Identified! HI - UnkRaceFemale, 2-6, Inside Metal Receptacle in Box, Honolulu, 29 June 2014 - Mary Sue Fink

Seems the house/apartment where she was born still exists (at least it does look like it could be that old but I suppose it could have been rebuilt since then). It would be interesting to know where this box with her remains was found, if it was nearby where the family lived. That apartment is right near the ocean but the family could always have moved after she was born.

But I also kinda doubt the box was just out and about all that time. How does a box with a deceased toddler inside remain unfound for 50 years? Did the parents have the box in their possession and when one of them died, the other got rid of the box, knowing it would be eventually connected to Mary once they also pass? Or when one passed, the other got rid of the box because they may have moved in with their other daughter or to a care home? It would be interesting to know if one of the parents died in or around 2014.

Someone must have known about Mary because there is a photo of her in the Othram announcement. Who had that picture? Extended family? Or her sister, who had been told some story about Mary not being around?
 
Seems the house/apartment where she was born still exists (at least it does look like it could be that old but I suppose it could have been rebuilt since then). It would be interesting to know where this box with her remains was found, if it was nearby where the family lived. That apartment is right near the ocean but the family could always have moved after she was born.

But I also kinda doubt the box was just out and about all that time. How does a box with a deceased toddler inside remain unfound for 50 years? Did the parents have the box in their possession and when one of them died, the other got rid of the box, knowing it would be eventually connected to Mary once they also pass? Or when one passed, the other got rid of the box because they may have moved in with their other daughter or to a care home? It would be interesting to know if one of the parents died in or around 2014.

Someone must have known about Mary because there is a photo of her in the Othram announcement. Who had that picture? Extended family? Or her sister, who had been told some story about Mary not being around?
The map pin in the first post from namus suggests she was found on the joint military base about ten miles west of the apartment. I’m pretty sure her father was in the armed forces.
 
DNA evidence identifies victim in HPD cold case

“That one piece of the puzzle that was sent in is responsible in part for the resolution and identification of this Jane Doe baby,” Dr. Robert Mann, Professor of Anatomy & Pathology at the University of Hawaii Medical School, told KHON Honolulu.

“What could not be done 50 years ago was being done 30 years ago, and what wasn’t being done 30 years ago is being done now,” Mann told the outlet. “And so this really … shows us that a cold case does not have to remain cold forever.”
 
The map pin in the first post from namus suggests she was found on the joint military base about ten miles west of the apartment. I’m pretty sure her father was in the armed forces.
There are so many places on a military base where a box could sit for decades without being noticed or investigated. The box that's been sitting in the back of some storage room so long that it's acquired half an inch of dust isn’t a threat.
 
1736266279466.jpeg
A birth announcement for Mary Sue Fink in Honolulu, Hawaii, released by Othram.
Othram/Courtesy

A little girl found in a box in Hawaii has her name back — but the mystery continues as to how she ended up there and why she was seemingly forgotten for over 60 years.

In June 2014, skeletal remains were discovered in a metal box in Honolulu, prompting an investigation by the Honolulu Department of the Medical Examiner. Based on the size of the remains, it was determined she was a young female between 2 and 6 years old. Ten years went by with no identification, so in August, the medical examiner’s office sent evidence to forensic genealogy lab Othram in Texas. In short order, Othram developed a DNA profile and a possible relative was found. That relative provided
 

Finally, more information.
Key info:
-Mary Sue was 2-3 years old
-Died in 1961-63
-She was murdered (blunt force trauma)
-Her remains were found in an apartment, wrapped in newspaper
-She had suffered past physical abuse
 
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Wow. It sounds like they've known about this lead for a while, given that one of Mary's siblings provided a DNA sample in 2019. Given that she was found in an apartment I assume the first step was looking into anyone who previously lived there.

I wonder why it took so long to send the DNA to Othram to make the comparison? Again, the sibling provided their DNA in 2019, and Mary's DNA was extracted in 2020.
 
“[the mother’s] obituary identifies one of her survivors as son Rade Vanic, now HPD deputy chief. She is also survived by two daughters.”

 
I'm a little confused on the status of Mary's father. One article says he lives in another state, and another says he died in 1973. That same article says Mary's parents divorced when she was 5 months old and her mother remarried, so maybe the stepfather is still alive?
 

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