Hurricane Ike's Reported Missing-Laura Project Data Base

[MuffyBee]

Ike's missing

People reporting missing after Hurricane Ike, from a database by the Laura Recovery Center.

http://www.chron.com/databases/ikemissing.html

[Nut44x4]

Thanks Muffy... I stickied it for now.

[Nut44x4]

Another unidentified Ike victim's body found near Bolivar Peninsula

11:53 AM CDT on Wednesday, October 8, 2008

By Sara Foley / Galveston County Daily News

PORT BOLIVAR — Search crews found the body of another unidentified Hurricane Ike victim Monday night on the marshy island where four other bodies were found since the storm.

The body was found in the massive debris piles on Goat Island, across Galveston Bay from Port Bolivar.

Another body found earlier is still in the rubble. Crews had not yet been able to move it to the morgue because it’s trapped under heavy pieces of debris.

Much of what used to be on Gilchrist and other parts of the Bolivar Peninsula came to rest on the island, which is covered with remnants of houses and boats and trash.

Search and rescue crews have scoured the island for days, Galveston County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo said. It is only accessible by boat, and the Galveston County Medical Examiner’s office has had to borrow boats to retrieve bodies from the piles of rubble.

So far, only one of the five people found on the island has been identified.

Herman Thomas Mosely, of Gilchrist, was found on the island Sept. 27.

Medical examiner’s office spokesman John Florence said more people could be found in the debris.

“It’s hard to describe what it’s like out there unless you see it,” he said. “It’s just coated with trash. It’s a real nightmare.”

The Goat Island body discoveries bring the storm-related death toll to 15 Galveston County residents. There have been 36 deaths in the Houston/Galveston region attributed to the storm.


Those in Galveston County are:


•Jim Devine, 76, of San Leon; died Sept. 16 of drowning;

•Robert Dort, 76, of Galveston; died Sept. 20 of health conditions;

•Martha Ferguson, 69, of Galveston; died Sept. 13 of health conditions;

•George Helmond, 72, of Galveston; found Sept. 14, died of drowning;

•Charles Lively, 79, of League City; died Sept. 15 of health conditions;

•John Manley, 66, of League City; died Sept. 15 of health conditions;

•Yong Sang Teo, 49, of Galveston; found Sept. 14, died of drowning;

•Carolyn Williams, 64, of League City; died Sept. 15 of health conditions;

•Unidentified woman, found in a Chambers County debris field Sept. 23; died of drowning;

•Mosely, of Gilchrist; found Sept. 27 on Goat Island;

•Paula Sue Mercer, of Gilchrist; found Sept. 27 on Goat Island;

•Unidentified man, found on Goat Island on Saturday;

•Unidentified woman, found on Goat Island on Saturday;

•Unidentified person, found on Goat Island on Monday; and

•Unidentified person, found on Goat Island, has not been moved to Galveston County morgue yet.
http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/txcn/houston/stories/khou081007_tj_ike_body_found_goat_island.efe8b898.html

[Nut44x4]

The Houston Chronicle
 
October 29, 2008 Wednesday
 
IKE AFTERMATH;
Isle ME rejects asking for aid;
Problems with staffing, medical records, decay slow ID process
 
It took 18 days for the Galveston medical examiner's office to positively identify the body of 33-year-old Shane Williams by using a partial fingerprint from his index finger - just one of several complications hindering efforts to identify nameless Hurricane Ike victims in the county morgue.

The work has been stymied by limited investigative manpower, the deteriorated condition of the bodies, scattered families, and obstacles in obtaining dental and medical records from doctors in Galveston whose offices are still closed.

``It doesn't matter who is in the freezer at the ME's office, but they need to be identified and the families need to be told," said Fred Walters, who is Shane Williams' half brother and is still looking for his missing mother and grandmother. "It seems to me there should be a better way."

So far, Galveston Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Stephen Pustilnik has elected to tackle cases with his own team rather than asking for assistance from special federal forensics experts who can be deployed in disasters.

``Right now, (bodies) are coming in at a rate we can handle," said Pustilnik, who has worked with federal disaster teams. "We have access to an anthropologist, an odontologist, we have X-rayed the bodies, we have DNA kits here. If the county starts excavating debris and finding bodies left right and sideways - I'll call them."

Four more bodies considered to be Bolivar Peninsula storm victims remain unidentified and at least 15 people from the area remain missing. The latest body was discovered Saturday by fishermen on a jetty off Port Bolivar.

Galveston County emergency management officials are just now seeking bids for a contractor to follow-up in excavating debris piles that could hold additional corpses based on preliminary searches by cadaver dog teams.

Dental records help out

Williams' body was among three found by searchers among alligators and storm debris on uninhabited Goat Island on Oct.3. Investigators tentatively identified him based on his age, size and long hair. They got a partial print from his index finger, but it took three experts to make sure the print matched an older smudged fingerprint. The confirmation came last week.

Williams disappeared Sept. 12 when he attempted to evacuate from Port Bolivar around dawn with his mother, his 79-year-old grandmother, and two neighbors. The others remain missing.

John Florence, spokesman for the Galveston County Medical Examiner's office, has urged families of all Ike missing persons to try to locate dental records and X-rays or to submit DNA samples.

