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#Post#: 3056--------------------------------------------------
DANE COUNTY JOHN DOE: WM, 18-35 - Found in chimney of business
in Madison, WI - Sept 3, 1989
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 22, 2020, 12:41 am
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HTML https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/4770
It was Sept. 3, 1989, when the owners of the Good 'n Loud Music
store on University Avenue halfway between Madison and Middleton
found a pile of bones, a skull and rotting clothing at the base
of the store's chimney. They had removed a boiler in the
basement to repair a leak, and saw a skull through a pipe
connecting the boiler to the chimney.
#Post#: 3057--------------------------------------------------
Re: DANE COUNTY JOHN DOE: WM, 18-35 - Found in chimney of
business in Madison, WI - Sept 3, 1989
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 22, 2020, 12:43 am
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Reconstructions of the decedent.
Date of Discovery: September 3, 1989
Location of Discovery: Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin
Estimated Date of Death: 2 months to two years
State of Remains: Skeletal
Cause of Death: Accident or homicide
Physical Description
Estimated Age: 18-35 years old
Race: White
Sex: Male
Height: 5'5" to 5'7"
Weight: Unknown, but victim had a thin build.
Hair Color: Brown, about 4 inches long.
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Narrow nose and strong jawline.
Identifiers
Dentals: Available. Pronounced overbite.
Fingerprints: Not available
DNA: Not available
Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: A sleeveless paisley dress, with a matching belt; a
long-sleeved, button-down shirt that may have been made of
Oxford-type cloth. A medium-size White Stag brand, shaggy-pile
sweater. Low-heeled, pointed shoes. He was wearing one pair of
socks and carrying another pair. He was not wearing underwear.
Jewelry: A German iron cross medallion.
Additional Personal Items: Butter knife and a pocket comb.
Circumstances of Discovery
The victim's skeletal remains were found in the chimney of a
business on University Avenue in Madison, WI. The owner of the
building was doing repair work, and saw water leaking from the
flue onto the basement floor after removing a boiler. He shined
a light into the chimney and discovered the remains at the base
of the chimney about level with the basement floor. There is no
way the man could have gotten into the pipe from within the
building.
The person may have been a male cross-dresser or someone for
some reason disguising himself as a woman.
Detectives have speculated the man was a burglar who got stuck
in the chimney and died, or a murder victim who was stuffed into
the chimney. Authorities have stated it is unlikely that he
voluntarily entered the chimney.
The pelvic bones of the mystery man had been severely fractured
and those injuries appear to have been caused at the time of
death. Some speculate the injuries were inflicted by the killer
stomping on this portion of the victim's body.
Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: Dane County Coroner's Office
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 608-284-6010
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 296730
NCIC Case Number: U382488789
NamUs Case Number: 4770
#Post#: 3058--------------------------------------------------
Re: DANE COUNTY JOHN DOE: WM, 18-35 - Found in chimney of
business in Madison, WI - Sept 3, 1989
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 22, 2020, 12:44 am
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HTML https://madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime_and_courts/case-of-mysterious-chimney-skeleton-may-have-fresh-clue/article_56cdd86e-64b1-11e1-ba77-001871e3ce6c.html
Case of mysterious 'chimney skeleton' may have fresh clue
[img]
HTML https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/madison.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/13/f13fedfc-64b5-11e1-a8b0-001871e3ce6c/4f5147eb535f2.image.jpg?resize=750%2C497[/img]
Laura Zimmerman remembers a face, but not a name.
It's a long shot, but she believes a man she worked with in the
Legislature more than 22 years ago may be the same person whose
bones and rotted clothing have long been the focus of Madison's
most baffling death investigation: the skeleton in the chimney.
Last month, Zimmerman's memory was passed along to the Madison
Police Department, resurrecting the mystery with a tip that has
warmed up a cold case and already has been assigned to a police
detective. It also may persuade authorities to expand biological
tests on the unidentified bones, which are locked in a cabinet
in the Dane County Medical Examiner's Office.
