Leanne the Leanderthal

 

On December 29, 1982, the remains of a young woman were found near Leander, Texas. She would be the most complete and one of the oldest remains found in North America. It was found that she had died over 10,000 years before and was given the name Leanne. She was a Paleo-Indian woman between 18 to 30 years old and only stood 5'3" tall. It's unknown how she died. She may have died in 9,000 B.C.

Around 10,000 to 13,000 years ago near a small stream, Leanne was laid to rest in a shallow grave. The person who dug her grave in an oval shape in hard compacted soil perhaps using a sharp stick. Leanne would be laid on her side in a fetal position with her knees drawn up, arms crossed, and the right hand beneath her head. Next to her side was a heavily worn sandstone tool, a hand stone or mano, that was used for grinding food and chopping. A fossiled shark tooth was found in the neck area and it's possible it was worn as a necklace. They would then place a limestone slab over the burial. They may have done it to secure a hide around the body or mark the grave.

SOURCES:
Texas Beyond History

Williams County Texas History

KVUE

Suspicious Death of Martha Mansfield

Martha Mansfield was determined to become an actress at the age of 14. Her first role would happen in a play of Little Women in 1912. She would act, sing and dance in some plays, and model in photographs before being signed by Essanay Studios.

On November 29, 1923, 24-year-old Martha was working at a location in San Antonio, Texas. She was playing the role of Agatha Warren in the movie The Warrens of Virginia. Because it was based in the Civil War she was wearing a costume based on the time. Which was of hoop skirts and flimsy ruffles. 

After filming was done Martha went to her car where her chauffeur was waiting. Her skirt would burst into flames. Those around tried to save her. The chauffeur tried to take her clothes off and the leading man Wilfred Lytell threw his heavy overcoat onto her. 

Both Martha and the Chaufer were burned. Martha's body was severely burned, but her face was not because of Wilfred's jacket. The Chaufer's hands were badly burned. They would be taken to the hospital. However the following day Martha would die. It was from burns of all extremities, general toxemia, and suppression of urine. 

It's unknown what exactly happened. It was known that a match was the culprit of the fire, but it was unknown who had done it. Some witnesses stated that they saw the match go through the window. Others theorized that Martha was trying to smoke and accidentally dropped the match. However, her mother stated that she didn't smoke and that it in fact made it uncomfortable. 

SOURCES:

Wikipedia

IMDB

Muskogee Daily Pheonix  and Times-Democrat November 30, 1923

Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, the Evening News November 30, 1923

Pensacola News Journal December 1, 1923

News 4 San Antonio Nevember 30, 2020

UNIDENTIFIED: July 8, 1957 Houston Texas E.J.C. Doe

On July 8, 1957, the body of a man was found in Buffalo Bayou in Houston, Texas. He was found face floating face down on the south bank and had been dead for around 3 days.

John Doe is a white male between 25 to 40 years old. He was 5'6' and 142 lbs. He had brown to black hair. He was wearing a green and brown striped long-sleeve shirt with a pocket on the left upper chest, khaki pants, a pair of white cotton socks, 9A brown shoes with a strap and buckle, a brown woven, cowboy-type belt buckle, and two combs in his pocket. He was wearing dentures that contained a serial number and the notation of "EJC 810-56". EJC is possibly a set of initials, while the numbers indicate the date of August 10, 1956

SOURCES:
NamUs
Doe Network

Find a Grave
Unidentified Wiki

UNIDENTIFIED: November 29, 1985 Conroe, Texas Doe

 On November 29, 1985, a man fishing in Rish Creek in Conroe Texas would snare a skull with his fishing pole. It is suspected that the skull was a war trophy from WWII as there were faint scribblings on WWII, the Japanese, and the date April 22, 1942.

