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Mystery Bodies: Human Remains Unclaimed, Unexplained & Unidentified

maximus otter said:
A Nameless Hiker and the Case the Internet Can’t Crack

The man on the trail went by “Mostly Harmless." He was friendly and said he worked in tech. After he died in his tent, no one could figure out who he was.

Backchannel_Unidentified-Hiker.jpg


IN APRIL 2017, a man started hiking in a state park just north of New York City. He wanted to get away, maybe from something and maybe from everything. He didn’t bring a phone; he didn’t bring a credit card. He didn’t even really bring a name. Or at least he didn’t tell anyone he met what it was.

He did bring a giant backpack, which his fellow hikers considered far too heavy for his journey. And he brought a notebook, in which he would scribble notes about Screeps, an online programming game. The Appalachian Trail runs through the area, and he started walking south, moving slowly but steadily down through Pennsylvania and Maryland. He told people he met along the way that he had worked in the tech industry and he wanted to detox from digital life. Hikers sometimes acquire trail names, pseudonyms they use while deep in the woods. He was “Denim” at first, because he had started his trek in jeans. Later, it became “Mostly Harmless,” which is how he described himself one night at a campfire. Maybe, too, it was a reference to Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

In July 23, 2018, two hikers headed out into the Big Cypress National Preserve. The humidity was oppressive, but they trudged forward, crossing swamps, tending aching feet, and dodging the alligators and snakes. About 10 miles into their journey, they stopped to rest their feet at a place called Nobles Camp. There they saw a yellow tent and a pair of boots outside. Something smelled bad, and something seemed off. They called out, then peered through the tent’s windscreen. An emaciated, lifeless body was looking up at them. They called 911.

“Uh, we just found a dead body.”

IT’S USUALLY EASY to put a name to a corpse. There’s an ID or a credit card. There’s been a missing persons report in the area. There’s a DNA match. But the investigators in Collier County couldn’t find a thing. Mostly Harmless’ fingerprints didn’t show up in any law enforcement database. He hadn’t served in the military, and his fingerprints didn’t match those of anyone else on file. His DNA didn’t match any in the Department of Justice’s missing person database or in CODIS, the national DNA database run by the FBI. A picture of his face didn’t turn up anything in a facial recognition database. The body had no distinguishing tattoos.

Backchannel-Unidentified-Hiker-CCSD-flyer.jpg


Nor could investigators understand how or why he died. There were no indications of foul play, and he had more than $3,500 cash in the tent. He had food nearby, but he was hollowed out, weighing just 83 pounds on a 5'8" frame. Investigators put his age in the vague range between 35 and 50, and they couldn’t point to any abnormalities. The only substances he tested positive for were ibuprofen and an antihistamine. His cause of death, according to the autopsy report, was “undetermined.” He had, in some sense, just wasted away. But why hadn’t he tried to find help?

The sheriff's office couldn't spend [$5,000] on a case that involved no crime. But it would love Othram’s help if there were another way to pay for the work. And so three of the great trends of modern technology—crowdfunding, amateur sleuthing, and cutting-edge genomics—combined. Within eight days, the Facebook group had raised the money to run the analysis. Soon a small piece of bone from the hiker was on its way west from Collier County to the Othram labs.

It’s been over a month since Othram started looking through the GEDmatch database. It won’t say anything about what it has found, and the Collier County Sheriff’s Office is keeping quiet as well. But one source outside of the company who is familiar with its progress says that, while Othram doesn’t know Mostly Harmless’ name, it has found enough matching patterns to identify the region of the country from which his ancestors hail.

They might get there, and they might not. A source familiar with the work suggests that the earliest we’ll get an answer is December.

https://www.wired.com/story/nameless-hiker-mostly-harmless-internet-mystery/

maximus otter
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The Mystery of Deceased Hiker ‘Mostly Harmless’ Is At Long Last Solved

We can now confirm that Mostly Harmless was Vance Rodriguez, a technology worker originally from Louisiana but in recent years based in Brooklyn, New York.

