It is hard to
imagine what life would be like without names by which
to identify ourselves. Our names represent a tangible way to
present who we are and pay homage to whence we've come from.
Our names not only identify who we are in the present but
they point to our history, to our ancestors; they give us
place. Our names are selected for us by our parents and thus
they denote belonging and they connect us to those who love
us. They represent more than just familiar syllables; they
house our identity and set us apart from others. They allow
us to have presence in our own stories.
This cold case is
about a woman who, for now, is nameless. StillTheySpeak.com
intends to change that. Though her life, her story, and her
name have been stripped from her by the cold, callous,
murderous acts of another human being, the intentional
compassionate acts of human beings such as yourself is all
it takes to make a dramatic difference in how her story
ends. Let's work together to give this woman back her
identity, to give her back her story. Let's see to it that
she is reconnected with those who love her and miss her.
Let's get her back home.
Because she matters...
Read the clues,
share her story, forward this webpage to your loved ones,
post the You Tube video on your Facebook page--you
absolutely can make a difference in this case. Let's treat
this woman as though she were our sister or our mother,
perhaps our daughter. Let's take up the cause of speaking
for her. Let us move now to lend our voice to her and see to
it that her story continues to be told until answers are
found, truth revealed, her name restored, and her killer
brought to justice.
LOCATION: SIMPSON COUNTY, KY
DATE: OCTOBER 9, 2001
EVENT: DISCOVERY OF HUMAN
REMAINS
Just 12
miles from the Tennessee border and 50 miles north of
Nashville a survey crew working on I-65 discovered the
remains of an unidentified woman. She was found near the
northbound lanes of the highway and it appeared that she had
been thrown over a guardrail, down an embankment, and into a
grove of trees. Investigators were up against one of the
most difficult scenarios: a horrific crime, an unidentified
victim found near a major highway, a killer on the loose and
long gone from the scene. Anyone who has spent any time
working violent crimes will tell you how difficult it is to
solve the crime when the identity of the victim is unknown.
Investigators turned to science for help and to Kentucky
State Forensic Anthropologist, Dr. Emily Craig. Dr Craig is
a veteran forensic anthropologist and has worked tirelessly
worldwide to bring identities to the nameless. Her
specialized skills allow the victim's skeletal remains to
literally tell her a story.
THE
CLUES:
In this
case Dr. Craig was able to ascertain that the remains
belonged to a Caucasian female who was between the ages of
25 and 35. She would have stood between 5'4" and 5'8". Her
weight would have been in the range of 90-130 lbs. She had
reddish brown shoulder length hair, decayed teeth, healed
fractures to the upper right arm and a rib and likely
suffered from chronic back problems.
Dr Craig
determined the post mortem interval would have been weeks,
meaning that she died somewhere between August 1, 2001 and
October 1, 2001.
Dr. Craig
also performed a clay facial reconstruction of the victim
which is pictured below. The reconstruction is intended to
provide a good likeness of the victim, but not necessarily
an exact likeness. The reconstruction was completed using
anthropological data and known parameters of the human face.
The result is such that those who knew the victim in life
would be able to recognize her.
MORE CLUES:
The victim
also had an outline tattoo of a rose with a stem above her
left breast. It is pictured below.
Two
rings were found near the body. One is a simple gold band.
The other is a striking ornate silver ring that is painted
with blue enamel and adorned with roses and leaves. The
rings are pictured below.
With
precious little to go on, investigators continued to search
for answers as the already cold case grew colder.
HEATING UP:
In June of
2007 the case information was entered into the Namus
database. Namus.gov is a national repository that can be
utilized by both the general public and law enforcement from
all over the county. It consists of two extraordinary
databases. One is a database of missing persons cases and
the second, a database of unidentified remains cases. Case
information from all over the United States is entered into
Namus and records are cross referenced with the aim of
finding matches between missing persons and unidentified
remains cases.
The victim
in this case has already been checked against 43 different
missing persons reports and continues to be run as new cases
come in, as recently as March 1st of this year. This is a
valuable tool to investigators all over the country as it
allows the information to be checked against cases that the
investigator may not have had access to otherwise.
In 2010,
with the help of a Northern Kentucky company, Jewel-Craft,
it was determined that the wedding band found with the
victim had been manufactured by a mass production company,
Tessler and Weiss. Tessler and Weiss manufactures jewelry
that is sold to distributors all over the world.
In January
of 2011 Detective Tim Adams of the Kentucky State Police
made a bold move and posted the pictures of the rings and
the facial reconstruction to the KSP Facebook page. It was
the first time that Post Three had utilized Facebook in an
effort to reach out to the public with information regarding
an unsolved crime. It was a brilliant move and paid off
almost immediately as attention to the case grew and the
media picked up on the buzz. Information came in indicating
that the manufacturer of the striking blue ring was a
company named Vargas that is no longer in business.
Subsequent research revealed that particular design of ring
was manufactured by several different companies in Rhode
Island during the 1950's and 1960's and more than likely
would not have been made any later than the 1970's. The
jewelers stamp on the inside of the ring (pictured below)
confirmed that the manufacturer was indeed Vargas.
Investigators continue to track down information available
from the distributors that Vargas sold it's designs to and
they are very hopeful that important information will be
gleaned from these leads. Most importantly, it seems likely
that the ring was manufactured before the victim was born or
when she was very young, which lends itself to several
scenarios about how the victim came to own the ring.
Detective Adams, speaking about the case, remarked that he
is absolutely certain that this case is solvable. He firmly
believes that the key to resolving this case is to continue
to get the pictures of the rings and of the clay facial
reconstruction out to the public. With a man like Detective
Tim Adams on the case, I have no doubt that it is only a
matter of time before this case is solved.
Detective
Tim Adams is as an inspired and dedicated investigator as I
have ever come across and his passion for this case has
already ignited renewed interest in the case, and most
significantly, new avenues to explore. His fearless fight
for justice honors not just the victim, but all Kentuckians.
I for one would like to congratulate Detective Adams on his
bold decision to utilize the popularity and the reach of the
social networking site Facebook to get this story back into the
spotlight. This kind of ingenuity and dedication is exactly
what is needed to resolve this crime, bring a killer to
justice, and give this woman back her name.
If you
have any information on this case, please contact Detective
Tim Adams of the Kentucky State Police in Bowling Green. He
is working hard to resolve this case and if you have
something to offer, he wants to hear from you. Detective
Adams can be reached by phone at (270)782-2010 or by e-mail
at
timothy.adams@ky.gov
You can
remain anonymous if need be.
To all of
my readers: below you will find the You Tube video created by StillTheySpeak.com
volunteers in honor of this victim. It tells her story in a
way that is incredibly touching and inspirational, honoring
her in a very special way. Even if you don't have any
information on this case, you can literally help to solve it
by posting this video to your website or Face Book account,
or by e-mailing it to your friends and family and asking
that they also pass it on. You never know who they know who
might know someone who just might have the information needed to
solve this case and bring this woman back home. Like ripples
in a pond, let's work together to see that this information and this victim's story
continue to go out. You can be the critical link in the
chain that keeps this information circulating.
