DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
The Lost and the Found
HTML https://theunidentified.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: Florida
*****************************************************
#Post#: 8800--------------------------------------------------
Re: LAKE PANASOFFKEE JANE DOE: WF, 17-24, found under bridge -
Feb 1971
DIR By: Akoya
Date: September 3, 2020, 12:26 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/s...is-provides-clues-in-a-florida-cold-case.html
HTML http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/science/isotope-analysis-provides-clues-in-a-florida-cold-case.html
A Jane Doe Gets a Back Story
By JAMES GORMAN
HTML https://www.nytimes.com/by/james-gormanNOV.
12, 2012
CLUES Detective Darren Norris in Florida sought scientists’ help
in a murder case. CreditGregg Matthews for The New York Times
As cold cases go, this one was frozen. Forty-one years ago a
young woman’s badly decomposed body was found floating under a
highway overpass at the southern end of Lake Panasoffkee, in
central Florida, about an hour and a half northeast of Tampa.
There was no clue to her identity, but one clear sign of her
fate. “A man’s belt was wrapped around her neck,” said Darren
Norris, an investigator with the Sumter County Sheriff’s office
who is now in charge of the case. (The original lead
investigator was William O. Farmer, who is now sheriff.)
She was pulled from the water on Feb. 19, 1971, and detectives
spent thousands of hours in a futile effort to determine who she
was and who might have killed her. She was buried as Jane Doe.
But such cases are not easy to let go. A young woman’s life and
body had been thrown away. Detectives could not help but think
of the family somewhere who had lost a daughter. In 1986, the
body was exhumed, for further investigation, which again led
nowhere. What the detectives had to go on, based on forensic
science at the time, was frustratingly sketchy: She was 17 to 24
years old, might have had children, and seemed to be white or
Native American. It wasn’t enough, and as it turns out it was
only partly correct.
Early this year, Detective Norris brought the skeleton of the
victim, who early on became known as Little Miss Lake
Panasoffkee
HTML http://www.sumtercountysheriff.org/coldcases.asp,
to Erin
Kimmerle
HTML http://anthropology.usf.edu/faculty/kimmerle/,
a forensic
anthropologist who directs the Tampa Bay Cold Case Project
HTML http://icfahr.usf.edu/coldcase/
at the University of South
Florida.
Dr. Kimmerle reconstructed the woman’s face and clothing, took
shavings of her tooth enamel and bones, and recruited George
Kamenov, a geochemist at the University of Florida in
Gainesville, to analyze chemical traces in those shavings of
lead, carbon and other elements that can give a surprisingly
detailed history of diet and environment.
This kind of study, called isotope analysis, is part of the tool
kit of geologists, archaeologists and paleontologists, but has
only recently been used in criminal cases.
Last week Dr. Kamenov reported at a meeting of the Geological
Society of America in Charlotte, N.C., on his work with Dr.
Kimmerle and Detective Norris. His conclusions were startling.
HTML https://i.imgur.com/GCymCxX.jpg
IMAGING Dr. Erin Kimmerle, a forensic anthropologist at the
University of South Florida, recently reconstructed the face of
a woman murder victim found in Lake Panasoffkee, Fla., in
1971.CreditMelissa Lyttle for The New York Times
The young woman was not Native American, he told the society.
The best evidence suggested that she grew up in Greece and came
to the United States less than a year before she was killed.
(Tarpon Springs, north of Tampa, has a large Greek-American
population.)
The research, said Detective Norris, “turned the case upside
down.” Based on the findings, he provided information for an
article that was published Oct. 11 in The National Herald, an
international Greek-language newspaper. It was accompanied by
the new reconstructed image of the victim and her clothing.
The case is still not closed. The woman’s identity has not been
determined, and Detective Norris acknowledges that it is still a
long shot.
But he is confident that he is on the right track. “The best
lead that has ever come in this case came because of the
science,” he said — science that has changed remarkably in the
decades since the body was found.
