PA PA - Bedford, 'Mr. Bones' WhtMale 30-35, 585UMPA, 30-06 rifle, gold dental wk, camping equip, Oct'58

[Magnum P.E.]

OMG I forgot all about Kewpie burgers!

I heard about Kewpie's but did not partake of their burger as I am vegetarian.

I have hints there may be some extremely interesting developments in the case very soon. Stay tuned.

 

[shadowangel]

Is there any indication that RF had reason to be familiar with the Bedford area, or eastern PA for that reason? I've read that he was in to a lot of bad things... The NY Catskill area was famous for its resort activities in the first part of the last century, were there similar activities in the area where Mr. Bones was found?

 

[Magnum P.E.]

Is there any indication that RF had reason to be familiar with the Bedford area, or eastern PA for that reason? I've read that he was in to a lot of bad things... The NY Catskill area was famous for its resort activities in the first part of the last century, were there similar activities in the area where Mr. Bones was found?

G'morning Shadow,

I looked into what I could about RF's past to find any ties to the Bedford area, but found none. I'd still like to know what Camp Chalybeate was and if he was ever there. Army Camp? CCC? WPA? I don't know yet. May make a quiet run to Bedford to visit the Historical Society there. I am not familiar with Bedford being a mob hangout, coulda been though.

Developments may make RF's connection to Bedford a moot point.

 

[Eddie99]

Magnum, looks to me as though the spot he was found, has been cleared of trees and brush. Not sure the coordinates were correct, it does not look to be a ditch, in fact it looks flat.
Cant wait to see the new developments you mentioned. You should be proud of yourself! Nice job.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

Magnum, looks to me as though the spot he was found, has been cleared of trees and brush. Not sure the coordinates were correct, it does not look to be a ditch, in fact it looks flat.
Cant wait to see the new developments you mentioned. You should be proud of yourself! Nice job.

Thanks, Eddie. But I don't know if I have anything to be proud of yet. Somehow in those stories they wrote, "as confident as I can be without DNA" became "all but certain". In reading my posts here going way back, you can see that I am not that certain. My approach has always been to find a candidate who fit all that we knew and get info on relatives to LE.

Charles Conner is a good candidate at this point. He fits in every physical aspect, time since LKA, cause of death, and geographically, though I never heard of taking a body that far.

If a relative does not match Mr. B, then I will apologize. It could be an incorrect conclusion reached by a logical process. It happens.

I don't know how exact the coordinates are, or if anyone knows the precise location where the body was found. They don't clear a huge path for a pipeline so if anyone has a map that shows it, it is somewhere on that right-of-way.

More is happening than I can say right now.

 

[Eddie99]

That may e true, but when considering the odds of : being 6'2'' having brown hair, sustaining a rifle shot to the forehead, and having a guy suspected of shooting a guy in the forehead seen roughly half way between the location of the murder, and the location the body was found is a "tad" overwhelming. I would bet the farm on it being him. With luck, a suitable comparison will be found.
Id like to learn more about the relationship between Conner and Forsythe.
The article in the Lima newspaper said Conner had run in's with the police too. I wonder how well they knew one another.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

That may e true, but when considering the odds of : being 6'2'' having brown hair, sustaining a rifle shot to the forehead, and having a guy suspected of shooting a guy in the forehead seen roughly half way between the location of the murder, and the location the body was found is a "tad" overwhelming. I would bet the farm on it being him. With luck, a suitable comparison will be found.
Id like to learn more about the relationship between Conner and Forsythe.
The article in the Lima newspaper said Conner had run in's with the police too. I wonder how well they knew one another.

They knew each other well enough that Conner was celebrating his birthday in RF's kitchen. Lima is not a large town.

Yep Eddie, that would be a lot of coincidences, wouldn't it? But we don't know until testing happens. I guess I will either look like Sherlock Holmes or Gomer Pyle when this is over. I did the best I could.

 

[Richard]

Bumping. Hard to believe that it has been 8 years since this thread was started! Great to see the interest and possible leads toward solving this case.

Last year at this time, a very similar case dating back to 1968 involving a young man found murdered near a PA turnpike exit was in the news. The unknown victim was positively identified as Corporal Robert Daniel Corriveau, USMC who had gone missing from the Naval Hospital, Philadelphia. He had been declared a deserter when he missed muster, but had in fact been murdered. He was positively identified, his record has been cleared, and he was given a funeral in his home town with full military honors. The case remains open, however, since it is an unsolved homicide.

