AL CENTREVILLE JOHN DOE: WM, 14-17, drowned in Cahaba River after vehicle accident near River Bend, AL - 27 Mar 1961 *DANNY ARMANTROUT*

2844UMAL - Unidentified Male

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Reconstruction of the decedent by NCMEC; decedent's headstone. To view a postmortem photograph, please click here.

Date of Discovery: March 27, 1961
Location of Discovery: Centreville, Bibb County, Alabama
Estimated Date of Death: Minutes prior
State of Remains: Recognizable face
Cause of Death: Drowning

Physical Description
Estimated Age: 14-17 years old
Race: White
Sex: Male
Height: 5'6" to 5'8"
Weight: 120 lbs.
Hair Color: Light brown. His hair appeared to have been bleached. His eyebrows and eyelashes were dark brown.
Eye Color: Blue
Distinguishing Marks/Features: The autopsy revealed he might have walked with a slight limp. Smoker. Tattoo with inscription "RY in LOVE" or "RY + LOVE"

Identifiers
Dentals: Not Available
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Available

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: Clothing worn by the boy is unknown.
Jewelry: Timex wrist watch.
Additional Personal Items: Carrying bag with several long sleeve shirts and pants made from heavy fabric, a brown plastic wallet without any identification, a photograph of the decedent with a girl, and a pack of Pall Mall cigarettes with a South Carolina tax stamp.

Circumstances of Discovery
The decedent was a hitchhiker who drowned after the vehicle he was riding in collided with the bridge rail and plunged into the Cahaba River near River Bend. Additionally, he had broken his neck and his hand in two places. The driver survived the accident and exaplained the boy gave some, but few details about his life.
The boy told the driver, who survived the accident, he had run away from home after his parents separated. He was faced with a choice of living in an orphanage or joining the Navy (despite the fact he was believed to be too young for the military). He stated he did not care where he was going. The clothing the boy carried with him indicated he may have been from up north. The cigarettes he carried were from South Carolina.
His body was kept in the morgue for two weeks and he was later buried in the Centreville Cemetery. A woman from Huntsville believed the boy was their own, until a discrepancy with the eye color indicated the decedent was not their child. His remains were exhumed in June 2016 to obtain DNA information. The profile did not match those available in the missing persons database. The body was later reburied.

Investigating Agency(s)
Agency Name: Bibb County Coroner's Office
Agency Contact Person: N/A
Agency Phone Number: 205-926-4876
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: Unknown

NCIC Case Number: Not entered
NamUs Case Number: 13483
NCMEC Case Number: 1250767

Information Source(s)
Namus
NCMEC
WBRC (6/3/16)
WBRC (10/4/16)
ABC 3340
AL.com
News Article
Tuscaloosa News

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Last edited by a moderator:
Bibb County John Doe from 1961 has been identified as Daniel "Danny" Paul Armantrout.




According to the announcement, there's no existing photos of Danny, and he had another brother who is also missing.

Danny Armantrout's thread:
 
This does not appear to be official yet? Though I didn't watch the entire 3 hour video, his NamUs, Doe Network, and NCMEC links are all still up.
However, since Dr. Fitzpatrick is included I think it is pretty "official" and those links will likely be updated very soon.
 
And he had a brother who went missing, too! I’m having bad vibes about that.
They actually got a lead during the live stream, indicating he had a criminal record after he went missing. Dr. Fitzpatrick mentioned they might be able to find the brother in a prison somewhere, or that he had paid his dues and changed name and started over, so to say, after he got out.
This does not appear to be official yet? Though I didn't watch the entire 3 hour video, his NamUs, Doe Network, and NCMEC links are all still up.
However, since Dr. Fitzpatrick is included I think it is pretty "official" and those links will likely be updated very soon.
Yes, I thought about that before posting, and my conclusion was the same as yours. Gray Hugh Investigates channel seems to be the ones financing the expences of this case, and I assume this is in change of them getting the rights to broadcast the identification announcement first. Dr. Fitzpatrick has been a regular guest on the show, as well.

There still doesn't seem to be and MSM reporting this identification yet, though, but I'm hoping there will be articles and updates in the weeks to come.
 
They actually got a lead during the live stream, indicating he had a criminal record after he went missing. Dr. Fitzpatrick mentioned they might be able to find the brother in a prison somewhere, or that he had paid his dues and changed name and started over, so to say, after he got out.

Yes, I thought about that before posting, and my conclusion was the same as yours. Gray Hugh Investigates channel seems to be the ones financing the expences of this case, and I assume this is in change of them getting the rights to broadcast the identification announcement first. Dr. Fitzpatrick has been a regular guest on the show, as well.

There still doesn't seem to be and MSM reporting this identification yet, though, but I'm hoping there will be articles and updates in the weeks to come.
That is really intriguing! I wonder if he would’ve ever been in jail when he had to provide DNA? I guess not or they would have made a match by now.
 
There still doesn't seem to be and MSM reporting this identification yet, though, but I'm hoping there will be articles and updates in the weeks to come.
And here they are!



 
It sounds like there won't be any pictures of Danny.
Like I said, I only caught part of the video. But one part I did catch, they said that the brother actually saved the post-mortem pics of Danny because he didn't have very many pictures of his brother and he wanted a picture of him. :( How sad is that.
 
It sounds like there won't be any pictures of Danny.
Like I said, I only caught part of the video. But one part I did catch, they said that the brother actually saved the post-mortem pics of Danny because he didn't have very many pictures of his brother and he wanted a picture of him. :( How sad is that.
very few people had cameras back then, it seems, especially if poor.
 
So happy another is solved and family has answers.

I read the second article of the three just above and it referred to him as murdered. Was this just a mistake or do they consider the car accident was murder? I read it all but never really picked up any further info on why that was said.

And there is also a brother missing?
 

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