Person doing a backbend or hanging upside down in dense foliage

[Filly]

Hopefully someday we'll find out who this poor soul is.

 

[Omori]

It's a guy bending over backwards and the way the muscles are tensed, he's clearly alive. Beyond that, who knows this Alcala character was involved it that he's never told anyone about?

 

[WildHuncher]

A very brightened closeup of the subject's head area. Is that a pool of blood at the bottom of the visible hair? There's a horizontal line which could be the boundary of a dark, level surface, or maybe a shadow falling across a level surface. At any rate, a dark mass behind the foremost arm. Then, just off to the side, a small scrap of paper and something hard to identify--I thought for a time it might be a purse--but it might be a rock. It looks red. With blood? Was it used to beat someone over the head?

Your mileage may vary. Not at all sure myself.

 

[gogrannypop]

I see sunglasses fwiw.

 

[Linda7NJ]

Horrifying possibilities.

 

[norest4thewicked]

The vast majority of the released Alcala photos I think are benign and that the people in them are/were alive after their encounters with Alcala.

This one...this one... I would bet pretty much anything that this person was murdered that day and that this is part of the horror.

 

[Linda7NJ]

I am of the belief that it's a woman, suspended, she's either drugged, dead or barely conscious.

 

[Linda7NJ]

I've been unable to get descriptions on the posing of his other victims, specifically the ones that were outside and photographed after death.

 

[MissJ]

The more I look at that picture the more his flaccid biceps and pecs are bothering me.

Even if this guy only weighs 120 pounds (and we all know most men weigh a lot more than that) he should be showing some muscle definition from holding his body weight up in such a strange position.

And in jeans? Really? I mean... when I do gymnastics moves I don't think "I know, demin would be flexible!"... just sayin

I agree. My thoughts exactly.:twocents:

 

[norest4thewicked]

I've been unable to get descriptions on the posing of his other victims, specifically the ones that were outside and photographed after death.

I will have some of that information in my book. He was known for definite posing and in very bizarre positions. I also believe that this is a female and that it is the female that was shown in his other photos where she was naked with a motorcycle helmet on. I will see if I can find the link.

 

[norest4thewicked]

This is where she was discussed here:

Woman in helmet - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

The background of the photos looks very similar to me and the hair would fit. And, I will say that a person who is gravely injured or dead, does not look the same as when they are alive. This is part of the reason that people sometimes are difficult to identify when they are dead.

 

[Turbocat]

Has anyone considered this might be Alcala himself and someone else took the picture? After looking through this slide show

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...d-Can-You-ID-Any-Of-These-Women-91752849.html

and seeing photo #43 of what appears to be Alcala with the curly haired woman, something about it made me go back and look at this backbend pic. To me the skin darkness just looks like what would normally be exposed to the sun and any odd facial expressions just a combination of drugs and being upside down. Have you ever hung your head back off the side of a bed and looked in a mirror? Looks weird. And admittedly, this would be a difficult pose, but it could be just a pic taken in an instant and not held for any length of time.

Just my thoughts.
TC

 

[WildHuncher]

Has anyone considered this might be Alcala himself and someone else took the picture? After looking through this slide show

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/loca...d-Can-You-ID-Any-Of-These-Women-91752849.html

and seeing photo #43 of what appears to be Alcala with the curly haired woman, something about it made me go back and look at this backbend pic. To me the skin darkness just looks like what would normally be exposed to the sun and any odd facial expressions just a combination of drugs and being upside down. Have you ever hung your head back off the side of a bed and looked in a mirror? Looks weird. And admittedly, this would be a difficult pose, but it could be just a pic taken in an instant and not held for any length of time.

Just my thoughts.
TC

He can use an automatic shutter release to take pictures of himself without any help. Nevertheless, I'd bet the farm if I had one that the upper body can't be him. Still can't make up my mind about the legs.

 

[Turbocat]

I think the legs are definitely attached to the head/torso in the foreground. I hadn't thought about an automatic shutter.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk now Free

 

[WildHuncher]

Any serious camera of the 60s and 70s had a shutter timer. It's far easier to believe the pictures of him with the curly-haired red-bikini girl were taken that way than by a third person out there in the woods with them. Probably any time he's in one of the pictures from his locker, the camera was on a tripod and he set the timer and ran around to pose.

When I first posted back on page 5 of this thread about his legs being in THIS picture I was pretty sure of it. Don't really think so anymore. For one thing, there's not much evidence he bound his victims BTK-style. Googling tonight, can't find any mention of ligature marks on wrists or ankles. Posing, yes. Tying them up, no. Then again. I don't think this is a conscious person doing a bridge, either. Out of it and draped, by rope or other means.

 

[WildHuncher]

Then, just off to the side, a small scrap of paper and something hard to identify--I thought for a time it might be a purse--but it might be a rock. It looks red. With blood? Was it used to beat someone over the head?

Noticed tonight that Jill Barcomb was found with a bloody rock next to her. She had been beaten severely about the head with it, although the cause of death was ligature strangulation. (Don't think this is Jill, though.)

 

[teeandcee]

IMO, this is a young man doing a backbend. If you Google "man doing backbend" you'll see many, many photos of people with their arms splayed out like this and arm muscles looking relaxed. Your face will look strained and eyes bulge when you're upside down. I used to do backbends in front of a mirror in my younger days and my face looked pretty grotesque while upside down. My back wasn't flexible enough to get my legs and arms directly underneath my body. I looked just like this pic. Only without the armpit hair.

I think it was cropped probably due to his pants being undone. If Alcala got young females to willingly pose nude for him I don't see why it's such a stretch for a young man to do it as well. This guy may even be a male prostitute being paid to do these poses.

There's also a pic of a young man with long dark hair posing in a chair and obviously nude (in the pics Alcala owned that were released). It could be that person. EDIT: Nope, don't think it's the same male. Boy in chair doesn't have armpit hair and doesn't look muscular enough.

 

[Daphne1972]

I have analyzed the picture and through changing settings I determine it's a man and worse details have been blurred: the area around his head and on areas on the pants, and a few leaves below his head. Yet I can still see the bullet hole in his right temple.

Now I am convinced that he is dead. If allowed I will post the blow up showing the blurred fixels.

I am still looking to identify him.

 

[Daphne1972]

I have changed the settings: there has been so much blurring done on the head and around it (and then in other places) that's difficult to recognize this man. I am sure that he was dead through either head trauma and or strangulation by rope. Maybe this person was found, and the case was never solved or somewhere in the missing/unidentified of for example NaMus this person is listed.
Furthermore the weirdest pixels have been used to blur, and that's why I thought to see small pictures next to the head. Anyway I will try to find a match.
As to the how and when, I don't know as this seems not to be Alcala's MO. I think the legs belong to the person. Also I estimate that about 50 percent of the top part of the picture have been cropped.
Furthermore the pants to me seem to be pre flares/bell bottoms and might indicate the 60'ies or early 70'ies. I estimate this person to be around 67 inches.

 

[Daphne1972]

Ok, here I'm again because I can't let go of this picture. This man has flat long facial features, think young Elliott Gould with a rounded chin a long yet not very strong jaw. His eye is rolled back in his head, yet shows a bit of color which I resume to be brown. The dilated pupil is never so large it covers the whole iris.

As to his position and the use of a rope, if you look closely you'll see the plants (ivy I think) going up in the background; that's because there's a tree. The plants and shrubs and what not show a habitat that's moist and dark since no grass is growing. Must be northern part of USA.

Furthermore, look at the lower part of the right arm. A piece of paper is almost stuck to his skin. Next to it a white smaller piece of paper. The first piece looks like a picture.