UNIDENTIFIED: September 29, 1945 Navajo County, Arizona Jane Doe

 On September 29, 1945, a body of a young girl was found buried under a ledge of rocks about 1.5 miles southeast of Winslow Arizona. She had not been murdered and had died from dysentery about 5 to 6 weeks before. Her body would be reburied the same day in Winslow.

Jane Doe was a Native American female about 3 or 4-years-old. 

SOURCES:

Unidentified Wiki

July 9, 1945 Jefferson County, Missouri Jane Doe

On July 9, 1945, the body of a woman would be found in the Mississippi River in or near Sulpherr Springs, Missouri. Her body was taken to Kimmswick to help Identify her, but she wasn't and was buried in Kimmswick.

Jane Doe is a black female.

SOURCES:
Find a Grave
Daily News-Democrat July 12, 1945

UNIDENTIFIED: May 19 to 22 1945 Uithuizermeeden, Netherlands John Doe

 Between May 19 to 22 1945 the body of a man was found in Uithuizermeeden, Netherlands. There is little information in this case. 

SOURCES:

Politie

UNIDENTIFED: November 13, 1945 Porter County, Indiana

  On November 13, 1945a hunter would find the skeletal remains of a woman in the dense woods near Quakerdom School in Jackson Township about 1/2 mile south of S.E. 6.5 miles east of SR 49 and 1.5 miles west of La Porte county line. She was fully clothed laying on her back with her arms placed evenly along the sides, her legs lying straight with her feet together and her head resting on a tree root.  Near her body was a box of rotting clothing and a pocketbook.

There was no cause of death found other than she did not have any signs of violence on her bones. It was believed she may have been dead for 8 to 15 months. It's also believed with how she was positioned she did not die where she was found.

from articles at the time, it was believed that she was 30 to 45-years-old, but NamUs lists her as pre-60. She was 5'6" and around 135 to 150lbs.  She has brown hair and a gold tooth filling. She was wearing a red, blue, and grey tweed coat with a blue and red plaid lining, nylon stockings, size 8 1/2 black leather, and open-toed shoes with little wear. 

In the pasteboard box was a pair of canvas wedge-type shoes, a size 38 black dress with a zipper on the side and black, and a tan purse with a brass clasp containing a handkerchief. 

SOURCES:

NamUs

Doe Network

Vidette-Messenger of Porter County November 13, 1945

The Star Press November 14, 1945

Linton Daily Citizen December 6, 1945

UNIDENTIFIED: February 3, 1945 Florham Park New, Jersey Baby Doe

 On February 3, 1945, kids were playing on Brooklake Rd. In Florham Park New, Jersey. The kids would find a shopping bag and the body of a newborn baby boy inside. The infant was born alive and died about 2 days before and was wrapped with newspaper and a woman's slip. 

SOURCES:

Morris County New Jersey

The Maddison Eagle Feb. 8, 1945

Murder of Thora Afton Chamberlain

On November 2, 1945, 14-year-old Thora Afton Chamberlain was last seen outside her High School in Campbell California. School was over and she was planning to go to the football game afterward. She was also looking forward to her 15th birthday on the 22nd.

Her classmates saw her speaking for several minutes to a man in a vehicle. One of the witnesses said he was dressed like an ex-serviceman and was looking for a babysitter for his sister's children. She got into the vehicle with him presumably to take the babysitting job. She was never seen again.

Thomas Henry McGonigle was immediately a suspect in Thora's disappearance. He had an arrest record dating back to his teens including assault and intent to commit rape. When he found that they suspected him he fled to his father's home in Illinois. On December 6, 1945, he returned to San Fransisco, California by bus. He tried to attempt suicide on the bus by taking sleeping pills. He tried to overdose but recovered after treatment at the hospital.

Several classmates and witnesses Identified him as the man she left with. It was found he was wearing stolen Navy-issue clothes and military medals and was not an ex-serviceman. He said he had found the clothing in a footlocker he'd stolen. The footlocker was later found in his garage.

He claimed responsibility for Thora's abduction and murder. He had various different statements about how Thora was killed. He claimed he had stabbed her, strangled her, fell out of his car, shot her, and that her death was accidental and he that he also didn't kill her.

It's more likely he shot her in his car. He'd claimed he shot her accidentally and because she bled on the padding and upholstery he tore it out. He told the FBI where he had buried it and they found it and it was stained with her blood.

There was also a bullet hole in the door of his car. He'd claimed to have removed it and buried it under a tree in his yard. The FBI found it and determined it had been fired from his .32-caliber Colt Revolver.

