CANADA CANADA - Kenora, Ontario, WhtFem, 35-55, Glasses, Found in Tent, 17 Jun 2009

[Gardener1850]

507UFON - Unidentified Female

Reconstructions of the decedent; decedent's belongings.

Date of Discovery: June 17, 2009
Location of Discovery: Kenora, Ontario, Canada
Estimated Date of Death: 1-7 days prior
State of Remains: Unknown
Cause of Death: Unknown

Physical Description
Estimated Age: 35-55 years old
Race: White
Sex: Female
Height: 160 to 170 cm (5'3" to 5'7")
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: She underwent reconstructive surgery of her upper and lower jawbones, along with wire sutures. They also appeared to have been realigned, which would have altered the appearance of her face.

Identifiers
Dentals: Available. She appeared to have undergone orthodontic treatment during adulthood. Staining on the lower teeth indicated she smoked.
Fingerprints: Unknown.
DNA: Unknown.

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Gray wool sweater; black, long-sleeve shirt; gray cotton undershirt with a built-in bra and straps; black jockey underwear, size 5; dark-blue Midtown jeans, size 6P; gray leggings with lace trim; gray wool socks; thin, white cotton socks; black, size 5 lace-up Rugged Outback ankle-high shoes.
Jewelry: Yellow, blue and pink three string necklace with a magnetic clip. A hoop earring (description unavailable) was found in the tent with the body.
Additional Personal Items: Brown, wire-rim, oval-shaped glasses with a rimless bottom; blue and white, one-person Eagle Camp tent; used copy of the book A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby; bookmark from a McNally-Robinson bookstore; $75 in Canadian dollar bills; $2.84 in Canadian coins; container of 13 Pfizer pills; two pack of back and muscle pain relief medication.

Circumstances of Discovery
The decedent was discovered in a tent in a wooded area near Kenora, Ontario on June 17, 2009.

Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: Ontario Provincial Police
Agency Contact Person: Karen Rustige
Agency Phone Number: 807-548-5534 or 877-934-6363
Agency E-Mail: karen.rustige(at)opp.ca or opp.isb.resolve(at)opp.ca
Agency Case Number: MPUB-20090051

Agency Name: National Centre for Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains
Agency E-Mail: canadasmissing-disparuscanada(at)rcmp-grc.gc.ca
Agency Case Number: 2009005199

Agency Name: Crime Stoppers
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 1-800-222-TIPS (8477)
Online tip submission: here
Agency Case Number: Unknown

Information Source(s)
Canada's Missing

Admin Notes
Added: 10/29/19; Last Updated: 10/29/19

1507UFON

Canada's Missing | Case details

 

[Gardener1850]

More Photos of her belongings:

1507UFON

 

[Gardener1850]

Two more photos:

1507UFON

 

[Gardener1850]

The art of bringing the dead to life

Published December 18, 2011
Updated May 8, 2018

[...]

One such Jane Doe, found dead near Kenora in June of 2009, illustrates the painstaking process of reconstructing a person's life history by scrutinizing her corpse.

A passerby walking through a wooded area near the Trans-Canada Highway on June 17, 2009, discovered the body in a small blue tent. She had only a few belongings: a hibachi stove, a black duffle bag and a copy of A Long Way Down, a Nick Hornby novel about suicide. Cause of death: carbon monoxide poisoning from the hibachi.

Constable Karen Rustige used shoe-leather detective work – canvassing locals, questioning people along the highway – to rule out foul play. But the woman's identity remained a mystery.

You follow every lead and tip until they run out, then you have to find something else," she says.

She turned to forensic anthropologist Kathy Gruspier, at the coroner's office in Toronto. Dr. Gruspier and her team analyzed the remains, including the size and shape of her skull, to develop a physical profile of the woman: petite but fit, she was white, stood about 5-feet-4-inches tall, weighed roughly 110 pounds and had shoulder-length brown hair.

They discovered she had undergone extensive surgery to push back her chin and bring forward both her upper and lower jaw. Her bones had been cut and wired together, an outdated technique performed 20 to 30 years ago and, by examining how the jawbone had heeled, calculated she was in her early 20s when she had the operation.

In hopes an orthodontist who treated the woman would recognize her, Constable Zuidervliet was assigned to the case. She placed tissue depth markers in the woman's skull, took photographs and brought them to her Orillia office. She put translucent tracing paper over the pictures and drew the sketch.

Read More: The art of bringing the dead to life

 

[Gardener1850]

This is a new DNA Doe Project Case!

 

[azure]

Orthognathic surgery (the jaw surgery she had) is easily $30k today and extremely difficult to get covered by insurance. If the surgery was done for cosmetic reasons, this woman's family likely had considerable means at the time of the procedure.

 

[Liv27]

This is a new DNA Doe Project Case!

Thank you for creating this thread! <3

 

[LadyL]

I've never heard of an undershirt with a built-in bra and straps. I've seen bathing suits like that though. I've also never heard of Midtown jeans or Rugged Outback shoes and I'm in Ontario. Maybe these are brands only found in Northern Ontario?

