The Skeleton Crew

by Deborah Halber

  CHAPTER 3

  IT’S THE ETHERNET, MY DEAR WATSON

  43 In “A Scandal in Bohemia,” Holmes: The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, originally published by Doubleday/Penguin Books, is available online at Camden House http://168.144.50.205/221bcollection/canon/scan.htm.

  44 in 1999, More used Yahoo!: Yahoo! groups, “ColdCases: Missing, Murdered and Unidentified,” http://groups.yahoo.com/group/coldcases/.

  47 Marra’s site Stormcritters.com: The history of the Doe Network and the Missing Persons Cold Case Network was reconstructed through an author interview with Meaghan Good, a self-described former friend and associate of Marra’s and creator/Webmaster of the Charley Project, http://www.charleyproject.org/history.html; ColdCases posts attributed to Marra and others; media reports such as “Net Sleuths Are Hot on Cold Case Trail” by Brian T. Murray in the Newark Star-Ledger, Sept. 5, 2003, “Names for the Nameless” by Ellie M. Bayrd for the Callan Publishing group in Minneapolis, Minn.; and a mention in Matt Birkbeck, A Beautiful Child: A True Story of Hope, Horror and an Enduring Human Spirit (New York: Berkley, 2004), p. 262.

  48 When Carol first started searching for Todd online: Author interviews with Carol Cielecki and newspaper accounts such as Noah Shachtman, “Face on a Milk Carton? Amateur Sleuths Dig Deeper,” The New York Times, Jan. 1, 2004.

  50 In 1975, Sean Lewis Cutler, seven years old: Douglass Crouse, “A Day for Fond Memories and Lingering Questions,” Bergen Record, Sept. 26, 2003, offers news coverage and an comprehensive timeline of the Sean Cutler case. Other sources include a synopsis of Sean and Lewis Cutler’s whereabouts written by Sean’s cousin, Patrick Harkness, courtesy of Carol Cielecki.

  53 “They found him in the ocean at Daytona Beach”: Michael Deak, “Long-Missing Man’s Remains Found in Fla,” New Jersey News Tribune Online, March 29, 2008.

  55 psychologist Harry F. Harlow discovered that monkeys: H. F. Harlow, “Learning and Satiation of Response in Intrinsically Motivated Complex Puzzle Performance by Monkeys,” Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, vol. 43, no. 4, Aug. 1950, pages 289–94.

  56 When I tracked down Wahlstrom in Sweden: Author e-mail exchanges with Helene Wahlstrom.

  57 a member of Websleuths sat at her computer in Phoenixville: Websleuths discussion thread, “CA—Elizabeth Ernstein, 14, Redlands, 18 March 1968” between registered users Gina M., Jeff E., James G., and others between July 21, 2007 and Dec. 19, 2009, http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=51613.

  57 a missing teenager who seemed to fit Tent Girl’s description: A representative story about Norman and Ruth Ernstein’s anguished search for their daughter Liz included these: http://sau.stparchive.com/Archive/SAU/SAU12121968p02.php in the Sauk Centre (MN) Herald, A.J.O., “People Make the News,” Dec. 12, 1968, p. 2, and “What Has Happened to Liz Ernstein?” published in Redlands Daily Facts, April 3, 1968.

  60 I came across a 2009 obituary for a Stephen Ernstein: Obituary, Monterey Herald, posted online Jan. 20, 2010.

  61 Serial murderer Charles Hatcher: Amber Keen; George Lewis; Kara Stone; and Andrew Lucas, “Charles Ray Hatcher” http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Hatcher,%20Charles%20-%20fall,%202005.pdf, Radford University Department of Psychology, 2005.

  61 Mack Ray Edwards told police that he had killed six kids: Roy Haynes, “Death Penalty Voted for Slayer of Six Children,” Los Angeles Times, May 23, 1970.

  62 incredibly, in 2011, half a lifetime after Liz Ernstein disappeared: Guy McCarthy, “Remains of Mentone Girl Identified 44 Years After She Disappeared Near Home,” Redlands-LomaLinda Patch, posted Aug. 31, 2012. (Author’s note: In the comments section at the end of the article, a “James Gale” engages author Guy McCarthy in a dialogue about details of the case, similar to the way James G. attempted to engage Jeff E. through Websleuths.)

  62 Once again, Jeff Ernstein surfaced briefly: Beth Stebner, “Cold Case Closed: Remains Found 43 Years Ago in Shallow Grave Identified as Girl, 14, Who Vanished from Orange Grove on Walk Home from School,” Mail Online, updated Sept. 2, 2012, “J Ernstein, Jackson, United States, 05/9/2012 06:38.”

