MD MD - Upper Marlboro, WhtMale 15-20, UP4833, initials 'ELT' on jacket, Dec'73

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Focusing in on the writing of "Shalom" meaning peace, hello, goodbye. Alav ha-shalom would have been the equivalent to "rest in peace", but Shalom to me indicates the same. This leads me to wonder if he had any connection to the Talmudical Academy 40 or so miles away in Pikesville. The rendering of the decedent makes him look much older than the PM photo. At only 5 ft and 105 lbs, a speculation of illness seems right. The "other crude writings" could have been Hebrew script. There is nothing said about foul play or a tox report. I am wondering if this young man, knowing he was terminally ill, went to a peaceful place to die, and left messages to his loved ones on his clothes. My speculation is that he did not have "track marks", but marks on his arms resulting from a lengthy illness that required various medical procedures. Perhaps he had enough, and was seeking peace....Shalom.

Amateur opinion and speculation only
 
No. I am an Orthodox Jew and the Pikesville Academy is an Orthodox Jewish school and nothing about the UID is Orthodox to me (no tzitzit, no headcover, overall style).
And certainly we hardly ever use the word Shalom.
The UID may or may not have been Jewish (just Shalom means very little and is very popular with christians, too) but i am certain he was not connected to the school.
 
Susikatze said:
No. I am an Orthodox Jew and the Pikesville Academy is an Orthodox Jewish school and nothing about the UID is Orthodox to me (no tzitzit, no headcover, overall style).
And certainly we hardly ever use the word Shalom.
The UID may or may not have been Jewish (just Shalom means very little and is very popular with christians, too) but i am certain he was not connected to the school.
Click to expand...
Ok. Thank you. I’ll strike that and look in to other possibilities.

Amateur opinion and speculation
 
My immediate thought for this boy was that he was a heavy user of heroin, hence the track marks and heroin users often contract pneumonia and have skin eruptions such as in the PM photo. So at first I thought it was unlikely he was at the Boys Group home as surely drugs wouldn't be available...apparently they were! I did think it an odd place for someone on a trip to be though, but figured maybe he wandered here in a stupor.

But then I saw @Bit of hope 's post about the tuberculosis hospital and it just seemed so likely to me:
Bit of hope said:
I was digging around and found this.

Could this boy have been hospitilized in the Glenn Glenn Dale Tuberculosis Hospital and Sanatorium on the Glenn Dale road in Glenn Dale? Only a 23 minutes drive from the place he was found and an approx. 4 hours walk).

Google Maps

Maybe he had already a lung decease, TB or was just treated there for a persistent pneumonia or another lung related decease. In the beginning (3o's) this hospital was specifically designed for the treatment of TB and had a sanatorium campus. They treated adults and children in separate buildings, providing free medical care to concur the decease. (at least in the beginning)

The mask of acute bacterial pneumonia may disguise the face of tuberculosis
Click to expand...
There wasn't much comment about this but I really do think he may have already had a weak system because of tuberculosis or indeed was still suffering. The modern day ME had said she believed he was a drug user due to track marks but in fact the original report said he may have spent time in hospital. Its possible the original ME recognised they weren't actually needle marks from drugs use.

I can't explain why he left in such light clothing why the hospital never reported him missing or what his family was told. Unless perhaps he was already in orphanages and was sent here to heal...literally nobody ever noticed he was missing and the hospital probably just thought he'd left and didnt follow up(after all it's a hospital not a prison).
If he decided to leave and was on foot then after a couple of hours walking and with the cold weather he would have succumbed quickly. Severe pneumonia can kill within hours.
I think he was pretty young and probably didn't have enough maturity to know to wear winter clothes and not go out if he was sick.

As for the crude writing on the trousers; this sounds like nothing more than the scribbling of a bored kid.
 
Ciriii57 said:
...If he decided to leave and was on foot then after a couple of hours walking and with the cold weather he would have succumbed quickly. Severe pneumonia can kill within hours.
I think he was pretty young and probably didn't have enough maturity to know to wear winter clothes and not go out if he was sick....
Click to expand...

This is probably very true. He probably was out walking in his light clothing from mid day on, not feeling the cold, but after about 4pm, the temperature would have started to drop rapidly. December temperatures in Prince Georges County, Maryland normally vary as much as 20 to 30 degrees from day time to night time.

It would be interesting to see what the actual weather was for that specific time.
 
Richard said:
This is probably very true. He probably was out walking in his light clothing from mid day on, not feeling the cold, but after about 4pm, the temperature would have started to drop rapidly. December temperatures in Prince Georges County, Maryland normally vary as much as 20 to 30 degrees from day time to night time.

It would be interesting to see what the actual weather was for that specific time.
Click to expand...

weatherspark.com

December 6, 1973 Historical Weather at Washington Executive Airport/Hyde Field, Maryland, United States - Weather Spark

weatherspark.com weatherspark.com

Close enough to Upper Marlboro that you could at least have a general idea.
 
