The Lost and the Found

https://identifyus.org/en/cases/1012

Local Contact (ME/C or Other)
Agency Berks Cnty Coroners Ofc
Phone 610-478-3280
Case Manager
Name Joel Bonilla
Phone 610.478.3280

Exclusions
The following people have been ruled out as being this decedent:
First Name Last Name Year of Birth State LKA
Deborah Arvanites 1962 Pennsylvania
Brenda Condon 1962 Pennsylvania
Kathern Fetzer 1965 Ohio
Katherine Heckel 1951 Pennsylvania
Katherine Heckel 1951 Pennsylvania
Elaine Johnson 1949 Ohio
Hazel Klug 1962 Virginia
Gloria Korzon 1943 Pennsylvania
Tracy Kroh 1972 Pennsylvania
Ella Beth Lodermeier 1948 South Dakota
Anne Manchester 1954 Delaware
Barbara Miller 1959 Pennsylvania
Patricia Schmidt 1964 Virginia
Mary Smith* 1948 Pennsylvania
Karen Spencer 1972 Ohio
Charlene Villinger 1958 Virginia
Rose West 1944 Kentucky

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/179ufpa.html

The Doe Network:
Case File 179UFPA



Unidentified White Female

Located on June 3, 1992 in Lenhartsville, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
June 1, 1991 and June 3, 1992, a least one year.
The cause of death has not been determined however, foul play is suspected due to circumstances surrounding the recovery of the body.
Partial Skeletal remains. Numerous bones of lower extremity and neck were never recovered.

Vital Statistics

Estimated age: 25 - 45 years old
Approximate Height and Weight: 5'0"-5'3"; 120 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Light brown hair, approximately 3 inches in length.
Clothing: Dark blue or black thin, long-sleeved, front button sweater with large white buttons labeled "Benetton" size X-Large. Light colored pullover long-sleeved shirt made of lightweight material having 5 buttons down the front and a small collar, pleats in front, with a white belt, pantyhose,
Jewelry: Digital sport type wrist watch with a small face, plastic band that is orange, pink and yellow. Gray metal ring without stones. Cylindrical metallic structure 4.5" length & 3/32 of an inch in diameter. Small object appearing to be a dolphin.
Fingerprints: Not available.
Dentals: Available. She had severe periodontal disease.
DNA: Available.

Case History
The skeletal remains of this victim was discovered buried in a shallow grave on June 3, 1992. The body was discovered in a soybean field, by a farmer plowing his field, which is located near Christman Road in Lenhartsville, Berks County Pennsylvania.


Investigators
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Berks County Coroner's Office
Joel Bonilla
610-478-3280
Email
--
Pennsylvania State Police, Hamburg. PA
Cpl William Moyer
610-562-6885

Agency Case Number:
92-0604

NCIC Number:
U-574424162
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers
UDRS

http://www.readingeagle.com/news/ar...hope-to-attach-names-to-bodies-left-unclaimed




Reading Eagle: Ryan McFadden | Dr. Neil A. Hoffman, a semiretired pathologist, and deputy coroner Terri L. Straka in the Reading Hospital morgue with a box of bones from an unidentified woman, labeled Jane Doe, found in Windsor Township in 1992.

Berks County investigators hope to attach names to bodies left unclaimed
Monday April 14, 2014 12:01 AM
By Steven Henshaw



They stumbled upon the remains in the morgue while looking for the bones from another case: an unidentified skeleton found by a farmer plowing a soybean field in Windsor Township, near Lenhartsville, on June 3, 1992.

Those remains, believed to be that of a white female, 40 to 45 years old, have also never been identified. Although no cause of death has been determined, she most likely was the victim of a homicide, investigators have said.

"The reason we were looking for Jane Doe '92 was because Ashtabula Police Department in Ohio contacted state police, and state police contacted us," said Terri L. Straka, one of two deputy coroners assigned to review unidentified body cases.

"They wanted to do a DNA match," she said. "They thought it was a possibility (a missing woman from Ohio) was our Jane Doe from '92. So that's what started the search."

Recent DNA analysis ruled out a link to the Ohio case, but it took a lot of digging to even get to the point where a specimen from the woman could be sent to a lab in Texas.

