NV NV - Lake Mead, WhtMale 30-40, UP9127, MGB convertible & Derringer pistol nearby, Jan'88

[PASA]

My guess is the previous owner signed over the car and the UID did not go to the DMV and register to get new tags. I know at one time that the first 2 letters on an Oklahoma tag identified the
county the car was registered in. I don't know if or when that changed. But if it was still the case when the car was registered it's probably Atoka County (AT).
I should add that at that time Z was Tulsa, X and Y were Oklahoma County. I'm going back to the 70's.
May be worth looking at, just a hunch on my part.

 

[Damarna]

I see that this case is no longer on the Clark County website. Why do you suppose that is?

I see he's still on Doe Network and NamUs so it's probably still active.

 

[artsy_ann]

Ok... I just noticed Thai I had the clark county case number as 88-0009. It's actually 88-00009.

 

[carbuff]

This is probably why we haven't been able to find the name...

http://www.clarkcountynv.gov/Depts/coroner/unidentified/Pages/default.aspx


I'm glad you gave the link to that thread, as it preserves the original report from the LV coroner before they handed (apparently parts of) their load over to NamUS. For some reason, that part didn't transfer to NamUS (the suicide note, his mother, etc.).


From that site:
Unidentified male found in Clark County,Nevada in 1988

From the link, a posting by Rick Jones of the Clark County Coroner's office: "We only found one Klinge who died near the 2 months and that was a Harriet Kling who died in Suffolk County NY in July 1987."

Updated Namus link: Unidentified Person Case

No ruleouts listed.

 

[Blonded]

Here is the suicide note:

 

[carbuff]

Did we look into the possibility that Mr. Klinge's mother was not in the US?

 

[Laughing]

Did we look into the possibility that Mr. Klinge's mother was not in the US?

Well we know you're brilliant, Carbuff, and yep Houston has an international airport....

Too late to ask the car's previous owner where the sales transaction took place, and how Mr. Klinge arrived for car-shopping & car-buying?

If Carbuff is right, and this is generally the case, airline and car rental personnel spoke with Mr. Klinge and may have checked his ID, even in 1987.

 

[artsy_ann]

Blonded, thanks for sharing the note since I never got around to it.

Now... As far as the possibility of him being from a different country... the man that sold Karl Klinge the car said he didn't know anything about him- which to me implies that Klinge didn't have a strange accent, nothing stood out to him about Karl. This also makes me think that could rule out certain states that are known to have heavy accents... But, that's just my guess.

 

[Laughing]

Blonded, thanks for sharing the note since I never got around to it.

Now... As far as the possibility of him being from a different country... the man that sold Karl Klinge the car said he didn't know anything about him- which to me implies that Klinge didn't have a strange accent, nothing stood out to him about Karl. This also makes me think that could rule out certain states that are known to have heavy accents... But, that's just my guess.

Some people have a very good ear for languages & speak with very little accent.

Mr. Klinge's mother may have spoken English as her home language while living abroad, resulting in no discernible accent for him.

We may never know! Probably never will, realistically.

JMHO YMMV LRR

 

[carbuff]

Blonded, thanks for sharing the note since I never got around to it.

Now... As far as the possibility of him being from a different country... the man that sold Karl Klinge the car said he didn't know anything about him- which to me implies that Klinge didn't have a strange accent, nothing stood out to him about Karl. This also makes me think that could rule out certain states that are known to have heavy accents... But, that's just my guess.

I wasn't necessarily thinking they weren't from the US--it's quite common for people who want to stretch their retirement income to move to places like the south of Spain and Portugal, Costa Rica, and other areas where lots of people speak English. Or she could have been vacationing. And if she was from Canada or parts of Australia and New Zealand, the accent might not have been noticeable.

There's also the possibility that she didn't use the name Klinge. She might have remarried, or resumed her maiden name after a divorce, or just never changed it.

Hm, maybe it would be worth springing for a newspapers.com subscription...

 

[Valiant]

I believe in Oklahoma at the time the tags went with the car and not the owner. The law has since changed.
So it wouldn't be unusual for the previous owner to leave his/her tags on the car for the new owner.