Records like fingerprints or X-rays - once obtained - could confirm identities quickly. X-rays reveal unique structures in bones or teeth that can be used to identify bodies that otherwise appear unrecognizable. Verification through relatives' DNA samples would take longer.

Williams' family believes that one of the unidentified women could be his missing grandmother - 79-year-old Marion Violet Arrambide.

But they have so far been unable to obtain X-rays from a Galveston dental office, which was flooded and remains closed, or get medical records from the University of Texas-Medical Branch, where Arrambide worked as a nurse for 28 years. The records office only recently reopened.

Because of privacy laws, doctors and dentists are sometimes reluctant to even confirm someone was a patient without a subpoena, family members said.

Similar obstacles beset another Jane Doe storm case, Florence said.

For several weeks, forensic investigators believed they had identified a woman whose body was found on Pelican Island last month. But when Florence was able to obtain six-year-old X-rays at another storm-damaged Galveston dentist's office, they didn't match. Florence has had to start over.

Moving faster

Medical examiner officials are hoping to find an answer more quickly for the latest storm victim's body - an older white man found Saturday on a jetty by two fishermen looking for flounder.

Pustilnek said his office was able to obtain a thumbprint that - with luck - could be used to find a match with Texas drivers' licenses.

...

FOUR VICTIMS OF IKE REMAIN UNIDENTIFIED

Oct. 25: An older white male found on a jetty near Port Bolivar.

Oct. 6: A white male, 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-10, found on Goat Island.

Oct. 4: Elderly woman, 4-foot-11 to 5-foot-2, with missing teeth and possible limp, found on Goat Island.

Sept. 28: Woman, 30 to 50 years old, 4-foot-10 to 5-foot-1, wearing a black Bally jog bra and a white sock, has one webbed toe and a 7-inch abdominal scar, found on Pelican Island.

If you have information about a Hurricane Ike missing person, call the Laura Recovery Center at 866-898-5723 or 281-482-5723. To arrange to submit DNA samples or supply dental or medical X-rays, call the Galveston County Medical Examiner at 409-935-9274. 
http://www6.lexisnexis.com/publisher/EndUser?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=574&topicId=100020825&docId=l:876195561&start=12

[Nut44x4]

Ike victim found on Bolivar Peninsula identified

Oct. 30, 2008, 11:03PM

PORT BOLIVAR — A body discovered on the Bolivar Peninsula's North Jetty was identified as that of Walter Fisher, 70, of Port Bolivar, the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office said this week.

Fisher, who could be the 16th victim of Hurricane Ike in Galveston County, drowned, a spokeswoman said. He was identified through a thumbprint.

His body was discovered on the highest part of the jetty, about 3 feet from the water, by two fishermen, Jeremy Bane of Stafford and Garret Cantrell of Blue Ridge.

Fisher was one of 15 people still listed as missing from the Bolivar Peninsula this week, according to the nonprofit Laura Recovery Center. Relatives of several missing persons have urged Galveston County officials to intensify efforts.

Bane said he and Cantrell, both 24, had been working on Bane's father's hurricane-damaged house in Crystal Beach and decided to take a break and fish for flounder on the jetty.

They found the badly decomposed body on Saturday afternoon, about a mile from shore, said sheriff's spokesman Maj. Ray Tuttoilmondo.


Three unknown bodies
The Medical Examiner's Office is still trying to identify three other bodies, all believed to be storm victims from the Bolivar Peninsula.

One woman, thought to be between ages 30 and 50, was found on Pelican Island in late September.

She has one webbed toe and a surgical scar on her abdomen. The remains of two other people were found in storm debris on uninhabited Goat Island three weeks ago: an elderly woman and a man.

Anyone who may have information about the unidentified bodies can call the Medical Examiner's Office at 409-935-9274. To provide information or updates about people who have been missing since the hurricane, call the Laura Recovery Center at 866-898-5723 or 281-482-5723.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6085979.html

[Nut44x4]

http://www.lufkindailynews.com/news/content/gen/ap/TX_Ike_Death.html

Search dogs find body near East Galveston Bay
GALVESTON, Texas — The body of a possible Hurricane Ike victim has been uncovered by search dogs and been sent to the Jefferson County morgue for identification.

Justice of the Peace Tracy Woody said search dogs found the body about 1:30 p.m. Sunday in a large debris pile about four miles from East Galveston Bay.

The Houston Chronicle reported Tuesday in an online story that authorities believe Ike may have washed the from the Bolivar Peninsula into Chambers County.

Investigators could not give the gender or any description of the victim because of the extreme state of decomposition.

Ike forced more than a million people to flee the Texas coast before it hit Sept. 13. It caused flooding and deaths as far away as Pennsylvania.
___

November 4, 2008 - 4:33 a.m. EST

[Nut44x4]

Woman may be 19th Ike victim

By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News
Published November 25, 2008

BOLIVAR — A woman’s body found partially buried in a Hurricane Ike debris field on an island near the Bolivar Peninsula is believed to be the remains of the latest victim of the storm, authorities said Monday.

Because the woman’s unclothed body was in such an advanced stage of decay, forensic investigators were scheduled to perform an autopsy that could help reveal her identity and cause of death, said John Florence, a spokesman with the Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office.

The woman could be the 19th person from Galveston County who died directly from the storm, according to reports from the medical examiner and Chambers County officials.

