Author Topic: ROCHESTER JOHN DOE: WM, 18-99, remains were disinterred at the Rochester Cemetery after flooding fro  (Read 359 times)

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The decedent's remains were disinterred at the Rochester Cemetery after flooding from Hurricane Irene.

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https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/9615/details

[img]https://i.imgur.com/GdIP3OW.png[img]

Unidentified Person / NamUs #UP9615 Male, White / Caucasian
Date Found
September 2, 2011

Location Found
Rochester, Vermont
Estimated Age Range
18-99 Years

Case Information
Case Numbers
NCMEC Number
--
ME/C Case Number
ME-017A
Demographics
Sex
Male
Race / Ethnicity
White / Caucasian

Possible First Name
--
Possible Middle Name
--
Possible Last Name
--
Possible Nickname

--
Estimated Age Group
Adult
Estimated Age Range (Years)
18-99
Estimated Year of Death
--
Estimated PMI
--
Height
Cannot Estimate
Weight
Cannot Estimate
Circumstances
Type
Unidentified Deceased
Date Found
September 2, 2011
NamUs Case Created
December 16, 2011
ME/C QA Reviewed
December 18, 2011
Location Found Map
General Location
--
Rochester, Vermont
County
Windsor County
GPS Coordinates
N4351.950 W72 48.420
Circumstances of Recovery
Disinterred remains from Hurricane Irene flooding at Rochester Cemetery

Details of Recovery
Inventory of Remains
Head not recovered
Condition of Remains
Not recognizable - Near complete or complete skeleton

Physical Description
Hair Color
--
Head Hair Description
skull missing
Body Hair Description
--
Facial Hair Description
--
Left Eye Color
--
Right Eye Color
--
Eye Description
--
Distinctive Physical Features
No Known Information
Clothing and Accessories
Description
Accessories buried in a wooden casket with metal handles. Placed in a blue vault.Near the Body
Clothing White dress shirt, green sweater vest, brown leather belt, black pants On the Body

Case Contributors

Lauri McGivern, Medicolegal Death Investigator
Vermont Office of Chief Medical Examiner
(802) 863-7320

Akoya

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http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2519umvt.html

Case File: 2519UMVT
 The Doe Network




Unidentified Male
Date of Discovery: September 2, 2011
Location of Discovery: Rochester, Windsor County, Vermont
Estimated Date of Death: Unknown
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Near complete or complete skeleton
Cause of Death: Unknown

Physical Description
** Listed information is approximate
Estimated Age: 18-99 years old
Race: White
Gender: Male
Height: Unknown
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown
Dentals: Not available.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: Available.

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: White dress shirt, green sweater vest, brown leather belt, and black pants.
Jewelry: None.
Additional Personal Items: None.

Case History
The decedent's skeletal remains were disinterred after flooding from Hurricane Irene. They were found in a wooden casket with metal handles and placed in a blue vault. The skull was not recovered.

Investigating Agency(s)
If you have any information about this case please contact;
Agency Name: Vermont State Medical Examiner's Office
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 802-863-7320
Agency Case Number: ME-017A
NCIC Case Number: N/A
NamUs Case Number: UP #9615
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Information Source(s)
NamUs


Akoya

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https://www.mynbc5.com/article/flooded-out-vt-cemetery-re-buries-its-dead/2610568

Updated: 10:33 AM EDT May 23, 2013

Flooded-out Vt. cemetery re-buries its dead

The nightmare that's haunted Darlene Thompson for nearly two years is over. "It's a relief," she sighed. "I think, now, they're safe. And they're at peace." Thompson was talking about her parents, who are back side-by-side in their proper burial plots in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Rochester, Vt. They washed away, along with 50 others buried near them, when the quiet Nason Brook swelled into a raging monster during Tropical Storm Irene in August, 2011.

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https://www.nola.com/hurricane/2011/10/flooded_vermont_town_struggles.html

Flooded Vermont town struggles to identify cemetery remains after Hurricane Irene

Updated Oct 13, 2011; Posted Oct 12, 2011

By The Associated Press

ROCHESTER, Vt. -- The remnants of Hurricane Irene killed four people in Vermont, but the storm scattered dozens of sets of human remains -- bodies pried from eternal rest in a mountain cemetery and swept down a raging river, where some may never be identified or even found.

cemetery-irene.jpgView full sizeAssociated Press archiveCaskets lie in a riverbed near Woodlawn Cemetery in Rochester, Vt., after being washed out of by a stream swollen with floodwaters from Tropical Storm Irene.
Some of the 50 sets of remains from Woodlawn Cemetery in Rochester were left mostly intact in caskets that floodwaters ripped from the ground; others were old bones strewn around the cemetery or downstream. But some were more recently deceased, putting relatives in the painful position of describing facial features, clothing or jewelry to investigators so they can be identified and returned to the earth.

