Identified! Canada - Tofield, AB, 'Septic Tank Sam' Ntv/WhtMale 1046UMAB, Apr'77 - Gordon Edwin Sanderson

[dotr]

Chapter 4 of Peter Smith's book "CSI Alberta: The Secrets of Skulls and Skeletons" is about Septic Tank Sam, and provides a few more details regarding evidence and theories regarding this case:

http://books.google.ca/books?id=02t7hcfXIOsC&pg=PA51&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

Bumping this very interesting link.
Adding a mp suggestion, fwiw.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/4143dmon.html
Norman Richard Welsh

 

[bflocket]

Based upon the victim's clothing, it is suspected that he was a farm laborer or construction worker and was likely not from Alberta.

(from Doe Network)

This might make me sound stupid, but I don't know much about either fashion or Canada...
Should we take this to mean that he's not from Canada or that he could possibly be from somewhere in Canada other than Alberta?

I looked around on Murderpedia for <modsnip> serial killers in Canada and none of the ones that I found operated in the area or time-frame of "Sam."
<modsnip> serial killers do tend to do very sickening things to their victims, but this case sounds more like anger, or personal hatred to me. Not necessarily a sick fetish that a serial killer would have.

The killer was obviously PO'ed to an unexplainable degree. Doing all of that to him and then leaving him in an old septic tank sounds very personal to me. Espcially since there weren't any similar murders around the same place/time (at least that I know of).

 

[Sillybilly]

Bumping this very interesting link.
Adding a mp suggestion, fwiw.
The Doe Network: Case File 4143DMON
Norman Richard Welsh

Similar facial but big difference in height (Sam is approx. 5’'6" and Norman is 6'’"1).

[Admin note: corrected height as the new software did not bring over the apostrophe / quote marks]

 

[namstache]

I do not want this to be William Underhill but he did have polio as a child
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/u/underhill_william.html

 

[dotr]

This probably has nothing to do with the the undignified disposal of the deceased male, but mentioning it because the murder was especially weird and the victim was wrapped in a yellow bed sheet.
On the off chance any other murder victims are found wrapped in a yellow sheet, posting this link about ancient burial rites in Egypt, involving yellow sheets.

Again, off the wall - but stranger things have happened, in NY, a young anthropologist was found murdered, her body sprinkled with red ochre powder which experts stated suggested a re enactement of ancient burial practice.
speculation, imo.

https://books.google.ca/books?id=e9C7BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT35&lpg=PT35&dq=body+found+wrapped+in+yellow+sheet&source=bl&ots=YFqTuHZSud&sig=AfY0hKURThTx2K5rpabjKWL1BG8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcqJTAgJvWAhXkyoMKHYTqCfc4ChDoAQglMAA#v=onepage&q=body%20found%20wrapped%20in%20yellow%20sheet&f=false

https://westhunt.wordpress.com/2014/05/02/murder-at-harvard/

Jane Britton, a 23 year-old Harvard graduate student in anthropology, was murdered on January 6th, 1969. Certain rites which had been performed on the girl as she was dying were identified as part of an ancient Persian burial ritual.They included sprinkling her body with red ochre, and piling a coat, a rug and other similar articles on her body in an attempt to simulate a burial. Police theorized that the elaborate ceremony was probably performed by a person with extensive knowledge of ancient civilizations &#8211; particularly Persia. It was described as an ancient symbolic method of purifying the body and ridding it of evil spirits.

 

[The British Empire]

Here is his listing on the Doe Network. I have been scouring the doe nextwork , of all the canadian males that have been reporrted missing durning this time frame. It may not lead anywhere , because he may have never been reported missing, but there is always that chance.

I am from Canada the east coast, and in that time frame and even today people have travled to the west for work. So it is a possiblity that he wasn't from alberta at all.
Here is his listing http://doenetwork.org/cases/1046umab.html

Here is one person that was reported missing that May be a possible match, highly unlikely but never hurts to try. Just wanted to get some options before I presued it.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/3643dmab.html

But the UID was found with all of his teeth.

 

[namstache]

But the UID was found with all of his teeth.