After our print story was published, Nark continued his reporting and on December 16 he connected with Rodriguez’s former roommate, who is certain that the hiker known as Mostly Harmless is Rodriguez. Three other friends of Rodriguez also confirmed to Adventure Journal that the hiker in the photos is the man they knew as Vance Rodriguez. A former girlfriend said she is “100 percent sure” Harmless is Rodriguez. A previous DNA test conducted by an outside lab showed that Harmless has Cajun ancestry.

https://www.adventure-journal.com/2...-hiker-mostly-harmless-is-at-long-last-solved

maximus otter
 
EnolaGaia said:
Update ...
Authorities may know the identity of the remains, and this would be the second time they'd been discovered following the person's death. It's a complicated story involving a WW2-era internment camp, internees sneaking away on fishing trips, and a freak snowstorm.
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EnolaGaia said:
Update on the update ... The remains have now been identified.
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Final update ... Giichi Matsumura's remains have now been interred. The task of making final arrangements and interring Matsumura fell to his granddaughter (who never knew him) - Lori.
Lost once and found twice, it was now time to properly bury Giichi Matsumura.

On Dec. 21, Lori, her brothers, Wayne and Clyde, along with Clyde’s wife, Narumol, and two children brought his ashes to a burial service at Woodlawn, which is a block from where they grew up. ...
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FULL STORY: https://apnews.com/article/mountain...-on-ap-japan-5d61a5e281166f7a86b1f7069448113f
 
Family members clearing out a deceased Maine man's home discovered skeletal remains in an outbuilding.
Family members discover human remains while clearing out dead father's house

Family members made a grisly discovery over the weekend when they discovered human skeletal remains while they were cleaning out their father’s residence after he passed away earlier this year.

The incident occurred on Saturday, May 8, in Casco, Maine -- approximately 30 miles north of Portland -- when the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Department received a 911 from an individual at 3:26 p.m. saying that they found skeletal remains in an outbuilding while they were clearing out their father’s home ...

Authorities did not disclose how long they thought the remains could have been there for but did confirm that the home had belonged to 82-year-old Douglas Scott who passed away earlier this year. ...

Maine State Police said that investigators worked through the weekend to assess the circumstances surrounding the discovery and that detectives and deputies will continue interviewing witnesses and other potential persons of interest regarding the case. ...

Authorities estimate that the investigation as to who the person might have been and what happened to them will take weeks. ...
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FULL STORY: https://abcnews.go.com/US/family-members-discover-human-remains-clearing-dead-fathers/story
 
Alaskan authorities discovered human remains in a freezer partially buried in the forest a couple of weeks ago.
Human remains found stuffed in partially buried freezer in remote Alaska woods

Human remains have been found stuffed into a freezer that was discovered in the woods in a remote part of Alaska.

The incident occurred at approximately 6:05 a.m. on Monday, April 26, when Alaska State Troopers received a report of a partially buried freezer that was discovered about 100 feet into the woods near the eastern Alaskan town of Tok ...

When the Tok-based Troopers responded to the scene to conduct their investigation they discovered that there were human remains inside of the freezer.

Authorities did not say how the freezer was initially discovered or give an estimate of how long they thought it could have been there for. ...
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FULL STORY: https://abcnews.go.com/US/human-rem...ially-buried-freezer-remote/story?id=77362603
 
An unidentified woman's body was found in a Houston ditch.
Unidentified woman's body discovered in a ditch in Houston suburb
May 2, 2021

The body of an unidentified woman has been discovered in a ditch in a Houston suburb and authorities are trying to piece together who she was and how she died.

The incident occurred early morning on Saturday at approximately 3 a.m. when deputies responded to reports of an unknown object located in a ditch in the Cloverleaf area of Houston, Texas -- a suburb east of downtown Houston. ...

“When the deputies arrived on the scene they located an unidentified Hispanic female in the ditch,” Sgt. Ben Beall said in a media briefing posted on social media. “EMS responded to the scene and pronounced her deceased.”

Authorities say that they do not have any identification of the female but that she appears to be Hispanic, about 30 to 40 years old, about 5’7” to 5’8” and has numerous tattoos on her body. ...
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FULL STORY: https://abcnews.go.com/US/unidentified-womans-body-discovered-ditch-houston-suburb/story?id=77448342
 
CALGACUS03 said:
The unidentified bodies case that intrigues me the most is that of the "Sumter County Does" (or "Jock and Jane Doe") dating from 1976. I can't remember when I first heard of it, but I then read the entire WebSleuths thread* concerning them and was amazed that no-one has come forward to identify either of the bodies.

