Author Topic: MOUNTAIN CITY JOHN DOE: WM, 51-60, found near a stream in a Shady Valley apple orchard - 2 December 1977  (Read 167 times)

Akoya

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The body was found near a stream in a Shady Valley apple orchard, Mountain City, TN

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Akoya

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https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/1586/details?nav



Unidentified Person / NamUs #UP1586 Male, White / Caucasian
Date Body Found
December 2, 1977

Location Found
Mountain City, Tennessee
Estimated Age Range
51-60 Years

Case Information
Case Numbers

NCMEC Number
--
ME/C Case Number
UT77-9F

Demographics
Sex
Male
Race / Ethnicity
White / Caucasian

Estimated Age Group
Adult
Estimated Age Range (Years)
51-60
Estimated Year of Death
0-1977
Estimated PMI
1 Months
Height
5' 10"(70 inches) , Estimated
Weight
Cannot Estimate

Circumstances
Type
Unidentified Deceased
Date Body Found
December 2, 1977
NamUs Case Created
April 10, 2008
ME/C QA Reviewed
--
Location Found Map
General Location
--
Mountain City, Tennessee
County
Johnson County
GPS Coordinates
--
Circumstances of Recovery
Body found near a stream in a Shady Valley apple orchard, Mountain City, TN
Details of Recovery
Inventory of Remains
One or more limbs not recovered
Condition of Remains
Not recognizable - Near complete or complete skeleton

Physical Description
Hair Color
Brown
Head Hair Description
Balding, Dark Brown with some grey; Short Bowl-type haircut
Body Hair Description
--
Facial Hair Description
--
Left Eye Color
Unknown
Right Eye Color
Unknown
Eye Description
--
Distinctive Physical Features
No Known Information

Clothing and Accessories
Item
Description
Accessories-In Left Jacket Pocket: Plastic container of Vasolene Petroleum Jelly (Store code: 064253; Price: $0.99, Cheeseborough); roll of adhesive tape (J & J store label 7200); and small white pill bottle with pills
-In Right Jacket Pocket: 2 partially used packs of Phillip Morris Cigarettes, and a bottle of pills with label gone
-Pants Pockets:
R. Front: Key #503 with round tag, 2 pennies
L. Front: 1 partially used carton of Pall Mall cigarettes-Tennessee tax stamp
R. Back: nothing
L. Babk: nothing
A comb was found above the beltNear the Body
Clothing-Green Shirt with stripes with 2 top buttons buttoned (Button at collar and button immediately below)
-Army-type jacket (Label: Sears Perma Prest)
-Pants
-BeltOn the Body
Footwear No shoes were present On the Body

Investigating Agencies
CASE OWNER
Forensic Anthropology Center, Univ of TN
865.974.4408

Agency Case Number
--
Lee Jantz, --
--
Johnson County Sheriff's Department
--

Agency Case Number
--
Joe Woodard, --
--
Case Contributors
Lee Jantz, Forensic Anthropologist
Forensic Anthropology Center, Univ of TN
865.974.4408

Akoya

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http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1090umtn.html

The Doe Network:
Case File 1090UMTN




Unidentified White Male


The victim was discovered on December 12, 1977 in Mountain City, Johnson County, Tennessee
Skeletal Remains

Vital Statistics

Estimated age: 51-60 years old
Approximate Height and Weight: 70.5"
Distinguishing Characteristics: Brown hair.

Clothing: Shirt, Coat, Pants.
Dentals: Available

Case History
The victim was located in Shady Valley, Mountain City, TN.

Investigators
If you have any information about this case please contact:
University of Tennessee
Lee Jantz
865-974-4408
You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

Agency Case Number:
UT77-9F

NCIC Number:
U-300019880
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
UDRS

Akoya

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https://www.thetomahawk.com/featured-news/national-agency-still-trying-identify-john-doe-found-shady-40-years-ago/

