http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2015/10/investigators_look_to_id_jones.html
Investigators seek to ID Jonestown Jane Doe 42 years after naked body found in woods
By Megan Trimble |
mtrimble@pennlive.com
on October 09, 2015 at 2:11 PM, updated February 09, 2016 at 11:20 AM
JONESTOWN — Forty-two years ago, a pair of Lebanon County deputy game protectors smelled a stench coming from a wooded area at Fort Indiantown Gap.
Poaching had been an issue in the area, so thinking they smelled a decaying deer carcass, they pulled their vehicle over in the area of what locals called "Five Points" — a crossing of Moonshine, Ridge and Tomstown roads. After a trek into the woods, maybe 200 yards off of the road, they noticed the smell grow stronger and something caught their eye. A foot.
It was Oct. 10, 1973, and the pair had found a naked female body.
Decades later, Moonshine Road is often called state Route 443, and locals around the Union Township area have largely forgotten the story of the unidentified body, but the area looks almost the same. The case has never gone cold, passing through the hands of a number of state police criminal investigators over the years, said state police Sgt. Mark Tice.
"This case has never just sat on a shelf," Tice said.
Most recently, it came to the attention of Trooper Nathan Trate, a state police criminal investigator, whose push led investigators to obtain an artist's rendering of what Jane Doe may have looked like at her death. On Friday, state police in Jonestown called a news conference in the hope that a new surge in tips may lead them closer to an identity in the troop's only unsolved murder case.
"I think everyone in the community should want to know what happened to this woman, who this woman was. I think if we lose sight of that, I think we've lost sight of the bigger picture here, our own humanity," Trate said.
Jane Doe
Without a name, investigators have been left to refer to the body as Jane Doe. They've combed old reports to build a fuller description: a white female, approximately 16 to 20 years old, between 5-feet-6-inches and 5-feet-8-inches tall and with blonde or light brown hair. The body lay in the woods for one to two weeks before the discovery.
In 1973, a forensic anthropologist sketched what the female may look like, but the new image, a 3-D bust, goes a step further. New technologies allowed an artist to take measurements, run them through formulas, such as bone density and skin depth, and create the three-dimensional depiction.
Investigators do not know how the female died, Trate said, citing decomposition and an "undetermined" cause of death ruling listed in old reports on the case. Evidence of a sexual assault, while possible, was not noted at the time of the discovery.
"I think about her everyday," investigator says of unidentified female"I think about her everyday," investigator says of unidentified female
Trate brought fresh eyes to the case, as investigators went through each of the details — how the body was found partially covered by brush and under green plastic tarps or garbage bags with a stamp that read "The National Sanitation Foundation Testing Laboratory 8505," a testing laboratory that did not exist, according to records.
DNA taken from the body was entered into the FBI's missing persons database, to be cross-referenced with missing persons reports and to clear possibilities. Investigators are testing all DNA saved from the scene for any other potential breaks in the case.
They've met a number of investigative challenges, Tate said, from destroyed records to racing time and the possibility that witnesses have died or are dying.
Persons of interest were identified and interviewed in 1973, some of those interviews have continued, and investigators have tracked down new leads. Investigators are leaving open the possibility that the body belonged to a female from out of the area, a runaway or transient or a family member who may have been visiting someone at the Gap, among other options, but Trate said one name has been floated as a possible identity — Betsy Langjahr.
Betsy Langjahr
Trate is quick to remind people that the female found may not be Betsy Langjahr, but Betsy was one of four local runaway girls reported missing around the time of the discovery that he has not been able to clear with interviews, DNA samples or Social Security records.
Betsy had been reported missing by someone at Talbot Hall, a then-home for troubled youth that now houses the Jonestown American Legion. Trate said he hopes someone may see the name, which was taken from old police reports, and that it may jog a memory.
Trate said Betsy is not necessary investigators' best lead, but it is something they are looking to rule out.
"I know that when you throw out one name, a lot of people will zero in on that and say this is Betsy Langjahr. I'm not saying this is Betsy Langjahr, but I'm saying it s a possibility it could be her," he said.
Investigator on Betsy Langjahr and the missing persons databaseInvestigator on Betsy Langjahr and the missing persons database
Betsy is not investigators' only possibility in the case, and detectives have also compared the body to cases with some similarities in the Lebanon County area at that time. Trate declined to comment on any possible similar cases or other investigative avenues, citing a potential for compromising the cases.
The investigation, though, has taken Trate from areas of Virginia to Pittsburgh as he tries to find a name. Naming Jane Doe, he said, is his primary goal.
"First and foremost is who she is, and after that is our secondary goal of who put her there and what happened to her," Trate said.
New technologies
DNA will likely be the answer investigators are looking for if they can find a member of Jane Doe's family to also enter into the FBI's system for missing persons. DNA entered into the database, even if not a match with the Jonestown Jane Doe, heightens the chances that other Jane Does may be linked and identified.
Next, investigators are working with The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and a case manager with Help ID Me as they move forward in the case.
Investigators plan to send dental records to be redone to hopefully narrow the female's age. They are also hoping to have a forensic artist create a possible image of the female through the use of CT scans and computer program imaging.
Trate said he thinks about her every day and sees the case being solved.
"I don't lose faith. I can't, not for her. I won't. I won't lose faith for her. Because I think that's what we all stand up here for. We have to give her a voice, we have to do everything we possibly can to try to figure this thing out."
Tips?
State police ask that anyone who may know the female or circumstances surrounding her death contact Pennsylvania State Police Criminal Investigator Nathan Trate at 717-865-3647 or
ntrate@pa.gov.
All calls will remain confidential, and callers can remain anonymous.
Anyone wishing to remain anonymous can also call Pennsylvania crime stoppers at 1-800-4PA-TIPS and reference incident number L02-12591.