Ike made landfall Sept. 13, causing severe flooding and damaging much of the upper Texas coast.

Storm surge swept across the peninsula, damaging 5,900 structures. County officials estimate 3,600 of those are gone, wiped clean from their foundations and stilts.

The storm deposited much of the debris on Goat Island and in Chambers County.

Florence said Deputy Constable Rodney Kahla with Precinct 9 picked up the body Friday.

Kahla said peninsula residents found the woman in a debris field Thursday on Goat Island just north of Gilchrist and west of Rollover Pass.

“Truthfully, I don’t know what they were doing in that particular area,” Kahla said. “They were in a boat, got out and were walking on the land when they came across this.”

The discoverers phoned Kahla after returning to their peninsula home, but Kahla said nightfall delayed the trip to Goat Island.

“We waited until first thing Friday morning,” Kahla said. “A friend of mine has a boat. We went across with the same guys, and they pointed in the area where (the body) was.”

Kahla said dental records likely will be needed to reveal the identity of the woman.

Reporter Chris Paschenko can be reached at 409-683-5241 or chris.paschenko(at)galvnews.com.

Ike victims

Here is a list of Galveston County residents who died from effects of the storm:

• Martha Ferguson, 69, of Galveston died Sept. 13, no electricity for breathing machine

• Charles Lively, 79, of League City died Sept. 15, pre-existing health condition

• George Helmond, 72, of Galveston drowned Sept. 14, found in his submerged truck

• Yong Seng Teo, 49, of Galveston died Sept. 14, pre-existing health condition, couldn’t reach hospital in time

• Carolyn Williams, 64, of League City died Sept. 15, pre-existing health condition, lack of dialysis

• John Manley, 66, of League City died Sept. 15, pre-existing health condition, lack of dialysis

• Jim Devine, 76, of San Leon drowned, listed date of death Sept. 16

• Robert Dort, 76, of Galveston died Sept. 20, pre-existing health condition

• Eddie Bailey, 64, of League City found dead Sept. 23, pre-existing health condition

• Ruben Ramos, 60, of Galveston found dead Sept. 23, pre-existing health condition

• Herman Moseley, 48, of Galveston, drowned, found on Goat Island

• Gail Ettenger, 58, of Gilchrist found Sept. 23 near Chambers County debris field

• Shane Williams, 33, of Port Bolivar, found drowned Oct. 6 on Goat Island

• Walter Fisher, 70, of Port Bolivar, drowned, found Oct. 25 on Bolivar Peninsula’s North Jetty

• Unidentified woman, found drowned on Pelican Island

• Unidentified woman found Oct. 6 on Goat Island north of Port Bolivar, cause of death not determined

• Unidentified man found Oct. 6 on Goat Island north of Port Bolivar, cause of death not determined

!! Unidentified woman found Nov. 2 in Chambers County debris field, believed to have drowned (ID'd JENNIFER McLEMORE) see below

• Unidentified woman found Nov. 20 on Goat Island north of Gilchrist, cause of death not determined

Source: Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office and

Chambers County Judge Jim Sylvia

The Laura Recovery Center’s list of missing from the Bolivar Peninsula includes these names:

From Crystal Beach: Harry Bingham, 61, Susan Shealy, 51, John Cook, 60, and Robert Williams, 54.

From Gilchrist: Jennifer McLemore, 50 (BODY FOUND-SEE LINK-STORY IN NEXT POST), and Sandy Walton, 54.

From Port Bolivar: Marion Arrambide, 78, Rose Brookshire, 72, Glennis Dunn, 70, Magdalena Strickland, 49, and Charles Garrett, 42.
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=e14ee0d4ca4ace83

[Nut44x4]

Body in Ike debris ID'd; and another woman's body found
Nov. 25, 2008, 10:41PM

Woman's body that had been pulled from a hurricane debris pile in Chambers County on Nov. 2 was identified Tuesday through dental records.

At the same time, forensic anthropologists were examining yet another woman's body found six days ago in debris left by Hurricane Ike on an island off the Bolivar Peninsula.

The Chambers County victim was identified as 50-year-old Jennifer Mclemore of Gilchrist, who had been missing since Ike made landfall Sept. 13 on the Bolivar Peninsula, said Chambers County Sheriff Joe LaRive.

Her 16-year-old grandson, Jerrith Baird, had begged Mclemore to evacuate with him, but she chose to ride out the storm with her dog, HooDoo, her grandson said in an interview in September.

Mclemore had remodeled her house after it was damaged by Hurricane Rita in 2005 and believed it was sturdy enough to withstand a Category 2 storm, Baird said.

He talked to his grandmother at her house until her cell phone's battery died, and he also tried to have the U.S. Coast Guard rescue her. But by that time, the wind was too strong, and the planes had to stop flying rescue missions, he said.

After the storm passed, Baird paddled over to Bolivar in a kayak. He said he could find no trace of her, her home or any familiar landmarks.