Hopefully the case of Mr. Bones will lead to a positive identification as well.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

Bumping. Hard to believe that it has been 8 years since this thread was started! Great to see the interest and possible leads toward solving this case.

Last year at this time, a very similar case dating back to 1968 involving a young man found murdered near a PA turnpike exit was in the news. The unknown victim was positively identified as Corporal Robert Daniel Corriveau, USMC who had gone missing from the Naval Hospital, Philadelphia. He had been declared a deserter when he missed muster, but had in fact been murdered. He was positively identified, his record has been cleared, and he was given a funeral in his home town with full military honors. The case remains open, however, since it is an unsolved homicide.

Hopefully the case of Mr. Bones will lead to a positive identification as well.

Things are moving along rapidly on Mr. Bones.Watch for more news.
Old cases like Mr. B. and Bobby Dan Corriveau CAN be solved, but it takes volunteers to do it. There is just not enough time for LE to work on them.
Hey Richard, didn't Corriveau's son also go missing later?

 

[Nikon]

The NY Catskill area was famous for its resort activities in the first part of the last century, were there similar activities in the area where Mr. Bones was found?

Yes. Bedford, Pennsylvania has been famous for being a resort town for the rich folk, going on three centuries with all walks of life for the privileged from self-made men to presidents. It also was famous for medicinal springs that predates modern medicine. There were four or five different 'medicinal' springs. Bedford is also located on U.S. Route 30, which is the Lincoln Highway.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

In response to Cherry's question about military service, no one recalls him having served. He may have, but we have found no record of it.

We still only have two pictures of Mr. Conner. I hoped for more, or those elusive dentals.

One aspect that has bothered me, Mr. Bones had a gold tooth, and neither of the two people I spoke to who knew him could recall if Charles Conner had one. They didn't say he did not have one, they just could not remember. It is one reason that I am not sure until testing is done. And 370 miles is a long way to take a body, has anyone ever heard of anything like that in any of your cases?

 

[Eddie99]

I wouldn't worry about the tooth. Gold teeth were fairly common. Even in WWII - people used to steal gold teeth from the dead. The contacts on the other hand..that is unusual. Perhaps he didn't want glasses, and chose to pony up the cash to avoid wearing them.

 

[Eddie99]

I take that back. I just Googled around and found this:

Properly fitted, corneal PMMA contact lenses could be worn for 16 hours or longer. Advances in lens manufacturing techniques and fitting expertise among eye doctors led to the mass appeal of these hard plastic contact lenses in the 1950s and 1960s.

I am guessing that Conner was a bachelor, and probably had disposable income to spend on the contacts.

Magnum, 370 miles is a lot to cover. But let's keep in mind he was seen in Cadiz, thats over 1/2 way to where Mr. Bones was found. That, and that's only a long way, if he was planning on returning. I suspect ol Ralph made a few phone calls to see if "the heat was on". He probably made several calls to friends, to see what was up. It wouldn't suprisd me if he called his lawyer too.

So lets review.

Age: match
Build: match
Hair: match
Rifle : from fort Wayne
Killer seen precisely between murder site & dump site.
Time of death: match
Wound sustained: match

The only loose ends:
Books
Camping gear
Leather jacket

All of which Ralph, could have planted to confuse the scene.

Contacts - plausible.
Gold tooth - very plausible

DNA - will confirm! Here is to hoping!

Another note - If Ralph did plant all the other items, to throw off investigators. He probably learned that trick from someone. Most likely another underworld character. Makes me wonder how many other unidentified victims have had the circumstances of there cases confused by this method.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

I take that back. I just Googled around and found this:

Properly fitted, corneal PMMA contact lenses could be worn for 16 hours or longer. Advances in lens manufacturing techniques and fitting expertise among eye doctors led to the mass appeal of these hard plastic contact lenses in the 1950s and 1960s.

I am guessing that Conner was a bachelor, and probably had disposable income to spend on the contacts.

Magnum, 370 miles is a lot to cover. But let's keep in mind he was seen in Cadiz, thats over 1/2 way to where Mr. Bones was found. That, and that's only a long way, if he was planning on returning. I suspect ol Ralph made a few phone calls to see if "the heat was on". He probably made several calls to friends, to see what was up. It wouldn't suprisd me if he called his lawyer too.

So lets review.

Age: match
Build: match
Hair: match
Rifle : from fort Wayne
Killer seen precisely between murder site & dump site.
Time of death: match
Wound sustained: match

The only loose ends:
Books
Camping gear
Leather jacket

All of which Ralph, could have planted to confuse the scene.

