Identified! NJ - Knowlton, 'Tiger Lady', WhtFem 17-19, UP1593, tiger tatt on calf, Oct'91 - Wendy Louise Baker

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apearn said:
http://www.nj.com/warren/index.ssf/2015/02/could_a_grateful_dead_guitar_help_crack_decades-old_murder_mystery.html#incart_m-rpt-2

From NJ.com "Could a Grateful Dead guitar help crack decades-old murder mystery?"

IDK - It doesn't look like a specific type of cat tat to me - although I always thought the tail was odd, which I think we discussed a while back and it turned out not to be.

I'm glad they are still on her case though so any new theory could be better than the ones that haven't produced an ID thus far.

GD where in NYC and Boston in September 91 - then California in October.
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Thanks for the link; I'm really not seeing the connection. If she was going to get a tat similar to the tiger on his guitar; it would be the same pose; tail & all. I was into Guns & Roses; I have Axel Rose's blue rose tattoo.
I was 26 when she was found but was hanging out with a gal that did tattoo's. I got my 1st tat at 16; I have 6; 2 have been redone (including the blue rose). The tiger was popular back then. Everyone & his brother had it. I'm 99% sure it came from sheets hanging in a tattoo shop. Really wish I still had all of my tattoo magazines.

What's interesting about comments from the article; it's said it was done by an amateur; do they not realize they're looking at a drawing & not her actual tattoo?

A CRAWLING TIGER, AN UNCERTAIN DATE OF DEATH

Lacking any other physical evidence at the time, detectives pursued the Tiger Lady's tattoo as a major lead. They analyzed the ink and found the supplier: Spaulding and Rogers, of Vooheesville, NY, according to the New Jersey State Police case file.

The tattoo company cooperated with the investigation, even distributing 20,500 fliers about the case to tattoo shops across the country. Investigators talked to tattoo artists across the nation, all of whom called the tattoo a "scratcher" -- a distinctly amateur piece of work, according to investigators who handled the case.

The potential link with the Grateful Dead and its nomadic following was not identified until sketches were released this past November, according to August Wistner, the lead detective on the case in the 1990s.

"Nobody ever mentioned it at the time," Wistner said.

Jerry Garcia played the "Tiger" guitar between 1979 and 1995, and it was the last instrument he used on stage, according to his official website. The inlay shows a tiger in white crawling down the tailpiece, its left paw forward, and its tail crooked to the right. After Garcia's death in 1995, it was sold to Jim Irsay, the owner of the Indianapolis Colts, in 2002 for $850,000.

Several Dead fans reached out after NJ Advance Media published a story about the Tiger Lady in November to say that the tiger tattoo looked like the icon on the Garcia guitar, with the pose of the tiger, and the kinked tail.
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carbuff said:
Thanks for bumping this. I had a sliver of information I meant to post earlier.

My son has a tiger identical to that on one of his karate t-shirts. He says his sensei, who designed the shirts, just got it off the web, so that's not much of a clue, but it does appear to be a design popular among martial artists.
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Not sure how I missed your post.

carbuff said:
Some interesting details in that article, about the ink and such.

Which reminded me to go looking, and Hah! I found a picture of my son's t-shirt.
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I agree Phung sounds way off, but she could be mixed race.

No, that tattoo does not look at all Grateful Dead to me. Look at the eyes and the claws. It's much more like an Asian-style tiger. If you google "year of the tiger tattoos" you get a lot of similar crouching and reaching tigers, even some with the loop in the tail which is not common if you just google "tiger tattoos."

1974 was a year of the tiger, and if my arithmetic is correct, and if that represents her birth year, that would make her 17 in 1991.
 
Phung is listed in NAMUS as "Asian/Pacific Islander".

I thought the tiger tat looked more Asian also, which is why I suggested Hmong in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Did a search on a very well known social media site that has 8 letters in its name- -there is a Hmong page, but it seems to be a "Dear Abby" type of page where people can write in and ask for advice.
 
I know I should share the newest articles on NJ but they are so far off it's not funny

carbuff said:
I agree Phung sounds way off, but she could be mixed race.

No, that tattoo does not look at all Grateful Dead to me. Look at the eyes and the claws. It's much more like an Asian-style tiger. If you google "year of the tiger tattoos" you get a lot of similar crouching and reaching tigers, even some with the loop in the tail which is not common if you just google "tiger tattoos."

1974 was a year of the tiger, and if my arithmetic is correct, and if that represents her birth year, that would make her 17 in 1991.
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I guess she'd be the same age as Cathy's daughter Alexis/ Aundria

rainwater said:
Phung is listed in NAMUS as "Asian/Pacific Islander".

I thought the tiger tat looked more Asian also, which is why I suggested Hmong in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Did a search on a very well known social media site that has 8 letters in its name- -there is a Hmong page, but it seems to be a "Dear Abby" type of page where people can write in and ask for advice.
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You're allowed to say Facebook; you could also paste in the site
 
Bumping Tigerlady. It just takes one person to recognize the info........
 
meant to post this earlier but what with the grandbaby arriving and all, I haven't had much time for WS. I'm still not clear why you think she's Hmong from Minneapolis St. Paul rather than from a closer community like the ones in NJ, MA, PA, or NH. Or why you think she's Hmong rather than another Asian ethnicity, for that matter. Would you expand on that a bit?
 
Congratulations on the new grandbaby!

I am not convinced Tigerlady Teen is Hmong. I merely suggested it because of the dark haired recon. I was looking at the Hmong sites to see if anyone had posted that they had a missing female relative/friend who had not been heard from since 1991. Minneapolis-St. Paul has one of the largest Hmong communities in the U.S. Tigerlady Teen could be from anywhere.

I agree with the earlier posters that it looks more like an Asian style tiger. I think we are looking for someone who liked/loved tigers, who may have felt connected to tigers in some way-thought they were a really fantastic animal for whatever reason. I would bet that as a little girl, she probably had stuffed animals in tiger shapes in her room and talked about tigers. I cannot imagine someone getting such a large tiger tattoo on the back of her calf if she was ambivalent about tigers or didn't like tigers.
 
They are facially similar in MOO. Height is in range of Tigerlady. Tabbetha's page says she was club-footed. I don't remember any mention of Tigerlady having a clubfoot, unless LE held that type of info back for a reason. It seems that type of info would actually aid in identifying her, though.

Clubfoot photo and info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_foot (Photo is of a small child/infant's club feet and may be disturbing to some people)
 
Maybe we could do something with a SM push like was done for grateful doe?
 
Yes, let's set a plan! Let's make it happen! I have a Flickr, tumblr and reddit account and would sign up for anymore sites we should get it shared on so I will start at a list, and please add to it any sites you think would be good to share. Maybe we can start a fb page and get the grateful doe page to share it as that's what they are doing now!

Sites
1. Flickr
2. Tumblr
3. Reddit
4. Facebook

Pictures and Stats
I can definitely create a flyer, but want to make sure I have all the info correct. Also, I can't recall what the contact info was on grateful does flyer? Just the info in namus?

What else? Anything I am missing? Also, if you know you can make an awesome flyer or do anything feel free to let me know! I don't mind being the person to do this but if you are an expert at any of this I would happily let whoever do this, but I just want to make sure it happens!
 
Also any suggestions on subreddits, I know there are ones for missing persons, what about tattoo artists? Or are there any online communities of tattoo artist?
 
I don't know enough about those sites to chime in but....go for it!! :)
 
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