Identified! WY - Sweetwater Co, "Pipeline Pete", WhtMale 23-35, UP9973, nude, receding hairline, Aug'82 - Jack Clawson

[Vern]

Jack Clawson

• 

Clawson, circa 1981

• Missing Since 07/17/1981
• Missing From Fremont, California
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Male
• Race White
• Date of Birth 09/02/1956 (64)
• Age 24 years old
• Height and Weight 5'9, 170 pounds
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian male. Brown hair, brown eyes. Clawson has broken several bones. He has a half-inch scar above his eye.
  Details of Disappearance
  Clawson was last seen in on July 17, 1981 in Fremont, California. He had traveled there from Sedalia, Missouri in order to visit relatives. He has never been heard from again.
  
  Clawson is missing under suspicious circumstances; foul play is suspected in his disappearance. He may be driving a brown two-door sedan with a gold stripe, a CB antenna mounted on the trunk, a rainbow and a wooden block with "Z-28" carved in it on the read window, and a Masonic emblem on the license plate frame; it had Missouri license plates numbered JLT814. Jack Clawson – The Charley Project
• Jack Clawson
• 1068DMCA - Jack Clawson

You had him years ago @Atombudd.

 

[beubeubeu]

I don't think there's really much in the height/weight and time of death.

Skeletonized/decomposed remains are notoriously difficult to size and age and the upper limit given for the Doe (5'5 150) isn't far off (5'7 170). And those estimates were almost certainly understated - the lower estimate of 5'5 130 is basically a jockey-sized male and 5'5 150 is still pretty unusually small.

Likewise, he was found a year after being reported missing and the interval on the Doe was 6-9 months, which isn't huge. Plus he was travelling at the time so he might actually have died a couple months after he was last seen/reported missing.

True, absolutely true.
But if remains are in such state that it's such a challenge to do accurate estimation with the basics then IMO it's even more likely that death was neither natural or accidental (especially in these circumstances).

Found August 28, 1982, last seen July 17th in California. So 11 months. Including winter months and considering the fact that he was found nude... maybe estmated TOD was just so off.

View attachment 439619

I was curious about the route he would have taken and it appears he was found very near it. His Doe Network profile says that he was found about 4 miles from Interstate 80, which is almost a direct shot from Fremont, CA to Sedalia, MO. The stats aren't too off IMO and I think the recon was a good depiction of him given the PMI. I do wonder what happened to his vehicle and personal effects though. He had to have left them someplace.

So it looks like he was doing exactly what he said and was expected to do: driving back home, going along... basically the most logical and efficient route.
And of course, it's still possible that halfway there, he was hit by some fears or needs fueled by schisophrenia which led him 4 miles into the big area of nothing but personally I don't think so.

I can't point at one man I know who does not have a habit of keeping his wallet and id IN one of the pockets and taking car keyes with him, no matter how unusual the reason for leaving the vehicle is.
Possibly Jack didn't have such habit, or experienced the specific issue of running away in more or less random direction at times - which seems unlikely in general but may occur in specific case... but it should be known to family members and friends. And who would allow him to take such a long trip alone if aware of that very specific and dangerous tendency? (by that I mean that the whole consideration of it being the case - him having such tendency - sounds very, very unlikely).

Not a hunter...
Not a hiker...
Not a local man who could have some reason to wander in the general area like that...
Not a homeless person...
Nothing to indicate that he may be in shock after a car crash, cause no vehicle...
Nothhing to indicate that he may wander there after his car stopped working at random...
No keyes, no id, location of his body...

All of that strongly suggests foul play.

 

[Melquiades]

True, absolutely true.
But if remains are in such state that it's such a challenge to do accurate estimation with the basics then IMO it's even more likely that death was neither natural or accidental (especially in these circumstances).

Found August 28, 1982, last seen July 17th in California. So 11 months. Including winter months and considering the fact that he was found nude... maybe estmated TOD was just so off.