SOURCES:
NamUs
Doe Network
Unidentified Wiki

UNIDENTIFIED: October 4, 1867 Fannin County, Texas Stranger

On October 4, 1867, a man was found wandering the yard of J.S. Donaldson in Fannin County, Texas. The man was very sick and incoherent and was unable to give his name before he died.

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

UNIDENTIFIED: Jan. 3, 1901 Welsh, Louisiana John Doe

 At 2 p.m. on Jan. 3, 1901, four miles out of Welsh, Louisiana the crew of a freight train saw bloodied clothes hanging from the cards. Upon inspection, the body of a mangled teenage boy was found. It's believed that the boy was a stowaway on the train and lost his hold causing him to fall beneath and be mangled by the train. He had broken both legs, and crushed his skull, one arm was severed and the other only held on by skin.

 A trainman came forward stating he believed he saw the boy in Houston, Texas. The boy told him he had returned from the Philippines and was heading to New Orleans to see his brothers. He stated one brother worked at a slaughterhouse and the other worked at a mill.

John Doe was a white male was between 14 and 16-years-old. He seemed to be wearing a new suit with overalls over it to help protect it. He had no identifying papers on him when he was found. He did have a tattoo of an anchor with the initials G.T.

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Unidentified Wiki

STRANGE HISTORY: Aurora, Texas UFO

 

On April 17, 1897, around 6 a.m. early risers in Aurora, Texas were surprised by the sight of something crashing from the sky. The UFO was seen flying over the town and was only going twelve or ten miles per hour. It slowly started descending as if there was something was wrong with the machinery. It eventually hit Judge Proctors windmill in the north of town.

There were pieces of destruction for several acres. The windmill was demolished, the UFO was also demolished, and the judge's flower garden and water tank were destroyed from the crash.  

The only casualty was the lonely pilot of the ship. Even though he was badly mutilated it was obvious that he was not of this world. There were also papers from the wreckage in an unknown language that was similar to hieroglyphics. 

The next day they gave the spaceman they assumed to have been from Mars an Earthly funeral.

In the Aurora Cemetery the body of the "pilot" they then named Ned. In 1972 scientists wanted to dig up the body and investigate. The cemetery association blocked their requests because only the next of kin are allowed to give permission to exhumations. Even though there was no known next of kin or if Ned was a spaceman or even a poor animal casualty of the supposed crash. At this same time, the grave marker was stolen.

It's believed that the whole event may have been a hoax by the townspeople. They had previously had many tragedies happen in the town. The cotton fields were destroyed by a boll weevil infestation, a fire on the west side destroyed some building and killing some people, and a spotted fever that caused some to be quarantined. It didn't help that the railroad was 27 miles from Aurora. So it's possible that in threat of dying out caused the townspeople to create a hoax that would attract many to their small town.

SOURCES:
Wikipedia
Texas Hill Country
Roadside America
Mutual UFO Network
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Aurora Texas

UNIDENTIFIED: 1855 Nacogdoches County, Texas The Traveler

 

In about 1855 a Traveler got sick in Nacogdoches County, Texas in what is now Cushing. He would spend the night in the settlement and die. No one knew who he was and he would be buried at the Fuller-Nichols Garden Cemetary. 

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

UNIDENTIFIED: 1920s to 1930s Ben Arnold, Texas Unknown Gypsy

According to Find a Grave back in the late 1920s or early 1930s, a band of gypsies camped in Ben Arnold, Texas. They had camped across from the Ben Arnold Cemetary for several weeks. Their children even attended a local school in Ben Arnold for the time they were there. 

One morning the gypsies were gone and a new grave was in the cemetery way off from the other graves. It was believed that Gypsies may have camped in the area so long because someone was sick, possibly the deceased. It's unknown who was buried or their gender or age. A small cross was made with the word Gypsy written on it as a marker since their name was unknown to locals. 

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

UNIDENTIFIED: December 14, 2019 Hutchins, Texas John Doe

On December 14, 2019, a person walked their dogs in a wooded area in Hutchins, Texas just north of a mobile home park. It's believed that they died between 1939 to 1989. 

