INFANTICIDE: March 27, 1936 Rich Hill, Missouri Baby Jane Doe

On March 27, 1936, the body of a newborn baby girl was found floating in a well in Rich Hill, Missouri. The well was located in a pasture near a home.

This was the second newborn found in the area at the time as a few days before a different infant was found east of Rich Hill. I could not find much on this infant or if their parents were identified or if the possibility of these cases are connected.

SOURCES:
Find a Grave
Butler Daily Democrat March 28, 1936
Springfield Leader and Press March 30, 1936

UNIDENTIFIED: September 10, 1948

On September 10, 1948, two skeletons were discovered while trying to make a foundation for a tennis court in Abergavenny, Wales. One of the skulls was first discovered, and the rest of the remains were found 2 feet below the surface. There was no evidence of this being a designated place for burial. The way the bones were found made it obvious that the two were buried as bodies and not as bones buried at a later time. The two were believed to have died no less than 10 to 15 years before, but it's also possible that they had been dead for hundreds of years.

The adult skeleton was believed to be a man between 40 to 70 years old.

The child was around 7 years old.

SOURCES:
Find a Grave (man)
Find a Grave (child)

UNIDENTIFIED: April 18, 1930 Perry County, Pennsylvania

 On April 18, 1930, a man was found in Perry County, Pennsylvania. He had committed suicide by hanging about 15 hours before discovery.

He was a white male around 55-years-old.

SOURCES:

Unidentified Wiki

Find a Grave

UNIDENTIFIED: April 3, 1974 Cleveland, Ohio John Doe

 On June 27, 1973, a building in Cleveland, Ohio was firebombed and gutted by fire on March 14, 1974. On April 3rd a man would go through the building and discover bones. Police were called and it was discovered that a man had crawled in a crawl space and died. However, he likely died in the 1930's as his shoes and a bottle indicated he was from that time. The bottle of beer he had with him was bottled in Cleveland in 1938.

John Doe was a male between 35 to 40 years old. He was around 5'10". He was wearing a pair of shoes that were of the type that a male might have worn in the late 30's, they were ankle high and the last three eyelets were of the hook type. There was a beer bottle from the Royal Beer Company, Cleveland, Ohio that was bottled in 1938.

SOURCES:

NamUs

Murder of Jesa "Toni" Rose Corazza

In 1934, 17-year-old Jesa "Toni" Corazza was a dancer and lived on Randor St in the Chelsea area of London, England. She acquired certain fame in theaters and even had a part in one or two films. By October she would become pregnant and did not want to keep it. At this time abortion was illegal in England and would seek help and have one illegally. On October 28, 1934, Toni would miscarry and be sent to St. Luke Hospital in London, England. 

Toni denied that she had an abortion and claimed that she fell dancing, but there was evidence of an instrument used by someone accustomed to this type of work. It was also found that she was taking pills to induce a miscarriage and they were hidden inside a matchbook inside her purse.

 

Toni would develop acute blood poisoning due to the instrument used in the surgery. She would not admit to either who the father was or who had given her the abortion. She would even say that she may have slipped on accident while dancing as an excuse for her condition. She passed away on November 13th due to heart failure caused by the blood poisoning. 

Her mother said that she didn't know if anyone had interfered with her daughter. She stated that Toni tried to tell her something as she was dying, but she couldn't be understood. 

A jury would find a verdict of murder against some person or persons unknown was returned.

SOURCES:

Unsolved Murders UK

Evening Standard November 19, 1934

Kingston News and West London Times November 23, 1934

Evening Standard November 26, 1934

UNIDENTIFIED: October 30, 2019 Concord, New Hampshire Jane Doe

 In 2019 a woman came to the the New Hampshire State Police and handed over a human cranium. She told them that her husband had found the partial skull in the 1930s in a pond in Concord. It was found that the skull belonged to a teenage girl between 15 and 18 years old. Bomb Pulse Testing on the skull showed that she did die before 1942.

Jane Doe was between 15 and 18 years old. 

