Author Topic: ALBANY COUNTY JANE DOE: WF, 28-58, found in Fox Park, WY - 2 August 1999  (Read 313 times)

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The victim's partial skeletal remains were located in Fox Park. It appears that the bones had been at the location for a long period of time.

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https://identifyus.org/en/cases/9904

Case Information
Status Unidentified
Case number 1999-1505
Date found August 02, 1999 08:00
Date created February 22, 2012 17:14
Date last modified May 18, 2015 08:44
Investigating agency
date QA reviewed February 24, 2012 07:15

Local Contact (ME/C or Other)

Agency Albany Cnty Coroners Ofc
Phone 307-760-4957
Case Manager
Name William Meyer
Phone 307-721-5536

Exclusions
The following people have been ruled out as being this decedent:
First Name Last Name Year of Birth State LKA
Kimberly Allen 1958 Wyoming
Bobbi Campbell 1970 Utah
Hazel Klug 1962 Virginia
Skyla Marburger 1995 New Mexico
Elizabeth Rogers 1931 North Carolina
Patricia Schmidt 1964 Virginia
Martha Shelton 1944 Kentucky
virginia uden 1947 Wyoming
Colleen Voitik McHugh 1963 Illinois

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https://identifyus.org/en/cases/9904

NamUs UP # 9904

ME/C Case Number: 1999-1505
Albany County, Wyoming
28 to 58 year old White Female

Case Report - NamUs UP # 9904
Case Information

Status Unidentified
Case number 1999-1505
Date found August 02, 1999 08:00
Date created February 22, 2012 17:14
Date last modified May 18, 2015 08:44
Investigating agency
date QA reviewed February 24, 2012 07:15

Local Contact (ME/C or Other)
Agency Albany Cnty Coroners Ofc
Phone 307-760-4957
Case Manager
Name William Meyer
Phone 307-721-5536

Demographics
Estimated age Adult - Pre 50
Minimum age 28 years
Maximum age 58 years
Race White
Ethnicity
Sex Female
Weight (pounds) , Cannot Estimate
Height (inches) 62, Cannot Estimate
Body Parts Inventory (Check all that apply)
All parts recovered
Head not recovered
Torso not recovered
One or more limbs not recovered
One or both hands not recovered
Body conditions
Not recognizable - Partial skeletal parts only
Probable year of death 1989 to 1999
Estimated postmortem interval 10 Years

Circumstances
Location Found
GPS coordinates
Address 1
Address 2
City Fox Park
State Wyoming
Zip code 82070
County Albany
Circumstances
Unknown, human female bones located in 1999. Appears bones have been there for a long period of time.

Physical
Hair color Unknown or Completely Bald

Fingerprints
Status: Fingerprint information is currently not available

Clothing on body

Clothing with body
Size 16 Bill Blass jeans
Footwear
Reeboks size 41 European 7.5 UK Photo in IMAGES
Jewelry
one silver band with M.S.S. engraved
one silver colored rope style ring with two (2) clear colored tear drop shaped stones Photos in IMAGES

Dental
Status: Dental information / charting is available and entered

DNA
Status: Sample submitted - Tests complete

Akoya

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http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1175ufwy.html

1175UFWY - Unidentified Female

Date of Discovery: August 2, 1999
Location of Discovery: Fox Park, Albany County, Wyoming
Estimated Date of Death: 1989 to 1999
State of Remains: Partial skeletal
Cause of Death: Unknown

Physical Description
Estimated Age: 28-58 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'2" to 5'4"
Weight: Unknown
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown

Identifiers
Dentals: Available. At least one gold filling. Possible history of orthodontic care.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: Available.

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Bill Blass jeans (size 16) and Reeboks shoes (size 41 European 7.5 UK).
Jewelry: A silver band engraved with "M.S.S." and a silver-colored rope style ring with two clear teardrop-shaped stones.
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Discovery
The victim's partial skeletal remains were located in Fox Park. It appears that the bones had been at the location for a long period of time.

Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: Albany County Coroner's Office
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 307-721-1880
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 1999-1505

NCIC Case Number: Unknown
NamUs Case Number: 9904

Information Source(s)
NamUs
ViCAP
Casper Star Tribune

Admin Notes
Added: 10/25/2014; Last Updated: 2/23/17

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Jewelry -  one silver band with M.S.S. engraved

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http://trib.com/news/local/casper/j...cle_5c344f71-66d7-5270-ae0a-ef2a350dd56d.html

John/Jane Does -- including Bitter Creek Betty -- frustrate Wyoming investigators

By MEGAN CASSIDY Star-Tribune staff writer
Nov 11, 2012
bout 4:35 p.m. on March 1, 1992, a Nebraska trucker pulled into the Bitter Creek truck turnout on Interstate 80 to switch fuel tanks. Sipping coffee into the fading daylight hours, Barbara Leverton’s eyes focused on what appeared to be a couple of trash bags in the distance.

“Something about the curve,” the now 73-year-old said recently, suggested the bags were in the shape of a person.

Leverton walked to where she could look directly over the shape and saw a body lying in the snow at the bottom of the embankment. The instance predated ubiquitous cell phone usage, so Leverton radioed — to anyone — what she found. Another trucker forwarded the transmission to law enforcement.

The woman now known only as Bitter Creek Betty was on her stomach with her head turned, completely ****.

There are hundreds of women Bitter Creek Betty definitely isn’t. In the 20 years since her death, officers, forensic scientists and armchair detectives have painstakingly established this as one of the case’s certainties.

In 2011, Betty’s information was entered into a national database called NamUs. The system houses the often scattered evidence of unidentified victims from various agencies into one centralized location. It additionally holds a missing persons database that automatically checks for potential matches with unidentified remains.

As of August, NamUs has had a direct hand in reuniting 117 bodies with their identities. Despite the exponential advancements in DNA and other technologies in recent decades, Bitter Creek Betty and at least 10 other Wyoming Jane and John Does rest in a nameless purgatory.

Betty and her fellow Sweetwater County Does are buried, sans headstones, somewhere underneath a narrow swath of grass that buffers the road and the named decedents at Rest Haven Memorial Gardens cemetery.

No protocol in Wyoming requires county law enforcement officials to report unidentified remains or missing persons to any statewide or nationwide agency. Therefore no exhaustive list of remains exists for the state. All records are maintained by the county coroners’ offices.

The Star-Tribune was able to reach 21 of the 23 coroners in Wyoming to obtain such lists, and found that there are at least 11 modern, nonprehistoric remains in the state, dating to the 1980s. Five of these remains have been entered into the NamUS network, two on a volunteer-run “Doe Network,” and two on Wyoming’s Division of Criminal Investigation website, one of which was actually found in Colorado. Only one, a Jane Doe from Sheridan, appears on all three.

Steve Holloway, deputy director at Wyoming DCI’s state crime lab said state-aided investigations are predicated on reporting from the counties. There is no protocol for them to perform state reviews, and no statute requires local agencies to ask for help.

The Wyoming Crime Lab has the only forensic laboratory in the state, he said, and works closely with several nationwide networks, such as NamUs and the University of North Texas’ Center for Human Identification.

Holloway said identifying bodies “depends quite a bit” on whether the local agencies report missing people and obtain DNA samples from relatives, “so there’s something to identify those unidentified bodies to.”

A new law may soon give local law enforcement incentives to do so.

Jan Smolinski, mother of Billy Smolinski, helped her state pass a law that requires Connecticut law enforcement to take missing adult cases seriously.

On Aug. 24, 2004, 31-year-old Billy vanished from his home in Waterbury, Conn. His family was required to wait three days to report him missing, but after filing the report, Jan Smolinski said police did next to nothing.

It took four years before his case was filed correctly in the National Crime Information Center computer index, she said, and it wasn’t until the FBI was involved that proper reports and DNA samples were filed.

She’s now looking nationally. “Billy’s Law” would provide grants to law enforcement to promote reporting to NamUS and NCIC, as well as linking the two databases.

After her ordeal, Smolinski describes agency reporting as a complete “disconnect” and feels that simply informing officers of the new technologies would facilitate sharing information.

“It’s so important to get [identifying information] into the database,” she said. “NamUs is fantastic … it’s like having a million eyes looking at it at one time.”

Billy’s Law was passed by the U.S. House in 2010 but was opposed by a senator from Oklahoma. Its funding has been decreased from $10 million to $8 million and was recently reintroduced into Congress. Smolinski said they are now looking for cosponsors, and are hoping it will be voted on again this year.

One of NamUs and Wyoming’s most recent successes was Rosella Lovell — a former Jane Doe who was identified through facial reconstruction, dental records and a dedicated local team.

