OR FINLEY CREEK JANE DOE: F, 14-18, found in a wooded hillside near La Grande, OR - 27 Aug 1978 - pregnant

Case File: 1258UFOR

1593885790127.png

Unidentified Female
Date of Discovery: August 27, 1978
Location of Discovery: Finley Creek, Union County, Oregon
Estimated Date of Death: Years prior
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Partial skeletal parts only
Cause of Death: Unknown

Physical Description
** Listed information is approximate

Estimated Age: 14-18 years old
Race: Unknown
Gender: Female
Height: 5'1" to 5'3"
Weight: 115-125 lbs.
Hair Color: Light brown to blonde
Eye Color: Unknown

Distinguishing Marks/Features: She was pregnant, and likely in her 6th to 8th month of pregnancy.

Dentals: Available.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: Not available.
Clothing & Personal Items

Clothing: A halter/bra, red Catalina pants (size 15/16 - Juniors?) - which show evidence of possible length alteration, ankle-high lace up shoes, and remnants of clothing that consisted of red cloth, white cloth, and zippers.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Case History
The victim's body was found in a wooded hillside 18 miles north of La Grande.

Investigating Agency(s)
If you have any information about this case please contact;

Agency Name: Union County Medical Examiner's Office
Agency Contact Person: Dr. Veronica Vance
Agency Phone Number: 971-673-8220
E-Mail

Agency Case Number: ME: 78-1865
NCIC Case Number: N/A
NamUs Case Number: UP #11902
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Information Source(s)
NamUs

1258UFOR

www.doenetwork.org

www.crimewatchers.net

A pregnant #JaneDoe was found in a wooded hillside 18 miles north of La Grande, Oregon in 1978. Help @FromTheVaultPod give her back her name!

Estimated Age: 14-18 years old Race: Unknown Gender: Female Height: 5'1" to 5'3" Weight: 115-125 lbs. Hair Color: Light brown to blonde Eye Color: Unknown
www.crimewatchers.net www.crimewatchers.net
 
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SheWhoMustNotBeNamed said:
Roxanne is a little bit taller than the listing for this Doe but not enough to rule her out IMO.

Is anyone going to / has anyone submitted her as a possible match?

NamUs case manager is Jessica Hager
Oregon Medical Examiner - (971) 673-8200
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I have already sent an email to Dr. Vance last week concerning this. I am hoping to hear back soon. Kinda hoping Roxanne has dentals. Otherwise we will have to wait until we get the cremains and hope for a viable DNA sample from them.
 
Romulus said:
Nothing Jason, maybe the link we leave it available for those who want to try with Doe, is always useful.
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Oh of course! Haha I won't deny anyone the opportunity to use it if they must. DN is a great website; but I may still be a bit jaded after they handled my tip work during my Lake City John Doe years lol.
 
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[IMG]


Nancy Baird?

FCJD (UP11902/1258UFOR):
The Doe Network: 1258UFOR
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Nancy Baird (MP11575/2630DFUT):
The Doe Network: Nancy Perry Baird - 2630DFUT
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
 
Romulus said:
View attachment 9718
[IMG]


Nancy Baird?

FCJD (UP11902/1258UFOR):
The Doe Network: 1258UFOR
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

Nancy Baird (MP11575/2630DFUT):
The Doe Network: Nancy Perry Baird - 2630DFUT
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
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She looks eerily like that recon, for sure! But Nancy had left a 4 year old behind. Unless she was pregnant when she went missing, I have a hard time thinking they are one and the same.
 
Kimster said:
She looks eerily like that recon, for sure! But Nancy had left a 4 year old behind. Unless she was pregnant when she went missing, I have a hard time thinking they are one and the same.
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and evidently very visibly pregnant or recently was if it was full term baby. Something tells me this doe was either not reported missing or went missing before pregnant or visibly pregnant.
 
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Romulus said:
Pem Michelle Yates-Briggs?