SOURCES:

DNA Doe Project

NamUs

June 18, 1979 Baltimore, Maryland (New Jersey) John Doe

On June 18, 1979, the remains of a man were found in a pump of a dry dock in Baltimore, Maryland. The dry dock was towed from New Jersey to Baltimore in the late 1950s. This would estimate that the man had died between 1929 and 1959.

John Doe was likely white between 40 to 65 years old. He was 5'11" with a muscular robust build. He had arthritis in his knees and had mouth stress suggestive of a mind instrument player or glass blower. Two china buttons were found with the body. The buttons were likely used on suspenders and were a style of WWII. 

SOURCES:

NamUs

Doe Network

Unidentified Wiki

UNIDENTIFIED: May 31, 1994 Baldy Mesa, California John Doe

 On May 31, 1994, a skull (no mandible) was found by investigators during a drug search in Baldy Mesa, California. The skull was found in a cardboard box beneath a bed. It's suspected that the skull is a souvenir skull or possibly a museum or teaching specimen. There seemed to be a bullet hole on the right posterior parietal with a possible exit through the left orbit. Meaning it's possible that they are a murder victim, suicide victim, or casualty of war. Victim could have been dead for up to a 100 years. 

John Doe is a man of possible mixed race (not specified) and was between 19 to 70 years old. 

SOURCES:

NamUs

Unidentified Wiki

INFANTICIDE: May 11, 1933 Putnam County, Missouri Baby Jane Doe

 On May 11, 1933, Mr. Davis was walking t near Highway No. 4 five miles from Unionville, Missouri. The ground was wet and didn't want to fight with the muddy roads. He would pass a culvert and notice what he initially thought was a baby doll on the rocks below. He continued on his walk, but the "doll" made him uncomfortable.

When he got to the next house the thought of it not just being a baby doll bothered him. He would go up to tell Mr. Steele of the "doll" and that he was uncertain if it was actually one or an infant. Mr. Davis would continue on to Unionville and Mr. Steele went to check on the doll. It was not a doll, but the body of a newborn baby girl. He would contact another neighbor and then they contacted Sheriff Gibson. The Sheriff and Prosecutor could not show up to the scene, so Dr. Thomas would also show up instead.

The baby had been born and died within the last 24 to 36 hours. The baby was premature and had a string tied around the navel. The string was that of what was used in corsets or girdles. It's likely the baby was placed in some clothing on the west side of the road or in the ditch in a pasture near the old road. The heavy rains would have washed her and the clothes down to where they were found. It is not stated how the baby had died.

SOURCES:
Find a Grave
The Princeton Telegraph May 24, 1933

UNIDENTIFIED: April 13, 1989 New York City, New York John Doe

 On April 13, 1989, the Synagogue on 12 Eldridge St in New York City, New York was undergoing renovations. A worker was shoveling a pile of coal ash in the basement when a skull would be found. Police were called and the rest of the skeletal remains of a teenage boy were found. It's believed that the remains may have been there for a long time. There was a bottle from the 1930s was found in the same area. It's not clear how it may be forensically significant to this case. Also, the building did not have a coal burner for the last 50 years. So it's believed the young man had died between 1930 to 1960. 

John Doe was a black male between 14 to 17 years old. He was around 5'2".

SOURCES:

NamUs

Unidentified Wiki

Daily News April 14, 1989

Daily News April 15, 1989

GHOSTS: Charley The Doll

 

Photo by Cauer an Atlas Obscura User

In 1968 a doll would be discovered in the attack of a Victorian home in Upstate New York. It was inside a forgotten trunk. It had laid among tattered newspapers from the early 1930s and a yellow piece of paper containing the Lord's Prayer. The doll however could not be dated. 

The doll would be given the name Charley and added to other antiques in the home. He would blend in well with the rest of the dolls in the collection. There was little attention given to him until he began moving from his place on the bench of dolls. 

The parents would blame their five children because if it wasn't the parents it had to be the children. The children never fessed up to moving the doll, however. The parents never witnessed anything, but the children began to act weird around the doll. 

The youngest daughter (4) had at one point claimed that Charley spoke to her when she got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. The parents believed it to be her wild imagination. Then the other four children refused to use the bathroom at night or go near the bench within 5 feet. One day the youngest was covered in scratches with the blame placed on Charley instead of their cat. 