Search dogs later discovered Mclemore's body 12 1/2 miles across the bay from her residence in a debris pile in a wooded field near Smith Point.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/6131640.html

[Nut44x4]

One Ike victim ID’d, 19th victim found
Mary Meaux
The Port Arthur News


November 25, 2008 05:45 pm

— A woman whose badly decomposed body was found on November 2 in Chambers County has been identified as Gilchrist resident Jennifer McLemore.
McLemore’s body was discovered in a debris field east of Hwy. 562 and about four miles north of Smith Point in Chambers County. She is the 18th victim from Hurricane Ike.
Chambers County Sheriff Joe LaRive said that the Jefferson County Forensic Center, working with other agencies, made the positive identification through a comparison of dental records. McLemore showed an address on Seagull Street in Gilchrist and her body was found about 12 1/2 miles northwest of where her residence stood before the storm.
Chambers County Officials, along with state and federal agencies continue to comb through debris fields, covering some 80 square miles, in search of other possible victims.
“Our goal is to continue to bring closure to the families of missing victims of Hurricane Ike,” LaRive said.
John Florence, chief investigator with the Galveston County Medical Examiners Office, announced that a 19th Hurricane Ike victim was discovered on Thursday, Nov. 20. The body of an unidentified female was brought to the medical examiners office on Friday, Nov. 21 and an autopsy performed.
The death was ruled accidental drowning, he said.
The victim was located partially buried in a Hurricane Ike debris field on an island near Bolivar Peninsula, he said.

http://www.panews.com/local/local_story_330173856.html/resources_printstory

[Nut44x4]

Another Ike victim found on Goat Island

02:06 PM CST on Thursday, December 25, 2008

BOLIVAR — A contracted search crew recovered the badly decomposed body of the county’s 20th victim of Hurricane Ike while searching a debris pile on Goat Island, officials said Wednesday.

Officials have yet to determine the gender, age or identity of the person believed to have died as a result of the storm, which made landfall here Sept. 13, causing severe flooding and damaging much of the upper Texas coast.

John Simsen, coordinator for the county’s Office of Emergency Management, said Santana Funeral Directors, which was contracted for the search and recovery mission, found the body Sunday.

With a strong north wind, a dog hit on a location in one of the piles deposited on the island just north of Crystal Beach on Bolivar Peninsula. Searchers and sightseers have found at least five other bodies there that might have drowned from Ike’s massive storm surge, which swept parts of the peninsula clean of an estimated 2,000 structures.

Nightfall prevented the recovery Sunday, but searchers returned the following day to dig through the piles and recover the body, which was sent to the Medical Examiner’s Office late Monday.

John Florence, a spokesman for the office, said a backlog of normal casework, which included 19 deaths reported Monday and Tuesday in its four-county region, has delayed work on the victim.

“It’s time-intensive,” Florence said. “There will be a full-body X-ray, because the skin turns color and we have to be careful to look for things such as tattoos.”

The medical examiner might need dental records to help reveal the person’s identity, Florence said. The office is also relying on a DNA database to help identify others found since the storm.

Simsen said the funeral directors have been working on the peninsula and Goat Island for about three weeks, but at his request took the holiday off and would return thereafter. The challenges of reaching the island and the labor-intensive search using heavy machinery to look for remains has taken its toll on the workers, Simsen said.

Sunday’s discovery marks the 20th person from Galveston County who died as a result of the storm, according to accounts from local authorities.

The Laura Recovery Center in Friendswood at last count listed 10 people still missing from the peninsula since the storm.
http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/txcn/houston/stories/khou081225_tnt_ike-victim-goat-island.6a5a6d8.html

[Nut44x4]

Search over for missing Hurricane Ike victims
2-11-09
HOUSTON (AP) — Galveston County authorities said they have officially ended their search for bodies missing from Hurricane Ike nearly five months after the storm.
Five victims, who are believed to have drowned on the Bolivar Peninsula when the hurricane came ashore Sept. 13, remain in the morgue in Galveston County as authorities painstakingly try to determine their identities.

Little is left of the four women and one man believed to have drowned in the surge on Bolivar. Their bodies were washed up with heaps of debris onto Goat and Pelican islands, where they lay in the elements for up to three months before being discovered.

These skeletal remains — the latest discovered three days before Christmas — are in advanced states of decomposition. Fingerprints, tattoos and scars that help identify bodies can no longer be seen and some are missing teeth.

"We're doing all we can. We don't want to misidentify someone," Galveston County medical examiner's chief investigator John Florence said in an online story Tuesday for the Houston Chronicle.

Officials said they had recently sent portions of bone from the unidentified bodies to a North Texas lab, where DNA will be extracted from the marrow for comparison. Since the skeletal remains are so degraded, a mitochondria DNA comparison will be done, Florence said.

"I have a lot of anger about the slowness in naming the dead," said Fred Walters. His mother and grandmother remain missing and he recently held a memorial service but could only bury his half brother whose body was identified through a partial fingerprint. Walters is frustrated that he twice tried to submit his DNA to the medical examiner but was told it was not necessary until weeks later.

His mother and grandmother, both nurses, lived together in a beach house with his half brother, Shane Williams, who was studying to become a teacher.

In New Jersey, Kim Ceminno also is upset by the delay in resolving the identities of the five bodies. One of them may be her father, Harry Bingham.

The search for more bodies officially ended Jan. 30 in Galveston County, said John Simsen, the county's emergency management director.

"We feel confident that we have done as complete a job as we can," he said.

Searchers had an impossible task, he said, battling weather, mosquitoes, alligators and snakes as they picked through thousands of demolished beach homes.

