News-Pilot du lieu suivant : San Pedro, California • 3

Coroner's office never lets an unsolved case die mmfm m- rj By Carla Schalman Staff writer Two years ago the burned body of illuli is i i 1 1 1 in iiii ti I 1 fk Ml I I 1 1 I I I I I ukLii fL-m Sot Aug 5 1973 A3 News-Pilot Victim unconscious two days A 28-year-old Harbor City man who was injured in a truck accident in Rancho Palos Verdes remained in serious condition Friday at Torrance Memorial Hospital Gary Owens of 25531 Frampton Ave was unconscious for two days after the truck he was driving slammed into a curb on Palos Verdes Drive West at Via Lorado and flipped over about 6 pm Tuesday He regained consciousness Thursday Lomita deputies said Owens who is in the intensive care ward suffered a possible fractured spine Maria Espinosa 24 of 1178 Grant St Wilmington who was a passenger in the truck was treated at the hospital for minor cuts A witness said the truck was northbound on Palos Verdes Drive West just before it struck a curb on the east side of the street and then jumped the curbing on the north side of Via Lorado and turned over in a field ILlLuLl VI i Staff photo by Jack Lardomita fingerprints in one of the thousands of files which are eventually placed on microfilm Bob Dambacher Is chief of investigations for the county coroner's office Here he checks the CROSS PHARMACY 'W 'WMWV' -Vy PRESCRIPTION SeRVlCEi a young woman was found in a field at the comer of Eubank Avenue and Street in Wilmington Law enforcement officials were unable to identify the body before it was taken to the county office The body was assigned a Jane Doe number 35 as are all unidentified female corpses brought to the office An autopsy determined she died of a drug overdose after which the body was burned Because the body was badly damaged fingerprints could not be taken and dental records could not be checked At the same time the body was discovered a family in Los Angeles filed a missing persons report on their daughter Gloria June Porter Missing persons investigators believed Jane Doe 35 was Porter John Rubalcava a missing persons investigator compiled a checklist of 12 similarities between Jane Doe 35 and Porter After viewing the body however family decided it was not their daughter brother a Las Vegas resident recently identified Jane Doe 35 as his sister After comparing photographs he was sure Jane Doe 35 was Porter Rubalcava said brother said he did not identify her before because he did not want to hurt his mother Rubalcava said Rubalcava said he had wanted to close the Porter case based on his own opinion The case however remained open until positive identification by her brother As with all cases involving Does file remained open until she was identified lhe designations John Doe Jane Doe and Doe are assigned to corpses deemed unidentifiable by investigators at the scene of death John Doe is used for males Jane Doe for females and Doe for those corpses of indeterminate sex Does are usually skeletons badly burned or decomposed remains or fetuses Many Johns Janes and Does are victims of homicide or drug abuse says Bob Dambacher chief of investigations for the Coroner-Chief Medical Examiner The designations however are not reserved for these instances Between Jan 1 and June 30 of this year the coroner had 175 John Does Of those 17 have not been identified The coroner had 65 Jane Does of which nine have not been identified The coroner had five Does of which one was determined to be a Jane Doe and subsequently identified The coroner has jurisdiction if the death is not from natural causes or if the victim has not seen a physician within 20 days of death and the physician does not have a professional opinion as to the cause of death Deaths are reported to the coroner by law enforcement agencies fire departments hospitals mortuaries and doctors After a body is taken to the office it is examined by anthropologists who determine its sex (if necessary) race height weight and age If possible the body is fingerprinted The prints initially are checked with police If there is no record a copy of the prints is wired to California Investigations and Information under the state Department of Justice On file there are the fingerprints of those who have been through the state justice system and who have been involved with the law throughout California The checks with local police and the state take a matter of minutes If both come up empty a hard set of prints is sent to the state agency by mail If there still is no record the fingerprints are sent to the FBI It takes from two to three weeks before the coroner hears from the FBI Dambacher says Stanley Backman a lieutenant with the homicide bureau of the county Department says the possibility of identification decreases if fingerprints cannot be taken or found in government records the fingerprints fail up against the he said if we get fingerprints not looking at more than a 50-50 In the meantime the coroner works with the and police departments to determine if a missing persons report has been filed If a report has been made the next of kin is contact- lM St n-75ii BACK TO SCHOOL Featuring Quality Name Brand CLOTHIKS ML AMO FASHION KWAJH Space 21 370-7226 NEAR BULLOCKS Chiropractic Croup Senring South Bag Urea Dr Lawrence Newsum Dr Thomas Morris Dr Kenneth Schramm 24719 Narbonne Ave Lomita 325-9122 539-2812 Manual and Non Force (Acupressure) ed to come to the office and make a visual identification if possible The body also is examined to discover the cause of death The autopsy can provide information on age through examination of the bone structure and cartilage formation Doctors also try to find if the victim has had any