Both seem to have been distinctive looking in life. Both were found shortly after death (so not decomposed remains). He (at least) seems to have come from a wealthy background (judging by his dental work). Etc., etc.

Yet no really credible identity seems to have been advanced for either of them (at least to my knowledge (I haven't kept up with the most recent developments, if there have been any)).

* there actually seem to be multiple threads on the WebSleuths forum looking at different aspects of the case.
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That one has been solved

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Pamela_Buckley_and_James_Freund

Not much about them, and how come it took so long
 
Wow, thanks @Robbrent. I hadn't seen that.

At least their relatives will know what became of them. :(

As you say, not much about them, though.
 
It's now 50 years since the body of a still unidentified child was washed up on a Fife beach.

Tragic Scots tot's identity remains mystery 50 years after body of 'the unknown bairn' washed up on beach​

Half a century on since a local postman discovered the body of Tayport's Unknown Bairn in the water, no one is yet to establish his identity.



The identity of a toddler, whose body washed up on a Scottish beach 50 years ago, remains a heart-wrenching mystery.
A touching ceremony marked half a century since the grim discovery of Tayport's Unknown Bairn, who was found by local postman Ian Robertson washed up on the beach on May 23 1971.
Ian's daughter Avril Paul said her family, especially her dad, took the youngster to their hearts and came to think of him as one of their own.
Her father even tended his grave until his own death some years ago and, at his family's request, was buried close to the Unknown Bairn.
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https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/tragic-scots-tots-identity-remains-24173954
 
Human remains have been found preserved in a jar, by builders working on a house in Toxteth.

"A jar containing "preserved human remains" has been found by builders working at an unoccupied house in Liverpool, police have said.

Merseyside Police said officers were called to a "report of suspicious circumstances" on Wordsworth Street in Toxteth at about 12:10 BST on Tuesday.

A spokesman said the "provenance and age" of the remains was as yet unknown.

The house, which is close to Toxteth Park Cemetery, has been cordoned off to allow investigations to be carried out."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-58150394
 
A local case to me. The sad thing is that no one was reported missing the area. Of course it could be from somewhere much further affield, but the police don't seem to have any clues as to who she is.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/dead-woman-staffordshire-murder-penton-b1900448.html

Police have appealed to the public for help in identifying a young woman who is suspected to have been murdered after her badly burned body was found by a road in Staffordshire.

Officers found the woman in a layby Bridgnorth Road, near Perton in the south of the county, around 3am on Monday after receiving reports of suspicious activity.
 

Tens of thousands die each year in the United States and no one claims their bodies​


There are no official statistics about how many unclaimed bodies are buried across America, but a Washington Post investigation that included more than 100 interviews over six months with medical examiners and local officials from Maine to California found that every year tens of thousands of lives end this way.

iu


A rare federally funded study published in 2020 found that in recent years in Los Angeles County, the nation's most populous, 2 to 3% of about 60,000 deaths per year resulted in an unclaimed body.

Maryland, unlike most states, tracks the unclaimed in all its cities and towns, and has seen the number climb steadily in recent years. Last year during the pandemic, Maryland's 2,510 unclaimed bodies accounted for more than 4% of all deaths.

Conservative estimates are that 1% of all deaths result in an unclaimed body, which would mean that last year, when 3.4 million Americans died, there were 34,000 bodies left for local governments to bury.

But many coroners and others who handle these bodies say the national figure could be as high as 3%, which would bring the unclaimed count to more than 100,000.

https://www.chron.com/news/article/Tens-of-thousands-die-each-year-in-the-United-16466973.php

maximus otter
 
A few years ago our town got together a book of memories. I like local history and most were very interesting. Apart from the one remembering when a body was found in a garden the year (1979) when we moved into our house. I’ve always been slightly worried it was our garden. It was a council house back then.

I’ve never found anything about it. I was searching the internet and instead found a sad list of bodies that have never been identified. This one hear sounded a bit odd. I wonder why he had multiple shirts and ties. I suppose he could have had mental health problems.

This was the website https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/unidentified-bodies-found-kent-who-2860020
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MorningAngel said:
A few years ago our town got together a book of memories. I like local history and most were very interesting. Apart from the one remembering when a body was found in a garden the year (1979) when we moved into our house. I’ve always been slightly worried it was our garden. It was a council house back then.

