am just not seeing the picture of the child good enough but the child looks like a girl to me. Could this child be the daughter of the deceased man and grandchild of the older man in picture. Also wondering how the picture stayed in such good condition being in water for so long.
 
I was just wondering the same thing about the pic and the child. I do remember when polariods first came out. I'm thinking the pic was made with the Polaroid Swinger which came out in 1965. The photo obviously held high importance for the victim to have protected it from the water in some kind of waterproof carrier.

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blpolaroid.htm

".....then Polaroid Swinger camera in 1965. The black and white Swinger camera sold for under $20 and was a big hit with consumers.....",

From what I can tell, they quit making the black and white only Swinger in 1970.

Somebody, somewhere should be able to recognize the building, which looks like a school to me.
 
I still have my Polaroid camera and I think I bought it in the late 60's or early 70's when my kiddo were babys. Boy have things changed- from Polaroids to Digital, wonder what will be next? I must be getting old. ha ha He very well may have had the pic. in a water tight container that was in the knit bag. Pic. must have meant much to him, probably all he had left of his past. Maybe it was suscide and he wanted the picture to be found as a clue.
 
I posted a message & the photo on the MA city-data-com forum asking if the building that is in the background in the photo the UID Male had on him looked familar to anyone and I got a couple replies.

Here are their comments/suggestions:

It looks very similar to the style of the elementary school I attended in South Lancaster, Mass. Its not the SAME building but its built very much the same as that.

and

The MA department of schools must have a master list of school addresses/phones/email addresses. Investigators looking into this case should send an email with the photo to each school's (or school district's) secretary. Secretaries know everything! :)
 
For 15 years, authorities have been unable to put a name to the man they found dead in a Westchester County, N.Y., reservoir....Today, police hope a new revelation about the photograph — possibly connecting it to Western Massachusetts or, specifically, Berkshire County — could shed light on this cold case.
Wow. I've always been intrigued by this case, because he was found not all that far from where I grew up, but also a little because he just seemed like someone I would have known growing up. I actually grew up almost halfway between the town where he was found and Berkshire County. Weird.

If you click on the photo in the article, you can see a much larger version, which is great! I think everyone who's said the building looks like a school is onto something. It reminds me of the cafetorium from my elementary school, or a gymnasium/pool. (Very mid-60s architecture.)

It also reminds me of a couple churches for some reason.

The suit the man is wearing is early 60s, I think, judging by the narrow tie and lapels. The cars in the parking lot behind him are hard to see, but they appear to be early to mid-60s as well (like a Falcon or Galaxie, someone with real car knowledge please step in here) but I think that on the lefthand side, in the driveway by the barn with the gambrel roof (also very Western Mass), there's an even older car, a black one, like a Buick.

So if the suit and/or the cars in the photo are contemporary with the time it was taken, maybe the child in the photo is the unidentified man (or his sister?).

(I had a pair of those same saddle shoes. Buster Browns.)
 
Thanks to a Pittsfield resident's tip, New York State Police have solved a 15-year-old cold case by identifying the man whose body was found in a Westchester County, N.Y., reservoir in 1993.

The Westchester County medical examiner's office on Friday identified the body as Andrew Bookles of Bellport, N.Y., New York State Police Investigator Joe Fiebich said. The identity wasn't released until yesterday because it took time for police to locate Bookles' four siblings, who live in different locations in the Northeast. Both of his parents are deceased.

Bookles, who was 31 when he died, was identified through dental records, Fiebich said. His body was found in the Titicus Reservoir in Somers, N.Y. — roughly an hour north of New York City — on June 13, 1993. The body was clad in winter clothing and contained no identification.

http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_8125921?source=most_viewed
 
Thanks for posting the update and I'm glad there was resolution on this.
These investigators did a superb job. The follow-thru is truly commendable.
I'm sure this family appreciates knowing what happened to this young man.
 

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