DIR Return Create A Forum - Home
---------------------------------------------------------
The Lost and the Found
HTML https://theunidentified.createaforum.com
---------------------------------------------------------
*****************************************************
DIR Return to: South Carolina
*****************************************************
#Post#: 2369--------------------------------------------------
SPARTANBURG JANE DOE: WF, 40-55 - found behind home in Startex
Mill Village - Oct 26 2011
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 14, 2020, 4:08 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[img]
HTML https://www.namus.gov/api/CaseSets/NamUs/UnidentifiedPersons/Cases/9422/Images/33338/Original[/img]
HTML https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/9422
Teenagers searching for scrap metal found these human remains in
a wooded area behind a South Main Street home in the Startex
mill village.
#Post#: 2370--------------------------------------------------
Re: SPARTANBURG JANE DOE: WF, 40-55 - found behind home in
Startex Mill Village in Spartanburg - Oct
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 14, 2020, 4:09 am
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/9422
Demographics
Sex: Female
Race / Ethnicity: White / Caucasian
Possible First Name --
Possible Middle Name--
Possible Last Name--
Possible Nickname--
Estimated Age Group: Adult
Estimated Age Range (Years) 40-55
Estimated Year of Death--
Estimated PMI: Years
Height: 5' 5"(65 inches) , Estimated
Weight: Cannot Estimate
Circumstances
Type: Unidentified Deceased
Date Found: October 26, 2011
NamUs Case Created: November 2, 2011
ME/C QA Reviewed: November 10, 2011
Location Found Map
Street Address: South Main Street Startex mill village
Spartanburg, South Carolina
County:Spartanburg County
GPS Coordinates--
Circumstances of Recovery: Teenagers searching for scrap metal
found these human remains in a wooded area behind a South Main
Street home in the Startex mill village.
Details of Recovery
Inventory of Remains --
Condition of Remains: Not recognizable - Near complete or
complete skeleton
Physical Description
Hair Color: Brown
Head Hair Description: short hair, reddish-brown, up to
approxmately 1 1/2 inches long (brown /dyed auburn)
Body Hair Description --
Facial Hair Description --
Left Eye Color Unknown or Missing
Right Eye Color Unknown or Missing
Eye Description: the remains were skeletontized so eyecolor
could not be determined
Distinctive Physical Features
Piercing: ears pierced at least once, one earring found by the
side of the head
Clothing and Accessories
Accessories: none
Near the Body
Clothing: none
Eyewear: none
On the Body
Footwear: none
Jewelry: earrings ( gold stem and red stone)
#Post#: 2371--------------------------------------------------
Re: SPARTANBURG JANE DOE: WF, 40-55 - found behind home in
Startex Mill Village in Spartanburg - Oct
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 14, 2020, 4:09 am
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML https://www.goupstate.com/news/20111226/investigators-still-trying-to-identify-bones-found-in-startex
Investigators still trying to identify bones found in Startex
Investigators know her hair color, about how tall she was, what
jewelry she wore. They know her race and that she was 40 to 50
years old when she died. But the question remains: Who was she?
Investigators know her hair color, about how tall she was, what
jewelry she wore and what dental work she had done while she was
alive. They know her race - white - and that she was 40 to 50
years old when she died.
Investigators also have evidence that points to how she died
before her body was hidden under a couch and other debris in a
wooded area in the Startex mill village five to six years ago.
But the question that motivates Spartanburg County Coroner’s
Office investigator Rick Ellis the most is: Who was she?
Right now, to the investigators of the Spartanburg County
sheriff’s and coroner’s offices, she’s Jane Doe Startex. But
until investigators have a real name, they can’t track down her
killer.
“It may not be someone I know,” Ellis said. “But she’s
somebody’s family, someone’s loved one. Someone’s been missing
this woman.”
On Oct. 26, shortly before 1 p.m., a man looking for scrap metal
in the wooded area behind homes on South Main Street made the
grisly discovery. Given the time of year, the man told deputies
that at first, when he saw the skeletal remains, he thought it
was a Halloween decoration.
Officers soon realized it wasn’t a holiday prank and began what
they quickly decided was a homicide investigation.
Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said investigators
began the work of first removing the debris, which included a
couch, from on top of the skeletal remains, which were about 25
feet into the wooded area and about 75 feet from the back of the
nearest home. Each item was photographed as it was removed.
Manufacturing codes from the items could help investigators
pinpoint when the woman’s body was placed in the woods.
Then came the examination of the body. The same afternoon, Dr.
Suzanne Able, a forensic anthropologist from the Charleston
County Coroner’s Office, drove up from the coast to assist
officers.
While a forensic pathologist’s expertise is soft tissue, such as
skin or organs, a forensic anthropologist specializes in hard
tissue, mainly bone, and usually assists when remains cannot be
identified by visual recognition.
A forensic anthropologist can assist in identifying skeletal
remains by identifying characteristics such as weight, whether
the person used drugs and or if the person suffered broken
bones, for example. These anthropologists typically investigate
skeletal remains or a body that has been burned or mummifed.