Such a test would conclusively confirm the gender of the victim,
and could provide confirmation if a hint of an identity was
uncovered, said Capt. Jay Lengfeld. If the victim is identified,
that opens the field for possible motives and suspects.
It was Sept. 3, 1989, when the owners of the Good 'n Loud Music
store on University Avenue halfway between Madison and Middleton
found a pile of bones, a skull and rotting clothing at the base
of the store's chimney. They had removed a boiler in the
basement to repair a leak, and saw a skull through a pipe
connecting the boiler to the chimney.
In 1990, experts at the Smithsonian Institution sculpted a
reconstruction of the victim's face. When she saw a photo of the
reconstruction, Zimmerman thought she recognized a former page —
one of the dozens of young people who scurry around the Capitol
fetching sandwiches for legislators and filling water pitchers.
"I thought to myself, 'Hey, this guy was a page,'" she said.
But that was already a year after the bones were discovered, and
beyond mentioning it to her boss, Dan Fields, at the time, she
kept that thought to herself because she couldn't remember the
young man's name but thought that he had worked there between
1980 and 1985.
She brought it to the State Journal's attention recently after
reading about medical examiners putting images of unidentified
bodies on the Internet.
"All the time I worked there, I was never any good at people's
names, because there were so many of them," she said. "But I
always thought if someone, the police, ran the Social Security
numbers of the people who were working for the Senate sergeant's
office prior to the body being found, and found that someone had
just dropped off the face of the Earth, say with no W-2s, or
something, that might be him."
That would likely be the way investigators approach the tip,
Lengfeld confirmed, adding that police have long focused on
missing-person records in the case, without success.
Zimmerman's boss, Fields, does not recall discussing the
possibility with Zimmerman at the time. The State Journal asked
him to compare the sculpted reconstruction of the face with
faces in old group photos of pages. He saw a resemblance to a
young but unidentified male page who appears in a photograph
from 1977-78, but neither Zimmerman nor two other pages in the
photo contacted by the State Journal could see a significant
resemblance. The cheekbones, eyes and chin, however, are quite
similar.
Investigators stumped
The case has defied solution, but not speculation.
Though clothing items — paisley dress, blouse, sweater, shoes,
but no underclothes — were clearly a woman's, the skeleton was
that of a man. Or, as Lengfeld and retired homicide detective
James Grann noted, police are 93 percent certain it was a man.
The body was probably that of a small white man with brown hair
and a slight overbite, and had been in the 11.75-inch-diameter
chimney for two months to two years, experts estimated at the
time. He either died there or was killed elsewhere and his body
stuffed into the chimney. Over time the body decomposed and the
bones — the pelvis was broken in two places — fell to the bottom
of the chimney. Cause of death: unknown.
Police adopted a "most likely" scenario: the victim was a male
cross-dresser, possibly a prostitute, surprised someone, perhaps
a customer, who was angry enough about that surprise to commit
murder, then stuff the body down the chimney.
But every search, every possible list of missing persons, from
employees to known cross-dressers, resulted in dead ends. A
national television crime show featured the story, but the tips
dried up.
At first glance, Lengfeld said, Zimmerman's tip "narrows the
victim list down in terms of timing.
"We can look at the records of (senate pages) working there and
see if anyone vanished off the face of the Earth," he said.
"It's an interesting lead. You never know when people are going
to come forward. It could be a home run."
#Post#: 3059--------------------------------------------------
Re: DANE COUNTY JOHN DOE: WM, 18-35 - Found in chimney of
business in Madison, WI - Sept 3, 1989
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: February 22, 2020, 12:44 am
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HTML https://madison.com/ct/business/going-quietly-into-the-night-good-nloud-music-closes-after/article_e1f28edc-0961-11e0-bf1e-001cc4c03286.html
The Good'n loud music store closed in 2010.
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