Identified! PA - Berks Co., 2 WhtFems, photos in hangar, 1968-69 - Martha & Sandra Stiver

[CarlK90245]

I sent the photo to Todd Matthews, and he has already updated the NamUs file.

 

[tamar]

looks very close to me Carl. Good find! I love that you utilize classmates this way. I think someone should do a human interest story on this.

 

[Snufamonbobball]

Looks like a real possibility to me- great job!

 

[Ambercat]

The one thing that bothers me is the unidentified girl's bridge of the nose, which looks almost masculine. I suspect that it is shadows though, as very few young girls have such a hooded brow.

I thought her nose could have been broken at one point, but some women do have noses like that.

 

[Ambercat]

I'm not really sure what photographs or drawings were done. I can't even find out who's buried in the Potter's Field. If you look under the composite of 447UFPA you'll see the disclaimer, "Please keep in mind that there are no pictures of this victim and it is unknown if this is an accurate portrayal of what she looked like." So who knows where they got this picture from.

I thought that the drawing was art in the public domain but I tried to backtrack to where I read that and now I can't seem to find it.

 

[CarlK90245]

Here's a Junior year photo of Linda Britton from the 1962 Cambridge HS Yearbook.

I don't see the same similarities in this photo to the Berks County Mystery Girl (below center) as I saw with the Sophomore photo (below right), though their noses are remarkably similar.

Her appearance changed quite a bit in one year.

 

[ebfortin]

I'm brand new to this Web Sleuthing universe but find it quite interesting. I've been interested in unsolved crimes for a while. Recently, I've been looking resources on the web and found various places, including this one.

Anyhow, I want to propose a case that stuck me a couple of nights ago. I was browsing unsolved murders on the Doe Network. I stumbled on a case that looks like all the other cases : a girl found murdered in 1969 (quite old case) without any identification. The interesting point with this case is that they found pictures of two other girls that they strongly think could help with this case. So far so good. The very particular thing for me is that one of the picture was made in front of a "Expo 67" logo and title. Probably nobody here know what Expo 67 is. It was a World Fair organized in Montreal / Canada in 1967. But this photograph was found in Pennsylvania! And according to the case file on Doe Network, it could be linked with criminalized bike gangs, which are known to have connections between each other all over America. I'm pretty sure nobody made the connection to Expo 67 in Montreal yet. So a couple of things I'm thinking about:

1) The girl in the picture can be a person from Montreal that went missing between 1967 and 1969. This can be investigated.
2) What bikers gangs from Pennsylvania have links with gangs in Montreal? This has probably been documented somewhere.
3) Why is that these two girls are thought to have a connection with the victim? From the case file it's not so clear.

Maybe we can give some closure to people waiting for it since 1969.

Link to the case file : http://doenetwork.org/cases/485ufpa.html

 

[believe09]

:seeya: Welcome to Websleuths!!! :rocker:

This case seems pretty solveable doesnt it??

stats:

• Estimated age: 21 years old
• Approximate Height and Weight: 5'1".
• Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown hair.
• Dentals: Not available; she was missing 3 teeth, but it is unknown if they were missing prior to death, or if they were lost during a struggle.
• Clothing: The victim was found nude. A pair of panties & a white sandal were found near remains. The mate to the sandal has never been found. Elastic waist of panties rolled as if they were rolled off the victim.
• Fingerprints: Not available
• DNA: Not available

 

[believe09]

Here is the case that LE believes is related:

http://doenetwork.org/cases/447ufpa.html

Stats:

• Estimated age: Initial estimate was that she was 15-20 years old, however, when doctors examined calcium formations in the bone joints, it was decided that she may have been as old as 30.
• Approximate Height and Weight: 5'3"; 125 - 130 lbs.
• Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown hair with reddish tint; unknown eyecolor. No scars or tattoos.
• Clothing: Black Nehru-type blouse with zipper down the back, black bra - 36B, nylon stockings, white girdle, Nico brand white sandals made in Italy, size M8. No slacks or skirt found.
• Jewelry: Bronze, four-way, religious medal on a heavy, endless chain. The medal depicted the crucifix on the front. On the back was the inscription: "I am a Catholic. In case of emergency, call me a priest". She was also wearing a sterling identification-type bracelet with a flexible band on her left wrist. There was no inscription on the ID bracelet.
• Dentals: Available. There are amalgam fillings present.
• Fingerprints: Available
• DNA: Not available

 

[believe09]

from your post ebfortin:

The very particular thing for me is that one of the picture was made in front of a "Expo 67" logo and title. Probably nobody here know what Expo 67 is. It was a World Fair organized in Montreal / Canada in 1967.

Great point. So, do we accept that both women had been to the expo and were perhaps traveling together? I assume from both listings that LE believes the Jane Does may be the photographed women. I suppose that an XRAY of the skulls and a copy laid over the photos may help with that. And I wonder what prohibited DNA from being taken?

 

[CCJD]

Link to another thread about the two girls:
http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44787&highlight=485ufpa

from that thread:

...the county doesn't have the records as to where these girls are buried. The potter's field has no markers at all. I walked around the entire thing and there is nothing. It's just an empty field except for a sign in the middle of it that says county cemetary.

Somewhere along the line, someone apparently stole all the grave markers from the Berks County cemetery and the paper records of whom is buried where are gone/missing, whatever. It's my understanding that these girls aren't the only unknowns buried there. I believe that Pinnacle John Doe (found in a cave) https://identifyus.org/en/cases/5661 is also buried there.