 

[artsy_ann]

Yes, I've been thinking that his mother must have been remarried and had a different last name.

Interesting to think of his mother possibly dying in another country...

 

[artsy_ann]

Just for the sake of putting this in the thread...
This is how I got the suicide note. I first emailed the coroner's office asking for it... They said the police had it.
I emailed the police, they said the coroner had it.
I emailed doenetwork saying that if seen a name on the coroner's website and that there was supposed to be a note as well...
Doe network contacted the coroner, coroner finds the note and passes it on to doe network who forwarded it to me.
Now- isn't it crazy that that note/name still are not on namus?!

 

[Deulino]

At first I thought that this letter was a sick prank (seeing as this car was a convertible), eince Lover's Cove hardly sounds like a place you kill yourself due to a terminal sickness.

Now that I think about it, I believe it was real. Buying a fancy car and committing suicide makes sense if you have no close relatives to pass your inheritance to.

Maybe this man was in that location years before and had good memories connected to the place?

 

[carbuff]

Yes, I've been thinking that his mother must have been remarried and had a different last name.

Interesting to think of his mother possibly dying in another country...

Occurred to me later that a lot of people go to Mexico for cancer treatments that aren't approved in the US. Many are in Tijuana but I see several in Mexicali which is pretty much straight south from Lake Mead:

Tijuana, Mexico, has become a refuge for cancer patients who have been convinced that they may be cured of their terminal illness by unconventional, unproved, and disproved methods offered in the border clinics. ... Popular treatments include injections of hydrogen peroxide, large quantities of pressed liver and carrot juice, coffee enemas, infusions of Laetrile mixed with massive doses of vitamins and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), special diets, and a host of other pseudoscientific regimens. Unfortunately, no evidence exists that any of these modalities is more effective than no treatment at all.

Questionable cancer practices in Tijuana and other Mexican border clinics - PubMed

 

[MadMcGoo]

I thought doing a search for “Karl Klinge” on Ancestry/newspapers would yield few results. I was wrong.

I’ll look around with the broad search to see if anything stands out, but if anyone has more specific ideas, holler!

 

[MadMcGoo]

The Doe Network: 2047UMNV

Photos of the type of car and gun found. Please note these are not the same car and gun but the same make and models.

Unidentified Male
Date of Discovery: January 1, 1988
Location of Discovery: Clark County, Nevada
Estimated Date of Death: 1987
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Partial remains with soft tissues
Cause of Death: Suicide

Estimated Age: 30-40 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 5'2" to 5'4"
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown

Dentals: Available. Large mandibular tori present.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: mtDNA and nucDNA available in NDIS.

Clothing: Faded Levi jeans, gray jacket, brown belt, green socks, and black boots with a vertical zipper on the inner surfaces.

Jewelry: Unknown

Additional Personal Items: Davis Industries Model D-32, double barrel Derringer pistol, man's prescription clear glasses with wire frames, red handkerchief, a small blue FM Sony Walkman radio, red nylon bag, and a leather carrying case for a firearm.

Case History
The victim's remains were found 200 feet from the water line in an area known as "Lovers Cove" near Calville Bay, Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Receipts from a grocery store in Houston, Texas, dated between October through November 1987 were found on the scene.

On 12/12/1987 a 1973 MGB Convertible bearing Oklahoma plates (AT 1692) was towed from the Calville Bay parking lot. When the vehicle was searched later, additional receipts from the Houston area were found along with a suicide note.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

What if recently as in his mother died recently was not 1987 but the previous year ? Or even earlier.

I was still saying I lost someone recently when they had passed away 2 years previously. It's heading on for three years now and I still feel it wasn't so long ago.

 

[carbuff]

What if recently as in his mother died recently was not 1987 but the previous year ? Or even earlier.

I was still saying I lost someone recently when they had passed away 2 years previously. It's heading on for three years now and I still feel it wasn't so long ago.

The suicide note says two months.

 

[MadMcGoo]

I’m curious wether or not he actually had a terminal illness or not. It likely won’t help in identifying him, but maybe there was something else that made him feel the need to take his own life.