The parents wanting to end the children's antics removed Charley from his place. They would lock him back up in the attic in the trunk he was originally found in. Everything would go back to normal and Charley wasn't being blamed for anything. He would lay there for years forgotten. 

Years later after the children were grown the house was sold. The trunk was found in the attic and sold in a garage sale. Charley was one of the last things to go and went to a woman wanting him for her own antique doll collection. She was warned of Charley's antics. 

Charley would switch hands several times with stories of moving from time to time. It was made sure his story of the family in 1968 was told to each owner. It's said that he is more active around children.

In Salem, Massachusetts a shop called the "Local Artisan". The shop beholds odd things suck as taxidermied animals, unusual art, and oddities. He can now be seen by the public. 

SOURCES:

Atlas Obscura

From Tiny Pennies

The Ghost in My Machine

December 5, 1933 Racine, Wisconsin Baby John Doe

  On December 5, 1933, an unknown baby boy was buried at the East Meadows Cemetery in Racine, Wisconsin. There is little information in this case.

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

UNIDENTIFIED: October 18, 1986 Bowie Arizona Jane Doe

 On October 18, 1986 the cranium of a teenage girl was found by a park ranger in Bowie, Arizona. It's believed she died between 1936 to 1976.

Jane Doe was believed to be between 13 to 17-years-old.

SOURCES:
NamUs

UNIDENTIFIED: August 30, 2013 La Paz County, Arizona Doe

 On August 30, 2013, on the banks of a river near Ehrenberg, Arizona a mandible was found. Gender could not be determined, but it's believed that they were between 18 to 55-years-old, and died between 1905 to 2005.

SOURCES:
NamUs

UNIDENTIFIED: August 20, 1997 Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada Jane Doe

 On August 20, 1997, a canoeist found a human skull on the Moose Jaw River just south of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. The skull was exposed to the elements between 50 to 100 years. Meaning she may have died between 1890s to the 1940s.

The skull belonged to a preteen girl around 12-years-old. She may have possibly been white.

SOURCES:
Canadas Missing
Doe Network
Unidentified Wiki

Murder of Nels Pedersen Lourving

At 11 p.m. on July 29, 1933, 51-year-old Nels Louvring left his filling station at Dixie Oil Co. or also known as Nels Louvring Filing Station. He would arrive at his family's home on 315 Water St. in Fayette, Iowa. When he left his garage he was shot. The bullet would hit him on the left side right above his waste and exited his shoulder. He would then stagger through the yard towards the kitchen door where he collapsed.

His wife and stepdaughter's family would find him collapsed at the kitchen door. When he collapsed he dropped the cigar box of cash and receipts and his keys. He was dead by the time the family got to him. 

A .38 caliber gun was used, and from the angle of the shot the killer had to of been kneeling or laying down when he shot. Meaning that they waited to ambush Nels to kill him. It doesn't seem like robbery was the crime as the killer did not try to take the cash box from Nels right after shooting him. 

Bloodhounds were used and they brought officers to the Volga River, but that brought nothing up. 

SOURCES:

Iowa Cold Cases

Murder of Frances Levin

Photo of the Crime Scene

On the afternoon of July 19, 1933, 61-year-old Frances Levin was at home her home at Cheetham Hill Rd. in Manchester, England, with her maid Ms. Phillips. Frances was reading a novelette in the living room and her maid went to sew her bedroom around 2:30 p.m. Before going upstairs she opened the back door to let fresh air in. There was no one else in the home at the time. When the maid saw a man walking along the side passage of the house she figured it was the same man asking about the chickens Frances's brother kept behind the house. 

Ms. Phillips knew something was wrong when she came down around 4:20. She would go downstairs to the kitchen and see the poker on the hearthrug. There was blood on it and then she saw a bloodied cricket shirt on the table. Instead of staying investigating she left the home to an electrician, Samuel Woodcock, working on a car next door. He would find Frances in the living room on the settee. She had been bludgeoned but was still alive at the time. When Samuel tried to speak to her she would open her eyes and move her head, but nothing else. She would later die that evening.