Among the changes are better databases for skull measurements
used to determine ancestry; 3-D identification software for
processing measurements and aiding in producing reconstructions
of a face; and isotope analysis. A forensic investigation can
now involve scientists from an array of fields, including
anthropology and chemistry.
“We’re all working together,” said Ann H. Ross
HTML http://anthropology.chass.ncsu.edu/faculty_staff/ahross,
who
developed the software program “3D ID
HTML http://www.3d-id.org/”
and is professor of anthropology at North
Carolina State University. “That’s where it has changed
dramatically.”
Isotope analysis is one of the newest tools. “It’s in its
infancy now” in criminal cases, Dr. Ross said.
One of the first times it was used in a criminal investigation
was in the gruesome case of the torso of a young boy, who came
to be called Adam, found in 2001 in the Thames River in England.
Traces of strontium and other elements that accumulate in bones
and other tissues led to Nigeria, and eventually to an area near
Benin City. He was eventually identified, but no one has been
charged with his murder.
HTML https://i.imgur.com/PlQVBFP.jpg
The reason such an analysis can be done is that elements come in
different versions, called isotopes, that vary by mass. Rocks
and soil in different geographic locations have characteristic
percentages of these isotopes, a kind of signature. Geologists
have been documenting these signatures for years, creating
geographic databases. Now, with mass spectrometers, a scientist
can read the signature of an element like strontium from a small
sample of rock, bone, hair or other material and match it to a
location. In Adam’s case the strontium signature matched
pre-Cambrian rock in Nigeria.
Dr. Kimmerle, the Florida anthropologist, was working on human
rights cases in Benin City, Nigeria, when she talked to the
police chief about Adam. “That’s what inspired me,” she said.
She now collects sample isotopes for all her cases.
And that’s why she recruited Dr. Kamenov, a geochemist, to whom
she sent tooth enamel and bone shavings from the remains of the
murder victim.
Lead in the victim’s tooth enamel was what led Dr. Kamenov to
his first discovery — that she grew up in Europe. In the 1950s,
both Europe and America used leaded gasoline, and so lead ended
up in the air, the dirt, the food and the teeth of growing
children. But the lead came from different sources, with
different signatures.
ANALYSIS George Kamenov, a geochemist, studied tooth and bone
shavings.CreditKelly Jordan for The New York Times
European gasoline had lead from Australia, Dr. Kamenov said.
“The whole of Europe was contaminated with this Australian
lead,” he said. The young woman’s tooth enamel showed she had
grown up in Europe.
But where in Europe? For that, Dr. Kamenov looked at another
element, oxygen, also incorporated in growing teeth. People
living near the sea have more of the heavier oxygen isotopes:
when seawater evaporates, the heavier molecules (hydrogen and
oxygen) fall closer to the coastline. The victim’s tooth enamel
showed heavier oxygen, which suggested she was from southern
Europe.
He also looked more closely at databases showing fine variations
of lead isotope signatures in teeth and narrowed down her
probable geographic origin to Greece, probably south of Athens.
But, he cautioned in an e-mail that this is just “the most
likely scenario based on all the data.” He put the probability
at 60-70 percent that she was from Greece, but said there could
be other locations in the region with a similar lead signature.
A final piece of evidence came from carbon in her hair. Corn and
wheat have different carbon signatures and Europeans have a more
wheat-based diet than do Americans.
In looking at samples from the growing root of the hair and the
old tip, Dr. Kamenov found a change: “The last hair that grew
showed heavier carbon isotopes.” The woman had moved to a
corn-based diet during the time her hair was growing, less than
a year. She was a recent arrival in the United States.
And that discovery has given Detective Norris a slim edge in
pursuing a very old, very cold case. People who knew the victim
may well be dead now, so such a case is very hard to pursue.
(Anyone with information may call the sheriff’s office at (888)
231-2168.) But, Detective Norris said, “the advantage is modern
science comes along.”
He has another purpose in publicizing the case, he says: the
hope that knowledge of new forensic techniques will spread to
other investigators.
“This science exists,” he said. “You can use it. It’s a great
tool.”