National agency still trying to identify John Doe found in Shady 40 years ago

By Angie A. Gambill

The Tomahawk was contacted recently by the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) requesting information about a body that was found in 1977 in Johnson County. Forty years later the middle-age male remains unidentified. We are reaching out to our readers that lived in the area during this time that might have information helpful to the investigation.
Articles that appeared in The Tomahawk in December of 1977 recount a gruesome tale of some two dozen elderly men living in the abandoned buildings and grounds of the property known as the Shady Mountain Orchard. Many of the men were disabled, some had skin diseases that required hospitalization, and most appeared malnourished and in general poor health.
According to the men interviewed by authorities at the time, they had been living in a facility in Atlantic City, NJ that was run by a man named Lee Cohn. They said they were not in Tennessee by choice, but that Cohn had loaded them up and brought them to the orchard. Later reports said the hotel building in NJ had been condemned and demolished.
The men also reported that there was no heat in the buildings on the property, they were fed only two meals a day consisting of a “small portion of macaroni and some wine,” and alleged that Cohn took all their Social Security and Veterans benefits to pay for room and board. Johnson County Sheriff Burl Brown stated that one resident showed him a receipt to Cohn for $220 per month for “food, lodging and services.” The receipt also showed that he had paid what he said was his entire Social Security check of $217.50, which left him owing $2.50 each month.
According to the articles, charges were filed against Cohn and on September 30, 1977 he was officially “made aware of the minimum standards and regulations for nursing homes and homes for the aged,” and was told that he must meet with local officials to “discuss the problem concerning his facility.” In mid-October, Shady Valley residents reported to the sheriff that the men were still living in the orchard. When Brown visited the site on October 18, all the residents were gone. Indications were that they had left in a hurry but neither an exact date nor means of departure could be determined. Cohn later alleged that Johnson County deputies had planted drugs on the property and that he had moved his residents to various locations in the northern states.
Investigation revealed that before Cohn had brought the men to Johnson County, that he had apparently brought this group and men at other facilities from locations throughout the United States to New Jersey. When authorities in NJ began to question the conditions of the facilities, he had moved this particular group to Shady Valley.
In early December, the badly decomposed body of a male between the ages of 51 and 60 was found near a stream on the property. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was called in, but the remains have never been identified. It is assumed that the John Doe was one of the men that had lived on the 385-tract of land leased by Cohn, as no local residents had gone missing during the time frame.
NamUs has requested that anyone living in the Johnson County area in late 1977 that remembers this incident and might have any information leading to the identification of the deceased to call their toll-free hotline at 1-855-626-7600. The current case file is available at https://identifyus.org/en/cases/1586 on NamUs.gov website. The original articles in their entirety and pictures of the scene can be accessed on The Tomahawk’s website at thetomahawk.com.
Any help in giving John Doe a name will be greatly appreciated.





October 18, 2017

Akoya

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https://unidentified.wikia.org/wiki/Mountain_City_John_Doe

Mountain City John Doe

Mountain City John Doe was a male found deceased in Tennessee in 1977.

Mountain City John Doe



Sex Male
Race White
Location Mountain City, Tennessee
Found December 12, 1977
Unidentified for 41 years
Postmortem interval 1 month
Body condition Skeletal
Age approximation 51-60
Height approximation 5'10
Weight approximation N/A
Cause of death Not stated

Akoya

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http://www.unsolvedappalachia.org/mountain-city-john-doe/

Mountain City John Doe
Posted by unsolvedappalachia on June 17, 2018 July 4, 2018



On December 2, 1977, the nearly skeletal body of a male that was approximately 51-60 years old was located near a stream in Mountain City, Tennessee on the property that was once known as Shady Mountain Orchard. He was balding, with greying brown hair that was cut in a short, bowl-type style and was wearing a green shirt with stripes (the 2 top buttons were fastened), an army type jacket with a Sears Perma Prest tag, pants, and a belt. No shoes were located.

Inside his jacket pockets, he was carrying a small plastic container of petroleum jelly, a roll of adhesive tape, a small white bottle of pills, 2 partially smoked packs of Phillip Morris cigarettes, a bottle of pills with no label.

Inside his pants pocket was a key with a round tag marked #503, 2 pennies, 1 partially smoked carton of Pall Mall cigarettes, and there was also a comb found tucked above his belt.

A few months prior to the discovery of John Doe, there were reports of two dozen or so elderly men living in the abandoned buildings and on the grounds of the Shady Mountain Orchard property. Many of them were disabled, had skin diseases that required hospitalization, and in general, they all appeared malnourished and in declining health.  Police interviews painted a pretty horrible picture of what was going on:

Lee Cohn had leased the property in Mountain City after fleeing from his previous property in Atlantic City, NJ. The building he’d been keeping his residents in while in NJ had since been condemned and demolished.  Now at Shady Mountain Orchard police discovered that they were living with no heat in the buildings of the property, and only being fed two small meals a day (a small portion of macaroni and wine), while Cohn was taking all of their veterans benefits and social security and keeping it for himself. One resident showed the County Sheriff a receipt which charged $220 a month for food, lodging, and services, his whole check was $217.50…so he owed a balance of $2.50 at the end of every month.

Charges were soon filed against Cohn, and on September 30, 1977, he was officially made aware of the minimum standards regulations for nursing homes and was advised that he must meet with local officials to “discuss” the problems with his facility. This wasn’t the first time this had happened to Cohn, NJ had also caught on to his ‘scam’ of an operation which is what lead him to Tennessee.

On October 18, the Sheriff made a visit to the property again only to discover that all the residents were gone. It looked like everyone had left in a hurry but an exact date and mode of transportation was unknown…

Police believe that the John Doe was a resident of the home that Cohn was running. I can’t help but think what happened to the rest of those poor residents that were living in his facilities. I wonder if Lee Cohn was ever caught and charged, maybe even got some jail time… Mostly though, I really hope his residents were saved and taken to a good facility.

If you have any information please call 1-855-626-7600. He deserves to have his name back.

NamUs
The Tomahawk

Tennessee

Akoya

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