List of formerly unidentified decedents
From EverybodyWiki Bios & Wiki
In the many unidentified decedent cases in the world, there are several cases where the individual is eventually identified. Most bodies are provisionally identified within a matter of hours, with the formal identification following a few days, weeks, or months later. This list is for those bodies where that initial provisional identification failed. The majority of people on the list are murder victims, although it is not exclusive to them.
Identified 20th century[edit]
| Article | Image | Year of death |
Year of identification |
Cause of death | Location | Circumstances |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linda Agostini | 
|
1934 | 1944 | Manslaughter | Australia | A woman whose burned remains were located in a culvert in Albury, New South Wales. She was identified through dental records and her husband admitted to killing her, yet some question the identification based on the difference of physical characteristics.[1] |
| Michael Blassie | 
|
1972 | 1998 | Killed in action during the Vietnam War. | Vietnam | Blassie died when his A-37B Dragonfly was shot down by enemy forces near An Lộc in what was then South Vietnam. His remains were in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery until his identification in 1998.[2][3] |
| Lynn Breeden | 1997 | 1997 | Murder | Canada | A woman whose burned body was found in a dumpster. Her unique dental records later confirmed her identity.[4] | |
| Cheryl Ann Commesso | 1989 | 1996 | Murder | US | A woman murdered in Florida by Franklin Delano Floyd, who is also believed to be responsible for the deaths of two other victims, one of whom has never been found. Though she was murdered in 1989, it wasn't until 1995 that her skeletal remains were discovered, and due to the condition of the remains, she was not identified until a year later.[5] | |
| Eleanor Cook | 1944 | 1991 | Victim of the Hartford circus fire | US | On July 6, 1944, a fire occurred at the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Hartford, Connecticut. Cook was known as "Little Miss 1565" until her identification in 1991.[6][7] | |
| Amber Creek | 1997 | 1998 | Murder | US | A teenager whose body was found in a swamp in Wisconsin. She was identified after her case was broadcast on America's Most Wanted.[8] | |
| Darcie Frackenpohl | 1987 | 1987 | Murder | US | A runaway from Washington was later killed in California. She was the only victim of Roger Kibbe to be a minor.[9] | |
| April Lacy | 
|
1996 | 1998 | Murder | US | The body of a teenager originally thought to be much older when she was discovered in Decatur, Texas. DNA later identified her as 14-year-old April Lacy of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.[10] |
| Gail Mathews | 1983 | 1985 | Murder | US | A woman murdered by serial killer Gary Ridgway. She was identified after her sister-in-law recalled the victim had previously injured her pelvis when it was announced that the unidentified victim appeared to have had the same injury.[11] | |
| Tina Mott | 1996 | 1996 | Manslaughter | US | A woman killed by her boyfriend while he was intoxicated. Her remains were later identified after initial DNA tests were inconclusive.[12] | |
| Lisa Nichols | 1984 | 1985 | Murder | US | A possible hitchhiker who was killed and deposited along a highway. She may be the victim of an unidentified serial killer.[13] | |
| Bun Chee Nyhuis | 1987/1988 | c. 1989 | Murder | US | An Asian-American woman killed by her husband. She was identified after friends recognized her reconstruction.[14] | |
| Edna Posey | 1984 | 1985 | Murder | US | A woman whose torso was found in a cardboard box. A man was later convicted, but DNA later exonerated him. Investigators still consider her case to be closed.[15] | |
| Karen Price | 1981 | c. 1989 | Murder | Wales | A runaway who later turned to prostitution. She was found wrapped in a carpet and was nicknamed "Little Miss Nobody" while she remained unidentified. A 3D reconstruction was identified by an employee of the group home that Price once lived in.[16][17] | |
| Christe Rogers | 1989 | 1989 | Murder | US | Victim of suspected serial killer Oba Chandler.[18] | |
| Joan "Jo" Rogers | 1989 | 1989 | Murder | US | Victim of suspected serial killer Oba Chandler.[18] | |
| Michelle Rogers | 1989 | 1989 | Murder | US | Victim of suspected serial killer Oba Chandler.[18] | |
| Barbara Taylor | 1967 | 1998 | Murder | US | A woman believed to have been murdered by her husband, now deceased. She was nicknamed "Tent Girl" while she remained unidentified.[19] | |
| Regina Walters | 1990 | c. 1991 | Murder | US | Victim of serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades. Her companion, Ricky Lee Jones, was also killed by the same person; his body was not identified until 2008.[20] |
Identified 2000–2009[edit]
Identified 2010–2019[edit]
Identified 2020–2029[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Pennay, Bruce, "Agostini, Linda (1905 - 1934)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2017-01-05
- ↑ Helton, L.M. (2006): Identification of Human Remains. Part 2: DNA. In: Spitz, W.U. & Spitz, D.J. (eds): Spitz and Fisher's Medicolegal Investigation of Death. Guideline for the Application of Pathology to Crime Investigations (Fourth edition), Charles C. Thomas, pp.: 226-239; Springfield, Illinois.
- ↑ "Defense.gov News Article: Vietnam Unknown's Medal of Honor Transfer Denied". 25 May 2015. Archived from the original on 25 May 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2018. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Charred Remains." Forensic Files. Court TV. Atlanta, Georgia, 20 Nov. 1997. Television.
- ↑ Birkbeck, Matt (August 2, 2005). A beautiful child. Berkeley. ISBN 0425204405. Search this book on
- ↑ "After 46 years, girl gets ID. Circus fire took 'Little Miss 1565'". Dayton Daily News. March 13, 1991. p. 38.
- ↑ "Cook, Eleanor". The Hartford Circus Fire ~ July 6, 1944. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
- ↑ (subscription required)Mask, Teresa (28 June 1998). "Girl's Uncle Questions Investigation of Her Murder". Paddock Publications. Daily Herald. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- ↑ "California IN BRIEF : SOUTH LAKE TAHOE : Man Sentenced in 'I-5 Strangler' Case – Los Angeles Times". Los Angeles Times. May 12, 1991.
- ↑ Owen, Penny (27 April 1999). "Parents Awaiting DNA Tests Before Believing Body Is Daughter's". NewsOK. Retrieved 24 January 2015.
- ↑ "G. Lynn Mathews". Remembered By Us. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
- ↑ Dowling, Paul. "Skin of Her Teeth." Forensic Files. TruTV. Atlanta, Georgia, 3 Sept. 2001. Television.
- ↑ "Police Identify 1 Readhead Murder Victim". Daily News. 27 June 1985. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
- ↑ Dowling, Paul. "The Talking Skull." Forensic Files. TruTV. Atlanta, Georgia, 15 October 1998. Television.
- ↑ Dowling, Paul. "Scout's Honor." Forensic Files. TruTV. Atlanta, Georgia, 19 March 2003. Television.
- ↑ "The Gene Genius" (PDF). University of Leicester. 2004. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 November 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2015. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Malone, Sam. "Professor Bernard Knight, the pathologist turned novelist". Western Mail. Cardiff. Retrieved 6 January 2017.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 "Community Grieving Over Mysterious Deaths of Three Florida Vacationers". Retrieved April 11, 2016.
- ↑ Wolfe, Charles. "Thirty years later, 'Tent Girl' homicide victim identified", Daily News, Bowling Green, Kentucky, 23 April 1998. Retrieved on 6 January 2017.
- ↑ Davis, Matt (31 January 2017). "The kidnapper and killer who tortured women in his van". Archived from the original on 13 July 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help)
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