Jeanette Kamahele (NamUs MP#8069) vs. NamUs UP#7765

By: Shane Lambert

Missing Person: Jeannette Kamahele

Last seen or contact date: April 25th, 1972 in the morning, around 930am

Where last seen: Cotati, California on the ramp of Highway 101

NamUs # and Link: #MP8069

Jeannette Kamahele missing report 2 Fri, Apr 28, 1972 – 2 · The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California) · Newspapers.com

I had a look at Jeanette Kamahele's case tonight. This is a missing-person's case that will be fairly well known to websleuths and those familiar with unsolved mysteries in the United States. Kamahele has been included in the often-discussed Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders from several decades ago.

I won't review the details of her case too much because they have been covered. You can visit the following link to read about the murders that may have been the work of one serial killer if you wish:

http://www.santarosahitchhikermurders.com.

What I will do is look at Jeanette's case and compare it to an Unidentified Person's case (ie. UP), that being Namus UP#7765. There are three stark similarities between Jeanette and UP#7765 that indicate that the two separate profiles should be looked at as being the same person.

Firstly, there is a modern reconstruction of the UP's face from early in 2018. NamUs has had a bust of the UP for years but now we can have a look at an artist's rendition of the deceased UP#7765 (left) and compare it to Kamahele's pictures below. When I do that I see similar features, including complexion, hair length, and hair-parting point. As far as facial matches between photos and reconstructions go, it's a very intriguing match-up.

Unidentified Person #7765 on the left. Jeanette Kamahele on the right side and middle.

Secondly, an important detail with this case is that the deceased on the left, UP#7765, was found with a sandal near her. Importantly, Jeanette Kamahele on the right, MP#8069, was last seen wearing sandals.

Thirdly, UP#7765 was found with Levi brand denim blue jeans near her body. Jeanette was last seen wearing the Levi's brand, according to her NamUs profile. It does not state that she was wearing Levi's jeans but that is that company's common product.

The time and space match reasonably well between these cases. The decedent was found July 24th, 1976 and was believed to have died between 1966 and 1976. Jeanette went missing in 1972 so the dates definitely match up.

In terms of proximity, we are talking about a difference of 572 miles between Colati, California and a point northward in Oregon. While that might seem like a great distance, it should not be too bothersome because Jeanette was believed to be hitchhiking when she disappeared. In fact, someone who knew her was going to stop and pick her up except someone else did first. That person that picked her up might have been heading a long way north.

There are some problems with these two cases as a potential match. I will note a 5" discrepancy in height between the missing person and the UP, a discrepancy in race, and that not all the clothes overlap between the two profiles. However, the deceased individual had her torso missing so how reliable a height estimation is without a spine is for all to guess. Additionally, when we take NamUs information with a grain of salt and instead look at the original reporting from 1976 we find that there IS NO HEIGHT DISCREPANCY at all.

August 1, 1976 Statesman Journal/Page 33/No author listed/"Linn DA seeking body's identity

The contradiction between races may not be that important. Kamahele was Hawaiian and the UP is described as caucasian. However, the sketch of the UP looks a little swarthy to me. I'm not convinced that a decedent's race can be pinpointed with bones, especially since so many people have mixed backgrounds.

The ages match-up between the profiles. NamUs lists a broad range of between 18-40 years old for the UP and Jeanette's age is within that range (she was 20). But I will note that when the Unidentified Person's bones were originally examined back in 1976 they had a much narrower range. See the clipped article excerpt below which is from the August 1, 1976 Statesman Journal in Salem, Oregon:

Technically, Jeanette's age was out of the 17-19-year-old range but that's not that important because these ranges have to be taken loosely.

The faces also match up in terms of likeness in my view. One detail that I especially like is where the hair parts.

One question that we should be asking is this: how many Unidentified Persons are there out there that look like Jeanette and that were found with the clothing she was last seen in? If you answer "none" then I think you agree with me that UP#7765 is a clear candidate for a rule out in the semi-famous case of Jeanette Kamahele's disappearance.

Another question you could ask is simply if matching the profile of Kamahele to UP#7765 is simply worth taking a shot at just due to how cold the case is. It has been 46 years since Kamahele went missing and if her case isn't solved soon then it stands to reason that many will soon just dismiss it as too archaic to bother with.

Shani Ann Estes (NamUs MP#1204) vs. UP#5963

By: Shane Lambert

Shani Ann Estes has been missing since 2005, that much is clear. However, there is some contradictory information out there from governmental sources as to the date she was last seen. NamUs (she's MP#1204) says she was last seen on November 24th, 2005. The State of California's Department of Justice's website says she was last seen on December 7th, 2005. Regardless, there's reason to consider her as a match to UP#5963.

Shani, according to CharleyProject's profile for her, had an argument with her husband on November 24th, 2005 and then disappeared. The suggestion at that website is that the husband is not a suspect and that Shani left on her own accord.

On the night of January 10th, 2006 a woman known as UP#5963 was found deceased in a burned-out apartment in San Francisco. The distance between where Shani was last seen and this apartment is about 290 miles in the same state of California. 

The time elapsed between the date of the fire and when Shani was last seen depends on what date we go by. We are looking at just over a month if we go by December 7th, 2005 or a month and a half if we go by November 24th, 2005. Regardless, there's no reason to rule one other out yet as possible matches.

UP#5963 is described as not recognizable because of burns suffered in the apartment fire. Accordingly, all physical descriptions have to be taken with a grain of salt.

But the dead individual is listed as a female that was white and that matches Shani. The heights between Shani and the decedent are just 1 inch off and that makes them a match from that point of view because heights are often estimated.

The age of the deceased UP could not really be estimated but she was considered to be an adult. The weight between Shani and the decedent appears to be well off, a full 40 pounds. Furthermore, the eye color is off between the two.

But what's interesting about UP#5963, someone who had brown eyes according to NamUs, was that she was ruled-out against MP#490, a person who had blue eyes. The basis for the rule out may have been a scar: UP#5963 had a scar on her lower-right abdomen and the MP had a scar as well.

That the Unidentified Person with brown eyes was compared to a missing person with blue eyes suggests that the authorities aren't confident in one of the two's eye colors. That may have something to do with the fact that the UP was burned to death. Can you accurately get eye color from charred remains?

MP#490, the rule-out of the UP, went missing in June of 1996 in Arizona. That's far away from San Francisco and the time factor is large, nearly a full decade. If MP#490 can be looked at as a possible match to UP#5963 then surely Shani can.

Shani was much closer to UP#5963 in terms of time and space. Furthermore, Shani may have had a scar right where the Unidentified Person had one. Shani is described as having a "surgical scar" from a c-section, a scar that would be on her abdomen and possibly her lower-right abdomen according to some pictures I googled of c-section scars. The UP had a scar on the lower-right abdomen -- perhaps from the same c-section?

These two are worth a look at despite the mismatching eye color in my opinion. If they aren't one and the same then at least they should be listed as rule outs of one another to prevent future work on the possible match.

NamUs UP#13280 and UP#13278

By: Shane Lambert

I spent some time reading about two cases of unidentified people tonight, cases from January of 2003. The cases may be related although NamUs does not connect them. They are NamUs UP#13280 and UP#13278.

The former was found in Imperial County on January 2nd, 2003 and believed to be dead for five months. The latter was found in the same county on January 7th, 2003 and also believed to be dead for five months. The zip codes associated with the deaths are about 9.4 miles apart according to Google Maps. Both decedents were described as being found in the "open desert."

UP#13280 was found near a jacket that had The Master Palette logo on it. Anyone working on this case may want to know that the logo is associated with Glidden Professional, a paint company. The first snippet below shows the logo on the decedent's jacket while the second snippet shows the logo inset into a website (webpage was active at time of writing). They are remarkably similar.

With UP#13278, I did some research on the most striking feature of this deceased person's remains. She had gold star inlays on her front dentures. In an article published on April 4th, 2007 at the Houston Press, author Olivia Flores Alvarez regales a story of an individual he met in March of that year who had gold star inlays on her front teeth. That person can't be UP#13278 because this UP died in 2002. However, according to Alvarez the gold star inlays are "a popular fashion in highland Guatemala." The title of the article is "Packing Meat" and the topic is illegal immigrant workers.

The relevance is that UP#13278 may have originated from highland Guatemala. This region is in southern Guatemala. It lays between the Sierra Madre de Chiapas to the south and the Petén lowlands to the north.

Anyone working on these cases should be aware of connections to Glidden Professional and to the highlands of Guatemala.