But Chambers County is only 60% finished combing through its 6 million cubic yards of debris that came from Bolivar.

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/hurricanes/2009-02-11-hurricane-ike-victims_N.htm?csp=34

[Nut44x4]

DNA used to ID 4 Ike victims
Published April 25, 2009

PORT BOLIVAR — Four Bolivar Peninsula residents who drowned in Hurricane Ike’s storm surge have been identified by comparing their DNA to that of relatives, an official said Friday.

The Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office has one more identification to make — that of an unidentified woman who drowned and whose body was found on Pelican Island.

Twenty people from Galveston County died as a direct result of Ike’s Sept. 13 landfall, which produced heavy flooding and damaged much of the upper Texas coast. The Laura Recovery Center still lists 24 people missing from Galveston County and two from Harris County.

The bodies of Marion Violet Arrambide, 78, Magdalena Strickland, 49, Charles Garrett, 42, and Rose Brookshire, 81, all of Port Bolivar, were found on Goat Island between October and December. They were identified through DNA, John Florence, a spokesman for the medical examiner, said Friday.

Results Received Thursday

The University of North Texas, which performed the tests on the genetic material, notified the medical examiner’s office by phone of the results Thursday afternoon, Florence said. All other attempts to identify the bodies through dental or other medical records failed.

The fifth unidentified storm victim was found Sept. 29. The university hasn’t finished her test samples, Florence said.

All of the unidentified storm victims were believed to have drowned, Florence said.

“It was a diagnosis of exclusion,” Florence said. “We had to look for other signs of trauma ... and when we don’t see that, then we look for circumstances of when they went missing.”

Sandy Stafford, of the Laura Recovery Center, divides the 26 people still missing into two categories. The center considers 11 reported missing from the peninsula and island as active cases.

There are 15 others, however, mostly from Galveston, that have been listed as cold cases. Stafford said the center has been unable to stay in contact with their relatives to confirm whether they’re still missing.

“Those 15 active cases I’ve been trying to track down and contact people, but I ran into a brick wall,” Stafford said. “Calls are not answered; letters are returned.”

+++

Ike victims

Here is a list of Galveston County residents who died in the county from effects of the storm:

• Martha Ferguson, 69, of Galveston; died Sept. 13, no electricity for breathing machine

• George Helmond, 72, of Galveston; drowned Sept. 14, found in his submerged truck

• Yong Seng Teo, 49, of Galveston; died Sept. 14 of pre-existing health condition, couldn’t reach hospital in time

• Charles Lively, 79, of League City; died Sept. 15 of pre-existing health condition

• Carolyn Williams, 64, of League City; died Sept. 15 of pre-existing health condition, lack of dialysis

• John Manley, 66, of League City; died Sept. 15 pre-existing health condition lack of dialysis

• Jim Devine, 76, of San Leon; drowned, found Sept. 17, near his home

• Robert Dort, 76, of Galveston; died Sept. 20 of pre-existing health condition

• Eddie Bailey, 64, of League City; found dead Sept. 23, pre-existing health condition

• Ruben Ramos, 60, of Galveston; found dead Sept. 23, pre-existing health condition

• Gail Ettenger, 58, of Gilchrist; found Sept. 23 near Chambers County debris field

• Herman Moseley, 48, of Galveston, drowned, found Sept. 27 on Goat Island

• Unidentified woman found on Pelican Island Sept. 29, believed to have drowned

• Shane Williams, 33, of Port Bolivar, found drowned Oct. 6 on Goat Island

• Rose Brookshire, 81, of Port Bolivar; found Oct. 6 on Goat Island north of Port Bolivar, believed to have drowned

• Charles Garrett, 42, of Port Bolivar; found Oct. 6 on Goat Island north of Port Bolivar, believed to have drowned

• Walter Fisher, 70, of Port Bolivar; drowned, found Oct. 25 on Bolivar Peninsula’s North Jetty

• Jennifer McLemore, 50, of Gilchrist; found Nov. 2 in Chambers County debris field, believed to have drowned

• Magdalena Strickland, 49, of Port Bolivar; found Nov. 20 on Goat Island north of Gilchrist, believed to have drowned

• Marion Violet Arrambide, 78, of Port Bolivar; found Dec. 22 on Goat Island north of Crystal Beach, believed to have drowned

Source: Galveston County

Medical Examiner’s Office and

Chambers County Judge Jim Sylvia

+++

Missing

The Laura Recovery Center’s active list of missing includes:

• Harry Bingham, 61, of Crystal Beach

• Susan Shealy, 52, of Crystal Beach

• Sandy D. Walton, 54, of Gilchrist

• Margaret Cordova, 55, of Galveston

• Jacqueline Johnson, 53, of Galveston

Helen Pendergraft, 85, of Galveston

• Ramon Ramos, 59, of Galveston

• Larry Smith, age unknown, of Galveston

• Glennis Dunn, 70, of Port Bolivar

• Janie Parodie, 50, of Houston

• George Ronald Ross, 38, of Pasadena

+++

Cold Cases

The center also has a cold case list. It is no longer able to reach relatives of the following:

Reported missing from Galveston:

• Israel Briceno, 62

• Reynaldo Capote, 42

• Robert Dailey 45

• Mary Joliet, 55

• Dessie Martin, 42

• Ali Patel, 56

• Cora Robb, 66

• Ernand Ruiz, 33

• Jessica Schultz, 27

• Cecilia Site, age unknown

• Dorlene Wiseman, 37

• Esrain Xolchen, 23.

