Guest Author - Erika Lyn Smith
There are cases that remain unsolved, despite the advances in forensics pathology, including the use of DNA in identifying the deceased and the hard work of law enforcement officials in the community. Sometimes there are no easy answers. These are the frustrating cases. The ones that haunt not only the police, EMS, and crime scene investigators that work the cases personally, but also the community that harbors the unsolved crime or unidentified victim.
What happens when someone finds a headless, legless, armless torso? How does one identify a victim who has no teeth, no fingerprints, and no face? What can a pathologist do then to identify a victim with no identity?
This particular case involves a white female, age range of 20-45; she has an approximate 4.5 inch scar from a c-section, she also has had an appendectomy (Appendix), which is located along her bikini line. She has vertical stretch marks on her abdomen. The coroner noted scarring on her ovaries during autopsy as well as signs she had a kidney infection at the time of her death. Her height is 60 to 66 inches, and weight 115 to 145 pounds. DNA is available to match, if someone comes forward and can tentatively identify her remains.
The torso was naked, except for a Black "LEI" brand bra size 36B. Workers trimming bushes found the torso in bushes of a rest stop along Interstate 70 (mile marker 199) in Wright City, Missouri. Authorities believe workers found the torso within 12 hours of who ever left it there, and do not believe the victim died at the location.
That was three years ago on June 27, 2004, and since that time investigators have researched close to 1,000 leads. However, the Wright City torso case remains nameless and unidentified. If you have any idea who this woman may be or know who may have killed her, please call the Greater St. Louis Major Case Squad at 314-831-7000. The website for the Major Case Squad is www.majorcasesquad.org.
Someone knows who she is and she deserves to have her name returned to her and her family notified of her death. No one deserves to die alone much less remain unknown in death. The Wright City torso has an unlisted burial location, thanks to the Warren County Coroner’s Office.
This is not the only case where the victim is unidentified. Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot of children and adults whom remain nameless in their death. Their unclaimed remains, either buried unidentified in graves, or numbered in a legal system. They are victims of homicides, murder, or horrible accidents, and wait for their family to come for them.
Where are the families? Do they know of all the resources available to them to look for lost or missing children and adults? Was there a falling out years earlier, and they have not spoken or seen family since? Do you wonder what happened to a friend or family member you are unable to locate? Do you assume they have simple gone their own way and will one day call? Were they a runaway?
There are ways to look for missing people. One way is to do a search on Google at www.google.com. Type in the persons first and last name, and see what comes up. Try using variations of the name, with and with out the middle name, including a comma and then listing a state abbreviation after the name. If your search receives too many hits then place “around the name.” Unfortunately, this method does not work well on common names like Bill Smith or Patty Anderson.
Like the missing children website, there is a National Center for Missing Adults (NCMA) website: www.theyaremissed.org/ncma. The FBI and the NCMA reported in January 2007 almost 51,000 adults as reported missing. In addition, the FBI’s National Crime Information Center (NCIC) reports there are 6,200 active cases of unidentified persons.
If you are unable to find your loved one at the NCMA or it has been many years since you have had contact with your loved one try searching the data base at the Doe Network. The Doe Network is made entirely of volunteers who work to return the names to the nameless Jane and John Does of the North America, Europe, and Australia. The website is located at www.doenetwork.org.
The volunteers at the Doe Network work late into the night to match up the faces of the missing to the cold cases files on the site. The Doe Network has specific case criteria for their missing person long-term cold cases, where the person must have been missing since or before 1998, and unidentified persons before 2006. The Doe Network has solved or assisted in solving 41 cases to date, which is not a bad record considering the cases the Doe Network work on usually have little information to go on.
If you have a missing person in your family then look to the “Someone is Missing” website located at www.someoneismissing.com. The website provides the families of missing persons with immediate internet exposure by providing an email, website, and resources in honor of the missing person. By providing a website for the missing person, they help families get the picture, name, and information of the missing person out into the World Wide Web. After all, if no one knows someone is missing, then how can that someone be located? The website also provides a contact point for anyone who knows what happened to the missing person.
Every Jane or John Doe has a name, a personality, a family, a place they called home. How did they end up missing and unnoticed? If you are missing someone in your life, do not assume that person just left without saying goodbye. Question what happened, go, and look for them and if you know what happened to someone who is missing or was the victim of a homicide or murder then have the guts to come forward. You may be the key to providing the information necessary to give a family the answers they are desperately seeking in their search. Your information may be enough to allow law enforcement to close the case. Remember you can remain anonymous when you give your information to any law enforcement agency.
