This is a general discussion thread for cold cases, cold case innovations, or possibly to break out into a thread, if the interest goes that way.
This is a general discussion thread for cold cases, cold case innovations, or possibly to break out into a thread, if the interest goes that way.
Guess Who
Well-known member
Her plan was to hitchhike back to see her child so she easily could have gotten a ride with a truck driver. There could easily be no evidence of her ever being there. She might have already been dead shortly after she was picked up or anywhere along the way and dumped there.The cold case of Naomi Kidder, age 18 who vanished somewhere between Rawlins and Buffalo, WY, June 29, 1982. Her body was found 3 months later. She remained a Jane Doe for 12 years before finally being identified through dental records. She had been strangled with wire. Kidder's info/dental records were not entered in NCIC until 1994 by the Buffalo P.D.
Serial killers Larry Dewayne Hall and Royal Russell Long have been mentioned as suspects, due to a piece of paper with Kidder's name on it allegedly being found in Hall's possession at the time of his arrest. Trucking records show that Long was in Caspar, WY, at the time of Kidder's disappearance. Police are still looking for solid evidence that Hall was in Wyoming at the time of her murder and are asking the public for help. (BBM)
More Than 40 Years Later, Search Continues For Clues To Murder Of Buffalo Teen
In 1982, 18-year-old Naomi Kidder vanished while hitchhiking from Rawlins to Buffalo, Wyoming, and her body was found months later. Four decades later,…cowboystatedaily.com
I'm curious if Hall and/or Long had a job that was in or went through the area she would have gotten a ride and either picked up or delivered a load in WY
GrandmaBear
Deputized Emu Slayer/Horse Thief Hunter
It says she disappeared between Rawlins and Buffalo. I googled and that's a 228 mile distance.. A long distance of places/miles as to where she may have disappeared from.
I can't recall if the friends saw her leave but her sister apparently knew she was going to. No cell phones then, she'd have had to call from the motel or a pay phone most likely at a cost. I guess I'm wondering if they knew she actually set out and did someone see her on the 228 mile route.
I can't recall if the friends saw her leave but her sister apparently knew she was going to. No cell phones then, she'd have had to call from the motel or a pay phone most likely at a cost. I guess I'm wondering if they knew she actually set out and did someone see her on the 228 mile route.
Sunburst
Well-known member
Hall most likely would have been checking out historical battle sites, monuments, or maybe attending some sort of historical re-enactment conference/convention/meeting type of event. He would drive around different states looking for victims as well. He was employed as a janitor/custodian.
I have mentioned before, a couple of times, that I had a very brief encounter with him on the Purdue campus in early June or July 1982. He apparently decided I was a little too curvy to be his type, although I fit the dark hair profile he seemed to be attracted to.
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RoundPeg
Courage and Faith ~CK
I'd hope they DNA tested it.
We're apparently the same age, and I never wore hippie anything. I do remember having some beaded necklaces during my late teens/early 20s that had stones on them.
RoundPeg
Courage and Faith ~CK
What was he doing at Purdue?
GrandmaBear
Deputized Emu Slayer/Horse Thief Hunter
Didn't know we were same age either. You recall then too and never wore hippie anything. My older brothers and sisters all did though.
For my one brother's graduation party my sister and I did have pairs of plaid I believe seersucker wide legged pants. They weren't bad colors, kind of pastel and a large plaid, not small. I remember feeling like it was a long skirt (which I loved) if I stood so it looked like such instead of separate legged pants. They weren't really bell bottoms though I don't think. It would have been 1973 I think if I have their graduation years straight. Other than that I don't recall being in anything clothing wise from that era.
Because of that I wonder if the necklace was even hers. It certainly isn't what we'd have been wearing in 1982 being the same age as her. I tended to assumhe it was hers as it was broken and I figured he pulled it off her neck or broke it in the commission of what he did to her BUT it could have belonged to another victim, one he took to or near that very site, or he could have left it with her for some reason. Maybe to throw authorities off as to who she was and her age if she was ever found? To add to it maybe not being hers, her folks did not recognize it. I don't think that's so unusual though.
Sunburst
Well-known member
I would have to look it up again, but IIRC he worked there for a short time. Or maybe he hung out there on his days off, looking for victims. I would have to look it up again. A few years after I graduated, a Purdue student named Jennifer Lee Schmidt disappeared in broad daylight one summer day and is believed to be one of his victims. She still has not been found, 40 years later. He would troll campuses in the Midwest looking for victims.