The remains were left in Startex overnight after the discovery
and were brought to the morgue on Oct. 27. There, Able worked
with investigators cleaning the bones and examining them for
identifying characteristics.
Able and the coroner’s office won’t say much about specific
characteristics of Startex’s Jane Doe. But Able said she
assisted local investigators in generating a biological profile
for the skeletal remains, including sex, ancestry, approximate
age and injuries before or around the time of her death.
Able said local investigators from the sheriff’s and coroner’s
offices did an excellent job preserving the crime scene before
she arrived to assist.
“I know they’re working very hard to find out who this is,” Able
said. “They’re doing an incredible job.”
Finding a match
One of the tools that Ellis is using to identify the Starex
remains is the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System,
or NamUs, a clearinghouse for missing persons and unidentified
decedent records.
NamUs is a free online system that can be searched by medical
examiners, coroners, law enforcement officials and the public to
solve missing persons or unidentified remains cases, made
available through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of
Justice Programs.
Investigators hope the NamUs database will help them search for
people reported missing in other states and potentially lead to
a match, a name, for the remains found in Startex.
“The Startex case is unusual from the point there have not been
any missing persons cases in that area reported to the sheriff’s
office within the last five years or longer,” said Lt. Tony Ivey
of the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office.
Ellis has been using the NamUs database to conduct searches
based on characteristics such as dental information and distinct
body features to see if any profiles match characteristics from
the Startex remains.
This helps him exclude certain profiles or take a closer look at
others. Often, it requires calling in a forensic dentist to
compare the dental records of a person reported missing to the
teeth found with the remains.
Ellis has spoken with several law enforcement agencies in the
Carolinas and Georgia about missing persons cases. A DNA sample,
extracted from the woman’s femur, has been sent to the
University of North Texas for specialized testing. The results
could be available early next year.
Dozens of profiles have been excluded by using NamUs, Ellis
said.
“I may not know who it is, but I know who it’s not, and that
gives a sense of accomplishment,” Ellis said. “We’ll come to a
positive resolution, there’s no doubt in my mind.”
Next, investigator Randy Bogan hopes to generate a sketch of
what Jane Doe Startex might have looked like, based on her
skeletal facial features and hair.
For now, Jane Doe Startex’s resting place is the local morgue,
as her remains need to be kept as evidence for the criminal case
that could be brought if she is identified.
“There’s a high level of solvability if we can put the right
missing person with the right skeleton,” Ellis said.
Investigators hope exposure of the case in the media will help
give a name to their victim and kickstart the investigation,
Ivey said.
“Keeping a case like the Startex case in the news, we hope will
eventually lead to a tip or other information that will help
identify the body,” Ivey said. “Once the identity of the
deceased person has been determined, then investigators can
start to look for who may have been involved in their death.
These types of cases are the most challenging for investigators,
but can also be some of the most rewarding upon successfully
solving the case and providing justice for the victim.”
Ellis said a Georgia family called after the story first broke
about the remains being found, hoping that they would at least
find closure if the Startex body turned out to be their missing
loved one.
Investigators were able to rule out that the Startex remains
were those of the missing Georgia woman, but Ellis remembers a
relative of the Georgia woman asking, “Are you 100 percent
sure?”
But beyond any possible prosecution, investigators hope that
Jane Doe Startex will one day receive a proper burial, by people
who may have loved and cared about her.
Ellis said, “There is a feeling of urgency, a feeling of we need
to find an identification and return this person back to her
loved ones.”
Anyone with information about the case may call the Spartanburg
County Coroner’s Office at 596-2509 or CrimeStoppers at
1-888-CRIMESC.
#Post#: 2372--------------------------------------------------
Re: SPARTANBURG JANE DOE: WF, 40-55 - found behind home in
Startex Mill Village in Spartanburg - Oct
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 14, 2020, 4:09 am
---------------------------------------------------------
HTML https://www.goupstate.com/news/20120219/coroner-releases-sketch-of-homicide-victim-found-in-startex
Coroner releases sketch of homicide victim found in Startex
The Spartanburg County Coroner’s Office has released a sketch of
an unidentified woman whose remains were found in Startex on
Oct. 26.
The Spartanburg County Coroner’s Office has released a sketch of
an unidentified woman whose remains were found in Startex on
Oct. 26.
“Jane Doe Startex,” as she’s known to investigators, might have
been a middle-aged white woman. But people are urged to keep an
“open mind” as they examine the image, which was created using
evidence, information gathered by investigators, forensic
anthropology and odontology.
Investigators are still working to identify the remains, and DNA
tests are pending, according to a written statement from the
Spartanburg Coroner’s Office.
The woman’s age at her time of death is estimated to be between
40 and 50.
Jane Doe Startex was found in a wooded area behind a home in the
Startex Mill Village. Her skeletal remains were under a tarp
beneath a couch. A man searching for scrap metal made the grisly
discovery.
Authorities said it appeared the remains had been there for
years. The death is being treated as a homicide.
Anyone with information about the case may call the Spartanburg
County Coroner’s Office at 596-2509 or CrimeStoppers at
1-888-CRIMESC.
*****************************************************
Page 1 of 1