My Hunch on Sand Canyon Road John Doe - Namus UP#7582 Might Be MP#29973 (Updated - no match)

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, after working on his case for a few hours I believe that I have found an individual who is a candidate for examination as a potential match - one that is not listed as already ruled out with this John Doe's Namus profile.

Believed to be a likeness of the individual.

Due to the fact that the Doe has not been identified in about 25 years I decided to focus on the whole United States when looking for a missing person that could be the John Doe. My reasoning is that someone who does not get identified for such a lengthy period of time is someone who clearly has no obvious match. If the decedent lived within a few miles of the location that he was found in, chances are he would already have been identified.

Furthermore, that he was found in a rural location near a highway suggests that he was a traveler in my opinion. Accordingly, looking outside of the area where he was found seemed like a reasonable thing to do. Since the greater Los Angeles area is one of the more populated regions in the relevant sector of the USA, that's where I focused my efforts.

The John Doe was not found near Los Angeles but rather "off of Sand Canyon Road, approximately a mile east of Highway 338, near Wellington, in Lyon County, Nevada." The date that he was first discovered is March 12th, 1992, at that time by an unknown caller. Law enforcement, after responding to the call, found him the next day on March 13th, 1992. His estimated date of death is unknown, however his remains were only skeletal suggesting that some time had passed since his death.

There are some possible leads/clues or possible red herrings involved with this John Doe. Specifically a car was reported to have been abandoned in the area in October of 1991. Also there is a dog that a local resident claimed used to come around her place at about that time and leave in the direction of where the remains were eventually found. Importantly, the John Doe was found to be near a broken dog collar so perhaps the deceased owned one.

To get to the heart of the matter, the individual that I think should be looked at is named Joseph Anthony Stuart. He is a missing person (Namus #29973) as of September 6th, 1991, about six months ahead of the discovery of the John Doe. His sparse Namus file does not mention a dog, it does not have a photo, the relative heights are not a perfect match, and Namus MP does not mention that he was a vehicle owner. For skeptics, those are valid points that suggest that Mr. Stuart and the decedent may not be one in the same person.

However, Stuart was a 35-year old white male with brown hair. Those features match the features of the decedent who was 35-50 with reddish-brown hair. The height of the decedent relative to the John Doe is a little off in this case, by about four inches. I feel that that's the strongest rule-out based on the information available at Namus.

Maybe the timing is a little off, however it cannot rule out Mr. Stuart as a possible match to the John Doe in my view. Mr. Stuart was last seen in early September 1991, he was reported missing on September 26th of that year, and the decedent was found in March 1992. Since the remains were skeletal perhaps Mr. Stuart died from causes unknown at this location in September/October of 1991 and his remains decomposed until he was found in his skeletal state.

Geographically the decedent and Mr. Stuart are not a dead-on hit. Mr. Stuart was last seen in Fullerton, California while the deceased was found in Nevada, near Wellington and just off of Highway 338.

However, what cannot be overlooked with Mr. Stuart is a comment that he made to a friend before disappearing. According to his Namus profile "Stuart had mentioned to his friend that he was heading up to Reno, Nevada to look into a possible job." 

One route from Fullerton to Reno would take you to within a reasonable proximity of where the decedent was found. Thus, the clues in each case, that of Stuart's and that of the John Doe's do align in a way that I think a reasonable person will find intriguing. The physical description matches to a large extent, the timing matches, and when the comment about going to Reno is factored in the geography in fact matches as well.

Did Stuart have a car? Did he have a dog? Did he hitchhike? Did he head to the area that the decedent was found in?

Those are very good questions that I pose to anyone that is in a position to investigate further. Perhaps a much simpler question, one that those who knew him may be able to speak to, is simply if John Anthony Stuart looks like the decedent and if the found clothes match as well.