VA ANNANDALE JANE DOE: WF, 50-70, found in Pleasant Valley Memorial Cemetery, VA - 18 Dec 1996 *JOYCE MEYER SOMMERS*

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Date of Discovery: December 18, 1996
Location of Discovery: Annandale, Fairfax County, Virginia
Estimated Date of Death: Hours prior
State of Remains: Recognizable face
Cause of Death: Suicide

Physical Description

Estimated Age: 50-70 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'0"
Weight: 157 lbs.
Hair Color: Auburn or red, almost a copper color, curly.
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: She had an 8-inch scar on her abdomen, probably from a C-section. Her fingernails were painted red.

Identifiers

Dentals: Available.
Fingerprints: Available.
DNA: Samples submitted - Tests not complete.

Clothing & Personal Items

Clothing: Teal all-weather Eddie Baur hooded jacket (size M), navy blue Classiques Entier sweater (size L), red Classiques Entier sweater (size XL), red Classiques Entier sleeveless silk shirt (size Petite L), navy blue Classiques Entier knit wool pants (size L), knee-high stockings, white support bra, white Fruit of the Loom underpants (size 6), and black loafers (size 7M). Her clothes may have come from an upscale store such as Saks Fifth Avenue.
Jewelry: Two clip-on earrings, a small gold women's Guess watch with a mesh band, a 14-karat gold ring with four jade stones, and a metal bead chain with a medic alert "NO CODE, DNR, No Penicillin."
Additional Personal Items: Bifocals with translucent frames. A green knapsack that held Jeff Foxworthy's You Might Be A Redneck cassette, a tape of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, two empty juice bottles, and a new roll of masking.

Circumstances of Discovery

A groundskeeper at the Pleasant Valley Memorial Park Cemetery discovered the decedent's body near the section of the cemetery where infants are buried, but not near any particular grave.There was a clear plastic sheet on the ground with an 8-inch Christmas tree adorned with gold balls and red ribbons. She had a portable tape player with headphones, which were on her ears. A recording of comedians Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner doing their 2000 Year Old Man routine was in the player.She had committed suicide by drinking brandy (she had a 0.14 blood-alcohol level), swallowing Valium, and placing a plastic bag over her head and tying it off with tape, suffocating herself.She left two fifty dollar bills; one for the coroner,and one for the cemetery, both with the same typed note: Deceased by own hand...prefer no autopsy. Please order cremation with funds provided. Thank you, Jane Doe.She had no receipts in her pockets for investigators to trace her movements. Most of the headstones nearby where she was found were fairly recent. The site would probably not be known to a drifter.




Investigating Agency(s)

Agency Name: Northern District Medical Examiner's Office
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 703-530-2600
Agency Case Number: N1996-41257

Agency Name: Fairfax County Police Department
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 800-673-2777
Agency Case Number: 96353000549

Agency Name: Fairfax County Crime Solvers
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 800-411-TIPS or 703-691-8888

NCIC Case Number: U989549567
NamUs Case Number: UP #6279

Information Source(s)
NamUs
National Center for Missing Adults

Admin Notes

Added: Prior to 2004; Last Updated: 3/21/2019

 
Last edited by a moderator:
My maternal side is from Davenport, I wouldn't doubt a relative of mine may have known her, who knows... She was a long way from home, I wonder what the story was or what more may come out.

AWESOME NEWS!! This one bothered and was/is a puzzle. So she was 69, they were right at the oldest outside edge of what they estimated.
 
View attachment 454
Date of Discovery: December 18, 1996
Location of Discovery: Annandale, Fairfax County, Virginia
Estimated Date of Death: Hours prior
State of Remains: Recognizable face
Cause of Death: Suicide

Physical Description

Estimated Age: 50-70 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'0"
Weight: 157 lbs.
Hair Color: Auburn or red, almost a copper color, curly.
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: She had an 8-inch scar on her abdomen, probably from a C-section. Her fingernails were painted red.

Identifiers

Dentals: Available.
Fingerprints: Available.
DNA: Samples submitted - Tests not complete.

