Unidentified decedent

Example of a poster detailing information about unidentified victims, such as the Caledonia Jane Doe (identified in 2015), Arroyo Grande Jane Doe, Walker County Jane Doe and the Buckskin Girl

Unidentified decedent (also abbreviated as UID or UP) is a term in American English used to describe a corpse of a person whose identity cannot be established by police and medical examiners. In many cases, it may be several years before the real-life identities of some individuals are found, while in some cases, they are never identified.^[1] An individual may remain unidentified due to lack of evidence as well as absence of personal identification such as a driver's license. Where the remains may have deteriorated or mutilated to the point where the body would not be easily recognized the faces of the victims may be reconstructed to show what they had looked like before death.^[2] Unidentified decedents are often referred to by the placeholder names "John Doe" or "Jane Doe".^[3]

Causes

There are approximately 40,000 unidentified decedents in the United States alone,^[4][5][6] with numerous other cases in the rest of the world.^[7] Explanations for a body to remain without an identity could be death in a state or country where the person was unrecorded, the corpse undergoing advanced decomposition, or having suffered injuries that alter facial features.^[8]

Location

"Jock Doe," one of the Sumter County Does, may have been from Canada but was found in the United States

Some decedents may die outside their native state or country. The Sumter County Does, murdered in South Carolina, may have been Canadian.^[9] Barbara Hess Precht died in Ohio in 2006 but was not identified until 2014. She had been living as a transient with her husband in California for decades but returned to her native state of Ohio, where she died of unknown circumstances.^[10] In both of these cases, the decedents were found in a recognizable state and had their fingerprints and dental records taken with ease. It is unknown if the Sumter County Does' DNA was later recovered, since their bodies would require exhumation to recover DNA.^[9] In Lourdes, France, a corpse believed to have been native to a different country was discovered.^[11]

Decomposition

Many unidentified decedents are not found shortly after they die and have decomposed severely. This significantly changes their facial features and also may prevent identification through fingerprints. Environmental conditions often are a major factor in decomposition, as some victims are found months after death with little decomposition if their bodies are placed in cold areas. Some, like the 1981 Pima County Jane Doe, died shortly before their remains were found, but hot temperatures along with wildlife activity deteriorated the victim's features.^[12][13][8] In some cases, warm temperatures may mummify the deceased, which also distorts the features of the individual, despite that the tissues on the body have survived initial decomposition. One example of such an instance would be the "Persian Princess", who died in the 1990s but, in an act of archaeological forgery, was untruthfully stated in Pakistan to have been over 2,000 years old.^[14] A man found in Idar-Oberstein, Germany, in 1994 had died months before his body was found, yet in some places, his skin had not deteriorated and tattoos were found, which are also used to identify the dead.^[15]

Putrefaction

Putrefaction often occurs when bacteria decompose the remains and generate gasses inside, causing the corpse to swell and become discolored.^[8] In cases such as the Rogers family, who were murdered in 1989 by Oba Chandler, the bodies were deposited in water but surfaced after gasses in their remains caused them to float to the surface. They were deceased a short period of time but were already severely decomposed and unrecognizable, due to putrefaction that occurred while underwater and high temperatures. It was not until a week later that dental records revealed their identities.^[16]

Skeletonization

Skeletonization occurs when the decedent's remains have decayed to the point that bones and possibly some tissues are all that is found, usually when death occurred a significant amount of time before discovery. If a skeletonized body is found, fingerprints and toeprints are impossible to recover, unless they have survived the initial decomposition of the remains. Fingerprints are often used to identify the dead and were used widely before DNA comparison was possible.^[8] In some cases, partial remains limit the available information; for example, a victim found in Frankfurt, Germany, where only the skull of the woman was found, which made it impossible to estimate her height and weight.^[17]

With most decedents that are skeletonized and remain unidentified, they are often forensically reconstructed when dental records and searching national DNA databases prove unsuccessful.

Traumatic injuries

Some decedents may suffer trauma that may significantly alter their appearance, especially those who die in vehicular accidents or were murdered in a violent manner. A facial expression often represents the pain, which shifts the face into a position that would not commonly be seen by the public, including those who may have seen the person when they were alive. A body found decapitated would also prove to be unrecognizable.^[18] Many decedents whose heads were not recovered would remain unidentified, such as the Whitehall Mystery, which occurred in the United Kingdom.^[19]

Burning

Often, a perpetrator who tries to conceal a body after the victim's death may attempt to destroy the body or render it unrecognizable.^[20] In the case of the currently unidentified Yermo John Doe, the victim was murdered approximately one hour before he was found, but was completely unrecognizable.^[21] When Lynn Breeden, a Canadian model, was murdered and set ablaze in a dumpster, her body was so severely damaged that DNA processing and fingerprint analysis were impossible. She was identified sometime later after her unique dentition matched her own dental records, and DNA extracted from her blood at a different scene was matched.^[22] Linda Agostini's body was found burned near Albury, Australia in 1934. Her remains were identified ten years later through dental comparison.^[23]

Identification process

Usually, bodies are identified by comparing DNA, fingerprints and dental characteristics, which are usually unique for each person.^[24] DNA is considered the most accurate, but was not as widely used until the 1990s. It is often obtained through hair follicles, blood, tissue and other biological material.^[25] Bodies can also be identified with other physical information, such as illnesses, evidence of surgery, breaks and fractures, and height and weight information.^[26] A medical examiner will often be involved with identifying a body.^[27][28]

Mortuary photographs

Reconstructions are considered to be more accurate with representing a decedent when they were alive, especially with violent deaths, like the Los Angeles County Jane Doe (1992).

