WA WA - Bellingham, Georgia Pacific plant, WhtMal 20-40, 862UMWA, Continental Airlines ticket, Sep'87

[breachtones]

I keep thinking about this case, having been to Bellingham tons of times. Is the DNA really unavailable due to the chimney heat? It makes sense, but then again several sources of info also confused hyperthermia for hypothermia so :/ I'm not exactly sure how accurate it is.

I just don't know with this one. Probably the most baffling case I've ever seen. I really have zero clue why he is there. I believe the airplane ticket is going to be the biggest clue in this case. My family and I used to drive from Canada to Bellingham and fly out from Bellingham to California/Nevada/Arizona etc. because it was cheaper. Which only leaves more doors open I guess, considering the possibility he could be from Canada or any other state besides Washington.

 

[DaisyChains]

This case reminds me of Elisa Lam, but instead of a water cistern we have a stack. I’m thinking mental breakdown lead this UID into that stack. Maybe before/during their manic break they had decided to leave their hometown like Elisa did. Given the claim ticket.

I still find the woman who was so interested in the stacks something to not forget. And I still wonder despite 95% accuracy of determining sex based on pelvic bones if the UID was male. Likely was,but again the woman requesting info about access to the stacks can’t be ignored. Who knows maybe she wasn’t a biological woman.

many times the manic mind Gets paranoid and wants to hide. Many people went in a paranoid manic state run away in an effort to hide. They will even try to put them self in a “secure” or confined space too hide particularly when psychosis is setting in.

I think the UID died an accidental death.

edit: apologies for the initial comment and grammar issues my dictation device was on a good one.

 

[DaisyChains]

Very little info available. I am going to try to find out who is in charge of this case and see what they can tell us.

Detective Revisit Cold Case
Detectives Revisit Cold Case
POSTED: 11:10 am PST October 31, 2006
UPDATED: 12:00 pm PST October 31, 2006

BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Detectives in Whatcom County are asking for the public's help identifying a man whose charred remains were found in a chimney at Bellingham’s Georgia Pacific Plant nearly two decades ago.

this man who left a VA hospital in NY in 1985 looks a lot like the first composit to me and some of the vitals are close-ish like height/weight. His name was Richard Bayne. Not sure what he could have been doing for almost 2 whole years though it’s a pretty huge interval between missing date and the date this UID was found.

still I believe maybe this UID has a similar story. Perhaps he was in the care of a hospital at one point and had some mental issues/PTSD. Perhaps the individual no longer wanted care and ran away.


Cold case: Montrose man missing since 1985

 

[cenazoic]

In re hypo- vs hypertropia, from a previous message:

Lastly, to address the issue of clothing found under the body and cause of death. Assuming the deceased fell 17 feet into the stack, over the Labor day weekend. As I had noted above, the likelihood that he was grievously injured by a fall into a dark stack and onto uneven pipes would likely result in significant injuries to his legs, most likely fractures. Such fractures of the Femur can allow for the loss of several pints of blood into the surrounding tissue. Thus, hypothermia as a cause of death is likely. (10) Additionally, people suffering hypothermia often paradoxically remove their clothing. The results, coupled with the average temperatures that weekend (item 9, show the temp was between 50 and 70 degrees.) would have easily killed him before the boiler was ever fired.

Additionally, the mysterious woman reported by Severson was seen at Western Washington University, not the Georgia-Pacific stacks where this UID was found:

WA - WA - Bellingham, Georgia Pacific plant, WhtMal 20-40, 862UMWA, Continental Airlines ticket, Sep'87

 

[DaisyChains]

In re hypo- vs hypertropia, from a previous message:




Additionally, the mysterious woman reported by Severson was seen at Western Washington University, not the Georgia-Pacific stacks where this UID was found:

yes she inquired in a different location than where the body was found, but the man working at WWU pointed her to the GP stacks.

 

[carbuff]

I keep thinking about this case, having been to Bellingham tons of times. Is the DNA really unavailable due to the chimney heat? It makes sense, but then again several sources of info also confused hyperthermia for hypothermia so :/ I'm not exactly sure how accurate it is.

snipped by me

Yes, heat damages DNA. It sounds like the temperatures in the chimney got more than high enough for that. Possibly some of the new techniques for reconstructing damaged DNA would be useful.

 

[breachtones]

View attachment 331521

this man who left a VA hospital in NY in 1985 looks a lot like the first composit to me and some of the vitals are close-ish like height/weight. His name was Richard Bayne. Not sure what he could have been doing for almost 2 whole years though it’s a pretty huge interval between missing date and the date this UID was found.

still I believe maybe this UID has a similar story. Perhaps he was in the care of a hospital at one point and had some mental issues/PTSD. Perhaps the individual no longer wanted care and ran away.


Cold case: Montrose man missing since 1985

Mental breakdown theory.. maybe. There's so many possibilities for this one.

Murder - What would have to happen here is likely him being unconscious and thrown into the boiler or him being pushed into the boiler. Which begs the question, why is a non-worker up there in the first place? If it's murder, I lean towards it being a worker of GP who committed it. Say they, pushed him in there knowing the boiler was both isolated enough that he wouldn't be found for a while and then was involved in firing it a short while later, burning him if he hadn't died already.
Accident - The thrill-seeker story of the guy from NY, if proven true, would probably corroborate with him accidentally falling into the boiler. I tend to think an accident is most plausible but god knows why he is up there to begin with.
Mental breakdown - Again, what an odd place to go during an event like this? Though I suppose it isn't that unlikely considering Elisa Lam's story happened.
Suicide - I doubt this one. The scratches on the walls indicate he was trying to get out and of all the ways to commit suicide, this is really out there.

 

[carbuff]

I know there are groups and networks of people who bungee jump from bridges or towers. Maybe there's something similar for illicit climbing of towers and chimneys?

 

[Onfortuneswheel]

Maybe it's Jack Lutter and one of the wives got to him

 

[forthelost]

The Man in the Chimney: The Unidentified Man of Whatcom County, Washington

 

[Springrain]

OMG this is close to me...gotta read up!

 

[CptCari]

Just a thought here. Could he have been a stoke away on a plane that died of hypothermia then fell out of the plane and actually fell into the chimney? I know .. what are the chances but still I guess could be possible?

I find this theory interesting. When I explained the case to my husband he said, "Well, it doesn't sound like he fell the full 17 feet....so how did he get those injuries. 17 feet isn't even 2 stories. I'm a big guy and I think even if I fell two stories I wouldn't have those injuries."

As a former orthopedic nurse, I can see why he'd think this. A fall from 15 feet CAN, most definitely, result in a broken pelvis and ankle(s), however. But were those pipes the full 17.5 feet down the stack?

 

[victoriarobinson642]

I wonder if @othram would be able to get DNA in this case - I know very little about how that process works.

 

[Laughing]

The Man in the Chimney: The Unidentified Man of Whatcom County, Washington

Behind a paywall for me.

 

[DaisyChains]

I wonder if @othram would be able to get DNA in this case - I know very little about how that process works.

From earlier posts and archives it seems there was nothing left to gather DNA from. This is strange bc I’ve heard of cases where victims were burned to ashes in funeral pire, but even tissue could be found in a bit of tooth left behind. This UID was cremated, but dentals are on record which could help ID them. It wouldn’t be a DNA ID, but could be ID’d none the less.

 

[Vern]

I find this theory interesting. When I explained the case to my husband he said, "Well, it doesn't sound like he fell the full 17 feet....so how did he get those injuries. 17 feet isn't even 2 stories. I'm a big guy and I think even if I fell two stories I wouldn't have those injuries."

As a former orthopedic nurse, I can see why he'd think this. A fall from 15 feet CAN, most definitely, result in a broken pelvis and ankle(s), however. But were those pipes the full 17.5 feet down the stack?

There is a cross-pipe 10 feet down from the top of the chimney that runs one side to the other through the center of the stack, then another set of pipes running through the entire expanse of the stack 7.5 feet below the cross-pipe (probably a bracing pipe the top one).

Below the first layer of full pipes, there is another full layer of pipes.

The remains were found atop the first layer.

0 feet - top of stack. The stack is only 4.5 feet wide at this point.
10 feet from top of stack - single cross-pipe
?? feet - "just above first layer of parallel pipes, stack abruptly widens to 11 feet diameter" (taken from the written description of the stack, but no specific height given)
17.5 feet from top of stack - layer of 11 parallel pipes with remains laying atop
21 feet from top of stack - another layer of parallel pipes

IMO the injuries (broken femurs, perhaps pelvis) were caused by him striking that single cross-pipe on the way down as it was most unavoidable given stack was only 4.5 feet wide at this portion if I understand the written evidentiary description correctly, followed by the pelvis and ankle break when landing on the set of parallel pipes he cam to rest on. He lived, at least for a little bit as earlier case points note that an ankle was wrapped with cloth as if to assist with an injury. He must have been in a hell of a lot of pain - how horrible for him it must have been.

May 2022 be the year he finds his name and makes his way home to those who loved and miss him.

Great post linked here that has the police evidentiary diagrams made of the stack:
WA - WA - Bellingham, Georgia Pacific plant, WhtMal 20-40, 862UMWA, Continental Airlines ticket, Sep'87

 

[DaisyChains]

Is Marc on the rule outs?

CANADA - Canada - Marc April, 25, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 31 Jan 1987

pretty close vitals. Disappeared in January 1987 from a hospital in Canada. Not sure on specifics. If anyone can dig up more info on him IF he isn’t on the exclusions list I would so appreciate bc I’m I’ve hit a wall with info. TIA

I would think LE could see missing persons that have left Canada after having gone missing, right? I have no clue how it all works.