He was an African American male between 20 to 75-years-old.

SOURCES:

NamUs

Murder of Willie, Ella, Dora, and Lizzie Alberti

In April of 1874, 17-year-old Lizzie Roemer and 22-year-old Louis Alberti would marry. They would have 8 children together unfortunately in 1884 they would lose their son Louis and in early 1894 they would lose their infant daughter Caroline. In 1885 Lizzie would lose her 15-year-old sister Dorthea. These deaths would affect  Lizzie in 1894.

In May of 1894, Lizzie would shortly move out of their home on 44th and Winnie St. in Galveston, Texas. It was decided she would stay with her parents because she had become occasionally violent and unbalanced. She would soon move back into the home though she was still not acting like herself. 

On December 4, at 6:30 pm 1894 Lizzie would call 5 of the children to take a sip of wine, Wilehemia (14) stayed studying in another room. Emma (16), Ella (10), Lizzie (8), Dora (6), and Willie (4) would drink the wine. 

She offered him some wine and he obliged. He noted that she used a different bottle than that of what the children had. He didn't think anything of it. One of the children would then tell their father that she had poisoned them. He reassured the child that she didn't. He would go back to work in his shop adjoining the home.

The children would soon complain of stomach cramps. From his shop, he could hear that the children were in great agony and rushed over to the home. When he came in Willie had collapsed to the floor and Lizzie was trying to bring him to the bed. He would confront the wife who was sitting quietly in a chair as her children were dying.

She told him that there was morphine in the wine and she was going to poison herself. Mr. Alberti would call for a doctor. He and Wilhemla would be crying and watching in terror as the children died one by one. Willie would die shortly after the doctor came at 7:30. Dora would die next and then Lizzie would die last. Emma was the only one to survive the poisoned wine. It was found out that she had told the children the previous Sunday that she was going to the city to buy poison to kill herself and them.

This whole time Mrs. Alberti was seen as indifferent. After her arrest, she stated that she had been ill for the last 8 months that brought her to do this. Even on the day of her children's funeral, she sat in her cell calmly and seemingly unremorseful. She did want to see her husband though. She expressed while imprisoned that her only regret was that all the children had not died and that she did not take the poison as intended and died also. She rejected the idea that she was insane and was willing to take the consequences for the murders. She would not give an answer to the reason why she wanted to kill the children and herself.

 She threatened to starve herself to death and was threatened that they would inject the food if she would not eat. She would reluctantly eat the food provided. I couldn't find out what her punishment for the murders was, but she would die almost 3 years later on September 30, 1898.

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Austin-American Statesman December 5, 1894

The Galveston Daily News December 6, 1894

Weekly Clarion-Ledger December 13, 1894

Austin Weekly Statesman December 13, 1894 pg 2

Austin Weekly Statesman December 13, 1894  pg 4

UNIDENTIFIED: November 1, 1958 Harris County, Texas

 On November 1, 1958 a body was found in a wooded area one mile east of Green Bayou on Wallisville Rd, in Harris County, Texas. It's believed that he had been dead for around a year. 

John Doe is a black male between 30 to 50-years-old. He's around 5'5".  He had a wide gap between the medial teeth 1/8" in width. Many of his teeth were lost with the 8 remaining teeth in the upper jaw and 7 in the lower. One tooth in the upper jaw had a filling.

SOURCES:

NamUs

Doe Network

Unidentified Wiki

Unidentified: 1952 Gillespie County, Texas John Doe

 

In 1952 a body was found at Williams Creek, Texas. He was laid to rest with Christian ceremonies on April 10, 2007. John Doe was a young man. There is little information in this case.  

