Author Topic: GRAND FORKS JOHN DOE: HM, 20-50, found in Grand Forks, ND landfill - 19 December 2003  (Read 140 times)

Akoya

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The decedent was found in a landfill at Landfill Highway 2 and 69th Street as garbage trucks offloaded. The garbage truck was on commercial route. The decedent had no identification, however the bus ticket found in his pocket led to the bus driver who confirmed he arrived on a late bus from Omaha, Nebraska.

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Akoya

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https://identifyus.org/en/cases/921

NamUs UP # 921

ME/C Case Number: ME03-050
Grand Forks County, North Dakota
20 to 50 year old White Hispanic/Latino Male

Case Report - NamUs UP # 921
Case Information

Status Unidentified
Case number ME03-050
Date found December 19, 2003 10:59
Date created March 14, 2008 12:15
Date last modified March 14, 2017 10:39
Investigating agency
date QA reviewed May 10, 2011 09:36

Local Contact (ME/C or Other)

Agency Grand Forks Cnty Coroners Ofc
Phone 701-780-5000
Case Manager
Name Mary Sens
Phone 701-777-1200

Demographics
Estimated age Adult - Pre 50
Minimum age 20 years
Maximum age 50 years
Race White
Ethnicity Hispanic/Latino
Sex Male
Weight (pounds) 150, Estimated
Height (inches) 65, Measured
Body Parts Inventory (Check all that apply)
All parts recovered
Body conditions
Recognizable face
Probable year of death 2003 to 2003
Estimated postmortem interval Hours

Circumstances
Location Found
GPS coordinates
Address 1 Landfill Highway 2 and 69th st
Address 2
City Grand Forks
State North Dakota
Zip code 58203
County Grand Forks
Circumstances
Found in landfill as garbage trucks offloaded. Truck was on commercial route. No ID papers on decedent. Note in Spanish, basic hygiene articles (comb, toothbrush) on decedent, bus ticket in pocket, driver confirms he arrived on late bus from Omaha.

Physical
Hair color Black
Head hair
Black, wavy, 2 inches
Body hair
Male
Facial hair
neatly trimmed black mustache, facial stubble
Left eye color Brown
Right eye color Brown
Eye description
Brown

Scars and marks
well healed skin graft to the inner left forearm, approximately 1 by 3 inches

Prior surgery
Skin graft on inner left forearm

Clothing on body
Red jacket, down denim / down jacket, olive green knit ski hat, belt with red and blue figures, gray pants, black gloves, fleece vest, underwear (red pinstripe boxers)
Clothing with body
None
Footwear
shoes and socks
Jewelry
None
Eyewear
None
Other items found
with body
Basic hygiene articles (comb, toothbrush) on decedent. Bus ticket in pocket.

Dental
Status: Dental information / charting is available and will be entered later

DNA
Status: Sample available - Not yet submitted

Akoya

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http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2071umnd.html

Case File: 2071UMND
The Doe Network




To view post-mortem photos of the victim please click Photo 1 and Photo 2 and Photo 3


Unidentified Male
Date of Discovery: December 19, 2003
Location of Discovery: Grand Forks, Grand Forks County, North Dakota
Estimated Date of Death: Hours prior
State of Remains: Recognizable face
Cause of Death: Unknown

Physical Description
** Listed information is approximate

Estimated Age: 20-50 years old
Race: White and/or Hispanic
Gender: Male
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 150 lbs.
Hair Color: Black, wavy and 2" in length with a neatly trimmed black mustache and facial stubble.
Eye Color: Brown

Distinguishing Marks/Features: Well-healed skin graft to the inner left forearm, approximately 1 by 3 inches.

Dentals: Available.
Fingerprints: Available with Grand Forks Police Department.
DNA: Sample available - Not yet submitted.
Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Red jacket, denim down jacket, olive green knit ski hat, belt with red and blue figures, gray pants, black gloves, fleece vest, red pinstripe boxers, shoes, and socks.

Jewelry: Unknown

Additional Personal Items: A note in Spanish, basic hygiene articles (comb, toothbrush), and a bus ticket in his pocket.

Case History
The decedent was found in a landfill at Landfill Highway 2 and 69th Street as garbage trucks offloaded. The garbage truck was on commercial route. The decedent had no identification, however the bus ticket found in his pocket led to the bus driver who confirmed he arrived on a late bus from Omaha, Nebraska.

Investigating Agency(s)
If you have any information about this case please contact;

Agency Name: Grand Forks County Coroner's Office
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 701-780-5000
E-Mail

Agency Case Number: ME: 03-050
NCIC Case Number: N/A
NamUs Case Number: UP #921
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Akoya

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http://www.grandforksherald.com/new...er-decade-ago-only-case-its-kind-north-dakota

Unidentified body found over a decade ago only case of its kind in North Dakota

By Jennifer Johnson on Jul 6, 2014 at 7:30 a.m.