operations or broken bones They look for deformities or distinguishing marks like tatoos In this way doctors narrow down the possible identity Dambacher says Teeth also are carefully examined Doctors take extensive body X-rays If a family thinks the John Jane or Doe is a relative it contacts the doctor and dentist The office gets medical and dental information from family physicians and dentists and attempts to make a positive identification This can involve X-ray comparisons Dambacher says The medical examination process can take weeks if the fingerprints cannot be identified by the FBI Men are easier to identify than women Dambacher says Thisis because more records are available about men Men get fingerprinted and go through the justice system more than women he says If the prints are not identified the and police departments issue circulars with photographs of the victims These circulars are sent to local and state agencies If there is reason to believe a person is from another state the circular is sent to that state The Department recently issued a circular on Jane Doe 37 a Mexican-American about 16 years old who was found buried in a commercial jade plant field in Carson Jane Doe 37 discovered April 20 was beaten to death with a piece of wire rope The coroner was unable to identify her through fingerprint checks and medical examinations The Department has not found a missing persons report on her although this does not mean a report has not been filed says Sgt Edward Franzese a homicide investigator The department has been able to learn something about Jane Doe 37 Franzese said Since the circular was sent through Mexico and the victim was not identified both the Mexi can consulate and dentists at County-USC Medical Center believe the girl ois American and a local resident Franzese says The victim has good teeth without cavities Because the water is not as good in Mexico people there have bad teeth he says Jane Doe 37 may also have had a child indicated by stretch marks on her stomach was somewhat Franzese said had shaved her armpits and legs plucked her eyebrows and painted her fingernails Her toenails were He says the murder probably was committed by a family member possibly a husband or brother Franzese believes this because Jane Doe 37 has not been matched with a missing persons report He also says the body was not molested another indication the murder was family-related The burial of the body is another clue he says Jane Doe 37 was found in a 3 feet by 6 feet grave She was nude and her arms were folded She was buried 3 feet deep in clay earth that is difficult to dig Franzese says the neatness of the grave is an indication that whoever killed Jane Doe 37 may have felt guilty about the murder they feel guilty they want to do the right thing to bury he said want to make another mistake It took them 45-50 minutes to dig the hole They went to the trouble because they were The burial was disguised as the theft of eight jade plants Franzese says Workers who ckeck the plants for bugs discovered the plants missing the next morning They also found two plastic shirt buttons on top of the dirt Suspicious they dug and discovered the body before calling the Department The Department knows two male Mexican-Americans were seen driving away from the burial site at 2 am April 20 in a 1971 or 1972 dark blue Chevrolet Vega hatchback The department received this information from a man who saw the car drive out of the field After reading of the discovery of the body he called the Department At the same time a deputy also saw the Vega and reported it when he learned of the discovery of the body The circular has been posted in schools supermarkets and post offices The Department also plans to put it in housing units They hope a girl friend family friend or neighbor will come forward to identify Jane Doe 37 The and police departments continue to check missing persons files to see if victims have been reported missing As John and Jane Does and Does are reported to the Missing Persons Division they are checked against missing persons reports Four investigators each responsible for a a different area of the city check the John and Jane Does and Does to see if reports have been filed If one investigator cannot match a body with a report in his files he passes it to the next investigator until all four have checked The Missing Persons Division also gets teletypes from law enforcement agencies throughout the country However there is no central missing persons bureau through which bodies can be checked The Missing Persons Division receives phone reports from the coroner two to three hours after bodies are brought to the office They receive formal written reports from the coroner the next day a missing person and a corpse come together sooner or said Sgt Dean Thomas heaJof the Missing Persons Division John and Jane Does are currently or will be reported missing usually within a Thomas says in many cases reports are filed after the victims have died He cites the case of an elderly woman who was beaten to death and robbed in downtown Los Angeles The woman was a Jane Doe for a week until a friend reported her missing San Pedro has unique problems with John and Jane Does because of the harbor says Lt Mitch Maricich head of the special investigations homicide team for Harbor Division police does bad things to he said we get lucky we never find Both Maricich and Franzese say Dominguez Hills is a dumping ground for homicide and drug abuse victims Of a total of 16 Harbor Area murders last year three bodies were found in Harbor Park Maricich says DO YOU WANT A CAREER OR JUST A JOB? 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