Missing Person Commentary

By: Shane Lambert Update @ 11am PT July 11, 2016: Amy Dobbs, Regional Systems Administrator for NamUS, indicated that she's looking into the pins and to possibilities of them providing a lead. Numerous news agencies that cover the Philadelphia area were abuzz on June 24th, 2016 when someone called 9-1-1 in the morning to report a fire in a vacant lot on the 1700 block of W. Allegheny. When emergency services put the fire out they discovered "charred human remains" according to numerous agencies, including CBS's local news for the city . NamUs is a website aimed at helping identify unidentified human remains. Case reference number UP (Unidentified Person) #15403 is an individual who was found at the address mentioned in the preceding paragraph on June 24th. With no news of a multiple event in the same parking lot from that day one has to assume that the UP at Namus is the deceased individual mentioned in the news casts. His details, according to NamUs, ar

By: Shane Lambert I spent a couple hours today looking at a John 'Clinton' Doe case , an individual in his teens or early 20s, that was found by hunters in southern Wisconsin. I started as I often do, by simply cross referencing the John Doe's time of death (in this case estimated) with missing-people reports. I found a photo of a missing person whose age was a couple years out of range, but one who I felt resembled the decedent. At the end of everything, the conclusion is that Namus Missing Person #3229, Scott William Crain, is not Namus Unidentified Person #4757. However, getting to that conclusion was a little harder than it had to be I think. The first thing I do when I subjectively associate a Missing Person with an Unidentified Decedent is what I think everyone should do: look at the ruled-out individuals listed on the opening page of the Unidentified Decedent at Namus. I did that and I didn't see Scott William Crain's name as per the chart below. If

By: Shane Lambert July 12th, 2016 Update:  "Shane ….quick review of dentals proves it isn’t our guy.  Our UP has tooth 32, this MP does not. Thanks for being so interested in the case, though.  We do appreciate it.  Marika Marika A Morris, D-ABMDI Medicolegal Death Investigator/Technician Washoe County Medical Examiner/Coroner's Office" At least I got him added as a rule out. Original article: I was working a few nights ago on Namus unidentified person #7582 . He is an unknown individual whose remains were found in 1992 in Nevada with the following physical description with DoeNetwork.com : "Estimated Age: 35-50 years old Race: White, of European descent Gender: Male Height: 6'0" to 6'2" Weight: Unknown Hair Color: Reddish brown Eye Color: Unknown Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown." There are a lot of clues as to who he is but, as of July 10th, 2016, he has not been identified. However,

Update: This one was solved in the summer of 2020. Her name was Elizabeth Roberts. Link good as of October 2020: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8463099/Girl-murdered-Washington-identified-43-years-later-DNA-taken-hair.html The rule-out candidate that I submitted was ruled out. Update from Coroner's office on March 9th, 2017:  " Hi Shane, New South Wales PD’s forensic odontologist performed a dental comparison between our Jane Doe and Narelle Cox and ruled out a match based on dental records. I hope you find your Narelle and we figure out who our Jane is!  Thank you again, Jane" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ By: Shane Lambert (UncoolNegated on WebSleuths) She was found dead on August 14th, 1977 - a couple of days before Elvis died - in Snohomish County, Washington. Her murderer was subsequently convicted, but he could not identify her. Her name has remained a mystery for what is almost forty years now.