OR - OR - Pem Michelle Yates-Briggs, 15, Portland, 1977

[IMG]
View attachment 9839

There are no news or certain sources that this girl has currently disappeared on any site, if we exclude the links we say unofficial, however the similarity is great

Pem Wehrli - Hood River Valley High School - Hood River, OR

Pem Wehrli Hood River Valley High School alumni page
hoodrivervalleyhighschool.org
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Oregon’s medical examiner Vance is quite proactive for UID cases here. Surely she knows about Pem!
 
Jason Futch said:
Hello everyone,

For the last few months, myself and others have been working on getting this case revitalized. It began in early 2018 when I was asked by a user on another forum board about taking on this case. I did and at first I got nowhere because of the little information to go on. Then from there, I decided to do newspaper research (as you all know), and found valuable details not mentioned on NamUs or anywhere else. Those newspaper clippings I found are now floating around the internet, thankfully.

Then about six months ago, after a year and a half of failing to obtain official records or get any cooperation from the Oregon State Medical Examiners Office, I met a woman named Mel. She is a local from La Grande that had just found out about this case based on my contributions and started a Facebook page on the Finley Creek Jane Doe. I reached out to her, and we began a group effort to have this woman identified. Soon after, a woman from John Day named Kether joined us followed by Gloria who runs the Pacific Northwest Missing page on Facebook. She was brought in because of her useful knowledge on Lance Voss, the suspected Lewis and Clark Valley Killer. Together, we have been trading information regarding this case and have been linking the murder of this woman to some serial killers in the area.

Then in January, after a long time to game plan, Mel came up with a great idea of sending numerous requests to the OSP based on a records request law we found. We sent letters to OSP La Grande, Salem and the Pendleton Crime Lab. Also that same month, Mel spoke to former District Attorney Dale Mammen, who was the DA at the time this was going on. A lot was learned from the meeting, and DA Mammen agreed to meet with Mel this spring to find the exact spot where FCJD was buried. Also, another former OSP detective named Bob Routt was interviewed by Mel and he gave some valuable information about the workings of OSP at the time, and discussed some of his knowledge of the case. We also learned that Dock Baker was still alive during Mel's conversation with DA Mammen. At the time, Dock was 94 and had initially refused to discuss the case. Mammen had agreed to speak with Det. Baker to try and get him to agree to a meeting; but early February came and Dock Baker passed away in La Grande.

Dale Mammen believes this woman was a hitchhiker, did not subscribe to the fact that the Jane Doe's remains were destroyed and lost, and is satisfied that the murder occurred somewhere other than the gravesite.

Then we got access to the files...two years later! The letter campaign worked out, and after paying a fee, we received over fifty pages of files from this case, as well as about 20 photos of the crime scene and autopsy. Because of the graphic nature, I do not intend to release these photos. However, the files I received will be available here! Attached is all fifty pages of this report. You will notice that ruleouts have been made on some individuals who are not in NamUs. Additionally, because OSP and the Medical Examiner's office do not believe they have sufficient photos for a facial reconstruction, we have brought on Anthony Redgrave of Redgrave Research to do a facial reconstruction on the Finley Creek Jane Doe! Thanks to the photos we received, we believe they are sufficient enough for one. We do not plan to release it until we get approval from OSP and the MEO.

Speaking of which, once we have everything together and all leads processed, we plan to have a face-to-face meeting with Dr. Nici Vance and the detective working this case.

Also, we discovered that all the evidence in this case was destroyed in 1990 by order of the Union County DA at the time. However, thanks to this information, we were able to locate FCJD's last known location; which was a crematorium in Walla Walla, WA. We believe her remains may be located at a graveyard or funeral home in Walla Walla, and Mel is following up on this. We will have more info on this later. Our goal is to see if there could be sufficient bones or teeth that would be usable for DNA processing. Anthony Redgrave believes he knows someone that could extract DNA from the cremains if possible. Also, we have been told to ask the MEO to have NCMEC involved in the case.

Our group is also following up on a lead that I found in the report involving a missing woman from Thurston County, WA. We are awaiting word back from the TCSO regarding this lead, you will find in the report.