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

:seeya: Welcome to Websleuths!!! :rocker:

This case seems pretty solveable doesnt it??

stats:

• Estimated age: 21 years old
• Approximate Height and Weight: 5'1".
• Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown hair.
• Dentals: Not available; she was missing 3 teeth, but it is unknown if they were missing prior to death, or if they were lost during a struggle.
• Clothing: The victim was found nude. A pair of panties & a white sandal were found near remains. The mate to the sandal has never been found. Elastic waist of panties rolled as if they were rolled off the victim.
• Fingerprints: Not available
• DNA: Not available

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/3259/8
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Status Missing First name Sheryl Middle name Ann Last name Tillinghast Nickname/Alias
NCMEC number 1156469 Date LKA September 24, 1973 09:00 Date entered 12/01/2009 Age LKA 17 to 17 years old Age now 55 years old Race White Ethnicity
Sex Female Height (inches) 63.0 Weight (pounds)

140.0​

 

[Stella]

Except for the missing bangs, Miss Tillingast looks exactly like the photo. The features are perfect matches.

 

[ebfortin]

from your post ebfortin:


Great point. So, do we accept that both women had been to the expo and were perhaps traveling together? I assume from both listings that LE believes the Jane Does may be the photographed women. I suppose that an XRAY of the skulls and a copy laid over the photos may help with that. And I wonder what prohibited DNA from being taken?

The way they're explaining it on case file, they seem to imply that the girls on the picture could have info to identify the two Jane Doe. Maybe the link is that the two deceased had things that linked them to Expo 67 as well. It pretty much seems to be the key to this case. Then again, maybe not. Hard to say at this point.

 

[believe09]

I think the chin and the jaw line between Ms Tillnghast and the Jane Doe photo arent really lining up for me, but it could be the angle of the pictures of course.

I think Jane Doe has a square face...thoughts?

 

[believe09]

https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/3259/8​

Status Missing First name Sheryl Middle name Ann Last name Tillinghast Nickname/Alias
NCMEC number 1156469 Date LKA September 24, 1973 09:00 Date entered 12/01/2009 Age LKA 17 to 17 years old Age now 55 years old Race White Ethnicity


Sex Female Height (inches) 63.0 Weight (pounds)

140.0​

From the DoeNetwork description:

Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown hair with reddish tint; unknown eyecolor. No scars or tattoos

This certainly fits in with Ms Tillnghasts description.

ETA: Dentals and fingerprints are available for both the Jane Doe and the missing woman.

 

[ebfortin]

I know it doesn't rest on very stable ground and it's only suppositions but I have a strong feeling that these girls are from Montreal and went missing from Montreal and were killed in the US. That, to me, explains why nobody is looking for them in the US. So my theory.

1) Between 2 and 4 girls (we still don't know if the girls in the pictures are actually the deceased) went missing from Montreal. My hypothesis is that they were adventurous, in the age that you question yourself, and met a group of guys at Expo 67. Ok, I agree, this is a little bit too Hollywoodish. But that would explain why she was still carrying her expo passport, ie she went missing some time during or right after the expo. So it makes sense that they met the guys at the expo.

2) They go on a roadtrip with the guys. Going through customs between us and Canada at the time was quite easy. No passport required.

3) They visits several places with their "friends". I guess they realized these guys were not so friendly at all.

4) Something happened, they tried to escape or refused to play along anymore, and the guys just decided to get rid of them. If they were indeed members of criminal bikers gang then it is something they were, perhaps, used to do.

5) The police in Montreal have no hints as their whereabouts. Maybe the girls were seen somewhere in Quebec with a group of guys but they couldn't make any connection to the US.

6) I believe that the girls tried to phone home at some point. But at the time no caller id, so hard for anyone to make the connection to the us.

7) The case in Montreal slowly went cold. Some years later the body of the girls are found. The Pennsylvania police doesn't make the connection to Montreal. Now this is the weak link of my theory since Expo 67 was well known in the us at the time because as someone pointed out on this site, several millions American went to.it. But utter can be explained by the fact that it was 2 years after closing of he world fair. So it's understandable that in the us it was forgot. And at the time, no wikipedia to help...

So there's my theory. I wonder if I could have access to old.missing persons files with the local Montreal police here.

 

[CCJD]

The Berks Girls were found in '68 and '69. The photo was found in the abandoned hanger in '69. Sheryl Tillinghast didn't go missing until 1973.

 

[Skully]

The Pagans were a motorcycle gang in and around PA. I saw them in Erie around 1967 or 1968. The Hell's Angels were also around PA, but not originating from there.

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

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Not trying to match a Jane Doe, but a girl in a photo.
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The Berks Girls were found in '68 and '69. The photo was found in the abandoned hanger in '69. Sheryl Tillinghast didn't go missing until 1973.

I was not trying to id a Jane Doe found in 68 or 69. I was trying to find a match to the girl in the photo. The only one I have found right now, is a girl that went missing in 73 that looked like the girl in the photo taken in 69. It looks like a photo from a quarter booth picture. If the girl in the photo is a Jane doe, then yes of course the one missing from 73 would be ruled out. But it was my understanding LE were looking to id the girl in the photo and not because she is a Jane doe. Does anyone know for sure?
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