Platform sandal shoes, composed of brown leather with brown painted plastic platform soles and a 2½ inch high heel, size 6½ knee high white acrylic socks grey & red nylon long sleeved laced top white brassiere.
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Drawing and clay bust of Atlantic Highlands Jane Doe On December 10, 1988, while local residents gathered to help clear a parcel of land that runs along the Sandy Hook Bay in Atlantic Highlands for…
stillunsolved.wordpress.com
Atlantic Highlands Jane Doe Still Unidentified
Posted: September 26, 2012
Drawing and clay bust of Atlantic Highlands Jane Doe
On December 10, 1988, while local residents gathered to help clear a parcel of land that runs along the Sandy Hook Bay in Atlantic Highlands for a bicycle trail, a local volunteer found what he at first thought was a plastic ball, which turned out to be a human skull. The resident reported the find to the Atlantic Highlands Police Department who began an investigation into this found human skull.
Once the Monmouth County Medical Examiner’s Office and the State of New Jersey Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that the skull was human, the Atlantic Highlands Police Department, with the assistance of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, New Jersey State Police, Connecticut State Police, Monmouth County Medical Examiner’s Office, State of New Jersey Medical Examiner’s Office, Burlington County Medical Examiner’s Office, the local Department of Public Works and Water Department, excavated the area by sifting the earth in four sectors, recovering more than 85% of the skeletal remains.
An anthropology examination was performed upon the skeletal remains, which were identified as a:
Caucasian female
between the ages of 15 to 18 years old at time of death
5’1″ to 5’4″
approximately 100 to 120 pounds.
The decedent was found to be wearing the following:
Platform sandal shoes, composed of brown leather with brown painted plastic platform soles and a 2½ inch high heel, size 6½
knee high white acrylic socks
grey & red nylon long sleeved laced top
white brassiere.
Additional items near the remains:
Portion of one pink rubber “thong-type” sandal
leather like shoe or small boot with a picture of a football scene on side in red and white.
A botanist reviewed the scene and clothing in the skeletal remains and estimated the body had been in that same location for approximately the previous fifteen years. This would put the year of death at approximately 1973 to 1975.
An investigation by the Atlantic Highlands Police Department was conducted in an attempt to identify the human skeletal remains. The human skeletal remains were mapped out and placed in the National Police computer system for all law enforcement departments to compare to their missing persons.
The local media from the tri-state area converged on the small town of Atlantic Highlands and broadcast the human skeletal recovery for about four straight days. Massive medical coverage was aired and a special program called Crime Beat highlighted this case.
No identification was made.
In 1992, with the assistance of the FBI, a clay reconstruction was made over the human skull and is a possible resemblance of what this recovered female skeletal remains may have looked like. Additionally, several parts of the skeletal remains were sent to LabCorp in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina for mitochondrial DNA profiling in 1997. The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the Atlantic Highlands Police Department now have a DNA profile that can be used to link this female subject to a family member as well as dental records.
Anyone with information concerning this matter is asked to call the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office at 732/ 431-7012 or 1 800/ 533-7443 (toll free) or the Atlantic Highlands Police Department at 732/ 291-
Doe Network is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to bringing awareness to missing persons and unidentified persons throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia.
doenetwork.org
"The Doe Network" : International Center for Unidentified & Missing PersonsCase File: 20UFNJ
The Doe Network
Unidentified Female
Date of Discovery: December 10, 1988
Location of Discovery: Atlantic Highlands, Monmouth County, New Jersey
Estimated Date of Death: 1973-1975
State of Remains: Skeletal Remains
Cause of Death: Unknown
Physical Description
** Listed information is approximate
Estimated Age: 15-20 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'0" to 5'4"
Weight: 100-120 lbs.
Hair Color: Unknown
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown.
Dentals: Available. Decedent had significant tooth decay. Gap in the upper central incisors. Fingerprints: Not available. DNA: mtDNA and nucDNA available at UNT. Ref# F3105.1US.
Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Long-sleeved gray and red nylon laced top, white bra, brown leather platform sandals with a 2 1/2 inch heel (size 6 1/2), and knee-high white acrylic socks.
Jewelry: None listed.
Additional Personal Items: Items found near the remains include a d a portion of one pink rubber thong-style sandal, and a leather-like shoe or small boot with a picture of a football scene on the side stitched in red and white.
Case History
The skeletal remains of the victim were discovered off Lower Bayside Drive on a wooded hillside going down to the beach. Local residents were helping to clear a parcel of land along Sandy Hook Bay for a bicycle trail. One of the residents found what he thought was a plastic ball, which was in fact a human skull. Further search of the area by investigators recovered more than 85% of the skeletal remains. A botanist estimated that the body had been in that same location for approximately fifteen years based upon the scene and clothing.
Investigating Agency(s)
If you have any information about this case please contact;
Agency Name: Monmouth County Medical Examiner's Office
Agency Contact Person: Jay Peacock
Agency Phone Number: 732-577-8790
Agency Name: Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office
Agency Contact Person: Major Crimes Unit
Agency Phone Number: 732-431-7012
Agency Name: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
Agency Contact Person: Forensic Services Unit
Agency Phone Number: 1-800-843-5678 (1-800-THE-LOST)
Agency Case Number: ME: 13881397/13881445; LE: 537234-88; NCMEC: 1106794
NCIC Case Number: U337246242
NamUs Case Number: UP #1458
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.
Information Source(s)
NamUs
NCMEC
Camden County Sheriff's Office
Monmouth County Office of the Prosecuter
Facebook: Atlantic Highlands Jane Doe
Asbury Park Press (Neptune, NJ) News Archive - 9/10/00
The Henry Hudson (Biking and Hiking) Trail (or Bayshore Trail) along the southern shore of Sandy Hook Bay between the big parking lot in Atlantic Highlands
The anthropologists did not describe any pants or a skirt that were present with the skeletal remains. Perhaps this young woman was a victim of violence and rape.
The decedent was found to be wearing the following:
Platform sandal shoes, composed of brown leather with brown painted plastic platform soles and a 2½ inch high heel, size 6½
knee high white acrylic socks
grey & red nylon long sleeved laced top
white brassiere.
Because of her lack of dental care, I wonder if the victim was from one of the poorer sections of nearby Elizabeth, Newark, or Perth Amboy.
Atlantic Highlands is a small, upscale community, but it is known to many people and it is a busy location, especially in the summer. Visitors to the nearby Sandy Hook National Park pass through the Highlands on Rt. 36, every year. Sandy Hook is a popular location for beaches, camping, fishing, boating, etc. There is a terminal for ferries from Atlantic Highlands directly to New York. Atlantic Highlands has many excellent restaurants, pubs, and beaches. It's not an isolated location, but I am thinking that someone knew the area and knew where to dump the victim's body in the woods on Lower Bayside Drive. I don't know if someone passing through the Highlands on Rt. 36 would know that information or know how to access Bayside Drive. Could this woman have been a local prostitute?
This is Bayside Drive in Atlantic Highlands. It's basically a quiet lane. The homes are mostly on large properties that sit above the edge of the water, with beautiful views of New York. This is not a heavily traveled street. There are still some small old cottages, but the newer construction is expensive.
An old Bayside Drive cottage.
Newer Bayside Dr. construction. The bike path is visible along the water.
She was wearing a long-sleeved gray and red nylon laced top; a white bra; brown leather platform sandals, size 6 1/2with a 2 1/2 inch-high heel; and knee-high white acrylic socks. Items found near her body included a portion of one pink rubber thong-style sandal; and a leather-like shoe or small boot with a picture of a football scene on the side, stitched in red and white.
Another source of confusion is the size of the woman's shoes.
Platform sandal shoes, composed of brown leather with brown painted plastic platform soles and a 2½ inch high heel, size 6½
Drawing and clay bust of Atlantic Highlands Jane Doe On December 10, 1988, while local residents gathered to help clear a parcel of land that runs along the Sandy Hook Bay in Atlantic Highlands for…
stillunsolved.wordpress.com
Brown leather platform sandals with ankle straps (size 8 1/2)
Platform shoes and knee-high acrylic socks were the rage. Nightclubs, loud music, gin fizzes, piña coladas, loud clothes, and dancing al...
canyouidentifyme.blogspot.com
The Disco Age and the Sandy Hook Bay
Platform shoes and knee-high acrylic socks were the rage. Nightclubs, loud music, gin fizzes, piña coladas, loud clothes, and dancing all night long--yep, those were the days. Those were the disco days.
Residents in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey set out in December 1988 to clear a parcel of land alongside the Sandy Hook Bay for a bicycle path. One of the volunteers thought he was reaching down to clear a plastic ball when he soon discovered it was my skull. The authorities were called.
United together, one local police department, two state police agencies, three medical examiners’ offices, one prosecutor’s office, and public works set out to find the rest of my remains. They successfully recovered 85% of me after doing a complete grid search of the area.
I may have died earlier than 1980, possibly during the disco rage in the mid-1970s. They don’t know for certain. Here comes the hardest part--they don’t know my name.
My profile data says I could have been anywhere from 15 to 18 years old, possibly up to 30 years old. I stood 5 feet tall, but possibly up to 5 feet and 3 inches. I might have weighed 100 pounds, but possibly up to 120 pounds. I was wearing brown platform sandals, knee-high acrylic socks, and a long sleeved grey-and-red nylon laced top.
The good news is that they have my DNA and my dental records for comparison. If you know who I am, or think you know who I am, the authorities can review the dental records or do a DNA comparison to a family member.
If anyone out there knows who I am, please call and tell them who I am!
Contact information:
New Jersey State Police
800-709-7090
Case #537234-88
Atlantic Highlands Police Department
732-291-1212
NIC #U337246242
View Her Profile Data: Monmouth New Jersey Jane Doe December 1988
Dentals: Available. Decedent had significant tooth decay. Gap in the upper central incisors.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: mtDNA and nucDNA available at UNT. Ref# F3105.1US.
They have both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA. They will be able to prove who she is, once someone finds the correct match. The FBI assisted with the clay skull reconstruction. It looks like they have done a lot of research on this victim. I am wondering if she has ever been buried and perhaps this is why her remains have been so accessible to the advances in science.
In 1992, with the assistance of the FBI, a clay reconstruction was made over the human skull and is a possible resemblance of what this recovered female skeletal remains may have looked like. Additionally, several parts of the skeletal remains were sent to LabCorp in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina for mitochondrial DNA profiling in 1997. The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office and the Atlantic Highlands Police Department now have a DNA profile that can be used to link this female subject to a family member as well as dental records.
On December 10, 1988, a group of volunteers clearing a patch of land near Sandy Hook Bay made a shocking discovery. A Human skull was located near lower Bayside Drive in the town of Atlantic Highlands. Police soon recovered most of the skeleton and determined that the person was a young white female around the ages of 15 to 18 (possibly up to the age of 30). She was around 5'1 to 5'4 and 100 to 120 pounds. The Unidentified female could have been buried there for up to fifteen years. Items of clothing were found by the victim; a long-sleeved gray and red nylon laced top; brown leather platform sandals tha were size 6 1/2 with a 2 1/2 inch-high heel; a white bra; and white acrylic socks that were knee high. Other items found nearby included a portion of one pink rubber thong-style sandal; and a shoe or small boot with a picture of a football scene on the side, that was stitched in red and white.
For more information and pictures of this case visithttp://www.doenetwork.org/cases/20ufnj.html
If you have information about the death and identity of this Unidentified Female please contact the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office 732-431-7012 or the Atlantic Highlands Police Department at 732-291-1212.
Skull's Identity Defies Decade Of Police Work A Young Woman's Remains Were Found In Monmouth County In 1988. Officials Are Hoping For New Leads.
By Lillian Micko, INQUIRER SUBURBAN STAFF
POSTED: December 15, 1998
Ten years ago, a resident helping to clear some land for a bicycle trail in the small Shore community of Atlantic Highlands in Monmouth County came upon something hard in the dirt.
A piece of plastic, perhaps. Maybe a ball. But a human skull? That is what it turned out to be, and more excavating uncovered 85 percent of a human skeleton.
Studies at the time produced this profile of the body's possible identity: white female, age 15 to 18, between 5-foot-1 and 5-4, and between 100 and 120 pounds.
Among the law-enforcement officials at the scene that day, Dec. 10, 1988, was Robert A. Honecker Jr., director of investigations for the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.
Honecker, now the second assistant prosecutor, is hoping the 10-year anniversary sparks renewed interest in the case and new leads on the identity of the remains.
At the time of the discovery, he and a few other investigators who had some training in the recovery of skeletal remains arranged for a forensic anthropologist to be taken to the location, Honecker said last week.
The specialist determined that the clothing on the remains, including hippie-era platform shoes and a long-sleeved laced top, indicated that the bones had been there since the late 1960s or early 1970s, Honecker said.
Because of the passage of time, there was no ``body'' for an autopsy, although an examination showed there had been no trauma to any bones, he said. The anthropologist's findings were turned over to a State Police artist who produced a sketch that was distributed widely. However, there was no break in the case.
In 1992, Honecker said, new techniques and the assistance of the FBI led to the creation of a clay reconstruction over the skull. Again, hundreds of photos were distributed of the model, showing what the young woman might have looked like. Still nothing. At that point, Honecker said, the investigation had covered almost every state and had extended overseas. Leads were followed in England by Interpol, the international investigation agency. Nothing still.
In 1997, several pieces of the skeletal remains were sent for DNA profiling to LabCorp in North Carolina. Three months ago, the results of that analysis led to a profile that seemed to lead to a major break: The young woman's possible appearance matched the description of a girl who had been missing from the Mount Holly area since 1975.
A DNA sample from the girl's father was taken, but testing showed that the skeletal remains could not have been those of his daughter, Honecker said.
Honecker said he was optimistic that with even greater technological advances, science could help investigators finally identify the girl, who would have been a woman in her 40s today.
``Someone out there is related to her,'' he said. ``Someone may still be looking for her and be having hopes of finding her. She may be somebody's niece, daughter or sister. . . . We would like to bring closure.''