Thank you all for continuing to follow this case....as you can tell, we have been busy! Oh, and HAPPY READING REGARDING THE FILES! ;)

Jason
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I saw the Documentary "Cold Valley" about the cases in and around Asotin Idaho. Gloria seems really awesome. I wanted to rewatch it on Netflix but it was removed and now on HULU which I don't have.
 
Hi all!

I just wanted to jump on here and give a little intro - I'm "Mel" that Jason keeps referring to. I run FCJD's Facebook and Instagram pages and Jason has handed off coordination of efforts between us and Dr. Vance to me. If you have any questions at all about the case, please feel free to ask! I also wanted to give a couple of updates about a few things y'all have been discussing:

Nancy Perry Baird is clearly a great potential match! So much so that Dr. Vance actually reached out to me to see if I can assist her in digging up some background about her case because the dental comparisons are not quite enough to rule her in or out definitively. So, I've been in contact with the Utah Cold Case Coalition who is actively working Nancy's case and we are coordinating efforts to see if we can get to the bottom of it together.

Also, NamUs is an AMAZING tool! That being said, it's not a definitive nor a completely up-to-date source for rule outs or other information about FCJD's description or circumstances. I know Jason has posted the case file here so that can be referred to for questions or you are more than welcome to ask me anything that I can clarify. We do have scene photographs that we will not post but we can refer to them for questions, as well.

Finally, a tiny bit of potentially good news - I've been able to locate some older, unmarked and undocumented cremains at the coroner's office in the city where FCJD was cremated. All that is on the packaging is a partial sticker from the funeral home/crematorium where she was sent to be cremated. Dr. Vance has this information and has let me know she will check in to it as soon as she can.

Fingers crossed and keep Finley and child in your thoughts! Y'all do amazing work here.

~Mel
 
MelJay said:
Hi all!

I just wanted to jump on here and give a little intro - I'm "Mel" that Jason keeps referring to. I run FCJD's Facebook and Instagram pages and Jason has handed off coordination of efforts between us and Dr. Vance to me. If you have any questions at all about the case, please feel free to ask! I also wanted to give a couple of updates about a few things y'all have been discussing:

Nancy Perry Baird is clearly a great potential match! So much so that Dr. Vance actually reached out to me to see if I can assist her in digging up some background about her case because the dental comparisons are not quite enough to rule her in or out definitively. So, I've been in contact with the Utah Cold Case Coalition who is actively working Nancy's case and we are coordinating efforts to see if we can get to the bottom of it together.

Also, NamUs is an AMAZING tool! That being said, it's not a definitive nor a completely up-to-date source for rule outs or other information about FCJD's description or circumstances. I know Jason has posted the case file here so that can be referred to for questions or you are more than welcome to ask me anything that I can clarify. We do have scene photographs that we will not post but we can refer to them for questions, as well.

Finally, a tiny bit of potentially good news - I've been able to locate some older, unmarked and undocumented cremains at the coroner's office in the city where FCJD was cremated. All that is on the packaging is a partial sticker from the funeral home/crematorium where she was sent to be cremated. Dr. Vance has this information and has let me know she will check in to it as soon as she can.

Fingers crossed and keep Finley and child in your thoughts! Y'all do amazing work here.

~Mel
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I love what you’re doing! Dr. Vance is an Oregon hero to me. I had a brief occasion to be able to communicate with her when I was at WS. She really wants to identify the UIDs assigned to her and I love it! Thank you so much for what you are doing! You have my deepest respect.
 
A couple of other things I wanted to share that I thought of after posting yesterday that y'all might be interested in :

Edna Thorne has been submitted to The Doe Network, NamUs, AND Dr. Vance over the past year by several individuals so hopefully that will be good encouragement to get the comparison done.

Over the past year or so, several missing people have been ruled out as being FCJD:

Robyn Ann Mettinato
Jamie Grissim
Wanda Herr (her remains were identified as having been found elsewhere)

Sherry Jean Pickle was ruled out by Oregon State Police in 1988 during the course of the original investigation. I've attached a copy of the letter from the file documenting this.

Thanks!
 

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