 

[DaisyChains]

The more and more I read about that GP factory and the environmental concern it posed not just for what it produced, but also the environmental impact of the land/water surrounding the factory itself, I’m leaning closer and closer to a possible motivation of environmentalism on part of the UID - and even the woman who inquired about the plant weeks before the UID was discovered.

Perhaps she indeed was sent from an environmentalism group to see what plants in that area were accessible. She might have gone back to someone in their group, whether this be in person or some network that met through writing, and detailed what the worker said about the plant. The only thing is: I cannot see an environmentalist wanting to take a plane wherever they intend to stage some sort of potentially dangerous protest. Who knows. Maybe it wasn’t the UIDs claim ticket, but the ticket for someone they had picked up from the airport. We just don’t know. But If it was their ticket, perhaps they were lured by a local to the area for a reason. Again, this woman would interest me of THATS the case.

Many people would hear of ideas of extreme environmental protest and carry them out alone, particularly before online networking made it easier to find like minded individuals to stage group protests with.

In June of 1987 particularly I came across a scholarly article written by Susan Dixon about the GP plant and neighboring plant and their impact on society and environment of the area. This plant was of concern to many at the time. But I wish I could read this woman’s article. She published it just before or around the time the UID is thought to have fallen in the boiler. Did the UID know this article or Susan? They both seemed to have interest in the plants in the area around the same time.

The social and economic impacts of a hypothetical closure of the Georgia-Pacific Plant in Bellingham, Washington (1987 edition) | Open Library

More info on Susan here. She seems quite influential:
Haymarket Books

the article was published by the Huxley College of Environmental Studies. Could the UID and/or mystery woman interested in the boilers have ties to this college???Publisher: Huxley College of Environmental Studies | Open Library


I keep looking for missing ppl with interests in environmentalism or at an extreme eco terrorism in 1987.

Perhaps an environmentalists partner pushed them on purpose and left them to die- bc their concern was more for the plant closing due to unsafe operations than one human’s life. Or they were too scared they would face legal retribution or had reason (prior criminal history, paranoia/distrust over govt agencies) to not seek help.

Or perhaps the UID jumped in themselves on purpose and intended to die and eventually be found in the same act of extreme protest.

The interest of the woman in how these boilers work around the time this UID fell into one is too much of a coincidence to be ignored. I think she had a reason for wanting that information and was sent for it.

WA state has long had friction between environmentalists and large corporations that have had little concern for their social/environmental impact on the state.

 

[Springrain]

the article was published by the Huxley College of Environmental Studies. Could the UID and/or mystery woman interested in the boilers have ties to this college???

RSBM

Yeah, there's a pretty high chance of that, even without taking into consideration the possible environmentalist undertones in this case, because of the location. Huxley College is part of Western Washington University here, one of the biggest colleges in the university, then and now. A lot of people, again, then and now, have come here to study environmental science and related topics, and there has always been lots of environmental activism and similar stuff here. Our local history is more interesting than you'd think and somewhat spotty, which I could elaborate on but is most likely not relevant here lol.

But as I said, the chances of one or both of these people having ties to Huxley or, at least, Western as a whole, are very likely, because Western is a big part of Bellingham. Bellingham has a population that skews pretty young, because it's mostly young adult college students, so it'd make more sense if he was younger. Western students have also always loved doing protests, especially climate and environment-related.

As I have mentioned, I am local to this case, and I do attend Western Washington University, which Huxley College is a part of. So, if there is a capacity in which I can help, I'm all ears, but I don't think there is much I can realistically do.

 

[DaisyChains]

RSBM

Yeah, there's a pretty high chance of that, even without taking into consideration the possible environmentalist undertones in this case, because of the location. Huxley College is part of Western Washington University here, one of the biggest colleges in the university, then and now. A lot of people, again, then and now, have come here to study environmental science and related topics, and there has always been lots of environmental activism and similar stuff here. Our local history is more interesting than you'd think and somewhat spotty, which I could elaborate on but is most likely not relevant here lol.

But as I said, the chances of one or both of these people having ties to Huxley or, at least, Western as a whole, are very likely, because Western is a big part of Bellingham. Bellingham has a population that skews pretty young, because it's mostly young adult college students, so it'd make more sense if he was younger. Western students have also always loved doing protests, especially climate and environment-related.

As I have mentioned, I am local to this case, and I do attend Western Washington University, which Huxley College is a part of. So, if there is a capacity in which I can help, I'm all ears, but I don't think there is much I can realistically do.

thanks for the info
would there be any way you could speak to an advisor who could see if any students fell out of their environmental studies program in 1987? Maybe someone who was studying under or along side Susan Dixon who wrote the June 1987 article?

Or perhaps the old way of doing things - flyers around town and on campus of the UID - stating it’s a cold case and asking if anyone might remember someone matching the description?

or maybe we should just write Susan directly and see if maybe she has any ideas?

That’s all I can think of.