Greensville County John Doe

Greensville County John Doe
2012 Reconstruction of the victim by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children[1]
Born	Between 1974 and 1980
Status	Unidentified for 19 years, 10 months and 4 days
Died	June 26, 1995 (aged 15–21) Emporia,Greensville County, Virginia, United States
Cause of death	Vehicle accident
Known for	Unidentified accident victim
Height	Between 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) and 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)(approximate)
Weight	Between 169 lb (77 kg) (approximate)
Website
www.facebook.com/GratefulDoe

The Greensville County John Doe, otherwise known as Grateful Doe (for the shirt and tickets he possessed from the band Grateful Dead) and Jason Doe was a young man who was killed in a vehicle accident on 26 June 1995, in Emporia, Greensville, Virginia. His true identity has never been found.^[2][3][4] In 2015, photographs surfaced of a young man, later identified as Jason Patrick Callahan on the Facebook page for the John Doe. DNA testing is currently underway to see if Callahan was indeed the unidentified man.^[5]

Death

The John Doe was killed in a vehicle accident, along with the driver, after it crashed into a pair of trees on Route 58 West, around 1:30 PM on June 26, 1995.^[6][7][8][9] Neither man was wearing a seat belt, which likely contributed to their deaths.^[7][10][11] Found with his body were two Grateful Dead tickets from Washington DC, which had been scalped, a dollar in quarters, and a yellow BIC lighter. A letter was found, depending on sources either in the John Doe's pocket or near the crash site, reading: To Jason, Sorry we had to go, see you around, call me #914-XXXX. Caroline O. and Caroline T. Bye!!!!. The phone number on the letter lacked an area code and never led to additional clues. The letter also contained a small drawing that some sources speculate depicts Jerry Garcia.^{[12][2][13][7]} The tickets were dated June 24, 1994 and June 25, 1995, respectively.^[10] Neither of the Carolines have been located or identified, although officials are attempting to find them.^[14]

Physical description

The young man, estimated to be between fifteen and twenty-one, had long, curly brown or dark blond hair that had been dyed a reddish color, along with brown eyes.^[13] He had a tattoo of a star on his upper-left arm and another possible tattoo, which was faded, on his right, which both appeared to have been amateurishly performed. A beaded necklace was found on his neck; his left ear had been pierced but he did not wear an earring.^[8][10] A scar was also found on his back.^[3] He was of Caucasian descent, with no visible dental work and his third molars were visible. However, he had cared for his teeth fairly well.^[6][10] At the time of the accident he was wearing a red, tie-dyed Grateful Dead T-Shirt, Levi jeans, white socks and black Fila running shoes.^[3][12][6]

Investigation

The note and tattoo belonging to the John Doe

The vehicle's driver was identified as Michael Hager, 21, who may have picked the John Doe up as a hitchhiker, and who authorities speculate may have fallen asleep at the wheel, as neither of the decedents had drugs or alcohol in their bodies.^[15] It has been suggested that Hager may have agreed to transport the John Doe because of their similar dressing styles, as they both appeared to be fans of Grateful Dead.^[7] Authorities attempted to identify the John Doe through fingerprint analysis, with the aid of national databases, but were unsuccessful.^[16]

When interviewed, Hager's family could not identify the passenger, who had been reported to have been riding in Hager's Volkswagen Vanagon when he stopped to give his father a letter in Williamsburg, Virginia.^[13][11] However, a detective from the area stated that this claim was not accurate, and that Hager had been alone when he stopped to visit his father.^[7] It is speculated that the unidentified young man had actually been picked up between Fairfax and Gloucester, Virginia. Because of the lacerations to the young man's face, mortuary photographs could not be released to the public; eventually a facial reconstruction was released.^[7] In 2012, another was created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The man who originally bought the tickets found in John Doe's pocket did not remember to whom he had sold them.^[10] At least 221 missing people have been ruled out as possible identities of the victim.^[3]

2015 developments

In 2015, photographs surfaced of a young man wearing similar clothing to that worn by the John Doe, and bearing a strong resemblance to the reconstruction images. The person in these photographs was named Jason and was described to have been a fan of Grateful Dead. He had not been heard from since 1995 and had lived in both Illinois and South Carolina. It has not yet been verified whether this was indeed the Greensville County John Doe, and his last name had not yet been discovered, as his roommates and other friends did not recall it.^[17][14] Companies such as the New York Post, The Daily Mail and BuzzFeed covered the story.^[18][5][16]

Possible match to Jason Patrick Callahan

In January 2015, law enforcement began conducting a DNA test to see if the John Doe is the same man as Jason Patrick Callahan, the son of a sixty-three year old woman who had not seen or heard from him since June 1995, when he left home to "follow Grateful Dead".^[19] Callahan, who was identified to be the young man in the photographs, is described as having been a white male with wavy blonde hair and brown eyes, standing between five feet ten inches and six feet tall, and weighing about 160 pounds. Callahan, if he were alive, would be thirty-eight as of 2015.^[1] Callahan was not reported missing by his mother until 2015.^[20][5] Lt. Joey Crosby, spokesman for Myrtle Beach police, stated that Callahan's mother didn't know which jurisdiction to file the report with due to the nomadic nature of Grateful Dead fans. “She attempted to report it when he went missing but didn’t know which jurisdiction to report it to.” he said.^[21]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Unidentified decedents.

• Greensville County John Doe at the NCMEC
• Greensville County John Doe at NamUs
• Greensville County John Doe at the Doe Network