“We tried a billion different things,” said Albany Coroner Kathleen Vernon-Kubichek “It was difficult because I really cared about identifying her. I thought about it all the time.”

Once former Wyoming Crime Lab Director Sandy Mays completed the facial reconstruction last month and local media published the work, the calls started coming in.

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continued


“After hearing from all these people that it was the same person, we were able to get her dental records,” Vernon-Kubichek said. “Anybody who could have looked at them could tell it was a perfect match.”

Despite being found just north of her home in Laramie, Lovell was never connected to the body. She had no family in the area and was never reported missing.

“It’s always been a big problem for us,” said Janet Franson, the division director for NamUs in Wyoming and eight surrounding states. She currently has a case load of more than 900 missing persons and 200 unidentified remains. “There’s a nationwide law that covers juveniles … but it’s not against the law [for an adult] to run away.”

And such could have been the case for Bitter Creek Betty, Campbell County’s Gravel Gertie or Sweetwater’s Pipeline Pete.

“Those are all people, not numbers,” Franson said. “They belong to someone.”

Every day, she said, more and more coroners, medical examiners and law enforcement officials register with NamUs.

“The more entities that we get exchanging information, the more successful we are in identifying previously unidentified remains.”

Betty should have been easy to ID.

The several days following the discovery of her body were a fuss of pokes and prods for Bitter Creek Betty. Although she was likely dumped as many as five months earlier, the frigid air and snow preserved her from standard decomposition. Her face was nearly pristine.

A coroner conducted an autopsy, only after Betty’s body thawed for 24 hours. As expected, the cause of death was labeled a homicide. She had been beaten, sexually assaulted, strangled and stabbed with an ice pick-like tool through the left nostril, piercing the sphenoid bone.

Forensic teams were able to obtain a near perfect set of fingerprints, which were submitted to a national FBI database. After the FBI said it didn’t have a match, the prints were submitted to all state-level agencies throughout North America; all came up empty.

The detectives launched an aggressive media campaign throughout the next weeks and months. They published and broadcast sketches and eventually actual photos of the victim’s face, after an artist had colored in her eyes.

“It’s just simple mathematics,” said Sweetwater County Detective Dick Blust, who worked on the case then and still does. “The more exposure we can get, the better chance we have of finding someone who recognizes her.”

Today, Blust still clings to hope that the case can be solved. His plain, black binder holds meticulous records of the hundreds of comparisons and subsequent eliminations his team has made over the years. The entries are brief but absolute.

“On 02/28/93, NCIC generated a possible matchup in the form of a missing person ... date of birth 06/64. The agency of origin for the potential matchup was listed as the Mills County, Iowa, Sheriff’s Office.

“On 03/01/93, Commander Blust contacted Sergeant Clifford Stegall of the Mills County Sheriff’s Office [Glenwood, Iowa,]; Sergeant Stegall advised that ... had been arrested on several occasions by the Denver, Colo. Police Department.

“On 03/01/93, Commander Blust contacted Senior Clerk Benita Quintana of the Denver, Colo/, Police Department., confirmed two arrests for ... and was able to eliminate her as a possible matchup through fingerprint comparison.”

Other missing persons proved even easier to eliminate as matches; they had too many tattoos, a steel rod, or had never given birth — Betty had a vertical Cesarean scar on her abdomen.

Betty’s most promising feature was her tattoo. The rose on her breast was distinct, and it not only helped eliminate several potential missing persons but led police to their only solid lead throughout the case.

After blasting that rose throughout the media, it paid off in July 1992. The rose was the work of a Tucson, Ariz., tattoo artist the tipster said, known for inking truckers and a calligraphy Kung Fu signature.

Detectives visited the artist, who proved instrumental. He remembered the woman, he said, and described her as a “leaper” — one who travels throughout the country hitching rides from various truckers. She was reasonably intelligent, Hispanic, and spoke without an accent. He was even able to describe the clothing she was wearing that day in June 1991: A brown peasant dress with yellow flowers.

The artist agreed to be hypnotized but still was unable to recall the woman’s name or any other details.

Blust said there were a number of other times he and the team were hopeful she was about to be identified. Distraught and unflinching family members of other missing persons called. Fingerprints would extend their pain and fail to identify Betty. For a few, their relatives were later found alive.

To date, no suspects have been named in the case.

