NamUs MP #20751 (Connie Gregory) vs. NamUs UP #6710

By: Shane Lambert

I looked at NamUS today and decided to focus on the year 1980 in hopes of cross-referencing some missing people from that year with unidentified remains from about the same time. The first case I looked at was a missing person named Connie Gregory (NamUs MP #20751) and the chance that she might be NamUs UP #6710. The following is my argument that Connie Gregory should be a candidate for a rule-out attempt for the unidentified person.

Connie Gregory, MP #20751

Facts that imply a match:

1. MP (missing person) #20751 Connie Gregory is not listed as a rule-out for UP (unidentified person) #6710 at the time of writing. That means that no one has looked at the two or someone has looked and couldn't rule the two out as one and the same person.
2. Connie Gregory was last seen on January 23rd, 1980 at 17:20 in Breckinridge, Kentucky. The UP was found on May 26th, 1980 in Boone County, Kentucky. The timeline does not eliminate the possibility of a match. The UP has an estimated date of death for 1980. The body is described as "Not recognizable - Decomposing/putrefaction."
3. The distance between Breckinridge County and Boone County is ~162 miles in the same state of Kentucky. The UP was found in the Ohio River, a river that also runs near Breckinridge County.
4. Connie Gregory was white. The UP was also white.
5. The MP and the UP have very close height and weight estimations/measurements. Connie Gregory was 60 inches and 120 pounds. The UP was believed to be 62 inches and 123 pounds.
6. Connie Gregory was 30 years old when she went missing. The UP has a large age range (25-40), but it would still include a 30-year-old.
7. Hair color of Connie Gregory matches the UP. Brown hair on both. Brown eyes on both.

Facts that don't imply a match:

1. The UP has a postmortem interval listed as "Days." If one expects that the MP died close to the date that she went missing then the expected postmortem period would be months as opposed to "Days." This still doesn't eliminate Connie Gregory as a potential match. The UP was in a decomposed state. 
2. The UP had a "3/4" horizontally-oriented scar on left knee." The MP has no such description. 
3. The MP had "Mole on left side of neck" while the UP is not described as having such. Like point two, the description of Connie might simply be incomplete.

Conclusion:

If we assume Connie Gregory is deceased then there is a question of when she died. If she died quickly after going missing and the UP's postmortem interval of "Days" is correct then they are not one and the same. However, the facts regarding Gregory's date of death aren't known as her "date gone missing" can't be assumed to be the same as a date of death. 

The scar on the UP and the mole on the MP not matching one another are points that cast doubt as well. Moles can come and go, however, while a scar can be missed in an MP report. 

The gravity of the "Facts that imply a match" are compelling enough even when measured against the "Facts that don't imply a match." 

1. The MP and the UP are of the same race/sex.
2. The timing doesn't eliminate them.
3. The MP went missing in Kentucky and the UP was found in Kentucky.
4. The physical conditions of hair color, eye color, height, and weight all match up to a very close degree (height/weight slightly off, UP's hair also described as black).
5. The age range of the UP matches the age of the MP. 

I think that it compels a look at the two as possibly one and the same person.