A CLOSER LOOK CASE # 1405 UFCA 1993 W 35 TO 40 YRS.

WHO;   This female was 5’4″, 120 to 130 lbs. with  Dark to medium brown hair. 10-18″ long  Gold cap on an upper right molar.

WHAT:   She was wearing a tan-colored T-shirt with “California” and three rats on the front and back of the shirt; a white long-sleeved shirt with navy pinstripes; white lace bra; cutoff jean pants size 34/30. A white sock and light yellow full armed shirt with the left arm area being recently torn were found with the remains. Jewelry: A silver cross and a ring on her right ring finger. Mounted on it was a picture of a boy, about 3 or 4 years old. He appears in a tiny black-and-white photograph with light-colored hair, wearing what appears to be a dark polo-type shirt. There’s no clue where the picture was taken, and police have no idea who the boy might be.
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WHEN AND WHERE:

HOW:   The victim was located when an anonymous caller, likely a passing motorist, telephoned the Sheriff’s Department and reported seeing a hand protruding from dirt along the Kamm Avenue off ramp, near Three Rocks, a tiny farming community about 50 miles southwest of Fresno. The badly decomposed body of a woman was unearthed. It could have been there more than two months.

THE REST OF THE STORY:   A fingerprint check with the state’s Department of Justice computer records, which also includes records from other western states, came up empty. Missing-persons cases from throughout the state were checked with no matches. With the body so close to I-5, investigators assumed the woman could have been from almost anywhere. Although the cause of death has not been determined, Fresno County sheriff’s detectives are handling the case as a homicide.

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A CLOSER LOOK CASE # 1099 UFNY 1993 W 50 TO 99 YRS.

WHO:   This female was 5’3″ with A partially-healed fracture of left distal radius, for which she wore a cast. Possible healed fracture of her nose. Edentulous.

WHAT:   Unknown.

WHEN AND WHERE:   August 6, 1993   Location of Discovery: Queens, Queens County, New York.  Estimated Date of Death: 1 to 5 years prior.

HOW:   The decedent’s partial skeletal remains were found in a crawl space of a freezer room in the basement of a former nursing home for the mentally impaired at 80-08 45th Avenue in Queens by the new owner.

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A CLOSER LOOK CASE # 66 UFFL 1989 W 15 TO 16 YRS.

WHO:   This female had brown hair and blue eyes.

WHAT:   No clothing reported.

WHEN AND WHERE:    June 15, 1989 in Port St. Joe, Gulf County, Florida.  Estimated Date of Death: N/A.

HOW:   On June 15, 1989, a Polaroid photo of this girl bound and gagged was found in a Port St. Joe, FL convenience store parking lot by a customer.

THE REST OF THE STORY:   The photo also showed an unidentified boy, also bound. The photo was found where a white, late 1980’s Toyota cargo van with no windows had previously been parked. This unidentified teenage girl was also seen on the beach in Port St. Joe, Florida on June 15, 1989. She was accompanied by several older Caucasian males, who appeared to be ordering the girl along the beach front. It is not known if this girl was being held against her will by these individuals or if the incident was staged. Investigators are still trying to ascertain the girl’s identity, which would allow them to close the case or investigate further.

A tattered copy of “My Sweet Audrina” by V.C. Andrews, a plastic cup and a squirt gun are also visible in the photo. Polaroid officials say the picture was taken with film not available until May 1989. Two other photos have surfaced over the years. The first was found near a residential construction site in Montecito, California. The haunting Polaroid, taken on film not available until June 1989, shows the blurry image of a girl’s face, her mouth again covered with tape, her hairline exhibiting that same cowlick at the right temple. Behind her is light-blue striped fabric similar to that on the pillow in the Toyota van photo. Another Polaroid, this one taken on film not available until February 1990, shows a woman loosely bound in gauze, her eyes covered with more gauze and large black-framed glasses. A man is sitting next to her on a passenger seat of an Amtrak train.

There have been speculations that the girl in this case file is Tara Calico , who disappeared from New Mexico in 1988.

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A CLOSER LOOK CASE # 1202 UFAZ 1960 W 2 TO 7 YRS.