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http://z13.invisionfree.com/PorchlightUSA/ar/t19389.htm

http://www.laramieboomerang.com/articles/2...b2809098775.txt

Det. Cpl. William Meyer uses latest technology to reopen Jane Doe cold case

BY AARON LeCLAIR / lbedit7@laramieboomerang.com Saturday, September 29, 2012


Investigators found jewelry with the skeletal remains of a woman, Jane Doe 1999 that they hope will help identify here. This ring has two zirconias in an unusuall pattern on the top. Courtesy photos

If she could speak, Jane Doe 1999 might tell you her hopes and dreams.

She might share the excitement she felt when her first-born child said Mommy, or she might talk about landing her first job after school.

She might also tell you what happened when, more than 20 years ago, someone took her life and dumped and scattered her body in a mountainous area west of Laramie.

The remains of Jane Doe 1999, which a hiker found, belong to this woman.

And Det. Cpl. William Meyer of the Albany County Sheriff's Office is trying to figure out who she is.

Meyer was able to reopen the case recently because of advances in technology that are helping law enforcement across the country open and close cases that would have remained unsolvable without them.

DNA helps reopen case

Last year, Meyer reopened the Jane Doe 1999 case in which a woman's skeletal remains were found in a remote, mountainous area near Fox Park on Aug. 3, 1999.

Back then, an autopsy had determined that Jane Doe 1999 was a white female between 24 and 58 years of age.

Because it was skeletal remains, there's only so much you can get from an autopsy, so there's some broad range for ages and so forth, Meyer said.

Evidence at the scene also suggested that Jane Doe 1999 was about 5-feet, 2-inches tall and had a larger-than-average build.

Because the remains were bones, determining the time of death was difficult, Meyer said.

The time of death could have been a period of one and a half to two years prior to 99 upwards to eight to 10 years prior to that, he said.

The case went cold in 1999 because the sheriff's office had no leads or avenues to explore with the scant autopsy and site investigation evidence, Meyer said.

Now, however, with recent advances in technology, especially when it comes to DNA profiling, Meyer said he had enough tools at his disposal to reopen the case last year.

Just yesterday, I got a DNA profile back for her, he said. I sent a femur and rib bone down to (the University of North) Texas (Center for Human Identification). They do DNA withdrawal.

The DNA of DNA

The Center for Human Identification contains a genetics lab staffed with forensic anthropologists, a fingerprint examiner and an odontologist that generates DNA profiles and other evidence.

It's a complete genetic lab to where DNA profiles can be obtained on buccal swabs that are taken from family members, said Janet Franson, a Laramie native who lives near Roundup, Mont., but works for the Center for Human Identification. You get half of your DNA from your mother and half of it from your father.

With unidentified remains, DNA profiles are also generated from some type of biological evidence, such as human bones.

Once obtained, DNA profiles are entered into the Combined DNA Index System which is the FBI's program for support of criminal justice DNA databases and compared to reference profiles.

The law enforcement agency that sent evidence into the Center for Human Identification is also notified of the results, Franson said.

DNA profiles have been a huge step in investigating unidentified remains. Law enforcement only had dental records to identify remains before DNA technology got up to speed in the 2000s.

For years, that's all we had, Franson, a former police officer in Lakeland, Fla., said of dental records. It's taken a long time for DNA to really catch on and for law enforcement agencies and labs to be able to use it.

Franson said DNA profiling brought a homicide case to trial in 2006 that she had worked on as a police officer in 1984.

Cases are being cleared some cases 40 years old. There's a lot of missing people out there, she said. I'm just really happy the technology, especially the DNA technology, has come so far that it really is helping.

The Internet's role in investigations

The Internet helped Meyer reopen the Jane Doe 1999 case.

One of the large tools I've been using is a website called NamUs (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System), he said. It's a website where individuals can enter both missing people and unidentified people.

A national, centralized repository and resource center for missing persons, NamUs's missing persons database contains information about missing people that can be entered by anyone.

NamUs provides users with a variety of resources, including the ability to print missing person posters and to receive biometric collection and testing assistance.

Other resources include links to state clearinghouses, medical examiner and coroner offices, law enforcement agencies, victim-assistance groups and pertinent legislation.

The website's unidentified persons database contains information entered by medical examiners and coroners. Anyone can search this database using characteristics such as sex, race, distinct body features and dental records.

Lastly, NamUs's newly added unclaimed-persons database contains information about deceased people who have been identified by name, but for whom no next of kin or family member has been identified or located to claim the body for burial or other disposition.