  CHAPTER 4

  GHOST GIRLS

  66 Todd’s wavy ’do reached a height: Livingston Academy 1988 yearbook, Paintin’ Our Future.

  66 Todd had struck a deal with his lab partner: Author interview with Wayne Sells.

  69 Murder was not a common occurrence in Scott County: Author interview with Bobby and Maxine Vance.

  71 McClellan noted that the tarpaulin: “Body from Scott County,” autopsy report A-62-68, signed James T. McClellan, MD.

  72 Trooper Cornett’s report: Case report and supplementary report, Kentucky State Police case 12-8040, May 20, 1968, signed Det. Ed Cornett, unit number 156.

  74 The patrolman, Harold Musser, an amateur artist: Sketches attributed to Harold Musser, former police artist with the Covington, Kentucky, police department, are available through the Kenton County Public Library Northern Kentucky photo archive.

  74 Musser spent almost a week: Donna McKeown, “Police Artist Is Stickler for Detail,” The Kentucky Post and Times-Star, May 22, 1968, p. 8K.

  74 The mother of fifteen-year-old Doris Dittmar: Arlo T. Wagner, “Mother ‘Positive’ That Tent Girl Is Doris,” The Kentucky Post and Times-Star, June 3, 1968, p. 2K. Arlo T. Wagner, “‘That’s Doris,’ Exclaims Mother,” The Kentucky Post and Times-Star, June 3, 1968, p. 2K.

  75 Doris arrived home wearing fake: “Missing Pasadena Teen: County Police Lauds Newspaper for Help,” The Evening (Annapolis, Maryland) Capital, July 13, 1968, p. 11. Arlo T. Wagner, “‘Wish She Were Dead,’ Mother of Doris Sobs,” The Kentucky Post and Times-Star, June 6, 1968, p. 1.

  75 A maintenance man from Newport: Chuck Koehler, “Mystery Teen-Age Girl’s Body Found in Scott Field,” The Kentucky Post and Times-Star, May 20, 1968, p. 2K.

  75 Candace Clothier’s murder would remain unsolved: “Northampton Police Close the Book on 1968 Candace Clothier Murder,” Bucks Local News (PA), March 17, 2010.

  76 Liz Ernstein . . . was considered: “Mystery Girl’s Identification May Be Near,” The Georgetown (Kentucky) Graphic, Dec. 12, 1968.

  76 the FBI lab tests on the canvas bag: Bob Fogarty, “Doubts That Tent Girl Can Be Identified,” The Kentucky Post and Times-Star, June 6, 1968, p. 1.

  76 state police lieutenant Algin Roberts, held out hope: Alan Markfield, Master Detective.

  76 the space between Tent Girl’s two upper front teeth: Bob Fogarty and Chuck Koehler, “Tent Girl Mystery: Teeth Best Clue as Lab Tests Still Fail to Reveal Wounds,” The Kentucky Post and Times-Star, May 22, 1968, p. 1.

  78 a compact, graying man introduced himself as Elmo C. Garrett: Garrett, Elmo, Memories of Rural Life in the 1950s, self-published family history and remembrances of Overton County, Tennessee, and author interview with Elmo C. Garrett.

  80 Section H of the Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery: “Potter’s Field,” Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery History Page, http://www.friendsofthecemetery.org/history/alley_articles/PottersField_Sept2006.shtml. (This article originally appeared in the Minneapolis Phillips community’s Alley Newspaper in August 2006.)

  81 a man known only as Old Mike: Details on Old Mike gathered from “Old Mike (? to 1911),” Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=4924; “Mike,” Nevada County Depot and Museum, http://www.depotmuseum.org/articles.php?article=25 (accessed May 13, 2011); and Mike Nichols, “The Mystery of Prescott’s Ol’ Mike,” Old Time Chronicle, February–March 1996, pp. 10–12, 42.

  81 The iconic arch framed a gallows: Washington Square Park, NYC: The Project for Public Spaces website, http://www.pps.org/great_public_spaces/one?public_place_id=7.

  82 few know of the existence of Hart Island: The Hart Island Project, http://
hartisland.net/.

  CHAPTER 5

  BRING OUT YOUR DEAD

  88 dead in a communal dormitory bathroom: Alaska Bureau of Investigation Cold Case 93-24406, victim Sophie Sergie.

  88 the Vidocq Society, the exclusive group of crime solvers: The Vidocq Society website http://www.vidocq.org/.

  89 Matthew J. Hickman’s first cubicle: The sequence of events of the Bureau of Justice Statistics investigation of unidentified remains from author interview with Matthew J. Hickman.

  90 “coroners would . . . be worried”: Kevin B. O’Reilly, “Elected Coroners Report Fewer Suicides Than Appointed Counterparts,” admed.news.com, posted Sept. 6, 2011: http://www.amednews.com/article/20110906/profession/309069996/8/.

  90 partly because of a woman named Cheri Nolan: Author interview with Cheri Nolan.

