Match! NM - Pagosa Springs, WhtFem 55UFNM, 25-35, Sep'82 *Margaret Walden*

i would love some feedback on this one before i jump to contact the le....

any thoughts?
 
i would love some feedback on this one before i jump to contact the le....

any thoughts?

Timing, age and some details are right on. There are so few details on Linda, it's difficult to put it together. Can't hurt to try!
 
I wonder if the sketch was done from photo of victim or computerized reconstruction?? I wish they would state that, it would make it a bit easier!

Here's a side by side of Rachel Pleva and NM Jane #1982-03859 for ya!
 

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I don't see a resemblance other than the nose & vital details. From what I can tell, the jawline and browbone are both VERY different. But the picture of Linda Pleva is pretty grainy and poor, so it's possible.
 
updated dentals on linda...looks like don't match up to jane...
 
According to this article, authorities may be close to ID'ing this Jane Doe. She is thought to possibly be a 39-year old waitress named "Margo", who was a friend of Stewart Simmons. Simmons was recently ID'd as being a John Doe found in Archuleta County Colorado in 1992.

http://www.pagosasun.com/victim-of-1982-homicide-identified/

Simmons’ body and that of an unidentified female were found along the banks of the San Juan River about a month apart in the fall of 1982, one found on each side of the Colorado-New Mexico border about a mile from the Caracas Bridge.

Both victims were buried in New Mexico, and much of the evidence in the case was kept in New Mexico over the decades.

Over the years, Barter worked to retrieve the skulls out of museum storage in New Mexico and had new facial reconstructions created.

In 2009, shortly after Barter reopened the case, an old, abandoned bus located off the beaten path in the area of Caracas was searched, with positive results: a long, narrow strip of carpet attached to the bus’s floor that tested positive in five places for blood, in addition to four .22 caliber shell casings found.

At the time, Barter said the presence of blood found soaked into the bus carpet meshed with a number of testimonies gathered after the murder.

The lead into John Doe’s possibly being Simmons came to Barter through e-mail from an amateur sleuth, Barter explained.

The unidentified sleuth, Barter said, is part of a group of amateur sleuths who pore over websites filled with missing persons and cold cases, such as The Doe Network and NamUs (National Unidentified and Missing Persons System).

Now, armed with the knowledge that Simmons supposedly left with a 39-year-old waitress named Margo, Barter was able to find a potential identification for the female victim.

OMI is currently working on comparing Jane Doe’s mitochondrial DNA (which can be tracked through the female side of the family) to that of a missing person’s family in the national DNA database. Barter did not release the potential ID of the female.

Simmons had mentioned meeting a woman, a waitress known as Margo, shortly before leaving.
 
They must be talking about Margaret Walden. She was 39 at the time of her disappearance, and went by the name "Margo". She left San Diego on a camping trip with a "sailor who hasn't been identified".

walden_margaret.jpg
55UFNM.jpg
55UFNM1.jpg


http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/w/walden_margaret.html
 
sounds like they are talking about WS. CarlK was that your tip on Simmons?
 
sounds like they are talking about WS. CarlK was that your tip on Simmons?

I wondered too but I don't think it came from here

CO - Pagosa Springs, WhtMale 1282UMCO, 20-28,"Lazy B" TShirt, Oct'82, Stewart Simmons

They must be talking about Margaret Walden. She was 39 at the time of her disappearance, and went by the name "Margo". She left San Diego on a camping trip with a "sailor who hasn't been identified".

walden_margaret.jpg
55UFNM.jpg
55UFNM1.jpg


http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/w/walden_margaret.html

Haven't had time to read the article; are you going to call it in?
 
sounds like they are talking about WS. CarlK was that your tip on Simmons?

No, not my tip.

Haven't had time to read the article; are you going to call it in?

No, it is clear from the article that they already know about Margaret Walden. It is the info in the article that led me to finding Walden.
 
No, not my tip.



No, it is clear from the article that they already know about Margaret Walden. It is the info in the article that led me to finding Walden.

Guess I'll have to read it tomorrow lol
Shows how busy I've been... I didn't realize you had already posted the article under his CP link
I need to go to sleep lmao!
 
Margaret Walden / Rio Arriba Jane Doe - WS Posts
NM - Rio Arriba Co., WhtFem 55UFNM, 25-35, San Juan River near Pagosa Springs, Sep'82


Margaret Walden / Rio Arriba Jane Doe - NamUs Links
Margaret Walden DNA Status: Sample submitted - Tests complete Biopsy scar Lt. wrist; bullet wound scar chest; mastectomy scars; vertical scar on back.
NamUs UP # 5326 DNA Status: Sample submitted - Tests complete Organ absent uterus


Stewart Simmons - Match made by WS vermontaigne

This should be listed as a match. I was the tipster. Wanted to remain anonymous, but brother I told shared it with Facebook. Wouldn't post here, but I've tried to send private messages to two mods and my sent box isn't showing anything.