Only medical examiners and coroners can enter information into the unclaimed persons database; however, the database is searchable by the public using a missing person's name and birth year.

Franson, in working for the Center for Human Identification, is the regional system administrator of NamUs.

NamUs started back in 2007, she said. NamUs is kind of like one-stop shopping to put in information not only on missing persons, but also on unidentified remains.

The NamUs computer makes matches every day, identifying remains and bringing closure to one family after another's search for their missing loved ones, Franson said.

We're making more and more every day, she said. The computer, once we get the information, searches 24/7/365.

Meyer said he periodically checks NamUs for possible matches to the information he has on Jane Doe 1999.

It will give me thousands of matches to where I can contact other agencies across the country, he said. That's stuff that just wasn't there in 1999.

By uploading the Jane Doe 1999 evidence on NamUs, Meyer said he has received phone calls from people who ask if the remains belong to their missing wife, daughter or sister.

I get phone calls from individuals from other states who say, I have a missing loved one; can you tell me if this gal you guys found in '99 is my loved one, he said.

The investigation continues

Two weeks ago, Meyer said he took a cadaver dog up to the spot near Fox Park where the remains of Jane Doe 1999 were found.

The cadaver dog hit on a couple more spots, he said. We plan on going up before the snow flies this year and try to do some digging and sifting to see if we find some more stuff.

Based on the evidence and circumstances at the scene, Meyer said Jane Doe 1999 died in a suspicious nature.

In addition to skeletal remains, the sheriff's office has found jewelry a silver band with the initials M.S.S. on the outside and teardrop cubic zirconia ring at the scene that belonged to Jane Doe 1999.

While he might not be able to solve what happened to Jane Doe 1999, Meyer said he hopes he can at least identify her.

Whether or not a crime is solved, because of the time period and lack of evidence, is one thing, he said. My goal is just to get them identified.

Editor's note: Sunday's edition of the Laramie Boomerang will have a story of another Jane Doe being investigated by the Albany County Sheriff's Office. A woman's body was discovered in the area of the Dry Gulch Fire on land owned by the Bureau of Land Management in October 2010.
http://www.laramieboomerang.com/articles/2...b2809098775.txt

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http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/unidentifi...f9-9d6d0c018125


On August 1, 1999, the Albany County Sheriff's Office recovered skeletal remains in a wooded area near Fox Park, Wyoming. It is estimated the remains were present at the site for 2 to 10 years before being discovered. The following items were found with the skeletal remains: a ring with clear tear-drop inserts; a ring with the initials "MSS" engraved on; and a white Reebok shoe, women's size 7.

Victim had a gold filling; may have worn braces. Regarding clothing, the victim wore a size 16 Bill Blass denim jeans, a brown belt, and white Reebok court shoes (estimated women's size 7).

Age: 28 to 58 years old Hair: Blonde, brown
Height: 5'2" to 5'4"
Sex: Female
Race: White

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http://z13.invisionfree.com/PorchlightUSA/ar/t19389.htm

http://www.laramieboomerang.com/articles/2...31947418803.txt

Detective's probe into unidentified women means putting puzzle pieces together

By JOSHUA ROBERTS
Monday, December 24, 2012

It's August 1999 and a Cheyenne man is hiking the area around Fox Park, a small mountain town southwest of Laramie.

His walk unearths a startling discovery - a human skull.

It's September 2010, near Roger Canyon Road, when a sheepherder working for an area livestock company stumbles upon the remains of a woman's body.

Neither of the investigations yield much information.

A search of the scene for more about Jane Doe 1999 produces additional skeletal remains, two rings, Reebok tennis shoes and stray bits of clothing.

She's believed to be 5'2-5'4 inches tall, with a 36-38-inch waist and anywhere from 24-58 years old.

Investigators believe she could have died as many as 10 years before.

Jane Doe 2010 was believed to be smaller, 5'2-5'4, 105-120 pounds and between 30 and 50 years old. She could have died as early as fall 2009.

Information dries up.

Time moves on.

The cases go cold, the women remain unidentified.

It's unlikely Bill Meyer, a detective corporal with the Albany County Sheriff's Office, ever met either of the women, but it's his job to learn everything he can about them.

He reopened the probes in March 2011, shortly after being promoted to detective, looking for ways to fill downtime between current cases.

Through his efforts, with assists from numerous other sources, he said, he was able to identify Jane Doe 2010 as Rosella Lovell, a former Laramie resident and University of Wyoming janitorial staffer, earlier this year.