  92 As of 2013 . . . eighteen of those proven innocent: The Innocence Project, http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/DNA_Exonerations_Nationwide.php.

  93 Daniel M. Lewin . . . a former member of the Israel Defense Forces’ Sayaret Matkal: Richard Sisk & Monique el-Faizy, “Ex–Israeli Commando Tried to Halt Unfolding Hijacking,” New York Daily News, July 24, 2004.

  94 maverick biotech entrepreneur J. Craig Venter: Nicholas Wade, “In the Genome Race, the Sequel Is Personal,” The New York Times, September 4, 2007.

  95 Dr. Randy Hanzlick, the outspoken chief medical examiner: Dave Hansen, “ID’ing John Doe: There Are New Ways to Determine Identities of Unknown Dead Victims,” July 6, 2007, http://projectjason.org/forums/topic/683-federal-­government-assistance-for-cases-of-missing-and-unidentified-persons/.

  96 The phrase “silent mass disaster”: Nancy Ritter, “Missing Persons and Unidentified Remains: The Nation’s Silent Mass Disaster.”

  CHAPTER 6

  INSIDE REEFER 2

  100 Murphy became the public face: The history of Las Vegas Unidentified and Jane Arroyo Grande Doe gleaned from author interviews with P. Michael Murphy and Rick Jones, and newspaper coverage such as Steve Friess, “To Identify ‘John Doe’ Victims, Investigators Turn to the Web,” The Boston Globe, Jan. 25, 2004, and Office of the Coroner CCCO: 80-1221, “Las Vegas Unidentified: Jane Arroyo Grande’ Doe.”

  104 through the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification: Federal Bureau of Investigation Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System, http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/fingerprints_biometrics/iafis/iafis.

  104 Abigail Goldman wrote in the Las Vegas Sun: Abigail Goldman, “Cold Cases Go Online, with Respect for Victims,” Las Vegas Sun, Feb. 10, 2008.

  105 Antietam photographs were exhibited in New York City: McNamara, Robert, “Alexander Gardner’s Photographs of Antietam,” About.com 19th Century History, http://history1800s.about.com/od/civilwar/ig/Antietam-­Photographs/Unburied-Confederate.htm.

  108 Reefer 2 was crowded in 2003: Official City of Las Vegas website: http://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/factsstatistics/history.htm.

  113 Imagine standing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon: Elizabeth A. Thomson, “MIT Team Reports New Insights in Visual Recognition,” MIT News Office, April 1, 2004.

  CHAPTER 7

  THE PERKS OF BEING ORNERY

  117 For Betty, it all started: Author interview with Betty Dalton Brown.

  120 The couple had a son they named Seif: Paul Garber, “Gone, Not Forgotten,” Winston-Salem Journal, Feb. 13, 2011.

  121 In 1998, a Phoenix man committed suicide: Author interviews with Stuart Somershoe and Shannon Vita; case details archived on Websleuths, http://www.websleuths.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-92478.html.

  122 Sanchez’s sisters, in their seventies and eighties, never knew: Joline Gutierrez Krueger, “Missing Brother Mystery Resolved After 42 Years,” Albuquerque Journal, April 11, 2011, http://www.abqjournal.com/upfront/112254587695upfront04-11-11.htm.

  CHAPTER 8

  SEEKERS OF LOST SOULS

  127 I had worked with Liles: Author interview with George Liles.

  128 a DNA test showed definitively she was not the victim in the dunes: Kay Lazar, “Dune Slay Victim a Mystery Once More,” Boston Herald, March 5, 2002.

  129 Daphne Owings, the most prolific: Author interview with Daphne Owings.

  130 a twenty-five-year-old night shift worker: Author interviews with Todd Matthews.

  CHAPTER 9

  HOW TO MAKE A JOHN DOE

  139 Detective R. Allen Cheek hadn’t divulged: Author interview with R. Allen Cheek.

  143 Forensic sculptor Frank Bender: Ted Botha, The Girl with the Crooked Nose: A Tale of Murder, Obsession, and Forensic Artistry (New York: Random House, 2008).

  144 Mark Christopher Poe, an ex-sailor: Joseph Cosco, “Poe Guilty of Murder; He Could Get Life in Prison Without Parole,” Virginian-Pilot, March 9, 1994, p. D1.

  145 the coroner identified Jasmine Fiore: Brian Palmer, “What Can You Learn from a Fake Breast? The Secrets of a Silicone Serial Number.” Slate, posted Aug. 24, 2009; Alfonsi, Sharyn, Cole Kazdin, and Lindsay Goldwert, “How Forensics Revealed Jasmine Fiore’s Identity,” ABC News, Aug. 25, 2009.

  147 Hold the skull in profile: Dr. Bill Bass and Jon Jefferson, Beyond the Body Farm: A Legendary Bone Detective Explores Murders, Mysteries, and the Revolution in Forensic Science (New York: William Morrow, 2008).

