FL FL - Boca Raton, WhtFem UP1107, 20-35, possibly Joy Neubauer, Nov'96

[GatorFL]

Lots of updates!

I got the case file and in the file were some interesting things. The original detective really worked hard to name her but was unable. He made contact with every Neubauer family in the area and she did not belong to them. Additionally he verified that all 5 people name Joy Neubauer in the USA were alive and well. It's an alias.

There was a person of interest called into Boca. She shared the birthdate and last name of Neubauer, but was eliminated. In my group's own research it seems she may be alive and well. PBSO is checking further to be sure, because we cannot find a lot of information about this person. If she is alive I suspect she has lived a hard life.

In the case file was the original reconstruction. It was good, I posted it here. The receipt for the drawing was in the file, and the artists name was on it. I looked the guy up and found his contact information. He's a well-known forensic artist who has done thousands of drawings on some big cases, and was featured on America's Most Wanted and some other shows. I called him and we met for a drink. Great guy! Lots to say but I should keep this about Joy. He's really went out of his way to help me for a week straight on this case.

He looked at the reconstruction @victoriarobinson642 did here and liked it but he has some edits for her. I've given her his info so they can edit her recon. @victoriarobinson642 I would love to see your recon here based on his suggestions!

He told me Joy was well kept but that she was obviously living a tough life. IIRC the drug screen was negative but he told me he suspected she was a heavy drinker, he could see it in her face somehow. He put me in touch with the Forensics team at PBSO and they have been talking to me. They have been really gracious and I am happy I made the connection, I look forward to working with them on Joy and some other unknowns. I think we will see a new reconstruction of her from the autopsy photos in a few days. They are also looking, as I said, into the POI that was called in to eliminate her.

PBSO wants help with this case. They are attached to the ME's office and seem to be working it now. Provided the POI I mentioned does not work out, the next logical thing to do is forensic DNA. I think If we can crowdfund this, we can figure out who she is. If you are interested in making a small donation to help identify an unknown, please be on the lookout for a fundraising post. <Mods, I hope this is allowed, if not please snip>

When I have more updates I will post them here! If you have questions, please ask I will do my best to answer them.

 

[Grungster]

Lots of updates!

I got the case file and in the file were some interesting things. The original detective really worked hard to name her but was unable. He made contact with every Neubauer family in the area and she did not belong to them. Additionally he verified that all 5 people name Joy Neubauer in the USA were alive and well. It's an alias.

There was a person of interest called into Boca. She shared the birthdate and last name of Neubauer, but was eliminated. In my group's own research it seems she may be alive and well. PBSO is checking further to be sure, because we cannot find a lot of information about this person. If she is alive I suspect she has lived a hard life.

In the case file was the original reconstruction. It was good, I posted it here. The receipt for the drawing was in the file, and the artists name was on it. I looked the guy up and found his contact information. He's a well-known forensic artist who has done thousands of drawings on some big cases, and was featured on America's Most Wanted and some other shows. I called him and we met for a drink. Great guy! Lots to say but I should keep this about Joy. He's really went out of his way to help me for a week straight on this case.

He looked at the reconstruction @victoriarobinson642 did here and liked it but he has some edits for her. I've given her his info so they can edit her recon. @victoriarobinson642 I would love to see your recon here based on his suggestions!

He told me Joy was well kept but that she was obviously living a tough life. IIRC the drug screen was negative but he told me he suspected she was a heavy drinker, he could see it in her face somehow. He put me in touch with the Forensics team at PBSO and they have been talking to me. They have been really gracious and I am happy I made the connection, I look forward to working with them on Joy and some other unknowns. I think we will see a new reconstruction of her from the autopsy photos in a few days. They are also looking, as I said, into the POI that was called in to eliminate her.

PBSO wants help with this case. They are attached to the ME's office and seem to be working it now. Provided the POI I mentioned does not work out, the next logical thing to do is forensic DNA. I think If we can crowdfund this, we can figure out who she is. If you are interested in making a small donation to help identify an unknown, please be on the lookout for a fundraising post. <Mods, I hope this is allowed, if not please snip>

When I have more updates I will post them here! If you have questions, please ask I will do my best to answer them.

