John or Jane Does With Very Clear Facial Photos -- Remain Unidentified

Author: Shane Lambert
Time of publication: January 29th, 2021

On this web page, I highlight cases of Unidentified Persons (UPs) who are deceased. What unifies all the UP profiles on this page is that a great photo of them is provided with their profiles from a time when they were alive. The photos of the unidentified persons are of good enough quality that these are cases where the only thing that is required to solve them is both media exposure and a person who is willing to simply state their names. 

Besides the mystery of their identities, there is the extra mystery of how they can be unidentified despite the clear pictures of their faces. I am not talking about media exposure when I state that. Rather, how did the authorities get the pictures of them alive without someone coming across their names? Did the decedents have pictures of themselves in their wallets? 

This is a web page that is always a work in progress: I will add to as I come across more cases that fit the category. Minimally, please scroll through this page and look at the faces even if you don't feel like reading that much. If a link is, pardon the pun, dead, then please report it in the comments.

Shane Lambert

February 2nd, 2025

I looked at the following case tonight and it also looked solvable. However, a lot of time has passed. But you would think this case would be solved if only enough people looked at the photo. Currently, she is known only as #UP127230.

January 13th, 2025

I worked on this one tonight. It looked solvable!

NamUs #UP76876

January 13th, 2025: Update! This one was solved! At least, they removed the profile (which usually means the person was unidentified.

This fellow was found dead in the Arizona desert on October 26th, 2020. He was believed to have been dead for about 36 hours. His height was measured to be 5'4" and his weight was estimated to be 125 to 135 pounds.

The reason they have a photo of him from life is because they were able to take a fingerprint off of his corpse. The print matched an apprehension from March 2020. The photo is an apprehension photo from that time.

He gave the name Gregorio Cota Valenzuela in March 2020, however, this may be an alias. That detail is something I find strange as I didn't think getting away from the authorities when they are fingerprinting you was as simple as giving a fake name, however, I guess there are scenarios where that is possible.

This individual was found by the USPB (United States Border Patrol). Individuals found in remote desert locations in Arizona by the USPB are often Mexican nationals that may be walking to Phoenix. However, that this person was fingerprinted seven months before he died may suggest that he was in the USA for a long time.

Still, I would not be surprised if he is a Mexican national. If you are working on this case, fluent English and Spanish may be useful in order to look at the missing person websites in Mexico.

Canada's Missing Case reference: 2017073538

January 25th, 2025 update: This case does not seem to be active anymore as the link no longer contains information. It says it was updated on May 10th, 2023.

This case comes from Canada. The man on the right is thought to be an Albertan. He was found deceased in Ontario on October 15th, 2016.

At some point, he identified himself as Mitchell Nelson. At some point, the photo of him must have been taken, maybe by police.

If you visit his UP profile with Canada's Missing using the hyperlink above, then you'll see that they have composite sketches of him too. 

This is truly a strange UP profile. It's the only unidentified person profile I've looked at where they have a composite sketch AND a photo of the UP from when he was alive. There also appears to be a sidelonged photo of him riding a bike and pulling a huge canoe, which is a really weird photo. If they found these photos of him on the John Doe, then why do the sketch?

In another strange twist, this man is given an age range of 40 to 67 years old. I don't see how anyone can look at that photo and see someone who is as young as 40. I see someone who is at least 50 and probably 53 to 63 is I was to give a ten-year guess.

NamUs Mising Persons -- Five Unidentified from Hartford Circus Fire 1944

By: Shane Lambert
Original Time of Writing: December 11th, 2020

The Hartford Circus Fire was a fire disaster that occurred during the WWII years when, in July of 1944, a small fire broke out at a live circus show. The tent that housed the circus had a coating on it that was meant to waterproof it. One side effect of that was that the tent was hardly fire retardant. In fact, it was a very flammable material as were many of the fixtures used to house the show.

What resulted when a small fire broke out, which may have been due to arson or from a discarded cigarette, was a quickly spreading fire that led to immediate panic among thousands of attendees and performers. Most of these attendees escaped to safety but a combination of chaos, trampling, asphyxiation from smoke inhalation, and burning to death killed 167 people and injured hundreds and hundreds more. The headline below, which is taken from journalism from the day after the fire, states 139 were dead but this was just the preliminary number. The number increased to 167.

Fri, Jul 7, 1944 – 1 · Hartford Courant (Hartford, Connecticut) · Newspapers.com

Not all of the victims who died in this tragedy were identified. In fact, there was a famous missing person case that resulted from this fire. A young girl, who was trampled to death in the panic, went unnamed for several decades. Once known as Little Miss 1565, she was believed to have been Eleanor Emily Cook.

Sun, Jun 23, 1991 – 7 · The Journal Times (Racine, Wisconsin) · Newspapers.com

At least five people remain unidentified at the time of writing. They are #UP59498, #UP59500,  #UP59502, #UP59503, and #UP59504. If you are looking at a missing person's case with a lead that points to the Hartford, Connecticut area on or in the days leading up to July 6th, 1944, then keep these Jane and John Does in mind. If you are interested in a decent video that reviews the fire, then I watched a good one on Youtube and have it embedded below: