Author Topic: NEWTON COUNTY JOHN DOE: WM, 17-23, - 18 Oct 1983 - Larry Eyler victim John Ingram Brandenburg Jr. (Read 137 times)

Scorpio · « **on:** February 20, 2020, 12:22:37 am »

http://www.missingkids.com/poster/NCMU/1184271/1#poster

An unidentified deceased male was found on October 18, 1983 in a wooded area off US-41, a half mile north of SR-10 in Newton County, Indiana. A Forensic Anthropologist determined he was between 17-23 years old and stood approximately 5’05” tall. His weight could not be determined. He had medium length wavy reddish brown hair. He had two non-professional appearing tattoos on his right forearm. On the inside of his forearm he had a small cross with two dashes above it. On the opposite back side of his right forearm he had a small rectangular or U shaped design. The male had severely fractured his nose earlier in life and also fractured his left ankle. The male had dental work completed as several dental fillings were seen in his teeth. Staining was also found on his teeth suggesting possible tobacco use. He was found wearing brown slacks, size 30x30 and brown leather, lace up hiking boots. The first three images above is a facial reconstruction completed by a NCMEC Forensic Artist and depicts what the male may have looked like in life. The image on the right is a photograph of the tattoo found on his inner right forearm.

Scorpio · « **Reply #1 on:** February 20, 2020, 12:22:51 am »

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1384umin.html

Date of Discovery: October 18, 1983
Location of Discovery: Lake Village, Newton County, Indiana
Estimated Date of Death: 1981-1983
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Near complete or complete skeleton
Cause of Death: Homicide by stabbing

Physical Description
** Listed information is approximate

Estimated Age: 17-23 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: 5'2" to 5'11"
Weight: 160 lbs. with an average build.
Hair Color: Reddish brown or auburn, wavy and of medium length.
Eye Color: Unknown

Distinguishing Marks/Features: Homemade tattoo of a cross with two dots or dashes above the horizontal found on the right forearm, palm side closer to the wrist. A second homemade tattoo is of a rectangle or U-shaped design with dot located on the outer right arm. He had severely fractured his nose earlier in life and also fractured his left ankle.

Dentals: Available. Several dental fillings. Staining on his teeth suggesting possible tobacco use.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: mtDNA and nucDNA available. mtDNA uploaded to NDIS.
Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Brown slacks with small buttons on the front (size 30x30), jockey undershorts, brown leather fleeced-lined ankle high hiking boots with brown shoelaces through metal eyelets (size 10 1/2).

Jewelry: Unknown

Additional Personal Items: Unknown

case history:

Mushroom hunters found the victim in a shallow grave on an abandoned farm near Sumava Resorts, off US-41, a half mile north of SR-10. The victim was found along with three other victims. The victim had been drugged, bound and stabbed to death. Two of the additional three victims were identified via dental records. The third victim, 999umin, remains unidentified. They were all victims of serial killer, Larry Eyler.

Larry Eyler, a Crawfordsville native, confessed to murdering nearly two dozen young men in the Midwest in the early 1980s. He was dubbed the "Highway Killer" because of where most of his victims' bodies were found - left in locations between Eyler's two residences in Terre Haute and Chicago. His path often followed U.S. 41 in Indiana and Interstate 57 in Illinois.

Five victims have been found in Newton and Jasper counties, and all linked to Eyler. Eyler would take victims from southern Indiana and bury them in northern Indiana - and vice versa - to avoid detection. Eyler, who was convicted of murder and other charges in Illinois and Indiana, died while in custody in Illinois of AIDS-related complications in 1994.

Scorpio · « **Reply #2 on:** February 20, 2020, 12:23:04 am »

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

Victim B, or Brad, was determined to have been a white male and, like Adam, could have been a hitchhiker.[6] He was between seventeen and twenty-three years old, and may have been a smoker. He had two tattoos on his forearm, which were later photographed after his body was cleaned and rehydrated.[12] One was a cross with two circular marks, located on the underside of his arm, near his wrist. The other was a rectangular, or possibly a "U" shape, containing one circular mark, which was found on the other side of his arm.[13]

He wore mismatched socks and jockey undershorts, along with brown slacks, which were partially removed, as was typical of other victims.[4] Brad wore boots, which were ankle-high, hiking-style, with brown fleece interior. Metal eyelets were used to fasten them.[13] Brad's boots are no longer available for examination.[4] Because of the type of tattoos he had, he may have served time in jail or a juvenile detention center.[11]

He was likely shorter than Adam, approximately five feet two inches to five feet ten inches tall; weighing around 130 to 160 pounds.[1] Some reports said that he could have been as old as twenty-eight and may have been as tall as six feet one inch.[7] He had wavy reddish hair, and some dental fillings. His death was estimated as between 1981 and 1983, although his tattoos were still preserved and recognizable. He had at one time fractured his nose and ankle, breaks described as somewhat severe.[14][15] His body was found buried in the same grave as Bartlett and Bauer.[4] Like Adam, he was given a more generic name in the past, as Victim 4.[1]

Brad and Adam may have been from as far away as Canada, which is another reason why they remain unidentified.[6] DNA was obtained from one of Brad's bones, intended for testing in comparison to a family who could have been related to him.[4] Larry Eyler did not remember where or when he met Brad.[11][12]

Scorpio · « **Reply #3 on:** December 19, 2021, 08:35:25 pm »

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/nation/indiana-man-19-identified-as-1982-victim-of-serial-killer/

Indiana man, 19, identified as 1982 victim of serial killer

RENSSELAER , Ind. (AP) — A 19-year-old Indiana man who was last seen alive in 1982 has been identified by authorities as a victim of the late serial killer Larry Eyler.

The remains of William Joseph Lewis of Peru, Indiana, were found by a hunter in rural northwestern Indiana’s Jasper County in October 1983, but the identification only came recently when a forensics company made a DNA testing match to his family, officials announced Thursday.

Lewis was last seen by his family at a friend’s funeral in Houston, Texas, and planned to hitchhike home when he disappeared, Jasper County Coroner Andy Boersma said.

Eyler confessed to at least 20 killings before dying in an Illinois prison in 1994, where he was on death row for the 1984 murder of 15-year-old Danny Bridges of Chicago.

He told his attorney about picking up a young man in 1982 along U.S. 41 near Vincennes in southwestern Indiana, killing him and dumping his body in a field near Rensselaer, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Chicago, Boersma said.

Joshua Shuck, a nephew of Lewis, said his grandmother never gave up hope that he was still alive until she died last year.

Shuck, who was born after his uncle disappeared, said the family was grateful that investigators and others never gave up trying to make an identification.

Officials had announced in April that remains of another Eyler victim found in northwestern Indiana in 1983 were identified through genetic genealogy as John Ingram Brandenburg Jr. of Chicago.

Brandenburg was among four young men found on an abandoned farm in rural Lake Village in October 1983, according to the Newton County Coroner’s Office. Two others, Michael Bauer and John Bartlett, had already been identified, leaving one victim nameless.

Scorpio · « **Reply #4 on:** December 20, 2021, 11:07:47 pm »

Identified as John Ingram “Johnny” Brandenburg Jr.

The Lost and the Found

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