NV NV - Pershing Co, 'Valerie Doe' WhtFem 25-50, UP7635, in desert, May'91

[micheleonelonly]

This is the best I could get with what I have. Click on the attachment to blow it up.

It does look very very similar but I think the links are different. The one the UID was wearing does not look like an expensive one.

Also, the last photo in her Namus images shows her in a showgirl outfit, which makes it seem like she might have headed to Las Vegas or California.

I actually think the bracelet in MP Valerie's photo more closely matches UID Valerie's dragon bracelet. But it's very hard to tell.

 

[La Louve]

After looking at that map, it occurred to me that the person responsible for her disappearance must have been very familiar with the area to drive that far from the interstate into the middle of nowhere. I wonder if the roads were accessible year round or were seasonal? Is this near where the Burning Man takes place? Did they even do Burning Man back when she died?

This thread caught my eye tonight because I'm a "Burner" and have been going to Burning Man for several years.

If you click on the link posted upthread for the site where her body was found http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&sou...265518&sspn=0.39956,0.732651&ie=UTF8&t=p&z=11 it shows Point A as County Rd 34S. If you type into the Point B box " Black Rock City,NV" and then select "get directions" it will overlay the location of the modern festival site onto the map. Basically, the body was found just a couple miles up the highway from where you turn off to go into the festival. Interestingly, the body was found pretty much due west of the modern-day festival site. It's worth noting though that the actual site of Black Rock City has moved a bit over the years, but generally-speaking where the map shows it today is more or less where it's been since the early days. I have never been further north on Hwy 34 than the turnoff at about milepost 9 but I know there are other entrance points into the desert. Back in the early 90s the "trash fence" perimeter around the city had not yet been established so it would probably have been possible to drive directly west to where her body was found, but I'm not sure it would've been possible to get back onto the highway. It's pretty rocky terrain that surrounds the dry lakebed that comprises the main part of the desert. And there is a barbed wire fence along the side of the highway, which I suspect is mainly to keep the omnipresent cattle off the desert floor. It's open range land around there and cows are always on the highway, especially at night when it gets cold and they are looking for warmth.

Burning Man has been held in the Black Rock Desert since 1990, when the "event" (which was just a bunch of artists burning a man effigy on the beach) was moved from Baker Beach in San Francisco to the Black Rock Desert.

From the website's timeline: "Park Police arrive and ban burning. A compromise is reached, allowing the statue to be assembled and elevated, BUT not burned on beach site. Proposal to move Burning Man to Black Rock Desert made during discussion with San Francisco Cacophony Society (see the First Year in the Desert). Event relocated in both space and time: to Black Rock on Labor Day weekend."

The following year, 1991, the festival was fully held in the desert, with 250 participants, in late August/early September.

(source: http://www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/about_burningman/bm_timeline.html)

IMO it's doubtful that she had a connection to Burning Man as a participant. It's such a remote area that if someone in Reno wanted a place to dump a body, it would've been a pretty good choice without having to drive more than a couple hours. But if she had been at the event, it's likely she came from the San Francisco Bay Area, since at that time that's where most of the participants came from. It was a few more years before word of the event began to spread and people around California and Nevada started attending. Just to illustrate how much it's grown, last year there were nearly 70,000 participants, from all over the world!

Hope this helps shed a bit of light on the locale and Burning Man back in the day. I'll go back and read the entire thread now.

ETA I just now caught the fact that her body was found in May of 1991. That would obviously rule out her being at Burning Man in 1991. I'm guessing she was local to the area, or maybe from Sparks or Reno.

 

[La Louve]

There's a lot of good data here regarding Gerlach. http://www.city-data.com/city/Gerlach-Empire-Nevada.html

I was looking for historical population data since Gerlach was once much more populated than it is nowadays.

Some possible locations where the victim might have resided:

Nearest city with pop. 50,000+: Sparks, NV (76.8 miles , pop. 66,346).
Nearest city with pop. 200,000+: Sacramento, CA (182.5 miles , pop. 407,018).
Nearest city with pop. 1,000,000+: Los Angeles, CA (455.2 miles , pop. 3,694,820).
Nearest cities: High Desert, NV (5.0 miles ), Sutcliffe, NV (7.0 miles ), Pyramid Lake, NV (7.3 miles ), Nixon, NV (7.4 miles ), Lovelock, NV (7.4 miles ), Honey Lake, CA (7.5 miles ), Carson Sink, NV (7.8 miles) , Madeline Plains, CA (7.8 miles ).

Or colleges she may have attended:
Colleges/universities with over 2000 students nearest to Gerlach-Empire:

Truckee Meadows Community College (about 77 miles; Reno, NV; Full-time enrollment: 3,833)
University of Nevada-Reno (about 80 miles; Reno, NV; FT enrollment: 12,110)
Butte College (about 140 miles; Oroville, CA; FT enrollment: 6,150)
California State University-Chico (about 147 miles; Chico, CA; FT enrollment: 15,160)
Yuba College (about 156 miles; Marysville, CA; FT enrollment: 3,283)
Shasta College (about 157 miles; Redding, CA; FT enrollment: 4,214)
Sierra College (about 162 miles; Rocklin, CA; FT enrollment: 7,609)

Anyway, just some additional info that might help us figure out where she was from and who she was.