• Kelly McCain, 40, of Houston,

• Robert L. McNeil, 25, of Hitchcock

• Laurie Mitchell, 40, of La Marque
http://galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=c634c5ff09d1af51

[Nut44x4]

Bodies of 4 additional Hurricane Ike victims identified
Comments 0 | Recommend 0
May 27, 2009 - 7:38 AM
posted by: Scott Lawrence
GALVESTON, Texas (AP) - Family members say four of five bodies of unidentified Hurricane Ike victims have been identified at the Galveston County morgue.

Five victims, who are believed to have drowned on the Bolivar Peninsula when the hurricane came ashore Sept. 13, were kept in the morgue in Galveston County as authorities painstakingly tried to determine their identities.

The victims have been identified as Marion Violet Arrambide, 78, and her daughter, Magdalina Strickland, 49; Delores Brookshire and her disabled son, Charles Allen Garrett, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Roy Arrambide, the son of Marion Violet Arrambide, said he was grateful to finally have closure.

DNA testing enabled their identification.

Officials with the Galveston County medical examiner's office are still working to identify the remains of a petite female with webbed toes and an abdominal scar.

http://www.kfdm.com/news/galveston-31933-victims-hurricane.html

[Nut44x4]

Skeletal remains found in Chambers County

08:40 PM CDT on Tuesday, September 8, 2009

khou.com staff report

CHAMBERS COUNTY -- Workers clearing Hurricane Ike debris Tuesday found skeletal remains in southern Chambers County.

They were working in an area of private pastureland off FM 562 between Lone Oak Bayou and Smith Point.

It's the same location where the remains of other Ike victims were located after the hurricane struck nearly a year ago.

The remains were sent to the Jefferson County Morgue for an autopsy. 

The Chambers County sheriff says they believe the remains are from one of the four people still missing from the Bolivar Peninsula after Hurricane Ike.

The only identifying trait was that the deceased had previously suffered a skull fracture in the area of the left eye. The bones had been pieced back together with surgical wire.

Anyone with information to help identify the victim is asked to contact the Chambers County Sheriff’s Office at 409-267-2518.
http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou090908_mh_chambers-county-body.15fa67e7d.html?npc

[Nut44x4]

9/8 Skeletal Remains Found In Southern Chambers County

Tuesday, Sep 8, 2009 @08:28pm CST

Authorities have found skeletal remains in southern Chambers County.
A crew of workers with debris clean-up found it in an area off of FM 562 between Lone Oak Bayou and Smith Point.

That's the same area where two survivors of Hurricane Ike and two other bodies were located almost a year ago.

Investigators have taken the remains to the Jefferson County Morgue for an autopsy.

Authorities believe its one of the four people missing from Bolivar Peninsula since the storm.
http://setxhomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=65442

[Nut44x4]

The missing: A few Ike victims were never found

05:39 PM CDT on Wednesday, September 9, 2009

By Leigh Frillici / 11 News

GALVESTON, Texas—Jeanne Reedy is trying to figure out where her friend, Sandy Walton, may have spent her last hours during Hurricane Ike.

Reedy said Walton went to the Rancho Carribe Golf course to feed some pets when the storm crashed ashore on the Bolivar Peninsula.

Their friend Bob was the last person to see her alive.

“Bob said he tried to get her up in the rafters but he just couldn’t get her up there. All of a sudden, a big wave came, knocked him down and when he came up she was gone,” said Reedy.

Walton is one of three women still missing from Ike.

One female hurricane victim's body remains unidentified in the Galveston County morgue. Without DNA, they can't determine if the remains belong to Sandy Walton or one of the other missing women.

Reedy tracked down Sandy’s son in a California prison.

“I was trying to get DNA. I wrote Bryan a letter and said, ‘Spit on a cut tip and send it to me,’ but the coroner said that won’t work,” said Reedy.

For now, Reedy waits and hopes that her friend will be found so she can say goodbye.
http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou090909_jj_chambers-missing-people-ike.16416efe1.html

[Mtnmom]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6610853.html

Daughter dreading the news

The last time Kimberly Cennimo saw her father, Harry Bingham, was when they buried her mother and brother. Now she fears that the next time she sees her dad she will be burying him.

Skeletal remains of a body believed washed 17 miles from the Bolivar Peninsula across East Bay and into Chambers County by Hurricane Ike were recovered Tuesday — just days from the storm's one-year anniversary on Sunday. The Jefferson County Medical Examiner's office says the badly decomposed body belonged to a white male in his 60s whose skull had been fractured and pieced together with surgical wire.

Of four Bolivar residents still listed by the Laura Recovery Center as missing since the storm Bingham is the only one who closely matches the remains. He is a 61-year-old white male with a metal plate put in his head after a motorcycle accident when he was in his 20s, said Cennimo, 39, of Mount Holly, N.J.

The other missing residents are women: Bingham's girlfriend, Susan Shealy, 52; Sandy Walton, 54; and Glennis Dunn, 70.