Anyone with information that may help identify the remains is asked to call Capt. Philip George or Detective Adam Hubeny in the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office at 800-533-7443 or Detective Sgt. Carolyn Thompson of the Atlantic Highlands police at 732-291-1212.
The area is really very nice. Rt. 35 passes through Atlantic Highlands and it's the main road to the bridge at Sandy Hook and the ferry to NYC. Bayside Drive is a small private community lane that is barely wide enough for two cars. It's a secluded area that sits high over the bay and the homes have a beautiful view of NYC. The homes are very expensive. There's a steep drop down to the water and it's all trees and woods. From what I was reading, local residents were clearing a trail down to the main bike trail that goes along the water. Someone had to have put this victim in the woods at that location. This was not just a victim who was dumped out of a car. The perp knew the area and she wasn't found along the edge of the road. This was not a location that had easy access. She spent up to 15 years in those woods without anyone seeing her. It doesn't even sound like she was buried. It sounds like she was left in the location where she was eventually found and the clothing was left nearby.
I feel that whoever did this was either local to the area or knew that section of Atlantic Highlands. The person had to know how to get to Bayside Drive and the woods. I don't think it was someone who was passing through. She was dumped in a fairly isolated location. I have no idea where our Jane Doe is from but I do think that whoever killed her was local. There were several serial killers running around northern New Jersey in the 1970s, but most of them were in jail by the time she was probably killed.
I read that when the archaeologists were called in, they divided the area around her into four grids and 85% of her skeleton was recovered. It doesn't sound like wildlife got to her and scattered her remains. She was probably just covered with fifteen years of leaves and vegetation. The Monmouth County Medical Examiner has DNA and dental records. They just need to connect her to someone who is missing and they will be able to prove if it's a match. The bad condition of her teeth tells me she didn't have much money. She could have been a prostitute from one of the nearby urban areas.
The houses on Bayside Dr. sit high over the water like this. It's a steep drop to the water. From what I was reading, she was found in the woods in one of the steep areas.
New York City and New York Bay in the distance.
This is one of the cleared bike paths down to the larger Henry Hudson Bike Trail. It sounds like she was left in the woods off of one of these access paths.
This is Bayside Dr. in front of a house. It's just a quiet little street. It's not a main road to anywhere.
There are many more homes on Bayside Dr. than there were in the 1970s. It was a much more isolated location. The construction of large expensive homes had started, though. Executives from places like Wall St. were starting to build large homes in the area because it was so easy to get into lower Manhattan with the Highlands Ferry. The ferry time is actually less than traffic congestion time trying to get through the tunnels and bridges. The area has everything - access to NYC, marinas, beaches, and the ocean for fun. Atlantic Highlands became very appealing and very expensive.
I was wondering if someone was throwing a party on Bayside Drive and prostitutes were involved. Someone could have brought a group of prostitutes over on the ferry for a party. The coroner's report says that there was no trauma or injury to any of her bones. I wonder if she died from a 1970s drug overdose and was dumped in the woods. Who would be looking for a prostitute and who would know where to look for a prostitute? Someone in that Bayside Dr. area knows what happened to her. She was only wearing the white socks, but she wasn't injured or beaten. They have no idea what her cause of death was.
FREEHOLD, NJ - Officials have identified the body of a girl who was reported missing in 1972 after her remains were found during a neighborhood cleanup
FREEHOLD, NJ – Officials have identified the body of a girl who was reported missing in 1972 after her remains were found during a neighborhood cleanup nearly 35 years ago.
On Easter Sunday, April 2, 1972, 16-year-old Nancy Carol Fitzgerald sat down for dinner with her family in North Jersey.
“Following an intensive long-term investigation involving numerous interviews and extensive DNA analysis, human remains recovered near the Henry Hudson Bike Trail in Atlantic Highlands in 1988 have now been positively identified as belonging to Nancy – although precisely how and why she died still remains unknown,” the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office said.
“Today’s announcement marks the culmination of decades of hard work by a network of individuals whose collective determination and ingenuity proved inexhaustible,” Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond S. Santiago said. “In addition to being a testament to their efforts, it’s also reflective of our firm commitment to uncover the truth and serve the interests of justice, regardless of how much time has passed or what investigative obstacles might ever stand in the way.”
Fitzgerald’s family was living in a home on Mohr Avenue in Bloomfield (Essex County) at the time of her disappearance, having moved there from a home on Crown Street in Bloomfield about three years earlier. She is known to have attended Bloomfield’s Berkeley Elementary School and North Junior High School (today Bloomfield Middle School).
Police matched DNA to a family member and used that DNA to find the victim’s sister in Pennsylvania. A positive DNA match confirmed the identity of the body.
Fitzgerald’s known surviving relatives were notified. Her remains will be turned over to the family for burial.
Sending up prayers of peace for her loved ones who were still hoping for her return after all these years. She's finally coming home, though not in the way we wanted.