 

[La Louve]

One more thing I've discovered in looking at the map where the body was found:

By switching to satellite view and magnifying it to google's full capacity, I can see that just a couple hundred feet south of (what I presume) is the grave site, there IS a turnoff from the highway onto the desert floor and a fairly well delineated "road" that travels in a northeasterly direction across the desert. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) rangers regularly patrol the area and I think that "road" is probably one that is marked by the BLM. The Black Rock Desert is used by a lot of off-roaders and campers etc. and the BLM does try to control vehicles out there to some degree.

Also, the fact that she was found at the end of May would make sense in that the winter there is snowy and wet and the desert floor is impassable until late spring when it dries out. You don't want to get stuck out there when it's still wet or even damp. The dust (not sand) is very fine and alkaline and dries to a cement-like substance, making movement impossible.

 

[Sleuthster]

This is the best I could get with what I have. Click on the attachment to blow it up.

It does look very very similar but I think the links are different. The one the UID was wearing does not look like an expensive one.

Also, the last photo in her Namus images shows her in a showgirl outfit, which makes it seem like she might have headed to Las Vegas or California.

Thank you! What about the serpent bracelet? It has a thicker band.

 

[Sleuthster]

I actually think the bracelet in MP Valerie's photo more closely matches UID Valerie's dragon bracelet. But it's very hard to tell.

That's what I'm thinking.

 

[carbuff]

Valerie's bracelet and dragon bracelet. Again, click to expand.

It doesn't look to me like it quite matches, but one thing we do know is that Valerie Smith had similar taste in jewelry.

 

[jessica-]

The reconstruction and Valarie's face are quite remarkably similar.

 

[carbuff]

Birdie looks awfully similar too:

 

[CarlK90245]

Here's a new addition to NamUs named Valerie.

Valerie Anne Pryor
https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/24509/0

Aside from the hair color, the comparisons look pretty good.

*****	Valerie Prior	Jane Doe UP7635	Comparison
Age:​	32	25-35	Within Range
Height:​	5'2" to 5'3"	5'2"	Within Range
Hair:​	Light Blonde	Brown	Discrepancy
Date LKA/Discovery Date:​	02-Feb-1989	26-May-1991	28 month Timeframe / Up to 4 years PM interval ***
Loc LKA/Discovery Loc:​	Colton Oregon	Pershing County, Nevada	About 575 Miles
Pants:​	Blue Denim Jeans	Denim Jeans	Match

*** According to DoeNetwork

 

[sfbaynancydrew]

The serpent bracelet looks very vintage Margot de Taxco.

 

[Tulessa]

Bumping, because I care...

 

[Dionysia]

Were Valerie Smith and Birdie ever submitted?

 

[madamx]

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...y-Queens-4-March-1981&highlight=valerie+smith

Valerie Smith her ears stick out a bit like the drawing of Valerie Doe and there is a profile photo of Valerie Smith that her nose to me looks similar

 

[carbuff]

Were Valerie Smith and Birdie ever submitted?

I don't think we submitted anybody after Larkin. There are four ruleouts: https://identifyus.org/cases/7635

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

 

[Dionysia]

Should we submit them?

I'm out of pocket most days (new job), so carbuff, if you want to reach out, please feel free.

 

[Otterly]

Too bad there are not any pictures of Valerie Pryor that we can use to compare. NAMUS also seems to indicate there are few identifiers for her either, DNA still states "initial inquiry underway". I feel she is much more likely to be a match than Valerie Smith due to Smith's disappearance being across the country from Nevada and in 1981, years before the 1987-1991 time of death interval given by NAMUS.

 

[ArtsyOwl]

I wonder whether the Chinese bracelet has something to do with the Chinese year of the dragon? Perhaps it's the UID's birth year?
The Chinese zodiac years are: 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988. Is it possible that Valerie Doe was born in either 1952 or 1964?

I know it might be considered a "bit out there" as a theory but, anything is possible and maybe it might help to narrow things down a little, who knows. What do you guys think? Are there any missing ladies mentioned on this thread born in the years mentioned in this post?

 

[Owutatangledweb]

Going by both the jeans AND blouse both being made out of the country, this JD may not have been from the U.S.

 

[Tuck]

Just stumbled onto this thread, and curious as to whether Valerie Ann Pryor was ever submitted? She left carrying an overnight bag (which implies she was heading somewhere), and was wearing the same clothing. I am aware that the hair colour was a discrepancy, but I was looking at a few different cases earlier today, and I noticed that the phrase brown hair colour (possibly due to decomposition) kept cropping up. The MP may have also potentially dyed it or depending on post mortem interval, her hair could've faded from blonde to brown over time (I know this experience first hand). No clue if this is helpful or not, but just thought it might be worth sharing.