Search continues
The latest skeletal remains were found protruding from a pile of vegetation, lumber and household items in a wooded pasture off FM 562 near Smith Point. The bodies of two other drowning victims from the storm — 50-year-old Jennifer McLemore and 58-year-old Gail Ettenger, also from Bolivar — were recovered from other giant debris piles within a few miles of this area in November and December.

While authorities theorize the body found Tuesday is an Ike victim, they are waiting for DNA tests before making a positive identification.

“That could take several weeks,” said Chambers County Sheriff's Capt. John Mulryan.

Crews continued Wednesday to comb through the debris pile where the partial skeleton was found.

“We want to see if we can find any other bones,” Mulryan said. “We also have other missing people that we're looking for.”

The debris search and removal program had been scheduled to end Friday, but it is now expected to be extended another two weeks, said Chambers County Judge Jimmy Sylvia.

Crews, using body-sniffing dogs and heavy equipment, have spent the past year scouring miles of mostly unpopulated marshland along Chambers County's coast while dodging snakes, alligators and mosquitoes.

“We have a small area left that had been too wet for us to check before now,” Sylvia said.

Woman's body not ID'd
Authorities have recorded 43 Ike-related deaths in Texas. To date, 10 drowning victims have been identified in Chambers and Galveston counties. Only one body, that of a white female, still remains unidentified in the Galveston County morgue.

She could be Bingham's girlfriend, Shealy, who is the only missing person for which there is no DNA sample for comparison.

However, John Florence, the morgue's spokesman, has learned Shealy may have a son in a California prison and is trying to secure a DNA specimen from him.

Meanwhile, Cennimo wonders whether she will be planning her father's funeral. Her parents had divorced after her 14-year-old brother, Johnny, was killed by a drunk driver.

“My dad couldn't take it and had a nervous breakdown,” she said.

Then her other brother, James, at age 30, had a seizure as a result of an earlier case of encephalitis and died in 2004, followed shortly afterward by the death of her diabetic mother. They were living in Mount Holly.

“I called my father and he came home for their funerals. We buried them together. That was the last time I saw my father,” she said, her voice breaking into a sob.

Her only contact with him since then has been by telephone on holidays or birthdays.

“I hope the DNA that I submitted will finally bring closure to all this,” she said.

‘He's still really upset'
Other family members agree. Cathy Boudin of Homer, La., is the mother of Bingham's only other living child and Cennimo's half brother, Dustin, 27. “My son's been knowing it would happen,” Boudin said. “But he's still really upset about it.”

The last anyone heard from Bingham was the day before the storm hit, when the water was already rising over the only exit road off the peninsula, and he was contemplating whether to evacuate.

One time Bingham said he was staying and the next he talked of heading to Beaumont, family members said.

But after the storm, his cell phone would ring and ring with no answer. His family had to wait days to be permitted to cross the bridge to look for him on the flooded peninsula.

They found his jeep buried in sand up to the windows and washed into a pasture near the bridge exiting the peninsula, about three miles from the trailer where he lived. “I think he rushed out in a hurry,” Cennimo said. “But he was too late and couldn't make it.”

[Nut44x4]

Ike remains are from Crystal Beach man

By Chris Paschenko
The Daily News
Published January 2, 2010

CRYSTAL BEACH — Skeletal remains recovered from a Hurricane Ike debris field in Chambers County were identified as a Galveston County resident, an official said Friday.

Laura Recovery Center officials believe DNA confirmed the identity of the remains as Harry Bingham, 61, who lived in Crystal Beach on Bolivar Peninsula, spokeswoman Sandy Stafford said.

Bingham’s daughter, Kim Cennimo, who lives in New Jersey, called center director Bob Walcutt on Thursday, saying she was told Wednesday the remains were positively identified as her father, Stafford said.

Cennimo didn’t tell Walcutt how the remains were identified, Stafford said.

An attempt to confirm the identification with a message left for Chambers County Sheriff Joe LaRive wasn’t successful.

Workers clearing pastureland on the afternoon of Sept. 8 off FM 562 between Lone Oak Bayou and Smith Point found the remains, LaRive said in a statement released that day.

An identifying trait included bones that had been pieced back together with surgical wire, the statement said.

The center expected the remains to be Bingham’s, Stafford said.

“We were fairly certain it was Harry because of the plates in his face,” Stafford said.

“There was a metal plate, and Harry had been in a motorcycle accident years ago and had to have extensive reconstruction surgery.”

The center has been instrumental in helping relatives in the search for loved ones missing since Sept. 13, 2008, when Ike slammed ashore, causing widespread flooding and damaging much of the Upper Texas Coast.

That area of Chambers County was the same vicinity where two survivors of the storm and two other bodies were found after landfall, the sheriff’s statement said.

There are three others still listed as missing from Bolivar Peninsula since the storm: Susan Shealy, 52, of Crystal Beach; Sandy D. Walton, 54, of Gilchrist; and Glennis Dunn, 70, of Port Bolivar.

Shealy and Bingham lived together for five years, and they supposedly were going to evacuate together, Stafford said.

“There was talk about different scenarios, that he left to fill up with gas or went out by himself and couldn’t get back to her,” Stafford said.

A woman’s body found shortly after the storm on Pelican Island just north of Galveston has yet to be identified.

The body had webbed toes, just like Shealy, Stafford said.