A version of this article appears in print on November 13, 2012,
on Page D1 of the New York edition with the headline: A Jane Doe
Gets a Back Story. Order Reprints
HTML http://www.nytreprints.com/|
Today's Paper
HTML http://www.nytimes.com/pages/todayspaper/index.html|Subscribe
HTML http://www.nytimes.com/subscriptions/Multiproduct/lp839RF.html?campaignId=48JQY
#Post#: 8801--------------------------------------------------
Re: LAKE PANASOFFKEE JANE DOE: WF, 17-24, found under bridge -
Feb 1971
DIR By: Akoya
Date: September 3, 2020, 12:32 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML http://forensics.usf.edu/projects/coldcase/13/
HTML http://forensics.usf.edu/projects/coldcase/13/
Tampa Bay Cold Case Project | CASE 13
Sumter County Sheriff’s Office
HTML http://forensics.usf.edu/images/c13/1b.jpg[/img]
COLD CASE 13: “Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee”
SCSO Case No.: 71-0291
District 5 ME Case No.: A-10-71
NamUs.gov link:
HTML https://identifyus.org/en/cases/6040
HTML https://identifyus.org/en/cases/6040
On February 19, 1971, the body of a white female was discovered
under the Lake Panasoffkee Bridge on I-75 in Sumter County,
Florida. This female has remained unidentified ever since, but
new scientific analyses have allowed detectives to obtain a new
composite image of the female and her clothing hoping that the
image and other new information may allow detectives to finally
identify her.
“Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee” was buried in a Jane Doe grave in
Oak Grove Cemetery in Wildwood. In 1986, she was exhumed for
re-examination and was the subject of an Unsolved Mysteries
episode. Detectives obtained her DNA profile that has been
entered into national databases should a potential family member
come forward.
In March 2012, Sumter County Sheriff’s detectives requested the
Forensic Anthropology Laboratory in the Department of
Anthropology at the University of South Florida to conduct
further analyses on the 41 year old remains after learning of
the university’s involvement in other bay area cold cases. The
USF Forensic Anthropology Laboratory re-examined the remains and
generated a new composite image of the victim and that of her
clothing worn at the time of her death. At that time, she was
between 17 and 24 years of age, approximately 5’2”-5’5” tall,
weighed about 110-120 pounds, and had dark colored hair and
brown eyes. She was wearing plaid green pants, a matching solid
green shirt, and a shawl with green and yellow print. She had a
Baylor wrist watch on her left wrist, a yellow gold ring with
clear stone on her left ring finger, and a small, thin yellow
gold necklace.
The victim’s teeth were examined by the Geological Sciences
Department at the University of Florida. The conclusion of the
analysis determined that the victim is possibly of Greek descent
and most likely had come to the United States ten to twelve
months prior to her death. Further testing determined the
victim’s teeth contained a high level of lead that may link the
victim to the small town of Lavrion, which is located
approximately 60 miles southeast of Athens, Greece. Lavrion is
known for its high level of lead contamination associated with
mining operations in the region.
If anyone has any information, please contact Detective Darren
Norris at the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office at 352-569-1617 or
by email at mailto:dnorris@sumtercountysheriff.org
dnorris@sumtercountysheriff.org.
To learn more about other Cold Cases in Sumter County, Florida
through the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office:
HTML http://www.sumtercountysheriff.org/coldcases.asp
HTML http://www.sumtercountysheriff.org/coldcases.asp
HTML http://forensics.usf.edu/images/c13/1s.jpg
HTML http://forensics.usf.edu/images/c13/2.jpg
HTML http://forensics.usf.edu/images/c13/3.jpg
HTML http://forensics.usf.edu/images/c13/4.jpg
HTML http://forensics.usf.edu/images/c13/1.jpg
#Post#: 8802--------------------------------------------------
Re: LAKE PANASOFFKEE JANE DOE: WF, 17-24, found under bridge -
Feb 1971
DIR By: Akoya
Date: September 3, 2020, 12:35 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-offer-clues-identity-1971-murder-victim.html
HTML http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2232126/The-mystery-Little-Miss-Lake-Panasoffkee-Incredible-CSI-techniques-offer-clues-identity-1971-murder-victim.html
[size=18]The mystery of Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee: Incredible
CSI techniques offer clues to identity of 1971 murder
victim[/size]
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
HTML http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/search.html?s=&authornamef=Daily+Mail+Reporter
PUBLISHED: 21:48 EDT, 12 November 2012 | UPDATED: 22:43 EDT, 12
November 2012
She had also worn white gold wrist watch, with the insignia from
Baylor University, on her left wrist, a yellow gold ring with a
clear stone on her left ring finger and a small/thin gold
necklace.