WHO:   This child was 3’5″, 50 to 60 lbs. with brown hair, possibly tinted or dyed auburn.  Fingernails and toenails painted bright red. No previous fractures.  Full and perfect set of baby teeth.

WHAT:    A sun suit consisting of white (or pink) shorts and a contrasting blouse with a distinctive chain design, and a pair of men’s adult size flip flops that had been cut down to the victim’s size.

WHEN AND WHERE:   July 31, 1960 IN Congress, Yavapai County, Arizona.  Estimated Date of Death: One to two weeks prior

HOW:   A family searching for rocks discovered the body of a female child partially buried in the creek bed of a sand wash on Old Alamo Road, 1.5 miles from Highway 93.

THE REST OF THE STORY:   The community provided the child with a funeral service and burial.

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A CLOSER LOOK CASE # 1400 UFFL 2016 W EARLY TO MID TWENTIES

WHO:   This female had a slim build and had blonde hair, possibly dyed.

WHAT:   Yellow sleeveless shirt with tiger design.

WHEN AND WHERE:    March, 1, 2016 in Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida.  Estimated Date of Death: N/A.

HOW:   This Polaroid photograph of an unidentified female was found in the possession of Russell Tillis, accused of killing and dismembering Joni Gunter and burying her in his yard.  The woman in the photograph was not Gunter. They do believe he had additional victims and targeted “vulnerable” females that were runaways, prostitutes and drug addicts.

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A CLOSER LOOK CASE # 1005 UFNJ 1984 W NEWBORN

WHO:   This Newborn was a White Female, 7 lbs., 20″ tall with brown hair.

WHAT:   She was wrapped in a white towel, brown towel and a white towel with colored flowers.

WHEN AND  WHERE:   December 24, 1984i in Mendham Township, Morris County, New Jersey. Estimated Date of Death: Hours prior.

HOW:   Two boys who were fishing in a stream off Mt. Pleasant Road in Mendham Township discovered the body of a newborn. The baby was wrapped in towels and placed inside a black garbage bag. An autopsy determined that the baby was alive at birth. Her umbilical cord was still attached.  The infant was dubbed “Baby Mary.” The mother may have stated she gave the child up for adoption.In 2014, Mendham Township Police Department re-opened the case.

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A CLOSER LOOK CASE # 1211 UFNJ 1887 W 18 TO 22 YRS.

WHO:   This female was 5’2″.

WHAT:   Dark green cashmere dress trimmed with green feathers, yellow kid gloves, foreign good shoes, bonnet, a black straw hat with red velvet trimmings, a black dotted veil, and a fur cape.  Jewelry: Jewelry of unknown description.
Additional Personal Items: She had been carrying a small satchel, a small basket of eggs, and an umbrella.

WHEN AND WHERE:    March 25, 1887 in Rahway, Union County, New Jersey.  Estimated Date of Death: Hours prior.

HOW:   A young woman was found was found by four men several hundred feet beyond the Central Avenue Bridge, near Jefferson Avenue, frozen in the mud, at 6:30 AM. Her throat had been slashed in two places and her face badly beaten. Her torn fur cape lay next to her and her body was surrounded by large footprints. Near the river an officer found a small black bag that contained small articles, some that might have belonged to a man. He also found a basket containing nine eggs, all but three of which had been broken. Across the fence, a pen knife with a turquoise handle was discovered. Mark Keefe, one of the jurymen, said he had seen the girls basket in Baker’s grocery store more than a month before and that Mrs. Baker had mended the lid. Billie Byrnes, a clerk at the grocery store, was called in and denied the story. Since her jewelry had not been taken, robbery was ruled out as a motive, and it was assumed that she was a foreign prostitute who’d fallen prey to a drifter. Pictures of the girl were published in leading newspapers and crime magazines across the country. Professional and amateur detectives came to Rahway to try their hand at solving the mystery. Hundreds of persons filed through Ryno’s Morgue to look at the body. Despite a $250 reward, no one came forward to identify the mystery woman or to provide any information. Two and a half weeks after she was found, the unknown girl’s casket was taken to First Presbyterian Church for services. It was carried by six New York reporters who were covering the story. She was interred in Rahway Cemetery on May 2, 1887. Since the young woman’s virtue was uncertain, her grave was dug at a discreet distance from family plots.