“The only thing we’re not able to confirm is a 7-inch abdominal scar,” Stafford said. “But we do know that she had a baby, and it could have been a Caesarean scar.”

+++

Ike victims

Here is a list of Galveston County residents who died in the county from effects of the storm:

• Martha Ferguson, 69, of Galveston, died Sept. 13, 2008, no electricity for breathing machine

• George Helmond, 72, of Galveston, drowned Sept. 14, 2008, found in his submerged truck

• Yong Seng Teo, 49, of Galveston, died Sept. 14, 2008, of pre-existing health condition, couldn’t reach hospital in time

• Charles Lively, 79, of League City, died Sept. 15, 2008, of pre-existing health condition

• Carolyn Williams, 64, of League City, died Sept. 15, 2008, of pre-existing health condition, lack of dialysis

• John Manley, 66, of League City, died Sept. 15, 2008, pre-existing health condition lack of dialysis

• Jim Devine, 76, of San Leon, drowned, found Sept. 17, 2008, near his home

• Robert Dort, 76, of Galveston, died Sept. 20, 2008, of pre-existing health condition

• Eddie Bailey, 64, of League City, found dead Sept. 23, 2008, pre-existing health condition

• Ruben Ramos, 60, of Galveston, found dead Sept. 23, 2008, pre-existing health condition

• Gail Ettenger, 58, of Gilchrist, found Sept. 23, 2008, near Chambers County debris field

• Herman Moseley, 48, of Galveston, drowned, found Sept. 27, 2008, on Goat Island

• Unidentified woman, found on Pelican Island, Sept. 29, 2008, believed to have drowned

• Shane Williams, 33, of Port Bolivar, found drowned Oct. 6, 2008, on Goat Island

• Rose Brookshire, 70, of Port Bolivar, found Oct. 6, 2008, on Goat Island north of Port Bolivar, believed to have drowned

• Charles Garrett, 42, of Port Bolivar, found Oct. 6, 2008, on Goat Island north of Port Bolivar, believed to have drowned

• Walter Fisher, 70, of Port Bolivar, drowned, found Oct. 25, 2008, on Bolivar Peninsula’s North Jetty

• Jennifer McLemore, 50, of Gilchrist, found Nov. 2, 2008, in Chambers County debris field, believed to have drowned

• Magdalena Strickland, 49, of Port Bolivar, found Nov. 20, 2008, on Goat Island north of Gilchrist, believed to have drowned

• Marion Violet Arrambide, 78, of Port Bolivar, found Dec. 22, 2008, on Goat Island north of Crystal Beach, believed to have drowned

• Harry Bingham, 61, of Crystal Beach, found Sept. 8, 2009, in Chambers County debris field.

SOURCES: Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office, Chambers County Judge Jim Sylvia, Chambers County Sheriff Joe LaRive and Laura Recovery Center
http://www.galvnews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=acb4b274722ac289

[Nut44x4]

Inmate’s DNA could help identify last known victim of Hurricane Ike

by Chris Paschenko / The Daily News
Posted on January 18, 2010 at 11:41 AM

BOLIVAR PENINSULA, Texas — Using DNA from a California prisoner, the Galveston County Medical Examiner’s Office could be close to learning the identity of the last known victim of Hurricane Ike.

A web-footed woman’s remains, which have been at the county morgue for 15 months, could be those of Sandy D. Walton, 54, of Gilchrist, one of three Bolivar Peninsula women still reported missing.

Ike made landfall Sept. 13, 2008, causing widespread flooding and damaging much of the upper Texas coast. The storm’s surge measured at least 10 feet at Crystal Beach and swept 3,600 structures from their peninsula foundations.

Acting on information from one of Walton’s acquaintances, the medical examiner’s office sent a DNA test kit to a prison in Tehachapi, Calif., to take sample from Brian Keith Walton, John Florence, a spokesman for the medical examiner, said.

"The friend was the driving force behind that," Florence said. "She found a son."

The office had the remains tested for DNA at the University of North Texas but has not received DNA from a relative that matched, Florence said.

The woman’s remains were found Sept. 29, 2008, on Pelican Island, which is across Galveston Bay and west of the peninsula.

All of the other nine Ike victims from the peninsula were found either on Goat Island just north of the peninsula or in Chambers County.

At least 21 county residents died as a direct result of the storm.

The Laura Recovery Center in Friendswood has been working to help relatives identify their loved ones.
http://www.khou.com/news/Inmates-DNA-could-ID-Ike-remains-81974327.html

[Nut44x4]

ID remains elusive for last known Ike victim

The Associated Press
Nov. 26, 2010, 8:52AM

GALVESTON, Texas — Galveston County's last known victim from Hurricane Ike remains unidentified more than two years after the storm.

The woman was found 16 days after Ike made landfall on Sept. 13, 2008, causing widespread flooding and damage on the southeast Texas coast.

People on all-terrain vehicles discovered the badly decomposed body on the shore of Pelican Island. The woman is believed to be among 13 victims who drowned in the storm.

Spokesman John Florence says the Galveston County Medical Examiner's Office is awaiting word on DNA testing from the University of North Texas. One DNA test failed to match her with a relative.

The Galveston County Daily News reports that the woman is estimated between 35 and 45 years old and 4 feet, 11 inches to 5 feet, 3 inches tall.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7312186.html