 

[annemc2]

I've never heard of an undershirt with a built-in bra and straps. I've seen bathing suits like that though. I've also never heard of Midtown jeans or Rugged Outback shoes and I'm in Ontario. Maybe these are brands only found in Northern Ontario?

Maybe they're describing a camisole? I wear them all of the time when I don't want to wear a bra, especially in the winter when I'm going to put a baggy sweater over it.

 

[Gardener1850]

I've never heard of an undershirt with a built-in bra and straps. I've seen bathing suits like that though. I've also never heard of Midtown jeans or Rugged Outback shoes and I'm in Ontario. Maybe these are brands only found in Northern Ontario?

Rugged Outback is a trademark brand of Payless Shoes: R RUGGED OUTBACK Trademark of Payless ShoeSource Worldwide, Inc. Serial Number: 77198186 :: Trademarkia Trademarks

I have not found any info on the Midtown jeans yet.

 

[LadyL]

Rugged Outback is a trademark brand of Payless Shoes: R RUGGED OUTBACK Trademark of Payless ShoeSource Worldwide, Inc. Serial Number: 77198186 :: Trademarkia Trademarks

I have not found any info on the Midtown jeans yet.

I wonder where they would've been sold? I've never seen jeans in a Payless Shoes store. I don't suppose it would help much in identification anyway.

 

[Blurgle]

McNally Robinson is an independent bookstore chain. At the time this lady was found it had a single shop in Toronto and a number in Western Canada, including three in Winnipeg. (It now only has two in Winnipeg and one in Saskatoon.)

The receipt should say which McNally Robinson it was from, which could tell us whether she was headed east from Winnipeg or some other western city or west from Toronto. Certainly Kenora is a small enough city that if she was from there she would have been recognized ten years ago. (Its main claims to fame are being on the Trans-Canada Highway - so anyone going from east to west or west to east within Canada has to travel near or through it - and the 40-foot high fiberglass fish someone thought fit to erect in a city park.)

 

[victoriarobinson642]

Rugged Outback is a trademark brand of Payless Shoes: R RUGGED OUTBACK Trademark of Payless ShoeSource Worldwide, Inc. Serial Number: 77198186 :: Trademarkia Trademarks

I have not found any info on the Midtown jeans yet.

A quick google search only found one in Lafayette, Louisiana-totally different logo, etc
Probably now defunct

 

[Gardener1850]

I wonder where they would've been sold? I've never seen jeans in a Payless Shoes store. I don't suppose it would help much in identification anyway.

The shoes were sold at Payless Shoes stores, not the jeans (sorry if I didn't make that clear before-- I was still searching the jeans when I posted before).

I did a little more searching and just now found where the jeans were sold. Midtown was an exclusive brand of a discount store called Zellers which was headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, Canada:
Zellers - Wikipedia

 

[Gardener1850]

I wonder if they have ruled out Nancy Dorreen Morton:

Missing from Bradford, Ontario since May 1, 2007
She is 5'7" and 39 years old.
3723DFON - Nancy Dorreen Morton

Nancy doesn't have any identifiers on file according to Doe Network so I don't know how she could be compared to any Does... but if anyone following here wants to suggest her as a possible match, please go ahead.

 

[j_in_c]

I also note they state the height range up to 5'7" but she was wearing Petite sized pants and has a size 5 boot. I suspect she is much closer to 5'3" .

Is this the first DNA Doe Project for Canada???

 

[Blurgle]

I also note they state the height range up to 5'7" but she was wearing Petite sized pants and has a size 5 boot. I suspect she is much closer to 5'3" .

Is this the first DNA Doe Project for Canada???

The second, I believe.

 

[Gardener1850]

I also note they state the height range up to 5'7" but she was wearing Petite sized pants and has a size 5 boot. I suspect she is much closer to 5'3" .

Is this the first DNA Doe Project for Canada???

The second, I believe.

Blurgle is correct it's the second Canada case DNA Doe Project has taken on. The first one is Nation River Lady: CANADA - Canada - Casselman, Ont, 'Nation River Lady' WhtFem 239UFON, 25-50, May'75

Anyone interested in finding more DDP cases can follow the progress of their cases and find all their case threads listed on this thread: DNA Doe Project - General Discussion
We were all excited on that thread when Nation River Lady became the first case outside the US. There are so many international cases we hope they will solve.

 

[Eman317]

Good to see the DNA Doe Project is starting to take up cases that happened in Canada.

 

[Blurgle]

The shoes were sold at Payless Shoes stores, not the jeans (sorry if I didn't make that clear before-- I was still searching the jeans when I posted before).

I did a little more searching and just now found where the jeans were sold. Midtown was an exclusive brand of a discount store called Zellers which was headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, Canada:
Zellers - Wikipedia

Zellers had stores in every city and town in Canada so the label doesn't particularly help us, unfortunately. Nearly everyone had something from Zellers in their wardrobe back then.