Unlike the 1997 John Doe, there was a file of the 1992 Jane Doe at the coroner's office. But Straka could find no documentation of what happened to the bones.

"I pulled the record ... and read the file," Straka said. "I read it six times and I said, 'I'm not finding out where the body is. There's no indication of a disposition. We have Jane Doe who was found in the field, and we have no record of where she went.'"

Straka emailed former Coroner William Fatora, who was in office when both sets of remains were found five years apart, but he had no recollection of where the remains ended up. Deputy Coroner Joel Bonilla, who is assigned to work with Straka on the Doe cases, contacted cemeteries to see if the remains were stored in a vault, but no one had any clues.

A few weeks of searching for information led nowhere.

Other case leads to find

A conversation with the pathologist during an unrelated autopsy last year provided the break they needed.

Straka asked Dr. Neil A. Hoffman if he had any idea what happened to the woman. Hoffman had performed the autopsy on Jane Doe in 1992.

Hoffman thought about it for a moment, then mentioned there was an unmarked box in the upper drawer of one of the morgue coolers.

They decided to have a look and found the cardboard box containing a set of bones in brown paper bags labeled by black marker according to body part. There was no indication anywhere to whom those sets of remains belonged.

"We got kind of excited," Hoffman recalled. "I then went to my file of 10,000 or so slides and sure enough, under the number Terri (Straka) gave me I found the slides' from the woman's case.

At the time of the discovery, other items buried in that drawer caught Straka's attention: items marked "coroner" and "John Doe."

"Following that autopsy ... I already knew I'm going to come back later because there are things indicating 'coroner,' " Straka said. "So Joel (Bonilla) and I come back on a separate day to log and see what else we have and we end up finding remains for a John Doe in 1997 for which we have no record at all."

Hoffman said the coroner's office at the time probably asked for the bones to be stored at the morgue while the investigation continued. But years went by and the pathology department was never given further instructions on what to do with them.

"We certainly do store things here," said Hoffman, who is semiretired but still performs autopsies at Reading Hospital. "This is one of the things we do for the county and have done for many, many years."

Hess said it's unknown what happened to the record for the '97 John Doe.

Today, all unidentified remains in Pennsylvania are required to be tested for DNA so the information can be uploaded into NamUS. Since the database didn't exist until a few years ago, older cases have languished.

Hess said the shoddy paperwork and labeling of evidence is reflective of the overall mismanagement of the coroner's office during that era. Fatora, the former coroner, and two of his deputies went to prison for falsifying records to inflate the number of bodies they transported in their personal vehicles in a scheme to collect fees they did not earn. Bodies are no longer transported in personal vehicles.

Straka had to reconstruct the John Doe '97 file for the coroner's office and NamUS.

Luckily, she only had to visit the Robeson Police Department.

"I called Robeson Township and the secretary said Chief Phillips had this file on his desk," Straka said. "I was so impressed with that. I said we need to come down and see what you have because we have nothing."

She sent a sample for DNA testing to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification on March 17. Even if no match is found, she said, the unidentified man's DNA profile will be available to police anywhere, as well as anyone looking for a long-missing relative.


June 3, 1992: White female, 40-45 years old, 5 feet to 5 feet 3 inches, about 120 pounds, brown hair; skeletal remains found buried in soybean field in Windsor Township near Lenhartsville; cause of death undetermined but considered suspicious.

Pennsylvania Missing Persons
and Unidentified Victims



Unidentified White Female
Found June 4, 1992 in Lenhartsville, Berks County

Vital Statistics
Estimated Age: 25 to 40 years old
Estimated Height: 5'3"
Estimated Weight: 120 lbs, slim build, petite (based on how belt was cinched and size of watchband).
Hair Color: Light Brown, about 3" long
Eye Color: unknown
Clothing: Dark blue or black think long-sleeved sweater with large white buttons, labeled Benetton, size XL;
light colored pullover, long-sleeved shirt, made of lightweight material with pleats up the front, 5 buttons up the front and a small collar;
white vinyl belt.
Accessories: Digital sport type wrist watch with a small face and an orange, pink and yellow wristband;
gray metal rings without stones;
small object, possibly a plastic broach/pin in the shape of a dolphin;
cylindrical metallic structure 4.5" in length & 3/32" in diameter.
State of Remains: partial skeletal. No previous fractures found in the recovered remains.
Dentals: Available
Estimated Time of Death: a year prior to being found

Case Details
On Wednesday, June 3, 1992 the skeletal remains of this unknown woman were found in a field on Christman's Farm in Windsor Twp, about halfway between Virginville and Lenhartsville in Berks County. The farmer, plowing a field, unearthed the remains from a shallow grave, about 10 yards from Christman Road.