A friend of mine has the last name of Neubauer. Can’t really tell if they look alike but I’ll ask her

 

[GatorFL]

A friend of mine has the last name of Neubauer. Can’t really tell if they look alike but I’ll ask her

In the file are the letters from the FBI. This was sent to them as well. There are no missing Neubauers, there was even a note that future missings would be automatically compared to Joy. I can allude from the file that it is an alias. Who knows if the first name is correct and the last name is wrong?

 

[Diavola]

Maybe the last name was misspelled?
There is this website which allows you to search for German surnames. It's in German, but it's not really hard to use.
You can search for names that begin, end, or have certain words in them.

 

[ninetimesfifteen]

The same last name is sometimes spelled as Noybauer among the Jews.

 

[GatorFL]

A couple more updates.

Lurline Bergeron is ruled out for Joy, who does have DNA in CODIS. They are not a match.

I received some scene photos this morning and they are pretty horrific. She suffered when she died. Out of respect for Joy and both the Boca Raton Police Department and the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office I will not be sharing these.

Interestingly, the shirt Joy is wearing is a man's shirt. She was also wearing men's shorts. I wonder if a boyfriend booted her out while traveling?

 

[Grungster]

A couple more updates.

Lurline Bergeron is ruled out for Joy, who does have DNA in CODIS. They are not a match.

I received some scene photos this morning and they are pretty horrific. She suffered when she died. Out of respect for Joy and both the Boca Raton Police Department and the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office I will not be sharing these.

Interestingly, the shirt Joy is wearing is a man's shirt. She was also wearing men's shorts. I wonder if a boyfriend booted her out while traveling?

what photos are they? I bet they are horrific and I doubt I could stand looking at them.

 

[GatorFL]

what photos are they? I bet they are horrific and I doubt I could stand looking at them.

Her hanging and after she was cut down. I thought I was ready and when I got them it took me a few minutes. I felt really bad because it was clear that her death was painful. Seeing them has doubled my resolve to get her name back.

 

[Sweetluv]

GatorFL...thanks for sharing and updating us!
This poor woman...to think she thought she had no other options

 

[ntt1]

Her hanging and after she was cut down. I thought I was ready and when I got them it took me a few minutes. I felt really bad because it was clear that her death was painful. Seeing them has doubled my resolve to get her name back.

Any thoughts on how the reconstructions compare to them?

 

[MagicCityMan]

Not so much a question but wondering: did the officer who made initial contact with her ask her to spell out her name or did they simply write what they heard. If the officer asked her to spell it out then I have to believe that she has some connection to that name. It's not a name that you could just rattle off the correct spelling for if you made it up on the fly. If the officer spelled it according to his own interpretation without having her spell it out then it lends credence to the potential alternate spelling theory.

 

[Roxthefox]

This is huge @GatorFL, thanks for putting the effort, not only for this case but also for future cases.

After a lot of research myself I also came to the conclusion that her name was an alias and her dob probably not correct. I even think her family or friends where not even there in the neighbourhood. Boyfriend, or so, yes because of the man's clothing she was wearing. Could be that they had an argument or fight and she walked out. Her friend thinking she has gone back home or to her family in an other state or county. While her family is thinking she is with the friend. If that is the case nobody was/is looking for her.

DNA crowdfunding would be great.

 

[Warwick1991]

Another possible surname for Joy may be Neugebauer. When spoken quickly, this could sound like Neubauer, especially if the person wasn’t accustomed to German names. Neugebauer is a name from the German-speaking world, but can also be a Jewish name.

 

[GatorFL]

Any thoughts on how the reconstructions compare to them?

The recon I posted here, I see it as her 100%. The artist told me all her did for the recon was to open her eyes and give her a slight smile.

 

[Warwick1991]

DBM

 

[Susikatze]

Another possible surname for Joy may be Neugebauer. When spoken quickly, this could sound like Neubauer, especially if the person wasn’t accustomed to German names. Neugebauer is a name from the German-speaking world, but can also be a Jewish name.