Clothing & Personal Items

Clothing: Teal all-weather Eddie Baur hooded jacket (size M), navy blue Classiques Entier sweater (size L), red Classiques Entier sweater (size XL), red Classiques Entier sleeveless silk shirt (size Petite L), navy blue Classiques Entier knit wool pants (size L), knee-high stockings, white support bra, white Fruit of the Loom underpants (size 6), and black loafers (size 7M). Her clothes may have come from an upscale store such as Saks Fifth Avenue.
Jewelry: Two clip-on earrings, a small gold women's Guess watch with a mesh band, a 14-karat gold ring with four jade stones, and a metal bead chain with a medic alert "NO CODE, DNR, No Penicillin."
Additional Personal Items: Bifocals with translucent frames. A green knapsack that held Jeff Foxworthy's You Might Be A Redneck cassette, a tape of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, two empty juice bottles, and a new roll of masking.

Circumstances of Discovery

A groundskeeper at the Pleasant Valley Memorial Park Cemetery discovered the decedent's body near the section of the cemetery where infants are buried, but not near any particular grave.There was a clear plastic sheet on the ground with an 8-inch Christmas tree adorned with gold balls and red ribbons. She had a portable tape player with headphones, which were on her ears. A recording of comedians Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner doing their 2000 Year Old Man routine was in the player.She had committed suicide by drinking brandy (she had a 0.14 blood-alcohol level), swallowing Valium, and placing a plastic bag over her head and tying it off with tape, suffocating herself.She left two fifty dollar bills; one for the coroner,and one for the cemetery, both with the same typed note: Deceased by own hand...prefer no autopsy. Please order cremation with funds provided. Thank you, Jane Doe.She had no receipts in her pockets for investigators to trace her movements. Most of the headstones nearby where she was found were fairly recent. The site would probably not be known to a drifter.




Investigating Agency(s)

Agency Name: Northern District Medical Examiner's Office
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 703-530-2600
Agency Case Number: N1996-41257

Agency Name: Fairfax County Police Department
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 800-673-2777
Agency Case Number: 96353000549

Agency Name: Fairfax County Crime Solvers
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 800-411-TIPS or 703-691-8888

NCIC Case Number: U989549567
NamUs Case Number: UP #6279

Information Source(s)
NamUs
National Center for Missing Adults

Admin Notes

Added: Prior to 2004; Last Updated: 3/21/2019

Well maybe now they can determine what she had been doing, up to and who with in life. Family would know her handwriting or have samples I imagine. I forgot the odd way of killing self here, not something one sees much, not sure if I ever have in fact.
 
Well maybe now they can determine what she had been doing, up to and who with in life. Family would know her handwriting or have samples I imagine. I forgot the odd way of killing self here, not something one sees much, not sure if I ever have in fact.
People occasionally commit suicide in a cemetery. I'm amazed she was identified. Wow. @GarAndMo39 was very interested in this. She will be thrilled! 😀😁
 
If the family was estranged from her, how can they possibly know if that scar that looks like a cesarean scar, wasn't from giving birth? It sounds to me, with her history, that she would easily had one and given it up for adoption. It sounds like there were many very long gaps without contact.
True. I was wondering why they didn't offer an explanation as to what it could be - other than a cesarean. Wouldn't an autopsy note a hysterectomy?
 
If the family was estranged from her, how can they possibly know if that scar that looks like a cesarean scar, wasn't from giving birth? It sounds to me, with her history, that she would easily had one and given it up for adoption. It sounds like there were many very long gaps without contact.
The picture of the scar doesn't look like a cesarean. It looks alot like mine from a peptic ulcer in 2008 with 32 staples.
 
But not vertical like this are they?.
Hers is horizontal, but my aunts was vertical. When my mom had hers, horizontal was non traditional and most all in that time were vertical. Since about the 80s(ish), horizontal became the standard because the scarring was not as obvious. They call it the "bikini" cut because they do it right under the bikini line.
 
Hers is horizontal, but my aunts was vertical. When my mom had hers, horizontal was non traditional and most all in that time were vertical. Since about the 80s(ish), horizontal became the standard because the scarring was not as obvious. They call it the "bikini" cut because they do it right under the bikini line.
Thank you for the information Guessy.
 

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