#Post#: 8803--------------------------------------------------
Re: LAKE PANASOFFKEE JANE DOE: WF, 17-24, found under bridge -
Feb 1971
DIR By: Akoya
Date: September 3, 2020, 12:42 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Lake Panasoffkee ", discovered in 1971.
HTML https://i.imgur.com/LtF3OqP.jpg
#Post#: 8804--------------------------------------------------
Re: LAKE PANASOFFKEE JANE DOE: WF, 17-24, found under bridge -
Feb 1971
DIR By: Akoya
Date: September 3, 2020, 12:44 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML https://i.imgur.com/GZHPmTf.jpg
#Post#: 8805--------------------------------------------------
Re: LAKE PANASOFFKEE JANE DOE: WF, 17-24, found under bridge -
Feb 1971
DIR By: Akoya
Date: September 3, 2020, 12:51 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML https://identifyus.org/en/cases/6040
HTML https://identifyus.org/en/cases/6040
NamUs UP # 6040
[img]
HTML https://identifyus.org/en/medias/thumb/14000[/img]
ME/C Case Number: A-10-71
Sumter County, Florida
17 to 24 year old White Female
Case Report - NamUs UP # 6040
Case Information
Status Unidentified
Case number A-10-71
Date found February 19, 1971 00:00
Date created October 15, 2009 10:34
Date last modified January 02, 2017 14:11
Investigating agency
date QA reviewed October 16, 2009 04:38
Local Contact (ME/C or Other)
Agency District 5 Medical Examiner's Office
Phone 352-326-5961
Case Manager
Name Lindsey Bayer
Phone 352-326-5961
Demographics
Estimated age Adult - Pre 30
Minimum age 17 years
Maximum age 24 years
Race White
Ethnicity
Sex Female
Weight (pounds) 110, Estimated
Height (inches) 63, Estimated
Body Parts Inventory (Check all that apply)
All parts recovered
Body conditions
Not recognizable - Decomposing/putrefaction
Probable year of death 1971 to 1971
Estimated postmortem interval Weeks
Circumstances
Location Found
GPS coordinates
Address 1 near I-75
Address 2
City Lake Panasoffkee
State Florida
Zip code 33538
County Sumter
Circumstances
On February 19, 1971, the body of a white female homicide victim
was discovered under the Lake Panasoffkee Bridge at Interstate
75 in Sumter County. The victim has never been identified.
Physical
Hair color Brown
Head hair
dark brown
Left eye color Unknown or Missing
Right eye color Unknown or Missing
Eye description
Probably brown
Other distinctive
physical characteristics
At the time of her death, she was between 17-24 years of age,
approximately 5’02”-5’05” tall, weighed approximately 110-120
lbs. and had dark colored hair and brown eyes.
Prior surgery
"Watson-Jones" orthopedic surgery to right ankle probably
between 1967 and 1970
Other medical
information
appears to have given birth. Perimortem trauma consists of
fractured right ribs 2 and 3.
Fingerprints
Status: Fingerprint information is currently not available
Clothing and Accessories
No clothing or accessories
Clothing and accessories are described below
Clothing on body
At the time of her death, the victim was wearing plaid green
pants and a matching solid green shirt, a shawl with a green and
white print.
