MI MI - Van Buren Co, Keeler Twp, HispMale 15-22, UP9888, Busch Gardens Tee, Sz 10 boots, Dec'87

[Gardener1850]

Unidentified Person / NamUs #UP9888
Male, Hispanic / Latino
Estimated Age Range15-22 Years

Clothing
White Nylon Ski jacket with blue stripe and removable sleeves, Jeans, gray plaid long sleeved shirt over a Busch Gardens T-shirt with 2 Clysdale horses on the back.

Footwear
Black ankle Boots with zippers, size 10

Estimated PMI: Months
Height 5' 9"(69 inches) , Estimated
Weight Cannot Estimate

Circumstances
Type Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found December 24, 1987
NamUs Case Created February 16, 2012

Location Keeler Twp., Michigan
Van Buren County

Circumstances of Recovery
Found in a wooded area next to a field approximately 300 yards from a roadway and only 40 feet into the woods.
Details of Recovery

Inventory of Remains All parts recovered
Condition of Remains Not recognizable - Near complete or complete skeleton

Circumstance Notes
Old Paw Paw Post complaint

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[Gardener1850]

Nov 29, 2019

COVERT TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Along Interstate 196 south of South Haven, Covert Township Police were stymied by a pair of decades-long mysteries:

What were the identities of the two bodies found near the highway a decade apart? And, how did they get there?

The woman’s body, found in 1988, was nicknamed 196 Jane Doe, and now has a name thanks to the Michigan State Police genealogy project: Marcia Bateman, of Oklahoma City.

The man’s body, discovered in 1979, never got a nickname and remains nameless.

Police hope DNA from his remains will help identify him, too.

[...]

The two are among seven sets of remains state police from the Fifth District are trying to identify through the genealogy project.

[..]

But there are other mysteries.

The partial skull of a boy, possibly 7 to 12 years old, was found buried in St. Joseph County in 1993.

Back on Christmas Eve 1987, a skeleton was discovered in woods in Van Buren County’s Keeler Township. He was dressed in layers ski jacket and a plaid shirt over a Busch Gardens t-shirt with a pair of Clydesdale horses on the back.

Police said this is the only real chance for families of the missing.

“They don’t know what happened. They’re just gone,” Christensen said. “They don’t have the remains, they don’t have closure, they don’t have any idea what happened, so when you look at it from that standpoint, it’s something you have to do, you can’t not do it.”

Indiana State Police Capt. Kevin Smith, who used the technology to catch a child killer, said identifying the remains, in some cases, could eventually lead to other killers.

“Some of those are crimes and some of those are not,” Smith said. “If you can’t identify who it is, it is nearly impossible to go the next step and figure out what happened. Often, it is skeletal remains, so the cause of death is very difficult to determine. If you don’t have an identification, you don’t even know where to start.”

Read More:
Retired chief hopes new DNA test solves 40-year mystery

BBM.

Marcia Bateman's thread: Identified! - MI - Covert Township, WhtFem 730UFMI, 23-40, Near I-96, Oct'88 - Marcia Bateman

The 5 other Doe threads they are attempting to ID:

1979 Covert Twp John Doe:
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
MI - MI - Van Buren Co, Wht/HispMale, 33-69, Broken Nose, Spanish Medallion, Timex, Covert Twp, July 1979

1988 New Buffalo Jane Doe:
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
MI - MI - New Buffalo, Wht Fem 43-53 UP8228 foud in lake Michigan April 1988

2010 Covert Township John Doe
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
MI - MI- Van Buren Co, Asian Male, 25-40, Beach of Lake Michigan, Covert Twp, Oct 2010

2014 Saugatuck John Doe (Maxilla w/teeth)
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
MI - MI - Allegan Co, Male, 18-99, Maxilla w/teeth, Shore of Lake Michigan, Saugatuck, July 2014

1993 St. Joseph County Child John Doe (Age 7-12)
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
MI - MI - St. Joseph Co., WhtMale UP9894, 7-12, partial skull buried, Nov'93

 

[Gardener1850]

This is now officially a New DNA Doe Project case!

Current status is "at lab for sequencing."

DNA Doe Project

 

[MadMcGoo]

Current list of exclusions for UP9888 per NamUs:
MP20466 Joseph Gutierrez 09/03/1983 Alpena MI
MP4019 Ivan Barela 11/02/1986 San Francisco CA

 

[victoriarobinson642]

Very high first match-possibly a second or third cousin.

 

[leilarose68]

Very high first match-possibly a second or third cousin.