What the Locals Remember
In April 2005, thirteen years after "Jane Doe" was found, a good friend of this site's owner went to the Lenhartsville area to visit the site where her body was discovered. While there, she was fortunate enough to meet those who had found the remains and witnessed their removal. The recollections and photos gathered during the visit are not to dispute or conflict with official accounts but are being added here simply because even the smallest detail may be the one that helps to give this woman back her name and, finally, send her home.

The exact location is about 3.5 miles from the Lenhartsville exit off of Route 78. It's only about 2 turns to get there. The body was found approximately 50 feet from the road. There was a spot to pull off and a clearing that lead to the field. The field itself was shielded slighty with brush. It was a cornfield that was being readied to plant soybeans.
The farmer stated that the body was not in the field when he pulled the corn out. Pulling corn leaves gullies. That is where the woman's body was, in a gully and partially covered. While plowing the field, the farmer hit the body with his plow and the head rolled towards the road. The head was skeletal but the body was not completely skeletal, indicating that the body had been buried deeper in the soil.
October would have been around the time the farmer pulled the corn which would place the estimated time of death at around 8 months prior to her being found.
The woman would have been of childbearing age since remnants of an IUD were found and it was a type given to women who had already borne a child.
The word going around at the time was that the woman was in her 20s or 30s.
The hair on the scalp was very short and appeared more "dirty blonde", possibly dyed, rather than brown.
The locals state wadding and shells were found at the scene and the body appeared to have a hole in the back. Official reports say cause of death is undetermined.
Locals say the cylindrical object might have been part of a collapsible umbrella.
There are mushroom houses that employ immigrant workers about 2 miles uphill from where the body was found. There is also a recreational lake, replete with summer homes and bungalows along the lakefront. Both areas have been checked out by investigators.


Photos and recollections courtesy of Anne Wagner, used with permission.
Please click on the images for a larger view.

If you have any information about this case, please contact:

Pennsylvania State Police
Troop L - Hamburg
Tpr Robert Kluge
(484) 660-1011
Sources
Anne Wagner
Doe Network
NamUs
Pennsylvania State Police
The Reading Eagle
Morning Call
Express Times

http://unidentified.wikia.com/wiki/Berks_County_Jane_Doe

Berks County Jane Doe

Berks County Jane Doe refers to a woman whose skeletal remains were found on a farm in Windsor Township, Pennsylvania. The rural area is in between Lenhartsville and Virginville, thus it is described as in either of these cities.

A farmer was plowing his field when he struck bones. The Jane Doe was buried in a shallow grave in one of the gullies. Some of the skeleton was not found. No cause of death could be determined, but the burial and location suggest foul play, as authorities acknowledge.

Characteristics
Light brown (or possibly dark blonde) hair.
A short hairstyle (3 inches in length).
She is thought to have been slender, based her belt and watch sizes.
Doe Network states she had "severe periodontal disease." (Other sources do not mention this.)

Clothing
A long-sleeved sweater-dress made of a thin, blue or black fabric with large, white buttons. It had a label reading, "Benetton," and was extra large.
A light-colored, long-sleeved pullover shirt. It was made of a lightweight fabric, had pleats up the front, and a small collar. It also had five buttons down the front (presumably more decorative than functional).
A white belt made of vinyl.
Doe Network also lists pantyhose.
Accessories
A digital wristwatch described as "sport type." It had a small face and a plastic band in orange, pink, and yellow.
A gray metal ring.
What is believed to be a small, plastic dolphin. It may have been a brooch.
A small cylindrical, metallic object (possibly from an umbrella).

Berks County Jane Doe



Sex Female
Race White
Location Berks County, Pennsylvania
Found June 4, 1992
Unidentified for 24 years
Postmortem interval Months
Body condition Skeletal
Age approximation 25-45
Height approximation 5'0-5'3
Weight approximation 120 pounds
Cause of death Suspected homicide