So it looks like he was doing exactly what he said and was expected to do: driving back home, going along... basically the most logical and efficient route.
And of course, it's still possible that halfway there, he was hit by some fears or needs fueled by schisophrenia which led him 4 miles into the big area of nothing but personally I don't think so.

I can't point at one man I know who does not have a habit of keeping his wallet and id IN one of the pockets and taking car keyes with him, no matter how unusual the reason for leaving the vehicle is.
Possibly Jack didn't have such habit, or experienced the specific issue of running away in more or less random direction at times - which seems unlikely in general but may occur in specific case... but it should be known to family members and friends. And who would allow him to take such a long trip alone if aware of that very specific and dangerous tendency? (by that I mean that the whole consideration of it being the case - him having such tendency - sounds very, very unlikely).

Not a hunter...
Not a hiker...
Not a local man who could have some reason to wander in the general area like that...
Not a homeless person...
Nothing to indicate that he may be in shock after a car crash, cause no vehicle...
Nothhing to indicate that he may wander there after his car stopped working at random...
No keyes, no id, location of his body...

All of that strongly suggests foul play.

I don't really follow the bolded and don't see how anything can be gleaned about the cause of death from the quality of the estimation of size/weight of decomposed/skeletonized remains. Plus, like I said previously, I don't even think the estimate was terribly bad.

Stripping naked and making very bad decisions in the woods is a pretty common effect of severe hypothermia.

Why Freezing to Death Makes You Want To Get Naked

Victims of exposure and hypothermia never have a good time of it, but sometimes they engage in a behavior that's both understandable and horrifying. It's called "terminal burrowing behavior," and involves losing their minds, running away, and crawling into a hole to die.

gizmodo.com

"Paradoxical undressing" in fatal hypothermia - PubMed

The phenomenon called paradoxical undressing has been described from 33 cases of hypothermia collected from Swedish police reports. The cases were almost evenly distributed with regard to sex, age, and geographical distribution. The cases occurred more frequently in open land although cases from...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Again, I'm guessing that the authorities came to the exposure conclusion based on the lack of clothing and distance from a road - ie. the body was found far further into the woods than a murderer would reasonably have carried it plus there was no indication other than that it traveled there itself.

What happened to the car is the only real question for me.

 

[beubeubeu]

I don't see any paradox in wanting to get rid of the thing that causes pain and discomfort and clothes for hypotermic person cause exactly that.
I also stumbled on many cases and mentions of people who suffered and succumbed to hypothermia who removed some of their clothind, in some cases even most of their clothing. Cases with people who ended up completely naked are something I never heard of. Which for me indicates that's (to the very least) rare occurence. And people who are in such severe state of hypothermia are not going to make any significan distance like that. Jack's clothes weren't found, possibly weren't thoroughly searched for.

The only picture I saw does not suggest wooded area.


Source: 42-Year-Old Cold Case Solved, Remains Of Wyoming's 'Pipeline Pete' ID'd As Missing Missouri Man

4 miles from I80 means somewhere near the red line (screen from google maps)



4 miles from I80 and "near Granger" so I imagine somewhere here:



Not exactly wooded area, lots of roads and dirt roads visible - some of which may not be there 40 years ago, but most of that area probably was relatively easily accessible for someone with a vehicle, while any random peope would not have a reason to wander there.



It may very well be caused by exposure, but I can't see local LE pushing theory of foul play hard not knowing anything solid to even start any serious of investigation at this angle. With such severe decomposition many causes of death would be impossible to determine.

 

[Melquiades]

I don't see any paradox in wanting to get rid of the thing that causes pain and discomfort and clothes for hypotermic person cause exactly that.
I also stumbled on many cases and mentions of people who suffered and succumbed to hypothermia who removed some of their clothind, in some cases even most of their clothing. Cases with people who ended up completely naked are something I never heard of. Which for me indicates that's (to the very least) rare occurence. And people who are in such severe state of hypothermia are not going to make any significan distance like that. Jack's clothes weren't found, possibly weren't thoroughly searched for.