I'm really happy to see this, especially given how John Doe is thought to be underrepresented minority group. This high match is really good news

 

[ntt1]

Very interestingly, his admixture seems to suggest that he is East Asian, not Latino/Hispanic.

VanBuren.jpg

 

[leilarose68]

Very high first match-possibly a second or third cousin.

So this is super confusing but you're actually talking about the wrong Van Buren John Doe... there are two of them and both are DDP cases. Van Buren 1987 is the title of this thread and he is still a pending case and thought to be hispanic. The Van Buren John Doe who is active, and the one whose data you're talking about, is Van Buren 2010.
Pending case: Van Buren Co John Doe 1987 - DNA Doe Project Cases

Active case: Van Buren Co John Doe 2010 - DNA Doe Project Cases

Go to this thread to discuss the active Van Buren John Doe 2010 case: MI - MI- Van Buren Co, Asian Male, 25-40, Beach of Lake Michigan, Covert Twp, Oct 2010

 

[leilarose68]

Very interestingly, his admixture seems to suggest that he is East Asian, not Latino/Hispanic.

VanBuren.jpg

It's because there are two Van Buren John Does, which makes it really confusing. The data you're referencing refers to Van Buren 2010 John Doe (which is active) but the title of this thread is for Van Buren John Doe 1987 (which is a pending case).

Van Buren John Doe 2010 (active) was thought to be east asian and the DNA data does confirm that.

Here is the active Van Buren John Doe 2010 thread: MI - MI- Van Buren Co, Asian Male, 25-40, Beach of Lake Michigan, Covert Twp, Oct 2010

 

[ntt1]

It's because there are two Van Buren John Does, which makes it really confusing. The data you're referencing refers to Van Buren 2010 John Doe (which is active) but the title of this thread is for Van Buren John Doe 1987 (which is a pending case).

Van Buren John Doe 2010 (active) was thought to be east asian and the DNA data does confirm that.

Here is the active Van Buren John Doe 2010 thread: MI - MI- Van Buren Co, Asian Male, 25-40, Beach of Lake Michigan, Covert Twp, Oct 2010

Good catch...I had thought something may have been confused! The spreadsheet seems to be mislabelled. Will send off a note.

That is a very encouraging match in any case, especially from that admixture!

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Bumping up. Is this case still pending?

 

[Puzzleworth]

According to the DNA Doe Project spreadsheet he's still undergoing testing as of October 18th, 2021.

 

[victoriarobinson642]

Now on the DDP spreadsheet, very low matches.

 

[MarziPanda]

Wow... that's one of the lowest I've seen. Let's hope he has better matches on FTDNA. With matches that low I expect he (or his parents) was perhaps a recent migrant without much family in the US. It would be interesting to see where his ancestry was from. If he's Hispanic like they suspect, I would think he might be from somewhere more remote. Or possibly he isn't Hispanic and could be from some other remote community.

 

[ntt1]

Wow... that's one of the lowest I've seen. Let's hope he has better matches on FTDNA. With matches that low I expect he (or his parents) was perhaps a recent migrant without much family in the US. It would be interesting to see where his ancestry was from. If he's Hispanic like they suspect, I would think he might be from somewhere more remote. Or possibly he isn't Hispanic and could be from some other remote community.

Given the difficulty they seem to have had with getting a sample.... there's a chance the kit/data isn't good enough to upload to FTDNA. Consequently... I wonder if the low numbers have something to do with the lab work challenges.

 

[MadMcGoo]

Van Buren Co John Doe 1987 - DNA Doe Project Cases

This case is about a body found in 1987 in Van Buren, Co Michigan. Follow us as we work thorugh our DNA sequencing process.

dnadoeproject.org

Image Credit: Kim Parkhurst, DNA Doe Project Note: Image is an approximation based on partial skeletal remains and is not intended to be an exact likeness

 

[MarziPanda]

Given the difficulty they seem to have had with getting a sample.... there's a chance the kit/data isn't good enough to upload to FTDNA. Consequently... I wonder if the low numbers have something to do with the lab work challenges.

That's definitely possible. Sometimes they only get a partial profile so matches can only be made to the part of the DNA they could get, if that makes sense. It's why they sometimes try again to make a new profile in the hopes of getting a different part of/more of the DNA and new matches.

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Van Buren Co John Doe 1987 - DNA Doe Project Cases

This case is about a body found in 1987 in Van Buren, Co Michigan. Follow us as we work thorugh our DNA sequencing process.

dnadoeproject.org