I’ve never found anything about it. I was searching the internet and instead found a sad list of bodies that have never been identified. This one hear sounded a bit odd. I wonder why he had multiple shirts and ties. I suppose he could have had mental problems.

This was the website https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/unidentified-bodies-found-kent-who-2860020View attachment 49176
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That article is a grim little read: a list of vaguely suggestive clues that lead nowhere and a series of bodies of people that apparently no one missed.
 
Yes, I thought so too.

Some seem to have been washed in from elsewhere...The allegedly French fishermen?

The French are careful record keepers, surely it would be easy to trace a `man overboard`?
 
Ohio police investigating a disturbance found a box of human bones (and additional remains?) suspected to have been used in Odd Fellows lodge rituals, perhaps dating back to the 19th century.
Box of human remains found in Mt. Healthy garage were relics used during rituals, police say

Mt. Healthy police said a box of human bones found in a garage Thursday night were relics used by a group known as the Independent Order of Odd Fellows as part of their organization’s rituals.

Chief Vincent Demasi said a resident heard children making noise in an alleyway in the 7400 block of Werner Avenue about 10 p.m. and went to investigate.

He saw a detached garage door open, looked inside and noticed a box, the chief said.

The man opened the box - and found human remains and bones in various stages of decomposition. ...

The organization was founded in 1819 and had a large following, including a lodge in Mt. Healthy.

The garage owner told police he purchased a building in Mt. Healthy where the group met.

“The group has long since moved from the area and when the new building owner cleaned the building, he stored material contained there, including the box with human remains, in the garage he purchased in Mt. Healthy,” police said.

Mt. Healthy police said they will continue to work to confirm the information, but at this point have no reason to believe the remains found were from a recent homicide. ...
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FULL STORY (With Video): https://www.fox19.com/2022/03/25/bones-found-mt-healthy-investigation-underway/
 
A neatly pre-packaged corpse in a casket was discovered at an Oregon cemetery. The problem is that no one was expecting this, and no one (yet) knows who the deceased may be.
Unidentified man found dead in homemade casket left at rural Linn County cemetery

A man was found dead inside a homemade casket that was left unburied at a rural Linn County cemetery, and investigators are asking for help identifying him.

Deputies responded on March 31 to reports of a suspicious wooden box, which appeared to be a hand-built casket, left behind a tree at the cemetery ... , near Harrisburg.

Staff with the cemetery said there were no scheduled burials, and they could not explain why a casket was left there.

Investigators opened the casket and found a deceased man, saying there were no obvious signs of trauma to the body. The state medical examiner is working to determine his identity and a cause of death. ...
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FULL STORY: https://katu.com/news/local/man-found-dead-in-unburied-homemade-casket-at-rural-linn-county-cemetery
 
Folks in New Zealand brought home the contents of an abandoned storage unit they'd purchased. They weren't expecting human remains to be among their new acquisitions.
Human remains at Auckland home were brought there unwittingly from storage unit

Human remains discovered at a South Auckland home last week had been brought there unwittingly among the contents of a recently acquired storage locker, Stuff understands.

Police launched a homicide investigation after the remains were found at a property in Moncrieff Avenue in Clendon Park about 1.30pm on Thursday.

Detective Inspector Tofilau Faamanuia Vaaelua said the discovery was made after the residents “brought unowned property to their address”. The residents were not thought to be involved, police said.

Stuff understands the human remains originated from a local storage company in South Auckland. ...

It is understood the residents went to the storage unit and picked up a trailer-load of goods, taking it home without realising its grim nature. ...

Neighbours of the property commented on the “wicked smell” coming from the home before police arrived. ...
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FULL STORY: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/30...e-brought-there-unwittingly-from-storage-unit
 
EnolaGaia said:
Folks in New Zealand brought home the contents of an abandoned storage unit they'd purchased. They weren't expecting human remains to be among their new acquisitions.
FULL STORY: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/30...e-brought-there-unwittingly-from-storage-unit
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Robbrent said:
It's a fascinating case if not somewhat sad, will be interested in any updates
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Update ... New Zealand authorities have identified the suitcase remains as those of two children, tracked down the apparent victims' mother in South Korea, and undertaken extradition proceedings against her.
Woman arrested in South Korea for the alleged murder of two children found in suitcases in New Zealand

A 42-year-old woman believed to be the mother of two children whose remains were found in suitcases bought from a storage facility in New Zealand has been arrested for alleged murder in South Korea.