THE REST OF THE STORY:  Though the girl was now in her final resting place, the case was not closed. One man who didn’t want interest in the crime to die was Isaac Crane, who saw a way to make money from the unsolved mystery. Crane rented a store on Cherry Street and on the Fourth of July exhibited a rooster he claimed was hatched from an egg found in the murdered victim’s basket. As it turned out, interest in the crime was still high. Several hundred people came to see “Mystery” the rooster and Crane smiled as he collected ten cents from each customer. In the middle of June, the case seemed to be broken. In Salem, Illinois, Kasper Shumbeck confessed to the crime. Robert Bowman, the man who turned him in said in conversation that Shumbeck had told him “I did something bad in New Jersey and it bothers me, almost to death”. After being put in jail he wrote his confession. Kasper Shumbeck comes and makes confession to Robert Bowman and J.W. Conley that on the thirteenth day of March 1887, at Rahway, New Jersey, in the afternoon, that he, the said Kasper Shumbeck and his friend John, a Swede, did kill and murder a young lady about seventeen years of age named Clairy. We met her outside of the town and killed her by the roadside. My friend John struck her with a club and I cut her neck with a pocket knife. I therefore demand that J.W. Conley, a constable of the county of Marion and the State of Illinois, take me in custody and have me dealt with according to law in the matter above stated and I hereby surrender myself into this charge. I hereby make the above confession to Robert Bowman, J.W. Conley and John A. Phillips on my own free and voluntary will, and no act of compulsion on their part.  Shumbeck was sent to Rahway for interrogation. After several days of questioning, it was concluded that his confession was a fraud. In the next few years many people came forward with information, but like Shumbeck’s story they were not accepted as being the truth. A famous New York wax museum offered the city one thousand dollars for the girls clothing, but the offer was refused. The police department kept the girl’s belongings and would not give up hope that the case would someday be solved.

 

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A CLOSER LOOK CASE # 1375 UFMN 2011 UNK NEWBORN

WHO:   This Newborn female was 1’8″, 6 lbs. with brown hair.

WHAT:   Green short-sleeved t-shirt with an undecipherable faded design on the front. Bracelet with silver and blue beads with a large 8 cm glass pendant attached. Additional Personal Items: Two porcelain angel music box figurines, a ceramic Precious Moments angel bell, and a tan canvas bag with sailboats, a sun and the word “Manzanillo” embroidered on the front. One of the music boxes played the tune “Wind Beneath My Wings.”

WHEN AND WHERE:   September 5, 2011 in Winona County, Minnesota.  Estimated Date of Death: Hours prior.

HOW:   The infant girl was found September 5, 2011 (Labor Day) inside a large yellow canvas bag floating in the Mississippi River north of the Trempealeau Dam near Winona, MN. The infant was full term and had recently been born.

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A CLOSER LOOK CASE # 1221 UFCA 1985 B 10 TO 12 MO.

WHO:   This young female victim was 2’2″, 14 lbs. with black hair and brown eyes.  Pierced ears. Long history of physical abuse, with scars and healed broken bones.  Four teeth present; two central upper incisors and two lower central incisors.

WHAT:   No clothing.

WHEN AND WHERE:   August 19, 1985 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California. Estimated Date of Death: 1985.

HOW:   The child’s nude body was found in an alley behind a Baldwin Hills apartment building located at 4206 Santo Tomas, Los Angeles. The baby died from pneumonia brought on by malnutrition. Her cause of death was ruled to be homicide. Her body was later cremated.

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A CLOSER LOOK CASE # 1224 UFCA 1996 UNK 1 TO 2 YRS.

WHO:   This female child is of unknown race and measures 2’9″ and weighs 33 lbs. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She may have suffered from bronchopulmonary dysplasia, likely due to premature birth and would have been on some form of ventilator after birth.

WHAT:   Unknown what she was wearing.

WHEN AND WHERE:    March 21, 1996 in Malibu, Los Angeles County, California.  Estimated Date of Death: 5-10 days prior.

HOW:   The victim’s remains were located on a private beach behind 32554 Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu.

THE REST OF THE STORY:   The child is one of many unidentified infants and small children posthumously adopted by Debi Faris-Cifelli. She was buried under a headstone reading “Dora,” a name Faris-Cifelli chose for her.

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