NamUs MP #8386 (Gary Mullinax) vs. NamUs UP #14560

This article is about how an annoying, nitpicky, and miniature detail can actually rule a John Doe out as a missing person even when everything else seems to line up nicely. First, I will present background information about two cases: NamUs' Missing Person (MP) #8386, one Gary Mullinax, and NamUs' UP #14560. I will reference a forum post I read at Websleuths.com and credit username Biscuits222 with making the comment that originally made me look at the MP and UP (unidentified person) cases mentioned above. Please read the information in the screenshot below (my username is UncoolNegated).

Gary Mullinax looked like this:

Screenshot from his Doenetwork page. Commonly used photos in his missing-person case.

He went missing on May 9th, 1976 from Little Rock, Arkansas. On the exact same day a man was found dead in nearby Kentucky. That man's corpse produced the following composite sketch:

Those that have experience with trying to match photos of missing people to unidentified remains will surely call it an imperfect science. Anything ballpark is worth taking a look at. In this case the mustache matches and so do aspects of the face around the eyes in my opinion. The hairstyle doesn't match too well due to lengths around the ear, but hairstyles can change. Other details match-up as well. That the MP went missing the same day the UP was found is uncanny given that they look alike. The distance between the last-known location of the MP and the location of the dead man is about 500 miles, a distance that doesn't cause a rule out but certainly casts some doubt in my view.

There is one other very interesting connection, one that was made by the websleuth and is worth discussing with reference to NamUs medical information on the subject or subjects. The MP's "Jaw had been broken at one time and wired shut for weeks from a car wreck" (NamUs). The UP is described as such "Fracture of Madible - 'Examination of the X-rays of mandible reveal an apparent old well healed fracture near ramus on left side.'" <sic; "Madible" should be mandible>

So we have  missing person, who had a broken jaw, that went missing on May 9th, 1976. Meanwhile we have freshly-dead unidentified remains with an affiliated composite sketch that looks like the missing person, the UP had a broken jaw in life, and he was found the day the MP went missing.

Other important details that lineup: 

1. The UP had been dead for up to one day. 
2. The UP's age range of 18-22 matches the MP's age of 21.
3. The MP's weight range of 130 to 160 matches the UP's estimated weight of 150.
4. The MP's height range of 64 to 69 inches matches the UP's measured height of 67 inches.
5. The skin color matches.

The hair color between the two does not match as the MP had brown hair and the UP had auburn hair. Hair color is tricky in my opinion, however. If we were talking about blonde vs. black then it would be a complete rule out for sure. In this case, it's just a counterpoint that is outweighed by everything else. 

Another thing to note is that someone described Gary Mullinax to the police that wasn't too familiar with the finer details of his appearance. Whoever provided Gary Mullinax's description didn't know him well enough to place his height to within a couple inches. There's a big difference between someone that is 5'4" and someone that is 5'9". 

Am I making an argument that the MP and UP are the same person? If they are it would entail that the information with this case is wrong. Check out the information below and note the time that is associated with each case ("Date last scene" vs. "Date found").

The time for Mullinax's last-seen time is 20:13 (ie. 8:13pm) on May 9th. The dead man that seems like Mullinax in almost every way, including having a broken jaw, can't actually be Mullinax if the time of the body being found is correct and the time of Mullinax's disappearance is correct. Mullinax, according to the time noted in his NamUs file, was last seen about 3.5 hours after the UP was discovered. If those times are correct then it's a rule out by logical deduction. 

Of course the problem with logical deduction is that you might be working with false premises: clerical errors do happen. I've personally submitted several corrections to NamUs in the past that were ascertainable from news clippings. However, once you start dealing with possible errors then your connection starts to lose momentum. I will, however, email the authorities for more information just to make sure.

Article below:

The article below indicates that the body in Bullitt County may have been there for about three days.

The Courier-Journal May 14th, 1976 Page D3