Ciriii57 said:
My immediate thought for this boy was that he was a heavy user of heroin, hence the track marks and heroin users often contract pneumonia and have skin eruptions such as in the PM photo. So at first I thought it was unlikely he was at the Boys Group home as surely drugs wouldn't be available...apparently they were! I did think it an odd place for someone on a trip to be though, but figured maybe he wandered here in a stupor.

But then I saw @Bit of hope 's post about the tuberculosis hospital and it just seemed so likely to me:

There wasn't much comment about this but I really do think he may have already had a weak system because of tuberculosis or indeed was still suffering. The modern day ME had said she believed he was a drug user due to track marks but in fact the original report said he may have spent time in hospital. Its possible the original ME recognised they weren't actually needle marks from drugs use.

I can't explain why he left in such light clothing why the hospital never reported him missing or what his family was told. Unless perhaps he was already in orphanages and was sent here to heal...literally nobody ever noticed he was missing and the hospital probably just thought he'd left and didnt follow up(after all it's a hospital not a prison).
If he decided to leave and was on foot then after a couple of hours walking and with the cold weather he would have succumbed quickly. Severe pneumonia can kill within hours.
I think he was pretty young and probably didn't have enough maturity to know to wear winter clothes and not go out if he was sick.

As for the crude writing on the trousers; this sounds like nothing more than the scribbling of a bored kid.
Click to expand...
I think it is easy to tell track marks from drug abuse from medical injection/i.v. sites as drug needle track marks are usually allover the place due to lack of medical training in finding a vein and they are also often quite severely inflamed, even abscessed due to reuse of the needles, poor hygienic conditions and adverse reactions to unclean substance additives. In heavy users, there are also often track marks on the legs.
 
Susikatze said:
I think it is easy to tell track marks from drug abuse from medical injection/i.v. sites as drug needle track marks are usually allover the place due to lack of medical training in finding a vein and they are also often quite severely inflamed, even abscessed due to reuse of the needles, poor hygienic conditions and adverse reactions to unclean substance additives. In heavy users, there are also often track marks on the legs.
Click to expand...
That's the very reason I question it. The modern day medical examiner never saw the track marks or I.V sites. The original medical examiner had stated that the deceased may have recently spent time in hospital. Only after when the modern day medical examiner reviewed the case file did she make mention of needle track marks from drug use. I find this a bit inconsistent and wonder if the medical examiner made an assumption based on what she read in the file.
 
UnlicensedPI said:
Bringing this forward
Click to expand...
Yes it looks like you're right. OK so not track marks suggest he wasn't on heroin. And yet the modern day ME said he appeared to be a drug user- did she mention track marks? (Or words to that effect anyway)
So I am really intrigued now, what on earth led them to the conclusion that he been recently hospitalised? Something found in the autopsy? I'm confused now
 
Ciriii57 said:
Yes it looks like you're right. OK so not track marks suggest he wasn't on heroin. And yet the modern day ME said he appeared to be a drug user- did she mention track marks? (Or words to that effect anyway)
So I am really intrigued now, what on earth led them to the conclusion that he been recently hospitalised? Something found in the autopsy? I'm confused now
Click to expand...
astridxx said:
SUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUPER PSYCHED. Just spoke with ME who said he died of pneumonia and he was a suspected drug abuser (the track marks or puncture wounds in arms).
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Still no conclusion on the "track marks", but here we see they were in both arms. For all we know he might have been a subject they did tests on.
 
OK, so according to the below, treatment for tuberculosis is usually oral. However there are instances when an IV is necessary (usually HIV infection, but we can discount that here). But it's possible that in serious cases of advanced infection an IV line is necessary.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

The initial intravenous treatment of a human immunodeficiency virus-infected child with complicated abdominal tuberculosis

There is very limited published experience with intravenous (IV) antituberculosis (anti-TB) and antiretroviral therapy (ART) especially in children. We have described a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected child with complicated abdominal tuberculosis ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
 
This Unidentified Person case is now 50 years old...

Prince George's County John Doe: two different composite sketches

Sex Male
Race White
Location Upper Marlboro, Maryland
Found December 6, 1973
Unidentified for 46 years
Postmortem interval Hours
Body condition Recognizable face
Age approximation 15 - 20
Height approximation 5'
Weight approximation 105 pounds
Cause of death Not stated

Prince George's County John Doe was a young man found deceased in Maryland in 1973.

The word "Shalom" was crudely written on his jeans.

LINK:
Prince George's County John Doe (1973)
 
Richard said:
This Unidentified Person case is now 50 years old...

Prince George's County John Doe: two different composite sketches

Sex Male
Race White
Location Upper Marlboro, Maryland
Found December 6, 1973
Unidentified for 46 years
Postmortem interval Hours
Body condition Recognizable face
Age approximation 15 - 20
Height approximation 5'
Weight approximation 105 pounds
Cause of death Not stated

Prince George's County John Doe was a young man found deceased in Maryland in 1973.

The word "Shalom" was crudely written on his jeans.

LINK:
Prince George's County John Doe (1973)
Click to expand...
@othram, have you ever looked into this case?
 
I'd never seen the PM before. Still amazes me how much he looks like Richard, bar the huge height difference, and the angle of the eyes? (angle of face?).
1704588881161.png
 
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