Also i believe he was officially ruled out already


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[namstache]

John Graham Thompson?
He was 5'6", went missing from CA a few months prior this.
http://charleyproject.org/cases/t/thompson_john.html

 

[namstache]

Is there any chance it could be Steve Lewis Arrowood? He said he saw his lover's husband watching him on the day he disappeared and was very scared of this man. He disappeared and a pair of men's underwear was found next to his abandoned car.
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/3832dmnc.html

 

[dotr]

?
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/3663dmab.html

File 3663DMAB

Brian Guberman
Missing since June, 1974 from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

 

[dotr]

Oct 8 2017
http://edmontonjournal.com/news/loc...k-in-one-of-albertas-most-gruesome-cold-cases

[h=1]Could new national DNA database provide a break in one of Alberta's most gruesome cold cases?[/h]

Septic Tank Sam lies in an unmarked grave in an Edmonton cemetery, his identity no less a mystery than when his tortured body was pulled from a rural septic tank on a spring day in 1977.

But 40 years after Sam met his grisly end, cold case investigators hope a new national DNA database will give fresh leads on who he was &#8212; and who killed him.

Set to launch in 2018, the RCMP&#8217;s national children and missing persons unidentified remains database will allow investigators to compare DNA from unidentified human remains to DNA from living relatives who offer a sample in hopes of finding answers about a missing loved one.

Staff Sgt. Jason Zazulak with the Alberta RCMP&#8217;s historical homicide unit said the chances the database will yield a break in the case are slim. But the prospect is still exciting.

&#8220;We knew about DNA technology from our friends in the lab,&#8221; he said. &#8220;What (law enforcement) had to do was build the proper legal framework so those (samples) could be used and compared. It&#8217;s very exciting to be on the brink of that happening.&#8221;

Zazulak said that when the database comes online, investigators will be able to solicit DNA from people who have lost a loved one and match it against unidentified human remains.

&#8220;Now what we&#8217;ll be able to do is check that against a database of people who were giving voluntary samples, knowing that they have a missing loved one or family member,&#8221; Zazulak said, adding that the DNA can only be used to test against unidentified remains.

Cyril Chan with his clay reconstruction of Septic Tank Sam, an unidentified man who was slain near Tofield, Alta., in 1977. Taken in 2000, Chan was with the medical examiner&#8217;s office at the time. Greg Southam / SEE BYLINE!

 

[dotr]

http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/could-new-national-dna-database-provide-a-break-in-one-of-albertas-most-gruesome-cold-cases
" SAM "

 

[Ylva]

I do not want this to be William Underhill but he did have polio as a child
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/u/underhill_william.html

I think of William every time I come across Septic Tank Sam. He looks so much like him and the timeline and circumstances fit perfectly. The thing that always makes me back away though is that the statistics such as height and weight are extremely far off. It makes me sad because William is the case that got me started with websleuthing so I always feel a personal connection to his case. Hopefully he will be found one day.

 

[namstache]

I think of William every time I come across Septic Tank Sam. He looks so much like him and the timeline and circumstances fit perfectly. The thing that always makes me back away though is that the statistics such as height and weight are extremely far off. It makes me sad because William is the case that got me started with websleuthing so I always feel a personal connection to his case. Hopefully he will be found one day.

He was so beautiful. I pray this wasnt him. I love that you feel a personal connection to his case. Feel free to message me anytime if you ever want to compare notes.


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[dotr]

He was so beautiful. I pray this wasnt him. I love that you feel a personal connection to his case. Feel free to message me anytime if you ever want to compare notes.


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Did not see a thread for missing William so just started one.
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?351977-William-Campbell-Underhill-20-Hennepin-County-Minnesota-01-03-69&p=13677159#post13677159
[h=2]William Campbell Underhill, 20, Hennepin County, Minnesota,01/03/69[/h]

 

[namstache]

" SAM "
[/URL]

William Underhill

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[Ozoner]

It could be a hate crime simply against a person's race, etc.

(Snipped)

Since he was Native American, it could simply be that he was caught fooling around with a caucasian woman, for instance the daughter of the property owner or another local.

William Underhill

Even though some people initially thought that Underhill might have fled to Canada in order to avoid the draft, I think that he would have contacted his parents long before the estimated death date for this John Doe. Underhill's disappearance was probably either a suicide or a concealed drug death.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Even though some people initially thought that Underhill might have fled to Canada in order to avoid the draft,

Since he had suffered polio as a child, would he have been medically fit enough for the draft even if he had suffered no obvious longterm effects from the virus?

 

[dotr]

This missing man from Ontario had polio as a child and is 5'7''.
http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sho...ghlight=guerin
Philippe Guérin, 27, North Bay, Ont, 12 June 1966

 

[namstache]

Since he had suffered polio as a child, would he have been medically fit enough for the draft even if he had suffered no obvious longterm effects from the virus?

I’m not sure that he ever actually made it to his physical for the draft. But after listening to the Unfound podcast interview with William Underhill’s sister I believe he almost certainly committed suicide and is not Septic Tank Sam.


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