15 ore 30 min, 28 dic 1970 anni - Twentynine Palms Jane Doe 1970 UID & POSSIBLE HOMICIDE

Descrizione:

At about 3:30pm on Monday, December 28, 1970, a hiker named Helmeth Mehden of Yucca Valley discovered a nearly complete skeleton in a mining area 22.7mi east of Twentynine Palms in San Bernardino County, CA. The hiker reported the find to the local substation, and police recovered a skull, backbone, and leg bones of an unidentified person. The remains were sent to Wiefel's Mortuary. Authorities returned to the scene the following day once the sun had risen to make a more a more complete search of the area.

The bones were found about 2.0-2.5 mi south of 29 Palms Highway/Highway 52, along Old Ironage Rd. Officials determined that the skeleton had likely been dragged by animals to the spot where it was found from its original burial place about 30 ft away. On December 29, 1970, investigators found what they believed to be the grave site, and recovered bits of clothing, hair, and skin from the body. Detective Don Hardy of the Sheriff's homicide detail in San Bernardino said the woman was apparently dumped there in an excavation made by a bulldozer, and then dirt was thrown on top of the body. One or both of the arms and hands were not recovered.

A county pathologist determined that the remains were those of a white female who was about 5'2 or 5'3. While all modern sources state that Jane Doe was about 15-35 years old, a contemporary source estimated her to be between 20 and 35 years old after an autopsy. Jane Doe had long red/auburn hair with dark roots. Her weight and eye color could not be determined due to the condition of her remains. She had been dead no longer than six months, putting her death at late June 1970 or later.

Jane Doe's DNA and dental records are available for comparison, while her fingerprints are not. She reportedly had "very bad teeth." She also had a plastic partial upper dental plate "with 6 front upper teeth on the upper left side, skips a tooth and then another tooth." Teeth #s 5 and 12 were cracked, possibly postmortem.

Jane Doe has 2-4 MP exclusions on NamUs: she is definitely NOT Mary Corrine Amos or Cindy Lee Mellin. The remaining two exclusions on Jane Doe's NamUs profile are not properly linked to a NamUs page. One of them is Ann Bernice Duncan, who went missing in 1969; however, Ann's name was not entered properly in Jane Doe's exclusion list, so it doesn't link back to Ann's page. Furthermore, Jane Doe is not featured on Ann's exclusion list.

The remaining rule-out on Jane Doe's list is for "Garee Gasperian." It is possible that this is intended to be Jacqueline Ann Gasperian, who went missing in July 1970; however, Jacqueline is not known to have ever used the name Garee. Because of this, as of today (3/27/2025) I have submitted Jacqueline Gasperian as a potential match to the Doe Network, which replied that to their knowledge no comparison had been done between the two before, so DN's panel would take a look at it.

On June 13, 2025, I received confirmation from Mary Bell of the Doe Network that the match between Jane Doe and Jacqueline Gasperian had been ruled out.

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WRITE-UP COMPLETION DATE: March 27, 2025
LAST UPDATED: June 16, 2025

Cases mentioned above that are also present on this timeline:
Cindy Mellin, Ann Bernice Duncan, Jacqueline Gasperian
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LUNAR PHASE:
ZODIAC SIGN: capricorn
DAY OF WEEK: Monday
EVENTS: Dec 25 = Christmas (3 days before); Dec 31 = NYE (3 days later)

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