Unmarked and sadly unknown John Doe sits in between the graves of Michael Borseth (left) and Joel Dressel. Buried in 2004 investigators believe the man, who was Hispanic in origin, was believed to be in his 40's. (Luke Franke/Grand Forks Herald)



One week before Christmas in 2003, Grand Forks sanitation department workers, on a break to retrieve some baling wire, noticed a man’s jacket in the garbage offload area.

“They pulled on the jacket, and an arm came with it,” said Brian Kroese, current sanitation supervisor. “That’s when they found the body.” He was dead.

Over the next few months, investigators found few telling details. He was Hispanic, with a neatly-trimmed black mustache and some facial stubble. He was likely in his mid-40s. But he carried no wallet, no identification and no personal belongings other than a bus ticket from Omaha, a slip of paper scrawled in Spanish and some basic toiletries — a comb, toothpaste and deodorant.

Today, more than a decade later, the man remains unidentified. His is the only open case in North Dakota and the first unidentified person local investigators had come across in decades, said Grand Forks Police Sgt. Duane Simon, a former investigator assigned to the case.

It’s also the only one of its kind in the region. In Minnesota, 68 of 74 total unidentified cases are still open, none of which are in the northwest part of the state, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, a searchable database of hundreds of unidentifiable human remains found across the nation.

“This is a case I won’t easily forget,” said Simon.

The investigation

After that first frigid December day, investigators embarked on a several-month inquiry that involved dozens of local, state, federal and even international workers.

During the initial assessment, they noticed he wore multiple jackets — likely in preparation for the bitter cold — and he didn’t appear to be living on the streets, said Dr. Mary Ann Sens, Grand Forks County coroner. An autopsy showed some evidence of heart disease but no signs of drug use and no broken bones, she said.

The only confirmation of his activity before he died came from a bus driver. The driver offered to drop the man off at the Northlands Rescue Mission shelter that evening, but the man turned it down, they said.

Investigators suspect he was an illegal immigrant who’d come in search of work, an idea fostered by the note he’d been carrying, which had the name of a former Mexican restaurant here. He likely made his way to the restaurant but as the night wore on, crawled into a Dumpster to protect himself from the cold, they said.

“He was probably a clean-living individual, from probably Mexico, maybe Guatemala, who wanted to send some money back to his family,” Sens said.

Circumstances surrounding his death are unclear. Sanitation workers couldn’t pinpoint where the man had come from because he was found during the offloading process at the baling facility, said Kroese. Drivers can maneuver halfway through town before they gather enough for their first load, and once they dump the garbage at the baling facility, it gets mixed with the other trash, he said.

“It was cold (that day) and if you’re in a front-load Dumpster, you can’t holler loud enough for the driver to hear you,” he said.

He’d been deceased “maybe a couple of hours” before being discovered, which was consistent with his arrival the night before and being found at 9 a.m. the next morning, Sens said.

International, national help

As investigators pieced together these details, they contacted media outlets, the International Criminal Police Organization, the Omaha Police Department, the Mexican consulate and several other agencies to identify the man.

Sens said they’d also reached out to forensic dentists, administered X-rays and entered the man’s DNA into a database. This could indicate whether he’d ever been arrested for a case or had security clearance when DNA was required, she said. They also ruled out any other missing or unidentified people.

“We tried everything,” said Simon.

Callers offered leads for investigators to pursue, but the case eventually fell to the wayside as other cases came in, they said. The last time Simon updated the case was September 2004, he said.

After waiting a few months for the body to be identified, and for better conditions for the burial, Sens and a few others held a nondenominational ceremony for him that spring at the county cemetery, adjacent to Memorial Park Cemetery. Coroner protocol requires bodies such as this to be buried in the event an exhumation is necessary, said investigators.

But without a family to pay for a gravestone, the county buried his remains in an unmarked plot, said Robin Purcell, administrator of the Grand Forks Cemetery Association. His is one of countless unmarked plots in the cemetery, offered free to families who cannot afford burial services.

“I don’t think anyone could even research to find out exactly how many John Does were buried in the cemetery,” he said.

Investigators say they still want the man to be identified for the sake of his family. Simon, who drives by the cemetery daily as part of his patrol route, said the case still affects him.

“I think about him every day,” he said. “It happens every day. It’s probably the only case where I do that.”

On the web: The website for the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System is at www.namus.gov

Akoya

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Grand Forks Landfill
2701 N 69th St, Grand Forks, ND 58203




Akoya

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