Neubauer can be both, German and Jewish. Neugebauer is fairly exclusively German, have not heard of any Jewish Neugebauers. I agree that this can sound similar, actually it is a regional variant of the same name (means "new farmer" in German).

 

[Warwick1991]

Neubauer can be both, German and Jewish. Neugebauer is fairly exclusively German, have not heard of any Jewish Neugebauers. I agree that this can sound similar, actually it is a regional variant of the same name (means "new farmer" in German).

There are Jewish Neugebauers. Type in "Neugebauer" and "Jewish" into an internet search engine and you will find some. Ancestry.com and and other genealogy sites will yield Jews named Neugebauer. There is a Jewish off-Broadway director named Lila Neugebauer. Also, a search using the "Find a Grave" website will yield Jewish burials of people named Neugebauer - typing in a cemetery location of New York, USA will yield a sample of Jewish Neugebauers. However, most Neugebauers in the US are either Catholic or Lutheran.

 

[Susikatze]

There is no German name that no Jew ever had.. you find records somewhere really for any name... but compared to Neubauer, Neugebauer is much rarer among Jews.
And I generally would not assume our UID was Jewish. Besides that, we dont even know her real name.

 

[Warwick1991]

I live in Boca Raton, and it has a substantial Jewish population. A Jewish identity for Joy is possible if she has some connection to the area. Since her identity is unknown, intellectual honesty requires an open mind - Joy could be from many kinds of backgrounds. DNA would help, but we don’t have that yet.

If Joy’s identity was entirely invented, it is likely that she was acquainted with people named Neubauer, or a similar name. Locales with people named Neubauer would be search parameters, although there would be a number of areas to sift through. As earlier posters have noted, it is not a common name, especially if she used the identity of someone actually named Joy Neubauer. The birthdate might also be false. The person of interest mentioned by @GatorFL who was ruled out might be someone from the same community as Joy.

One thought I’ve had is that Joy was actually a minor, and a runaway. Her identity and birthday would have been invented to hide her age and name. Although her age is given as 20-35, women can mature early. In addition, hard living can prematurely age people. Perhaps we are looking for someone younger than 20, possibly 16 or 17.

As an alternative possibility, Joy may have fled from an abusive relationship that isolated her from her family. That could explain the lack of a missing persons report.

 

[GatorFL]

I live in Boca Raton, and it has a substantial Jewish population. A Jewish identity for Joy is possible if she has some connection to the area. Since her identity is unknown, intellectual honesty requires an open mind - Joy could be from many kinds of backgrounds. DNA would help, but we don’t have that yet.

If Joy’s identity was entirely invented, it is likely that she was acquainted with people named Neubauer, or a similar name. Locales with people named Neubauer would be search parameters, although there would be a number of areas to sift through. As earlier posters have noted, it is not a common name, especially if she used the identity of someone actually named Joy Neubauer. The birthdate might also be false. The person of interest mentioned by @GatorFL who was ruled out might be someone from the same community as Joy.

One thought I’ve had is that Joy was actually a minor, and a runaway. Her identity and birthday would have been invented to hide her age and name. Although her age is given as 20-35, women can mature early. In addition, hard living can prematurely age people. Perhaps we are looking for someone younger than 20, possibly 16 or 17.

As an alternative possibility, Joy may have fled from an abusive relationship that isolated her from her family. That could explain the lack of a missing persons report.

Hi neighbor, Wellington here.

The case file shows that the detective contacted every Neubauer family in the area and they were not missing her. She did not want to involve anyone she knew is what she told the responding officer to the call in the morning.

It feels to me like she was a traveler. She was wearing a man's shirt and shorts and did not have shoes. Sounds like some kind of spat and she either left in a hurry or had to leave in his clothes for some reason. I did some very light digging and could not find any major crimes in the area around the same time. No murders. Why else would a woman use mens clothes and why would she not have shoes? I definitely could spend some more time on this aspect though.

I don't think she was a runaway minor. She looks mid 20s to me. Also she would be unusually tall for a minor. Finally the report notes multiple times she was well cared for. Good dental work, had shaved her legs and armpits the day before she died.