SOURCES:

Find A Grave

Unidentified Wiki

MISSING: Floradean Walker

 

Sometime in 1951 25-year-old Floradean Walker was last seen leaving a residence in Hext, Texas. The last date of contact is unknown, but it was thought to have happened in the Spring or Fall.  She's a white female and went by the nickname, Pat. She was 5'7" and 135 lbs. She had red/auburn hair and green eyes. She was left-handed.

SOURCES:
NamUs
National Missing Person Directory 

Murder of Josh Jones

On December 31, 1890 Ike and Josh Jones would get into a drunken fight near Woodbine, Texas. This would result in Ike stabbing his brother. Josh would not immediately die as he would live for 10 days and would die on Jan.9, 1891, in his father's home.

There is not much information in this case that I could find.

SOURCES:
The Gavelston Daily News Jan. 10, 1891
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Jan 11, 1891
Wise County Messenger Jan 31, 1891

MISSING: Myrisha Faye and AJ Campbell

 Myrisha Faye Campbell circa 1958 and age-progressed to 57

A.J. Campbell jr. circa 1958 and age-progressed to 54

3-year-old Myrisha Faye Campbell and her little brother 11-month-old A.J Campbell jr were picked up by their father A.J. Campbell sr. on September 6, 1958, from their home in Goliad, Texas. Their father claimed that he just wanted to take them out for a ride during one of his scheduled court-ordered visitations. He took them at 9:00 a.m. and was supposed to return with them at 3 p.m., but the children never returned home

Jewel and A.J. sr. had been married for 8 years and throughout the marriage A.J. sr was abusive towards Jewel. So eventually had left A.J. sr. and had taken the children with her. She had supported them by taking a teaching job in Goliad, Texas.

William Randal jr. was the only other person to last see the children alive. William Randal and A.J. sr. picked up the children together in Randal’s 2- door pink and charcoal-gray 1955 Chevrolet Tudor. The had went through Cuero and Gonzales, Texas and picked up two large cans of lard. When they were 3 miles out of Goliad A.J. sr. said he needed to go see a friend and Randal had gotten out of vehicle leaving the children alone with A.J. sr.

30 to 40 minutes later A.J. sr. returned with none of the children in sight. He had claimed that he had gotten into a fight with his brother-in-law and had left the children with another relative. Randal noticed that A.J. sr was acting nervous and agitated. A.J. sr. even asked if there was blood on him and warned Randal not to tell anyone about the fight. A.J sr. and Randal had driven to Austin Texas and separated promising to meet at a bus stop at midnight the next day to return the car. A.J. sr. never arrived causing Randal to ride the bus back home and reported his car stolen.

On September 7, A.J. sr. called a minister in Fort Worth, Texas. He had implied to the minister that he had killed the children by telling him that they were “at rest with the world” and that he was going to kill himself. Which he had followed through with when his body was found in Randal’s car on a road near Austin. It was ruled a suicide because he shot himself in the head with a 16- gauge shotgun.

A suicide note was found addressed to Jewel. In the note, he admitted he had buried both of the children. He also stated that he loved the children and that he still loved Jewel. He wished her happiness. His note did not indicate where he had buried the children or their whereabouts.

Jewel remarried afterward and took the last name Robertson, and had two more children. Jewel passed away in 2013, but her two other children are still actively looking for A.J. jr and Myrisha. They believe that there might be a chance that A.J. sr. had sold or given the children away instead of killing them.

Myrisha was 3 years old white female with dark blonde hair and blue eyes. She was 2’6 and 28 pounds. Myrisha was last seen wearing a pink dress with puffed sleeves and a Peter Pan collar, pink socks, and white buckle shoes.

A.J. Jr. was 11 months old he is a white male with blonde hair and blue eyes. He was 2’2 and 25 lbs. He has a birthmark on his eyelid and a birthmark below his lower lip. His fingers were also clubbed at the ends. A.J was last seen wearing a light blue and white checkered shirt with a dark blue collar and a yellow diaper with a clear plastic liner over it.

SOURCES:
Charley Project (A.J)
Charley Project (Myrisha)