  147 University of Wisconsin–Madison anthropologist John Hawks: John Hawks Weblog: “Paleoanthropology, Genetics and Evolution: Cranial Features and Race,” Nov. 27, 2011, http://johnhawks.net/explainer/laboratory/race-cranium.

  147 One of three centers in the state: Author interview with Clyde Gibbs Jr.

  CHAPTER 10

  FINDING BOBBIE ANN

  154 five hundred miles away, Rosemary Westbrook: Author interviews with Rosemary and Mark Westbrook and Todd and Lori Matthews, and reporting by David Kohn for the CBS News show 48 Hours, which aired a feature on the case April 30, 1998. Most of the material for this chapter was provided by http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18559_162-8314.html.

  155 Almost fourteen inches of rain: Teri Maddox, “Flood of 1957: Richland Creek Swallowed Downtown Belleville,” Belleville News-Democrat, posted April 19, 2008.

  156 Since the 1920s, families: Dramatic film footage of the fire can be found on the St. Louis County, Missouri, Parks and Recreation Web site, http://www.stlouisco.com/ParksandRecreation/ChildrensFun/StLouisCarouselatFaustPark.

  160 Taylor returned and piled the sleepy children: C. S. Murphy, “Long Time Gone: Modern Tools, Hope for Old Cases,” Arkansas Online, Oct. 26, 2009.

  CHAPTER 11

  QUACKIE IS DEAD

  165 Bobby Lingoes sat typing at a computer terminal: Author interviews with Bobby Lingoes.

  167 AAU national finals alongside eighteen-year-old, 158-pound Marvin Hagler: William Plummer, “Marvin Hagler Is Out to Prove Just How ‘Marvelous’ He Is in His Bout with Roberto Duran,” People magazine archive, vol. 20, no. 20, Nov. 14, 1983, http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20086386,00.html.

  168 “The best kid anyone could ever lose”: Dennis Tatz, “Stabbing Death Shocks Teen’s Friends,” Quincy Patriot Ledger, Aug. 1, 1988.

  168 For weeks, G-town mourned Quackie Lingoes: Among the newspaper accounts that contributed to this section are “Germantown Remembers ‘Quackie,’” Quincy Patriot Ledger, Aug. 2, 1988, p. 1; and Robert Sears, “Robert Lingoes Praised as a Giving Person,” Quincy Patriot Ledger, Aug. 4, 1988.

  170 The FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division’s: The FBI’s website describes the Criminal Justice Information Services Division on http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis.

  171 According to a 2009 National Research Council committee report: Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward (Washington, D.C.: National Academies Press, 2009).

  171 “The NCIC protocol was lovely”: Author interview with Marcella Fierro.

  171 Poli
ce didn’t always give families: “Missing Person File: Data Collection Entry Guide,” U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Crime Information Center, revised Nov. 2008.

  171 Harry E. Carlile Jr., who had taught: Presentation by Harry E. Carlile Jr. at the Missing and Unidentified Persons Workshop, Virginia Beach, Virginia, Sept. 30, 2010.

  171 churns through gigabytes of data seeking to match: “What Is a $.M. Notification?” Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Cross-Match Reference Card.

  172 Gary L. Bell, one of the trained forensic: G. L. Bell, “Testing of the National Crime Information Center Missing/Unidentified Persons Computer Comparison Routine,” Journal of Forensic Sciences, JFSCA, vol. 38, no. 1, Jan. 1993, pp. 13–22.

  173 the family of a Richmond, Virginia, runaway: Author interview with Daphne Owings.

  173 if medical examiners could even get access: W. D. Haglund, “The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing and Unidentified Persons System Revisited,” Journal of Forensic Sciences, JFSCA, vol. 38, no. 2, March 1993, pp. 365–78.

  174 in the aftermath of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing: “When Off-Line Is Better: Another Way to Search Crime Records,” Federal Bureau of Investigation news stories, Jan. 4, 2010, http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2010/january/ncic_010410.

  174 a Jane Doe who had turned up near Waco: Helen O’Neill, “ ‘Doe Network’ Restores Names to the Missing Dead,” Associated Press, April 13, 2008.

  176 unidentified skeletal remains that had been discovered: Author interviews with Sheree Greenwood, Bobby Lingoes, and Vicki Siedow provided the timeline and details of the Brenda Wright case.

  177 A 2008 TV show featured the case: Female Legal and Investigative Professionals (FLIP) founder Vicki Siedow appears in the premier episode of Women’s Entertainment Network’s program “F.L.I.P. Mysteries: Women on the Case,” air date Aug. 6, 2008.

  178 the body was that of Peter Kokinakis: Associated Press, “Amateur Detectives Help Solve Hard to Crack Cases,” Feb. 2004.