The woman, who has not been identified, was arrested in early hours of Thursday local time in the southeastern city of Ulsan, South Korean police official told CNN.

The police official confirmed that the arrested woman is the same woman believed to be the children's mother, according to earlier police reports, who arrived in South Korea several years ago and had not departed the country since.

New Zealand police said in a statement they requested an arrest warrant for the woman under the country's extradition treaty with South Korea and have applied to extradite her to New Zealand to face charges. ...

The woman will remain in custody while awaiting the completion of the extradition process ... The woman's identity is being withheld to avoid potentially identifying the children.

South Korean authorities confirmed last month that the woman was born in South Korea and acquired New Zealand citizenship a "long time ago."

Seoul High Court will now decide within two months whether to extradite the woman to New Zealand. ...

The children -- likely to have been between ages 5 and 10 -- may have been dead for around three to four years, according to New Zealand police. ...
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FULL STORY: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/09/14/...case-korea-woman-arrested-intl-hnk/index.html
 
Finding the identity of the Unknown Bairn of Tayport

Unravelling the mystery of the unknown bairn​

By Kate Bissell
BBC Scotland

    • Published
      7 hours ago
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Ian Robertson and his five-year-old son had walked less than 50 metres along Tayport beach when they saw something floating among the seaweed, not far from the water's edge.
It looked odd and out of place, like an outsized plastic doll.
Ian waded out into the cold North Sea waters and made a heartbreaking discovery.
It was the body of a young boy, aged between two and four, wearing only a pyjama top with a shirt over it.
It looked like the body had been in the water for some time and it had started to decompose. The features on the child's face had been rubbed away from being dragged over rocks.
Ian, who was the village postman, knew it was not unheard of for bodies to wash up on the shores of the Firth of Tay.
Perhaps the boy had come from the sea having fallen off a boat or been washed down after falling in upriver?
But no-one ever reported the child missing and the mystery of who he was attracted worldwide press coverage.
It would take more than 50 years for vital clues to the identity of the "unknown bairn" to finally be revealed.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-62961590
 
Bigphoot2 said:
Finding the identity of the Unknown Bairn of Tayport

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-62961590
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OK, maybe I'm really slow this morning, but I read the entire article and did not see any mention of what the boy's name was. Or was the writer using extreme delicacy in not mentioning the name because of slighting the birth family? Or protecting their privacy? As an American, I find these types of cultural nuances very difficult to interpret correctly.

Someone please help.
 
Endlessly Amazed said:
OK, maybe I'm really slow this morning, but I read the entire article and did not see any mention of what the boy's name was. Or was the writer using extreme delicacy in not mentioning the name because of slighting the birth family? Or protecting their privacy? As an American, I find these types of cultural nuances very difficult to interpret correctly.

Someone please help.
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The article is a teaser to a BBC podcast with presumably full details here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/p0czw33q

It must be quite involved - it’s in 9 parts. I don’t know whether you can access it in the US.
 
Tribble said:
A woman whose body was found in the Yorkshire Dales 15 years ago has been identified, police have confirmed.
North Yorkshire Police said the woman who was found in a stream near Pen-y-ghent in 2004 was Lamduan Armitage, nee Seekanya.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-47623296
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Police are now following up on this case by visiting Thailand.

Cold case officers have travelled to Thailand to speak with the husband and family of a woman found dead in the Yorkshire Dales almost 19 years ago.
Walkers discovered the half-naked body of Lamduan Armitage, nee Seekanya, in a stream near Pen-y-ghent in 2004.
For 15 years her identity was unknown until family in Thailand came forward and DNA proved it was their daughter.
As well as her parents, police are hoping to speak to husband David Armitage who now lives in Thailand.

North Yorkshire officers, who arrived in the country on Sunday, said being there was a crucial next step in their attempts to finally solve the case.
Adam Harland, manager of the major investigation team's cold case review unit, said: "To understand Lamduan's life we need to speak to the people who knew her.

"We can't move forward without understanding from Lamduan's family all the aspects about her life and particularly the last few months of her life."

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-64570426
 
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