Not only did he give different statements on how he killed her he did the same with how he disposed of her. He'd said he had thrown her body off the 350 ft cliff known as the Devil's Slide. It overlooks Half Moon Bay on the San Mateo County coast. two pairs of red and blue socks were found wedged in two different crevices partway down the cliff face that belonged to Thora.

At the time he had been working at a construction site and got permission from his boss to fill a ditch with concrete blocks. Inside the ditch were Thora's shoes, schoolbooks, papers, binder, and cowbell. He told them he buried her clothes in his yard, but they turned up nothing.

More than likely she rejected his sexual advances and she was killed. He tossed her body off Devil's Slide and her body was possibly carried out to sea.

Mcgonigle confessed to another murder as he was on death row for Thora's. He didn't get charged due to begin on death row. At one point he claimed to have killed 11 people, but those murders couldn't be verified. Before his execution from the gas chamber in 1948, he retracted his statement. He claimed to have been innocent of all involvement in Thora's disappearance.

Thora is a white female and was 14-year-old at the time of her disappearance. She was 5'2" and around 120 lbs. She had brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing Garbarand coat, white blouse, red skirt, blue sweater, and two pairs of socks one being red and one being blue, and tan shoes.

SOURCES:
The Charley Project
NamUs

Murder of Evelyn Mary Maughan

Mug Shot of Fredrick Thompson

On the morning of 8 July 1945, 8-year-old Evelyn Maughan left her home On Goulburn Street Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. She was walking alone was supposed to go to church like she did most Sundays. She never was seen again after this. Her family worried reported the girl missing and searches for the girl was done, but she wasn't found until three months later.

On 5 October by  Edmund Charles Mead at the Queensborough Cemetery Sandy Bay. He was looking for his father's grave when he found Evelyn's body covered with sticks. He automatically went to the nearest public phone box and called the police. Eveleyn's uncle Jack was sent to identify the body, and it was her.


Evelyn had been bound and fully clothed. It wasn't for sure what her cause of death was or if she had been sexually assaulted. Strips of a blanket were found wrapped around the girl, and her hands had been tied, a khaki handkerchief was tightly tied around the girl's neck and is believed to be what killed her.

Mrs. Dorothy Adele Lewis claimed to have been looking out her window on July 8. She said she saw a young man cross Collins-Street with a bath on his shoulder with what looked like a child covered with a blanket inside. A Few minutes later he returned walking in a hurry and it appeared that a wooden toy was in the bath. He was later identified to be Fredrick Thompson.

A few days after Evelyn's body was discovered 31-year-old Fredrick Thompson was arrested and charged with her murder. In his home, they found strips of blanket similar to what tied Evelyn up. Fredrick's wife also suspected him asking him and his friend if they had heard of the missing girl. Another woman saw Fredrick at the cemetery gate that Evelyn was found in.

Fredrick maintained his innocence throughout the trial and never seemed upset during it. It took less than two hours to get a guilty verdict. He was hanged at 6 a.m. on 14 Feb. 1946 and was the last man executed in Tasmania. It's never been revealed what had happened to Evelyn and some suspected that Fredrick didn't kill the girl on his own and had an accomplice.

SOURCES:
Find a Grave (Evelyn Mary Maughan)
Find A Grave (Fredrick Henry Thompson)
ABC
The Mercury
The Age (08 October 1945)
The Age (12 December 1945)
The Age (18 December 1945)

MISSING: Mary Jane Vangilder

Mary Jane Vangilder was born and raised in West Virginia. She married her ex-husband at 17 in 1929. The couple would go on and have 5 children before their separation in 1943. She moved to Plymouth, Ohio the same year. She would then take a job as a forklift operator at the Wilkins Army Force Depot. She would get to work by riding with coworkers.

She did not move with her children. She maintained contact through the mail and would send them letters, clothes, and war bonds. In 1945 the 33-year-old wrote the children asking for the war bonds back. The children sent her the war bonds. A few weeks later she would mail them her last war bond. She stopped all contact with them after that.

It isn't known when she disappeared in 1945, but she had filed for divorce on Feb. 14, 1945, and she was missing by November of 1945 when the divorce was finalized. She had quit her job in March.

She's a White female and was 33/34 at the time of her disappearance. She was 5around 4'11" to 5'5" and 150 lbs. Caucasian female. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She was described as having freckles across her nose. She was struck on the shoulder by an airplane propeller and may have scars. She may have started using her maiden name, Croft.

SOURCES:
NamUs
Mansfield News Journal
Charley Project