I asked that Websleuths be credited, but the name didn't appear in the Pagosa Sun article. On the plus side, I guess I can blog about how many things had to go right with the info available online for the match to happen, in hopes that helps someone searching for a lost friend/loved one. Can forward email conversation with Detective Barter to a mod for verification, if they'd like. I'd just hoped this forum would get the credit.

Chances are very high that it's Margaret. I was reading through Charley Project's '82 missing in relation to a different UID, chronologically, when I came across Stewart and Margaret's cases. The camping with a sailor thing clicked with Stewart's circumstances. Her mother had stated that the last time she heard from Margaret was when she wired money to Durango for her. I did a Google search, and up popped an article that stated witnesses who believed they'd seen the couple, based on description provided by LE, said that they had been (I paraphrase) up and down the stretch of highway from Durango to Pagosa Springs all summer. I ruminated, dawdled, and finally emailed Detective Barter after New Years. One of the reasons I didn't email it in sooner was that I knew from Charley Project that Stewart had in childhood fractured his skull from ear to ear, and there was nothing in NamUs or elsewhere that indicated the UID had a healed fracture of the skull.

Now, the only way that I made the tentative connection to Stewart was through Margaret's Charley Project entry. So, it would be really mind-blowing to me if it turned out not to be Margaret, since Margaret has never reappeared. Of course, it's possible, but with all of the info, including the remembered name, Margo, which I just found out about from the Pagosa Sun article, I'd be entirely astonished to find it's not her.

By the way, the person who deserves by far the most credit is Detective Barter. He's a true mensch. If he hadn't reanimated this case in 2009, I would never have found it online. But it goes further than all the incredible time and effort he's put into this case from the time he took it on. The quality of the newspaper articles in the various papers are a credit to the journalists, but also a reflection of the deep discernment of the Detective in getting out the right details without overwhelming them with noise. The families here did their own investigations, and provided Meaghan and the other profile writers at Charley Project and elsewhere with important details that might have seemed too trivial to include. The people who wrote the case profiles wrote them clearly, and included that important information. Charley Project arranged the profiles in an easily accessible chronological order, which happened to be exactly what was necessary in this case. And you guys . . . you taught me all the little I know about how to go about these things, and provided me with a forum in which to do it. So, I was the lucky guy who just happened to stumble across this, but without all that, this serendipity would never have happened.

And I have to say, reading Stewart's family's comments made me feel great that they were alive to know, though theologically I am one of those people who believes they would have known this and much, much more had they already moved on from here. It's strange, but there you have it, and I'm happy for them they have this much resolution.

And as many of you have mentioned many times, when you or I have done what we can, the job for the investigators has just begun again. I'm confident from having communicated with Detective Barter that if the crime is capable of a solution at this point, he and his team will solve it.

Stewart Simmons / Pagosa Springs John Doe - WS Posts
Found Deceased GA - Stewart Eric Simmons, 20, San Diego, 19 June 1982

CO - Pagosa Springs, WhtMale1282UMCO, 20-28,"Lazy B" TShirt, Oct'82 *Stewart Simmons*


Stewart Simmons / Pagosa Springs John Doe - NamUs Links

NamUs UP #5327 Google Cache DNA Status: Complete - Insufficient DNA for profiling - Dental information / charting is available and entered
Stewart Simmons NamUs MP # 717 Google cache DNA Status: Sample is currently not available - Dental information / charting is currently not available - Simmons was in the United States Navy in 1982 and was stationed in San Diego, California. He got into a minor altercation and was sent to the brig for a short time. Simmons was granted temporary release to locate his vehicle; he disappeared during this time. Three weeks later, his military identification was used on the base to rent camping equipment, but it has not been established that it was Simmons using the ID. He has never been heard from again.
Simmons resided in Georgia at the time of his disappearance; his family also lives there. He has ties to South Carolina, Florida, Tennessee and Mexico as well. His family filed a missing persons report with the Roswell, Georgia police in 1999, seventeen years after Simmons vanished.
 
I did a search for Margaret; do not see a post. Does someone have time to set one up?
 
I did a search for Margaret; do not see a post. Does someone have time to set one up?

I suppose I could make an entry for Margaret, but I'm not sure I understand why it's important to do. Is it for completeness' sake, or something else?
 
I suppose I could make an entry for Margaret, but I'm not sure I understand why it's important to do. Is it for completeness' sake, or something else?

Yes; but I guess it really doesn't matter at this point.
 
I came over here to mention Margaret Walden and I see this is already being looked into. In my opinion it is highly likely. I will be shocked if it's not her.
 
http://blogs.denverpost.com/coldcases/2014/07/12/pagosa-springs/8826/8/

A recent lead indicated is showing promise that he has found the family of Jane Doe. A family that has been missing their daughter since she disappeared from San Diego in the summer of 1982.

The last they had heard from their daughter, whose nickname was Margo, she told them she had gone on a camping trip and was then working as a waitress at a Durango restaurant. She was asking for money to help her get home.

The composite drawing of Jane Doe is very close to the appearance of their daughter and they also identified the jewelry. But in order to conclusively say Margo is Jane Doe, authorities need a DNA or dental link.
 

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