The Lost and the Found

https://identifyus.org/en/cases/7573

Case Information
Status Unidentified
Case number 2009-08892
Date found December 26, 2009 10:00
Date created August 13, 2010 10:16
Date last modified September 30, 2014 06:50
Investigating agency
date QA reviewed November 30, 2011 16:30

Local Contact (ME/C or Other)
Agency Los Angeles Cnty Coroners Ofc
Phone 323-343-0512
Case Manager
Name Daniel Machian
Phone 323.343.0754

Exclusions
The following people have been ruled out as being this decedent:
First Name Last Name Year of Birth State LKA
Mindy Arnett 1981 Michigan
Joyce Crider 1970 Kentucky
Alicia Digna 1982 Michigan
Jodi Huisentruit 1968 Iowa
Donna Jou 1987 California
Nadia Kersh 1985 Alabama
Hazel Klug 1962 Virginia
Roxanne Paltauf 1988 Texas
Kyla Porter 1988 Florida
Susan Powell 1981 Utah
Patricia Schmidt 1964 Virginia
Toni Sharpless 1979 Pennsylvania
Megan Tinsley 1988 Minnesota
Colleen Voitik McHugh 1963 Illinois
Christina Whittaker 1988 Missouri
Jennifer Wilson 1974 California
Natalie Woodward 1976 New Jersey

http://archive.signalscv.com/archives/30769/

From bones, hidden faces emerge

Mystery: Coroner officials release sketch of what missing woman may have looked like

Posted: July 7, 2010 9:14 p.m.



The Coroner’s Office released this sketch, which is believed to be an approximation of what Jane Doe No. 87 looked like, a woman whose remains were found in a ravine west of Angeles Forest Highway at mile-marker 19.


Hikers found her skull partially buried in a ravine west of Angeles Forest Highway at mile-marker 19.

The only thing left near her bones were a few pieces of yellow metal jewelry: a necklace and three bracelets — one with six pink stones, another with six blue stones and the last with six green stones.

Since the skeletal remains were found Dec. 26, 2009, in the remote and rugged forest east of the Santa Clarita Valley, investigators haven’t been able to figure out just who the bones belonged to. But now she is more than a pile of bones — she has a face.

Los Angeles County Coroner’s investigators on Wednesday released an artist’s sketch of what they believe the woman looked liked. They hope her picture will look familiar to someone — a family member, a friend — who will be able to give her a name.

Until then, she’s Jane Doe No. 87, an unsolved case in the County of Los Angeles Department of Coroner’s investigation bureau.

“It’s extremely difficult to identify someone if they’re not in the (DNA) database,” said Los Angeles Coroner Assistant Chief Ed Winter. “So, we have to go on any missing-person reports for anything that comes close. Eventually, we go to a composite drawing.”

The woman is believed to be either white or Hispanic, 20 to 40 years old.

Her bones may have been in the Lucas Creek area of the Angeles National Forest — south of Acton and north of La Cañada-Flintridge — several years before the 2009 Station Fire raged through the area, Winter said.

A second and even more mysterious set of bones were found near the woman, but investigators haven’t determined if they belong to a man or a woman.

The Coroner’s Office investigates about 300 unidentified skeletal remains found in Los Angeles County each year, Winter said, and about 90 percent eventually get identified.

Since December, its officials have been working with law enforcement from as far away as Jefferson City, Mo., to identify the woman, he said. Officers try to match the dental records of missing people with the skeletal remains.

So far, a match hasn’t been made.

“The anthropologist works with a composite-sketch artist, and they do reconstruction with clay. They’re able to approximate what the person looked like,” Winter said. “Sometimes, it’s right on. Sometimes it doesn’t quite represent.”

Angeles National Forest





Angeles National Forest - Station Fire Aftermath



One possible El Niño effect: Rains unearthing more skeletal human remains - LA Times