Jane Doe 1999's real identity remains unknown. Untangling who she was presents more challenges than Lovell�s case, the detective said.

I have no idea how to gauge it, he said. You look at the Lovell case. I had done so much on that for over a year and that doesn't include what took place with her in 2010. All it took was a couple of tips.

I think this one's going to be a little bit harder because of the timeframe. With this woman, we just don't know. She could be from anywhere in the world.

But, challenging doesn't equal impossible.

When I reopened both of these cases, I came to the realism, because of the time frame, the conditions of the bodies when they were discovered and the lack of evidence, that I may not solve a crime, but I might be able to at least identify them, Meyer said.

If I had a loved one that was one of these women, I would want to know.

Meyer, 31, a Laramie native, is a detective corporal with the Sheriff's Office, a veteran of the agency since 2002 and its sole investigator.

His career arc entails a two-year stint as a deputy at the Albany County Detention Center, five years in patrol, a brief period with a regional task force, back to patrol and eventually to a landing spot as detective.

He's perhaps found his niche with investigations.

Immensely, he said when asked whether he enjoys his work. I like the fact that with any case the whole goal is to take all the puzzle pieces and make one big picture.

When you're doing the legwork and you're starting to get all those pieces and you're forming the case and what took place, it's rewarding and enjoyable to try and put all that together.

Meyer, a 1999 Laramie High School graduate, didn't initially earmark law enforcement as a career, though the profession is in his DNA, like a family trait.

As a high schooler prepping for college, he thought he'd become a welder. A serious injury his senior year, however, made long hours in a shop impractical.

He then turned to law enforcement.

His father, Bill, Sr., began his law enforcement career with the Sheriff's Office before transitioning to the Laramie Police Department. He retired in 2005.

The younger Meyer enrolled at Eastern Wyoming College in Torrington and earned an associate's degree in criminal justice.

He has family members currently working for the Sheriff's Office and LPD.

I fell into criminal justice, but I enjoyed all those aspects, he said. It appealed to me and it's kind of been a way of life for us.

A turning point in his career with the Sheriff's Office came in May 2008, when he was detailed to the regional task force, primarily working felony drug cases.

It gave me the ability to sharpen my skills with search warrants, affidavits of probable cause, district court stuff, federal court stuff, he said. It was in the realm of everything.

As soon as this investigator's position opened, I determined that I enjoyed the stuff I did as a task force officer, I had a lot of the skills, so I thought this was something I would enjoy.

A Laramie product born and bred, Meyer said he's likely to stick with the Sheriff's Office for the long haul, growing within the department in whatever role he's most useful.

For now, investigations are a good fit, he said, offering a variety of cases.

Outside of the Jane Doe probes, his current caseload includes check fraud, suspicious death, sexual assault, felony animal cruelty and digging into a recent marijuana seizure at Laramie Regional Airport.

I don't know what's going to come down the road, but I've been here (as a detective) for two years now and I am still enjoying it, he said.

Inevitably, Meyer's work brings him back to the Jane Does.

The Sheriff's Office, like any law enforcement agency, has an assortment of unsolved crimes, mostly in the way of larcenies or burglaries, but Meyer describes the 1999 and 2010 women as the most substantial.

There are investigative advantages this time around, he said, edges that weren't available when they were originally probed.

I think a reason that these sat cold for a long time was because all the resources were expended back then, Meyer said. I realized, and this was all new to me, I was new to even being a detective at the time, that things like (the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System) were available and databases and I was going to get DNA information.

Meyer, an avid outdoorsman, compares his investigative approach on the Jane Doe cases to fishing.

The more bait dangled, the better the likelihood of getting a nibble.

I realized all of it was a long shot, but the more things I had that were reaching out, looking for other avenues, the higher probability I had to identifying them, he said. Now it's kind of a waiting game to see if what I threw out there in the world is going to come back to me and give me a good lead or not.

Though Jane Doe 2010 has been identified as Lovell a memorial service took place this fall in Laramie for her friends and family to pay respect there remain unanswered questions about the circumstances of her death.

Jane Doe 1999 is a complete mystery.

Meyer has the rings: they appear to be unique and one of them includes the engraved initials, M.S.S. He has the tennis shoes: the crime lab was able to determine the year they were manufactured and sold.

He has a potential lead: a missing woman from Tennessee. She fits the age range, shares the same initials on the ring and the detective has asked for a DNA comparison.

