WA WA - Concrete, Whtmale 30-50, UP13290, wrapped in sheets, medical leg hose, NSF labs gown, Oct'80

Lemme try to send that Bat Signal to some medical professionals -- maybe someone has orthopedic experience?

I'd figured a car accident, but a bad fall -- off a ladder, catwalk, maybe a tall horse could cause neck damage?

@meanmaryjean , @LaborDayRN , @BeginnerSleuther , we're looking for your opinion on what sort of injury leads to this kind of bone graft, or did in 1980???

On the right side of his pelvis were 3 Trephine holes that may indicate that within the previous 10 years he had some sort of bone graft.

We used to have an anesthesiologist, KZsomething, and a physical therapist on the Missy Beavers thread....

jmho ymmv lrr
His Doe Network page also provides more medical clues ;)
Prior broken nose. Evidence of orthopedic surgery, possibly as a result of an accident. The victim may have had surgery that required a bone graft from the right hip (where 3 small holes were found) and the bone placed in the neck vertebra. May have had a dietary deficiency.

He also had evidence of long-term denture use (I'm not sure if full or partial)... odd but not unheard of for a middle-aged guy. Might be another indicator of some kind of deficiency.
 
His Doe Network page also provides more medical clues ;)
Prior broken nose. Evidence of orthopedic surgery, possibly as a result of an accident. The victim may have had surgery that required a bone graft from the right hip (where 3 small holes were found) and the bone placed in the neck vertebra. May have had a dietary deficiency.

He also had evidence of long-term denture use (I'm not sure if full or partial)... odd but not unheard of for a middle-aged guy. Might be another indicator of some kind of deficiency.

bbm

or -- of boxing, I'd think, DOE mentions that, right? Fits with the broken nose, could cause a neck injury, maybe?

How many times can you be punched in the face before you loose a few teeth?

At what point does the dentist say, "you know, I really can't do a bridge any more, we need to talk about dentures."

Are you aware of other medical folks posting?

jmho ymmv lrr
 
The medical hose are commonly worn by folks with varicose veins. My husband has worn them for the last 30 years.
And I'm thinking an accident of some type with cervical or other spinal bone graft. If UID was skeletonized it is possible that not everything was found OR the graft was so old as to not be noticed by the ME due to overall.poor condition of the remains.
 
Most any sport can cause neck and facial injury from impact, a fall, a collision, a thrown ball, a hockey puck or stick, getting tossed from a horse, falling off a bicycle, slipping on wet concrete around a pool, etc. etc.
 
Most any sport can cause neck and facial injury from impact, a fall, a collision, a thrown ball, a hockey puck or stick, getting tossed from a horse, falling off a bicycle, slipping on wet concrete around a pool, etc. etc.
True. But three grafts - assuming pulled simultaneously - suggests a high speed MVC.
 
Hoping LE went to nearby hospitals and checked who had gotten bone grafts in the past years. It can't be that common of a procedure... somehow I'm doubting they did though, because if they truly felt like this guy was local from the area, he should have been in the system.
 
Hoping LE went to nearby hospitals and checked who had gotten bone grafts in the past years. It can't be that common of a procedure... somehow I'm doubting they did though, because if they truly felt like this guy was local from the area, he should have been in the system.
Unfortunately hospital.records are HIPAA protected and are not in the searchable database format you might expect. Esp. Pre-1980 records were all paper and literally if still existing were photographically scanned for posterity NOT re-formatted into what we would recognize as an electronic medical.record of today.
 
Unfortunately hospital.records are HIPAA protected and are not in the searchable database format you might expect. Esp. Pre-1980 records were all paper and literally if still existing were photographically scanned for posterity NOT re-formatted into what we would recognize as an electronic medical.record of today.
ugh you're right, I forgot about the era of only paper files :D my mum's a GP and they're contractually bound to hold on to all these old paper patient files, there's a whole room dedicated to them, and when she retires, she'll have to pay a company to hold onto them. Paper files haunt doctors even to this day...
 
Benjamin Franklin Gray is the right height, age, went missing in approximately the right timeframe (May 31, 1978), wore dentures, and had multiple broken bones from his younger years in the rodeo. Montrose, CO is a bit far but I think the similarities are interesting. I do wonder if they would be able to tell if the UID was bowlegged or had hand injuries like Ben does.

Also, this guy really needs a reconstruction. Maybe they could even release photos of the skull if it's not too disturbing so someone from here could make one (like that one guy from Kentucky who got a recon from a WS member).
 
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Benjamin Franklin Gray is the right height, age, went missing in approximately the right timeframe (May 31, 1978), wore dentures, and had multiple broken bones from his younger years in the rodeo. Montrose, CO is a bit far but I think the similarities are interesting. I do wonder if they would be able to tell if the UID was bowlegged or had hand injuries like Ben does.

Also, this guy really needs a reconstruction. Maybe they could even release photos of the skull if it's not too disturbing so someone from here could make one (like that one guy from Kentucky who got a recon from a WS member).
I think it's as good a suggestion as any, especially because Benjamin's DN page says he had a 'recent back injury from an automobile accident' i.e. what we were speculating could have happened to this UID! It also elaborates on the circumstances and names the man who he was last seen with, which obviously hints at foul play, but then his TCP page says he was 'deep in debt' at the time, so I feel like purposefully running away is also likely. The distance from CO to WA is a bit of a deterrent but hey, stranger things have happened! o_O
I'll also mention that his DN says he doesn't have any forensics available, yet his NamUs page has 11 rule-outs, so he must have something available for comparisons. If you submit, hopefully they can compare!
 
I think it's as good a suggestion as any, especially because Benjamin's DN page says he had a 'recent back injury from an automobile accident' i.e. what we were speculating could have happened to this UID! It also elaborates on the circumstances and names the man who he was last seen with, which obviously hints at foul play, but then his TCP page says he was 'deep in debt' at the time, so I feel like purposefully running away is also likely. The distance from CO to WA is a bit of a deterrent but hey, stranger things have happened! o_O
I'll also mention that his DN says he doesn't have any forensics available, yet his NamUs page has 11 rule-outs, so he must have something available for comparisons. If you submit, hopefully they can compare!

Just submitted it. I also asked about the NSF gown and if there were any unreleased reconstructions done of him, perhaps something will come of that too.
 
Interesting suggestion. Thanks for doing that. I'm curious about the NSF gown too.
Ben Gray sounds like he was quite a character.
Ben Gray Loved to be a Cowboy - San Juan Horseshoe
excerpts:
Whether he was cutting hippies’ ponytails or hanging deer meat on the Log Cabin Bar’s porch for friend, Tub Carl, Ben lived life with passion. Sipping a Moscow Mule at the corner of the bar at the Red Barn, he would survey the situation as neither a saint nor a sinner.

“Ben once wrote me a check for $50 on a bar napkin and they cashed it without a word at the First National Bank,” said DeJulio. “Back in those days they knew everyone.”

DeJulio went on to say that most of the Ben Gray tales could not be reprinted.

There's also a WS thread for him here:
CO - CO - Benjamin Gray, 51, Montrose, 30 May 1978
It kind of sounds like foul play was involved, but who knows.
 
Interesting suggestion. Thanks for doing that. I'm curious about the NSF gown too.
Ben Gray sounds like he was quite a character.
Ben Gray Loved to be a Cowboy - San Juan Horseshoe
excerpts:
Whether he was cutting hippies’ ponytails or hanging deer meat on the Log Cabin Bar’s porch for friend, Tub Carl, Ben lived life with passion. Sipping a Moscow Mule at the corner of the bar at the Red Barn, he would survey the situation as neither a saint nor a sinner.

“Ben once wrote me a check for $50 on a bar napkin and they cashed it without a word at the First National Bank,” said DeJulio. “Back in those days they knew everyone.”

DeJulio went on to say that most of the Ben Gray tales could not be reprinted.

There's also a WS thread for him here:
CO - CO - Benjamin Gray, 51, Montrose, 30 May 1978
It kind of sounds like foul play was involved, but who knows.

That story makes me infinitely more sad for him :( He seemed to be a recognizable figure who owed a lot of debts to others. I feel he was murdered because of that but if he really is this doe, why all the way out in Washington?
 
Here's his Doe Network page: 1841UMWA
NamUs didn't mention anything about his cause of death, but from his Doe page it's pretty obvious that he was murdered. GSW to the head, and he was buried.
It also says that he was probably still recovering from the bone graft surgery, as opposed to it happening any time within the past 10 years. Bone was taken out of his pelvis and grafted into his neck. The 'medical hose' were probably being worn to prevent blood clots- I had to wear compression socks after hip surgery for the same reason.

IMO, he may have been killed by someone who couldn't afford his medical bills, or someone (probably someone close to him) had some other motive and took advantage of his weakened state.
It's beyond unfortunate that his skull has apparently been lost, because it could now be used for DNA and forensic reconstruction.

I just wondered if "NSF" were his actual initials?
 
So I went to check for case updates--nobody listed as an official exclusion on Namus.
But I noticed this on his Doenetwork file 1841UMWA:

NCIC Case Number: Entered, number unknown
NamUs Case Number: UP# 13290 NamUs Case Number: 980


Connected to TWO Namus cases? And #980 is a skull with no body found in 1989 in California.


Circumstances of Recovery

This skull (designated John Doe #48-89) has been in Anthropological curation since it was found at a residence in Johnson Valley (San Bernardino County), California, back on 10/09/89. It was only recently re-examined and determined to be treated as a forensic case. No history was obtained during the original “investigation.†There is trauma to the skull, but it is unknown if this were perimortem or post-mortem. Probable Asian male. There are no teeth in the maxilla, and no mandible was recovered. Dental examination (with X-rays) was completed 09/11/07, and the skull was submitted to California DOJ DNA program for profiling on 10/11/07 (DOJ reference #BK-07-000909; not yet completed). Refer to NIC #U740021820.


Looks like maybe somebody absconded with the skull as a souvenir or something? This is weird!
 

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