The flood on Aug. 28 stole the remains of five relatives of Darlene Thompson, 40, a lifelong resident of the Rochester area. The remains of her mother and father, who died in 2004 and last year, were soon found nearby. Her grandmother was recently found at a golf course five miles downriver. A stillborn brother and an uncle, both buried in the 1960s, will probably never be found, she said.

"Our situation has been a nightmare, but we are the lucky ones," Thompson said. "Out of five of the ones missing in our cemetery plot, the three most important ones were found."

As the head of the Rochester cemetery commission, Sue Flewelling's job before Irene involved selling lots and helping arrange burials. Now she's trying to figure out how to put back together the town's main cemetery, which dates to the early 1800s.

"We respect our people. They were Rochester residents, you know," Flewelling said. "You've got to treat them with respect; that's why we'd like to have them put back to where they picked out that they wanted to be."

But, if, and when, that can happen remains a low priority in a town of 1,100 in the Green Mountains that is still repairing roads, bridges and homes damaged as Irene concluded a deadly march up the coast, reaching Vermont as a tropical storm and dumping biblical rains that cut several towns off from the outside world for days.

For all the pictures of covered bridges and homes turned into kindling by the angry floods, the scene at the cemetery was perhaps most shocking: a whole section washed away, bodies strewn about in the open air, caskets poking out of debris piles and glinting in the post-storm sun.

The day after the storm, Flewelling said, she started to get reports that the cemetery, situated where the normally tiny Nason Brook meets the White River, had washed out and that people were posting pictures on the Internet. There were rumors, never confirmed, of looting.

"We had exposed bodies and caskets and things lying all around here. I mean, they don't need to be taking jewelry or anything like that," she said. "I said, 'No, that is not going to happen anymore.'"

With state law enforcement access to the town cut off, Flewelling and the cemetery sexton started camping out at the entrance to keep the curious away and tell family members whether their loved ones' graves had been affected. She received between 400 and 500 calls.

First, they covered exposed remains. Locals were told not to touch anything. When the state medical examiner's office arrived, it was treated like a mass fatality event, and a special team was mobilized to help search for, recover and identify the remains, said Dr. Elizabeth Bundock, deputy chief medical examiner.

"There are 50 names in the involved area. Half of those were buried more than 50 years ago," Bundock said. "It's hard to know what to expect from a burial that's 50 or more years ago."

The experts used family memories, and in some cases DNA, to try to identify the remains. Family members were not asked to look at the actual remains.

Six weeks later, about half the remains have been recovered, but only half of those have been identified.

While rare, it's not unknown for flooding to disturb graves; hundreds were pulled out of the ground by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in Mississippi, Louisiana and other parts of the South. But while a low water table in those places means some graves lie in above-ground vaults, it's not so common for a flash flood to do similar damage in an area where caskets are soundly interred.

Flewelling, who has lived in Rochester for 42 years, said she never imagined Woodlawn could be at risk from flooding. It's well above the river and survived two previous disasters unscathed -- floods in 1927 and the great East Coast hurricane of 1938.

The total cost of repairs, including the huge amounts of fill needed to rebuild the lost area, is close to $1 million, Flewelling estimates. The Rochester Cemetery Commission has an annual budget of about $14,000, she said, and a special fund has been set up.

"It's going to be a long, hard process," she said. "I expect when the spring floods come it's going to change some of the creek beds again and they may find some more people downstream."

Remains will probably turn up in the river for some time -- and each case will have to be treated as if it's a newly deceased body, to make sure no new crimes slip through the cracks, Bundock said.

It will be impossible to identify all the remains that were recovered because there's no way to match DNA from older graves, Flewelling said. At some point there will probably be a mass reburial, she said.

For Thompson, it was a huge relief when Bundock called to say her grandmother's remains had been positively identified after they were found downstream.

"I am at peace, I really am," Thompson said. "I am not worried some child will see them floating somewhere. That is my worst nightmare."

Even in cases where remains have been identified, the living face painful choices, including whether to hold a second funeral. Thompson said she's not interested in another ceremony but does want to see the cemetery restored.

"I want them back where they were. That was my dad and my mother's final home. And my grandmother lived with us forever, and so it's her home too," she said. "I want them back where they were supposed to be, if they can."

By Wilson Ring, Associated Press

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They washed away, along with 50 others buried near them, when the quiet Nason Brook swelled into a raging monster during Tropical Storm Irene in August, 2011.



Nason Brook
Rochester, VT

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