Contacts - plausible.
Gold tooth - very plausible

DNA - will confirm! Here is to hoping!

Another note - If Ralph did plant all the other items, to throw off investigators. He probably learned that trick from someone. Most likely another underworld character. Makes me wonder how many other unidentified victims have had the circumstances of there cases confused by this method.

The 370 miles to the dump site is quite amazing, if that is what happened. It would be like taking a corpse on vacation with you, most people would not stay cool enough to take it that far.
Charles Conner worked at Ford Motor Company in Lima. From what people have told me he also gambled. If he had a good day, that could account for the contacts. Or they were planted with the other things. Or whoever disposed of the body lost them (or it). Or Mr. Bones is not Chuck Conner.
Mr. Bones has dentals, DNA, and no prints. Charles Conner has no prints that I could find, no dentals that I could find, and DNA in the form of relatives. It is down to DNA. We will know when we know.

The sighting in Cadiz and a look at the map was an eye opener for sure. A whole lot of details fit, but........

 

[Richard]

Things are moving along rapidly on Mr. Bones.Watch for more news.
Old cases like Mr. B. and Bobby Dan Corriveau CAN be solved, but it takes volunteers to do it. There is just not enough time for LE to work on them.
Hey Richard, didn't Corriveau's son also go missing later?

-------------

Magnum,

Robert Daniel Corriveau was married, but he did not have any children.

There was a young man who went missing in the 1980's whose last name was also Corriveau, but the two were not related. I believe that young man is still missing.

Robert Daniel Corriveau's case is now an open murder case with the Pennsylvania State Police in charge of the investigation.

You are right, these old cases are solvable.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

-------------

Magnum,

Robert Daniel Corriveau was married, but he did not have any children.

There was a young man who went missing in the 1980's whose last name was also Corriveau, but the two were not related. I believe that young man is still missing.

Robert Daniel Corriveau's case is now an open murder case with the Pennsylvania State Police in charge of the investigation.

You are right, these old cases are solvable.

You did a great thing in identifying him and restoring his good name. I think the problem with working on Corriveau's case is that LE is not going to let loose of much info, as it was clearly a homicide. With Mr. Bones they did not care if I was working on it.
Wonder who Corporal Corriveau hung out with at the hospital?

 

[Richard]

You did a great thing in identifying him and restoring his good name. I think the problem with working on Corriveau's case is that LE is not going to let loose of much info, as it was clearly a homicide. With Mr. Bones they did not care if I was working on it.
Wonder who Corporal Corriveau hung out with at the hospital?

The Philadelphia Naval Hospital was closed about 1992 just after Desert Storm, and the whole building was razed in 2002. However, the records are still in existance. I was able to locate the complete roster of all Navy and Marine Corps personnel (staff and patients) who were there in 1968 (and other years as well).

Unlike the TV shows, you don't just type on a computer to get it! It is all on microfilm or paper and it involves a lot of old fashioned reading and photocopying.

Investigators have located and spoken with several former Navy and Marine Corps officers and enlisted who were associated in some way with Corporal Corriveau. All information has been offered to Pennsylvania State Police. Unfortunately, PSP has not been forthcoming with much information in return. This is somewhat understandable, as it is a very active homicide investigation at this point.

In cases like this, I believe that the more information made available, the better. Even some seemingly insignificant little bit of information could be the key which triggers somebody's memory, or leads to a break in the case.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

Unlike the TV shows, you don't just type on a computer to get it! It is all on microfilm or paper and it involves a lot of old fashioned reading and photocopying.

Tell me about it! I have noticed that they can also pick a lock in seconds on TV. I take a minute or two on the very easiest lock, and I know what I am doing.
What we really do would not make for exciting TV, it s a lot of grunt work. I had to have my ducks in a row on Mr. Bones when I went in to LE. If they were unconvinced, no testing would happen. I came across Charles Conner last year about this time, and am just now near knowing if it is him. That is a lot of work.

I hope to have more news to share on Mr. B. soon.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

A suitable relative of Charles Conner has given a DNA sample to Ohio LE for comparison to Mr. Bones. The relationship is such that it should be definitive. Results should be known around Christmas.
It is gonna be a long wait for me!

 

[Saphyrrra]

I haven't read the threads except the opener.. but if he traveled by plane could they cross reference passanger lists to narrow it down. Perhaps someone who bought a round trip and didn't use the trip home.