He would be in the general area of the Co-Rec. My brief encounter with him happened on the Purdue outdoor mall between John Purdue's grave and Stewart Center. The mall was a very popular place to sit outside and study or relax if the weather was nice.
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What do you mean, what would that do? I'm wondering whose it is!
RoundPeg
Courage and Faith ~CK
Maybe we've talked about this and I don't remember it. I lived in Crawfordsville until 2005.
GrandmaBear
Deputized Emu Slayer/Horse Thief Hunter
Well the reason was not clear in your post so I simply wondered why and asked. I thought maybe you thought she had not been identified or something and so they should put the picture of the necklace out.
Guess not.
Tresir
Well-known member
Post 38 says she was found on ranchland in Casper, in the narrative below the pic of her headstone. Casper is about halfway between Rawlins and Buffalo.
The article has this info too -
"For three months there was no trace of Kidder, until her nude body was found partially buried in sage grass on rural ranchland owned by a Natrona County commissioner, outside Casper. She had been strangled with wire found wound tightly around her neck.
Her clothing was never found and the only item recovered was a backpack and a little leather purse that her parents confirmed belonged to her, according to media reports at that time.
A broken, “hippie” necklace with a jade shell was also found near Kidder’s body, but her family didn’t recognize it. With no personal information to identify her at the time of her death, Kidder remained a Jane Doe for 12 years until she was ultimately identified through dental records.
To date, nobody has been charged in Kidder’s murder though there have been a couple notable suspects, including Larry Dewayne Hall, an avid Civil War buff, who has been linked to homicides near places he had traveled to for reenactments, according to the Natrona County Sheriff’s Office."
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I replied to that post...Surely you don't think I commented on an article I hadn't read, lol.
Anyway, it'd be interesting to me to know exactly where her remains were found. I think a more detailed description might be in article from Casper Star-Tribune but I don't have access to any of their articles. From what very little I can read from one of their articles, the road appears be 33 Mile.
Tresir
Well-known member
How would I know you read a post? I often post links before reading all of it. You didn't seem to know that she was found on ranchland in Caspar so I was just reiterating. If you read it then yes, you would have known it but this is probably a big ranch, because the other link seems to indicate large acreage but still no exact spot mentioned. So near Caspar to within hundreds of acres.
By precisely, I meant exact spot.
Tresir
Well-known member
Well it was land owned by a Natrona County Commissioner - who was one in 1982 anyway, so 43 years ago. I'm still researching and found nothing exact so far. Maybe finding some local old newspapers might help. LE checking for DNA might help too if they haven't yet done it.
GrandmaBear
Deputized Emu Slayer/Horse Thief Hunter
I think it was her family who asked why they didn't or if they interviewed the County guy who owned the land. It is interesting the speculation is about serial killers who traveled, have they thought about locals at all or those from nearby areas?
Was she found by search or by someone who stumbled across her? If the latter, who, because that would be private land.
Was she found by search or by someone who stumbled across her? If the latter, who, because that would be private land.
Tresir
Well-known member
Apparently, the serial killer Larry deWayne Hall had her name on a piece of paper in his possession.
en.wikipedia.org
Larry Hall (criminal) - Wikipedia
Alleged victims
edit- On June 28, 1982, 19-year-old Naomi Lee Kidder left Buffalo, Wyoming, with several friends en route to Rawlins, Wyoming. They stayed at the Travel Lodge Hotel until June 29, 1982, when Kidder left to go hitchhiking. This was the last time she was seen alive. Kidder's nude remains were found in Natrona County on September 10, 1982, in what appeared to be a partially dug grave.[6] She was identified on March 10, 1993, through dental records. Her cause of death was ligature strangulation. Hall is considered a viable suspect because a document bearing Kidder's name was found in his possession after his arrest.[7]
RoundPeg
Courage and Faith ~CK
Have you looked for info at the Wyoming State Archives?
Tresir
Well-known member
I am thinking it is unlikely the precise spot has even been released as LE would probably need to keep that info to themselves, in order to refute any false confessions. I have looked in the newspaper archives and the only additional info was that she was in a shallow grave, ( a part dug grave ). The wiki for Hall states he used to dig graves as a job with his father.
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