The woman, her husband and their vehicle vanished in 1972, Meyer said, and they were never heard from again.

And, he has technology, bait dangled into the far reaches of cyberspace, a wide net waiting for the nibble that can make the difference between Jane Doe and case closed.

We've done what we could with every little thing we have, he said. With every little piece of evidence, we try to look at all the avenues.

The Lovell case loosened when community members identified her through a facial reconstruction published in the newspaper.

A small break is sometimes all it takes, Meyer said.

The day I got the tip on Ms. Lovell, I spent the next two days and into the afternoons and nights following leads because they felt like fresh leads, he said. You do an interview, you get a lead. You do another interview, you get one more lead.

Within 24 hours, I learned it could be a woman named Rose. I was able to build a victimology on her, I was able to get to know her and what her life was. That's what I enjoy taking those pieces and running with them.

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http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/al...6fef663e31.html

Albany detective seeks ID of remains found in 1999
Associated Press


LARAMIE An Albany County sheriff's detective whose investigation identified a woman found dead in 2010 is trying to do the same for another woman whose remains were found in 1999.

The 2010 victim was identified this year as Rosella Lovell, a former Laramie resident, in part through a facial reconstruction. The circumstances of her death remain a mystery.

Sheriff's Cpl. Bill Meyer said identifying the 1999 victim has been more difficult.

Skeletal remains, two rings, athletic shoes and bits of clothing were found southwest of Laramie.

One of the rings is engraved with "M.S.S," the initials of a woman from Tennessee who has been missing since 1972. Meyer asked for a DNA comparison.

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https://lostitems.wordpress.com/2014/11/20/a-closer-look-at-case-1175-ufwy-1999-w-28-to-58-years/

Found Items of Lost People

A CLOSER LOOK AT CASE # 1175 UFWY 1999 W 28 TO 58 YEARS
20NOV
TIME TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK:
With the hundreds of cases on this site alone, it is too easy to overlook some of the items, traits, or information that may help to identify him/her. As time goes on, I will be recalling some of the cases and pointing out some of the ‘clues’ that may help to solve the mystery of who this person might be.

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1175ufwy.html

WHO: Who is this person that we must identify?

This person is a 28 to 58 years old white female who stands about 5’2″ to 5’4″.with ‘blond, brown’ hair. Her dentals information revealed that she had gold fillings and may have worn braces.

WHAT: What was found with or on her?

She wore Bill Blass jeans (size 16) and Reeboks shoes (size 41 European 7.5 UK), US size 7). She also had a silver band engraved with “M.S.S.” and a silver-colored rope style ring with two clear teardrop-shaped stones.

WHEN: When was she discovered?

She was discovered on August 2, 1999 with her date of death believed to be between the years 1989 to 1999. (VICAP has found date as being 8-01-1999).

WHERE: Where was her body/remains located?

The victim’s partial skeletal remains were located in Fox Park, Albany County, Wyoming. It appears that the bones had been at the location for a long period of time.

HOW: How was her body located and the condition of the body?

The Albany County Sheriff’s Office recovered skeleton remains in a wooded area near Fox Park, Wyoming. The remains had been there from 2 to 10 years. The remains were not recognizable and were partial skeletal parts only Torso, one or more limbs, and one or both hands not recovered.

.For more information, please click here.

QUESTIONS AND OBSERVATIONS:

1) Seems like we are looking for someone who was mid-aged when they went missing within the years 1989 to ’99.

2) Gold fillings and may have worn braces – C’mon you detectives – here’s a great clue!

2) Of interest here is the European and UK sizing. Could these jeans be from overseas? Also, size 16 jeans suggests someone a bit ‘heavy’ rather than lean! (No offense intended).

3) Probably the most interesting clue is the silver band engraved with “M.S.S.”. Could be her name or the name of a ‘significant other’?

4) At this point, I would be looking ‘across the pond’ for a missing mid-aged woman who went missing anytime between 1989 and 1997. Might also help to look at women with the last name beginning with S and, with good luck, a first name beginning with letter M. She could have immigrated earlier and maybe her ‘gold fillings’ will not be mentioned. However, do take a look at those with gold fillings and/or braces!

5) Fox Park Wyoming seems to be a part of the Medicine Bow National Forest with a population of 22 in 2010.

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/unidentified-persons/jane-doe-fox-park-wy-4-24-13
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Fox Park, Wyoming






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