Martha Nehring Pilnok (NamUs #MP77033) vs. Jane Doe #UP76518

Missing person: Martha Nehring Pilnok

Birth name: possibly Martha Lena Nehring

Last-contact date: January 15th, 1944
Disappeared from: Valparaiso, Indiana

Link to Government Source: NamUs #MP77033

Ethnicity/Race: White
Sex: Female
Age at time of disappearance: 41 years old
Birthday: March 7th, 1902 (she appears in a family tree at Ancestry; source)

Height: About 5'2"*

Weight: 130 to 150 pounds*

Eyes: brown*

Hair: light brown*

Goal: find a photo

*height, weight, eye color, and hair color are as reported in the April 17th, 1965 Vidette-Messenger

Sat, Apr 17, 1965 – 5 · Vidette-Messenger of Porter County (Valparaiso, Indiana) · Newspapers.com

ATTEMPT TO MATCH: #MP77033 as #UP76518

Unidentified Remains: Jane Doe 

Link to Government Source: #UP76518

Date body found: November 12th or 13th, 1945

• MATCHES: the body was found after Martha Nehring Pilnok's disappearance

Post-mortem period: Believed to have been dead for 8 to 15 months

• MISMATCHES: the higher range would date back to August 1944, seven months after Martha disappeared; however, that she disappeared in Jan 1944 doesn't mean she died at that time; also, the medical examiners aren't perfect with these difficult estimations; this mismatch is not critical

Where body found: northeast of Valparaiso

• MATCHES: has to be considered a match since Martha went missing from Valp'o

Age estimated: pre-60

• MATCHES Martha Nehring Pilnok's age
• Newspaper source estimated age at 30 years old** which is a mismatch but not critical; perhaps 30 to 60 is a fair age range and Martha Nehring Pilnok would be in that range

Sex: female

• MATCHES Martha Nehring Pilnok's sex

Height: 5'6" to 5'7"

• MISMATCHES: 4 inches taller than Martha Nehring Pilnok's height; however since both would be estimates this cannot be considered critical

Weight: 135 to 150 pounds

• MATCHES: daughter gave a weight range of 130 to 150 pounds for Martha

Hair: brown

• MATCHES: light brown for Martha, might look brown after being wet outside for so long

Face: Prominent lower jaw**

Clothing: Size 38 dress, open-toe black leather shoes, heavy cloth coat that was tweed (red, blue, and gray), pantyhose that probably nylon

Items: tan pocketbook (no money),  cardboard box near her with a house dress and a pair of canvas shoes

Conclusion: Jane Doe #UP7518 and #MP77033 might be the same person. A modern attempt to rule out should be made. These cases are not listed as rule-outs at NamUs.

**The South Bend Tribune -- South Bend, Indiana -- 15 Nov 1945, Thu  -- Page 18

Commentary: NamUs #MP77033

This is a missing person case with very little information. Martha Pilnok's exact age isn't in NamUs and there were no details about the circumstances surrounding her disappearance. Nor were there any details about her hair, her eye color, or other pertinent physical details in NamUs. However, I was able to discover many details using Ancestry and newspaper archives.

She appeared in an Ancestry family tree with a birthdate in 1902. I am sure her husband's name was Fred Pilnok. Her father's name appears to be Fred Nehring. I found a newspaper article that mentioned her daughter looking for her, someone named Margaret A. Stetson.

This was the information that Ancestry supplied on Martha Nehring Pilnok, information that came from the 1940 Federal Census:

"Name: Martha Pilnok [Martha Nehring]

Age: 37

Estimated Birth Year: abt 1903

Gender: Female

Race: White

Birthplace: Indiana

Marital Status: Married

Relation to Head of House: Daughter

Home in 1940: Jackson, Porter, Indiana

Map of Home in 1940: Jackson, Porter, Indiana

Inferred Residence in 1935: Porter

Residence in 1935: Porter

Sheet Number: 2A

Occupation: Housewife

Attended School or College: No

Highest Grade Completed: Elementary school, 6th grade"

All from Ancestry:

• "Martha lived on a farm that her father owned in Porter County, Indiana"
• "Martha's father estimated the value of the home (not the entire farm) as $4,000. The equivalent in today’s dollars is $76,000"
• These are the household members as recorded by the census taker. You can tell that Martha's father answered the census questions because there is a circled "X" next to his name
• At age 37, Martha was the only child in the house and her father was 79
• Martha's father was born in Germany. Martha was born in Indiana, her brother was born in Germany

Her name appeared in the March 8th, 1958 edition of the Vidette-Messenger of Porter County. She was named as a defendant in a non-resident notice. This seems to have to do with her absence and her husband, Fred Pilnok, taking possession of real estate because of that. Same deal for the March 22nd edition of the newspaper from that year.

Sat, Mar 8, 1958 – 7 · Vidette-Messenger of Porter County (Valparaiso, Indiana) · Newspapers.com

There was a skeleton that was found near Valparaiso, Indiana in December of 1945. It was thought to possibly be of Martha. I wondered what the outcome of this investigation was given the limited forensic abilities of 1945 relative to modern times. I answered that when I identified the skeleton in the new sources below as the entry in NamUs of #UP76518.

Thu, Dec 6, 1945 – 33 · The Indianapolis News (Indianapolis, Indiana) · Newspapers.com

I think the following newspaper article from a different publication is of the same Jane Doe. It contains more information than the article above. The counties of Valparaiso and Porter are mentioned. Note, that Porter County is where Martha was from as per the information from Ancestry.

Thu, Dec 6, 1945 – Page 1 · Linton Daily Citizen (Linton, Indiana) · Newspapers.com

This article appears to be of the same Jane Doe.

This might be Martha Nehring Pilnok. NamUs #MP77033 Thu, Nov 15, 1945 – Page 11 · The Kokomo Tribune (Kokomo, Indiana) · Newspapers.com

Author: Shane Lambert (Facebook profile)
Twitter: @UncoolNegated (Twitter)
Pinterest: Missing Person Board
Original Time of Writing: February 3rd, 2021

All articles are subject to editing after the original posting.

I am not a Private Investigator, however, I am currently studying to be one as of February 2021.

Website hashtag: #MPCSL