Clothing with body
Footwear
Jewelry
A white gold ladies Baylor wrist watch was on her left hand, a
yellow gold ring with a clear stone on her left ring finger and
a small/thin gold necklace
Dental
Status: Dental information / charting is available and entered
DNA
Status: Sample submitted - Tests complete
#Post#: 8806--------------------------------------------------
Re: LAKE PANASOFFKEE JANE DOE: WF, 17-24, found under bridge -
Feb 1971
DIR By: Akoya
Date: September 3, 2020, 1:19 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
The watch found on Lake Panasoffkee Jane Doe actually seems to
resemble the women's Movado watch that is sold at Baylor
University with the university insignia.
HTML http://www.mlahart.com/Baylor/Baylor-Womens-Watches/Baylor-Womens-Gold-Quad-with-Leather-Strap
HTML http://www.mlahart.com/Baylor/Baylor-Womens-Watches/Baylor-Womens-Gold-Quad-with-Leather-Strap
HTML https://i.imgur.com/26nXRy1.jpg
HTML https://i.imgur.com/eG9cJsM.jpg
#Post#: 8807--------------------------------------------------
Re: LAKE PANASOFFKEE JANE DOE: WF, 17-24, found under bridge -
Feb 1971
DIR By: Akoya
Date: September 3, 2020, 1:21 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Additional information about vintage Baylor Watches, before
LaHart Jewelers.
Brief history on Baylor watches. They were made in Texas. The
owner loved Baylor university and had started the Baylor watch
company. They had Heuer do most of the movements until the
Quartz revolution.
HTML http://www.mywatchmart.com/listing/144737-vintage-baylor-watch-collection/
HTML http://www.mywatchmart.com/listing/144737-vintage-baylor-watch-collection/
#Post#: 8808--------------------------------------------------
Re: LAKE PANASOFFKEE JANE DOE: WF, 17-24, found under bridge -
Feb 1971
DIR By: Akoya
Date: September 3, 2020, 1:28 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
This is the source of the "caller" from Greece. She called the
Unsolved Mysteries program and claimed to have known the victim.
Follow ups with the Unsolved Mysteries programs brought
additional callers with different information. None of the
information from these callers has been verified. No relatives
have been located.
HTML http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Little_Miss_Panasoffkee
HTML http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Little_Miss_Panasoffkee
Results: Unresolved. In 2012, a new analysis of her isotopes
unveiled her origins to be from Greece. In the fall of 2012, her
case was featured on a Greek missing persons show. A viewer
called in and identified the unidentified woman as a friend of
hers, "Konstantina," who had a brother serving in the Navy near
Lavrio. She said that the two both went to a school in Kifisia,
a suburb of Athens, and were taught home economics. The caller,
Konstantina, and several other girls were part of a program for
the school that sent them to either the United States or
Australia, with a two year contact for work. The caller said
that she had lost contact with Konstantina when they were both
sent to separate countries; the caller to Australia, and
Konstantina to the United States in 1970. When the Greek show
was updated, another viewer called in claiming that two other
girls went to the United States with Konstantina and that their
whereabouts were also unknown. However, a daughter of one of the
girls allegedly with Konstantina saw the updated show and called
to say her mother was alive and was actually sent to Australia,
not the United States. As of yet, no new leads have surfaced on
the whereabouts of Konstantina, suggesting that she may actually
be "Little Miss Panasoffkee." However, a positive identification
has not yet been determined as Konstantina's relatives have not
been located. Her killer has never been identified.
#Post#: 8809--------------------------------------------------
Re: LAKE PANASOFFKEE JANE DOE: WF, 17-24, found under bridge -
Feb 1971
DIR By: Akoya
Date: September 3, 2020, 1:32 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarpon_Springs,_Florida
Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinellas_County,_Florida,
Florida
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida,
United States
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States.
The population was
23,484 at the 2010 census. Tarpon Springs has the highest
percentage of Greek Americans
HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_American
of any city in the
US.
[/img]
HTML https://i.imgur.com/5W5bvCB.png
[img]
HTML https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSawtrwFRgVOTyXcl5xjhiA6WhroKQz8czoT7-F2SMBulbsBJQd[/img]
*****************************************************
Page 2 of 4
DIR Previous Page
DIR Next Page