Frances was a wealthy widow. Just before her death, she counted 9 shillings in her purse in front of her solicitor. Someone likely saw the door open and took the opportunity to rob the place. There was no evidence of a fight over her purse, but the money was gone. It could have been that she spooked the intruder and they killed her in surprise or fear of being caught. The man was described as of average height and weight. 

Hundreds of people were Police would come upon a suspect who matched the subscription that the maid had given. 47-year-old William Burtoft. He had one eye, a stocky build, and was white-haired. He was an unemployed seaman with no fixed address. He had a history of theft, in 1924 he attacked a woman during a robbery. He was an alcoholic and was addicted to meth. 

They detained him in Hyde a town about 7 miles away. William was questioned for many hours in the third degree. At one point police offer would allegedly offer a bottle of whisky to him in order to ease a confession. Police would deny that they had done this. William will give a confession as follows:

"I admit being the murderer of Mrs. Levin. Owing to drinking methylated spirit and also to the maid being where she was the old lady lost her life. I was cool, calm, and collected. Of course, when I got in the front room there the old lady got up and asked who was this. And I went back and get the poker off the fire range and struck her repeatedly.

I was not three minutes or so in the house. I was selling discharged soldiers' cards. Big Bertha will tell you I left her to sell some. I had no intention to do it, but—well I did it. I was sorry when I thought about it after. After I did it I took the poker back into the kitchen and wiped it on a shirt to remove any fingerprints""

There was an identification parade for her to pick out who she thought had done the crime. She had to do it by the way the walked because she did not see the man's face. She did not pick William and picked someone else.

On November 12, 1933, William went on trial and plead not guilty. The trial would last for two days and he was found guilty. The police used the "voluntary statement" from him in court, and William was never called up to give evidence to defend himself. This lonely and what today would be considered incompetent evidence condemned him. He was set to be executed by hanging. After he was convicted he protested from his cell that it was a false confession and even wrote to Home Security for help.  His appeal on December 4th was rejected. On December 19, 1933, William was hanged at the Strangeway Goals in Manchester.

It's unknown if William had done the crime, but it's known that he did not get a fair trial. On March 6, 2018, the show Murder, Mystery, and  My Family looked at the case. Using a present-day analysis the confession was deemed to have been manufactured by the police and was written in a style as if it was a story. It was unethical for William to be offered an alcohol incentive and unethical for the Judge to direct the jury and praise the police for the confession showing bias.

Photo of William Burtoft

SOURCES:

British Executions

Find a Grave

Midland Daily Telegraph July 19, 1933

Evening Dispatch August 3, 1933

Western Morning News  August 4, 1933

The Western Daily Press and Bristol Mirror August 4, 1933

The Guardian November 29, 1933

The Western Daily Press and Bristol Manor December 30, 1933

The Daily Mail

INFANTICIDE: May 21, 1932 Birmingham, England Baby Jane Doe

On May 21, 1932, the body of a newborn baby girl was found in a public lavatory on Washwood Heath Rd in Birmingham, England. The baby had been decapitated and had signs of scorching on the body after death. It was born alive and died due to suffocation possibly caused by constriction of the throat with a finger and thumb.

SOURCES:

Unsolved Murders UK

Birmingham Gazette May 26, 1932

UNIDENTIFIED: April 13, 1989 New York City, New York, John Doe

 On April 13, 1989, the skeletal remains of a teenage boy were found in the basement at 12 Eldridge St. in New York City, New York. The remains were found during construction and renovation. A bottle dated from the 1930's was found in the same area. It's not stated what respect to the body the bottle was found. It's believed that he died from 1930 to 1960. 

John Doe was an African American male between 14 to 17-years-old. He was 5'2".

SOURCES:

NamUs

Unidentified Wiki

UNIDENTIFIED: December 29, 1985 Tucson, Arizona Jane Doe

 On December 29, 1985, the partial cranium of an adult woman was recovered from a residential yard. There were obvious signs of animal depredation on it. The previous tenant of the home reportedly left the cranium in the residence. When he vacated he told the new tenant that it was from a teaching specimen. Analysis however reveals that it's possible to have been a Trophy Skull from an unknown origin. the earliest that the woman may have died was the 1930s.

SOURCES:

NamUs

Unidentified Wiki