Many police departments and medical examiners have made efforts to identify the deceased by placing mortuary photographs of the decedent's face online. In some instances, the mortuary photographs would be retouched of wounds if they are to be released to the public. Dismembered corpses may also be digitally altered to appear attached to the body.^[18] This is not considered to be the most effective method, as the nature of the victims' deaths often distorts the faces of the victims.^[29] An example of this is the Greensville County John Doe, who was killed in a vehicular crash in 1995. He sustained extreme trauma that disfigured his face.^[30]

In some cases, however, homicide victims, such as the Walker County Jane Doe, have had their morgue photographs released but it displayed strained expressions, as this victim died by strangulation and had also suffered blunt trauma to the body.^[31]

A Jane Doe found in a river in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, had died months before she was found, but was preserved due to the cold temperatures. Her morgue photographs were displayed publicly on a medical examiner's website, but her face had been distorted due to swelling after absorbing water, with additional decomposition.^[32]

Death masks have also been used to assist with identification, which have been stated to be more accurate, as they are required to display "relaxed expressions," which often do not illustrate the faces of the victims as they were found, such as that of L'Inconnue de la Seine, a French suicide victim found in the late 1800s.^[33] However, a death mask will still depict sunken eyes or other characteristics of a long-term illness, which do not often show how they would have looked in life.^[8]

Reconstructions

When a body is found in an advanced state of decomposition or the victim has died of a violent nature, to receive assistance from the public, reconstructions are often required, as releasing images of a corpse is considered taboo in society. Often, those in a recognizable state will often be reconstructed due to the same reason.

Faces can be reconstructed with a three-dimensional model or by 2D, which includes sketches or digital reconstructions, similar to facial composites.^[34][35]

Two sketches have been used in a variety of cases. Forensic artist Karen T. Taylor created her own method during the 1980s, which involved much more precise techniques, such as estimating locations and sizes of the features of a skull. This method has been shown to be fairly successful.^[36]

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has developed methods to estimate the likenesses of the faces of unidentified decedents whose remains were too deteriorated to create a two-dimensional sketch or reconstruction due to the lack of tissue on the bones. A skull would be placed through a CT scanner and the image would then be manipulated with a software that was intended for architecture design, to add digital layers of tissue based on age, sex and race of the decedent.^[37]

Examples

The following gallery depicts various ways decedents have been reconstructed. None of those shown have been identified.

• 

  Forensic sketch (Broward County John Doe (1979))

• 

  Reconstruction created via impressions of the face (New Haven County Jane Doe)

• 

  Death mask (L'inconnue de la Seine)

• 

  Three dimensional clay reconstruction (Marion County John Doe)

• 

  Facial composite (Pinellas County John Doe)

• 

  Reconstruction created through a CT scan (Lumberton Jane Doe)

Problems

In some cases, such as that of Colleen Emily Orsborn, the true identity of the decedent may be excluded from the case. In Orsborn's case, she had fractured one of the bones in her leg, but a medical examiner who performed the autopsy on her remains was not able to discover evidence of the injury and subsequently excluded her from the case. It was not until 2011 when DNA confirmed Orsborn was the victim found in 1984.^[38][39] In cases such as the Racine County Jane Doe, a rule out has also been subjected to criticism. Aundria Bowman, a teen who disappeared in 1989 who bore a strong resemblance to the victim found in 1999, was excluded, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.^[40] On an online forum, known as Websleuths, users have disagreed with this ruling.^[41] In the case of Lavender Doe, a mother of a missing girl also disagreed with the exclusion of her missing daughter through DNA, as she claimed the reconstruction of the victim looked very similar to her daughter.^[42]

Notable cases

Unidentified

The Taman Shud Case includes a man who was found in 1948 in Adelaide, South Australia.

• Whitehall Mystery, England, unidentified since 1888^[43]
• Taman Shud Case, Australia, unidentified since 1948^[44]
• Isdal Woman, Norway, unidentified since 1970^[45]
• Sumter County Does, United States, unidentified since 1976^[46]
• "Beth Doe", United States, unidentified since 1976^[47]
• Orange Socks, United States, unidentified since 1979^[48]
• Dana Point Jane Doe, United States, unidentified since 1987^[49]
• Greensville County John Doe, United States, unidentified since 1995^[9]
• Persian Princess, Pakistan, unidentified since 1996^[50]

Identified

• "Pyjama Girl", murdered in 1934 in Australia and identified in 1944 as Linda Agostini^[51]
• "Tent Girl", murdered in 1968 and identified as Barbara Ann Hackmann Taylor in 1998^[52]
• "Precious Doe", murdered in 2001 and identified as Erica Michelle Green in 2005^[53]
• "Ballarat Bandit", committed suicide in 2004 and identified as a Canadian man, George Robert Johnston in 2006^[54]
• "Baby Grace", murdered in 2007 and identified as Riley Ann Sawyers later that year^[55]
• "DuPage Johnny Doe", murdered in 2005 and identified as Atcel Olmedo in 2011^[56]
• "Baby Hope", murdered in 1991 and identified as Anjelica Castillo in 2013^[57]
• "Pearl Lady", found in the Ohio River in 2006 and identified as Barbara Precht in 2014^[58]
• Caledonia Jane Doe, found murdered in 1979 and identified in 2015 as Tammy Alexander^[59]

See also

• List of unidentified decedents in the United States
  • List of unidentified murder victims in the United States
• Body identification

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Unidentified decedents.

• The Doe Network
• National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
• National Missing and Unidentified Persons System
• "Help ID Me" on Facebook