The only picture I saw does not suggest wooded area.

View attachment 439963
Source: 42-Year-Old Cold Case Solved, Remains Of Wyoming's 'Pipeline Pete' ID'd As Missing Missouri Man

4 miles from I80 means somewhere near the red line (screen from google maps)

View attachment 439962

4 miles from I80 and "near Granger" so I imagine somewhere here:

View attachment 439964

Not exactly wooded area, lots of roads and dirt roads visible - some of which may not be there 40 years ago, but most of that area probably was relatively easily accessible for someone with a vehicle, while any random peope would not have a reason to wander there.

View attachment 439965

It may very well be caused by exposure, but I can't see local LE pushing theory of foul play hard not knowing anything solid to even start any serious of investigation at this angle. With such severe decomposition many causes of death would be impossible to determine.

Hmm, I've only been through Wyoming once but remember the treed bits more than the open bits obviously!

I'd perceived it as being in an area that was difficult to access but if the cops were able to drive their cars to the body that obviously does change some things.

 

[beubeubeu]

Hmm, I've only been through Wyoming once but remember the treed bits more than the open bits obviously!

I'd perceived it as being in an area that was difficult to access but if the cops were able to drive their cars to the body that obviously does change some things.

Same for me. I never been in Wyoming, just read an article about Jack's identification and didn't even thought much of it. I thought that I'm glad he got his name back, and assumed that it must be a case of someone getting lost: I mean like some secluded wilderness, guy was trying somewhere in winter, got lost, his car stuck so he got out and tried to find his way to main road on foot, but possibly due to snowstorm, darkness or some other condition he got even more lost, possibly slightly injured and froze to death.

Then I stumbled on the pic with red tape and... OH MY GOD.
Of course, it's still possible that he got lost, wandered there and his car ended up stuck in a place where it's still hidden. Or that his car got stolen before he got lost, or that someone found his abandoned car and stole it... and that the basics of the story are still the same: he got lost and died from the exposure.

But considering this additional details I think that there is a good possibility that foul play was involved.
It's not only that cops were able to access that place with cars. Jack was found by workers who also drove there. And very near the pipeline - that is clearly visible from the surface.

I'd like to know where this pipeline goes.
Cause that looks like two things:
1. Mostly abandoned dirtroad is going along it, possibly used mostly while it was built.
2. Like it could be a point of refference for someone who got lost and walked along it with hope of reaching the city.

Seeing that pipeline and the roads near Granger would tell how likely it is that he ended up led even farther from interstate and Granger.

Maybe I'm looking too deep into this but if relying on odds makes sense with assumming hypothermia just because it's very probable that in given circumstances and considering local winter weather conditions dead person without any noticeable signs of injuries or foul play yet lacking clothing ended up like that due to hypothermia caused by getting lost... then why not rely on odds with other details as well?

<modsnip: referenced post was snipped>
On top of that it sounds like Jack had no reason to be near Granger but very good reason to travel via interstate that's just next to it.
He wasn't found in the middle of nowhere, he was found very near that pipeline. Red tape suggests basically right next to it. If he got lost and was walking along the pipeline, hoping to reach a main road or a city, then shouldn't his clothing end up somewhere along it? That should catch the eye of multiple cops driving there. Not one piece of clothing did? Possibly after winter they werent really visible anymore, but...

I don't know. For me more details points at foul play here than at unfortunate accident. The latter is still reasonable scenario.
But is it unreasonable to consider something along the: he was going to visit his family... got tired or hungry or in need to buy a gas, stopped somewhere... caught an eye of people willing to rob him, or accidentally got into some trouble... and endend up driven to the middle of the desert and left there?

I can't tell. Cause there are places where it's a real thing to beat up a guy, drove him far from the road and kick out of the car, sometimes even strip naked. If that's not something that ever happened near Granger in '70s and '80s then okay, some "getting lost" scenario is way more likely than that. But if it did...