Unidentified Caucasian Female/Pregnant found dead 12/20/76 White Haven, PA

[Nut44x4]

"Beth Doe" aka Carbon County Doe
Carbon County - December 20, 1976

December 20, 2008 will mark the 32nd year since she was found.

Somebody is missing her. Somebody knows something.
Please help me to give her back her name.
Warning: the following case file contains graphic and possibly disturbing details. If you are sensitive to this type of material, please do not read further.
A less detailed account of this case can be found at:
The Doe Network - Case File # 169ufpa
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/169ufpa.html

Unidentified Caucasian Female

Located on December 20, 1976 in White Haven, Carbon County, Pennsylvania

Vital Statistics

Estimated Age: late teens to early 20s (year of birth 1954-1960)

Approximate Height & Weight: 5'4", 130 - 150 pounds

Dentals: X-rays are available. She had fillings and there were some teeth missing.

Fingerprints: available

DNA - Pending

Clothing: none


Distinguishing Characteristics: medium length, natural (not dyed) brown hair. Brown eyes. Small circular mole above left eye, mole on left cheek. 5 1/2" scar on left leg, just above the heel. No previous fractures. She may have been of Mediterranean heritage.

Estimated time of death: 7 to 24 hours prior to being found.

Cause of death: she was strangled and then shot in the neck.

Other: She had been carrying a full-term, white female fetus. The remains of the fetus were also found at the scene. It is possible that the moles on her face developed at some time during her pregnancy.

Case History

On December 20, 1976 at about 4:30 p.m. a local boy made a grizzly discovery on the banks of the Lehigh River in White Haven, Carbon County.

The dismembered and mutilated remains of a young, white female and her unborn child had been stuffed into three suitcases and thrown from a bridge along Interstate 80 over the Lehigh River. Police theorize that the killer, traveling westbound on I-80, tossed the suitcases over the bridge in an attempt to throw them into the river, however, one of the suitcases landed on the banks of the river and the other two landed in a wooded area some 20 feet from the river.

The impact of the 300-foot drop broke two of the suitcases open, scattering the head, torso and fetus. The third suitcase, which remained intact, contained the arms and legs. The gender of the victim was not immediately apparent, but was determined at autopsy to be a young, white female. The fetus was recognized at the scene as that of a white female.

The dismemberment was not haphazard and was performed with a fine, serrated tool. While it was not a surgeon's type cut, an investigator was quoted as saying of the killer "he knew what he was doing". The arms, legs and head had been severed from the body. The torso was cut into two pieces. The ears and nose had been cut off and were not recovered at the scene. Some of the body parts had been wrapped in a chenille bedspread and the torso had been covered with a newspaper.

Additional Details

The three suitcases are all the same size (23" x 14" x 7 1/2"). Two of them are blue, soft vinyl with side zippers and bearing a red, white and blue stripe on one portion. The third suitcase is a blue and tan plaid with brown vinyl trim and side zipper. The handles had been cut off of the suitcases and the zippers were painted with a flat, black paint.

The chenille bedspread was cut into three pieces. It was worn and dirty but appeared to be a rust or coral color with an embroidered yellow flower with dark green and pink design.

The newspaper was determined to be six sections of the New York Sunday News, dated September 26, 1976.

Also found in the suitcases were straw and dry packing foam.

There were letters and numbers written in ink (color of ink unknown) on the palm of the left hand of the victim. While there have been different interpretations of what was actually written on the hand, almost definitely was WSR. Next to that was either a 4 or a 5. Below and to the right was either a 4 or 7. Police checked license plates and CB call signs but were unable to determine the significance of the notations. The ink would have probably lasted 8-12 hours on living flesh.

Investigating Agency

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:

Pennsylvania State Police
Corporal Thomas McAndrew
570-459-3890

You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

See the Video on YouTube
Created by Theresa Foxx/HelpMeFindThem
Doe Network Media Rep - PA
http://www.pennsylvaniamissing.com/carboncountybethdoe.html

[Nut44x4]

Photo/sketches/possible likenesses
http://www.pennsylvaniamissing.com/carboncountybethdoe.html

[Nut44x4]

At the above link you will find photos
The three suitcases that the dismembered remains of Beth Doe and her unborn child were stuffed into, then thrown off of I-80 to land on the banks of the Lehigh River, 300 feet below.

The chenille bedspread, cut into 3 pieces and stuffed into the suitcases with the remains.

I-80 and the Lehigh River below - this is where Beth Doe and her unborn daughter were found on December 20, 1976.
http://www.pennsylvaniamissing.com/bethdoephotos.html

[Nut44x4]

New science may name ‘Beth Doe’
Updated: Tuesday, October 30, 2007 1:00 AM EDT
She had brown eyes, brown hair and was pregnant with a baby girl.

Little else is known about the young woman who has been known for more than 30 years as “Beth Doe.”

However, much is known about her death.

She was strangled, shot and dismembered. Her remains, along with the remains of her fetus, were crammed together, stuffed in three suitcases and thrown from a 300-foot-high bridge into the Lehigh River.

Beth Doe’s real identity still puzzles investigators. But a lot has changed since 1976, when the remains were found underneath the Interstate 80 bridge near White Haven. Technological advances have been made in the field of forensics.

Investigators from state police in Hazleton are scheduled to begin exhuming Beth Doe’s remains this morning from a cemetery in Lehigh Township, Carbon County.

“We are going to apply some of today’s forensics to see if we can identify her,” said Trooper Thomas C. McAndrew, the lead investigator.

Remains of both Beth Doe and her fetus will be re-examined by a forensic pathologist, two forensic odontologists and a forensic anthropologist.

It was Dec. 20, 1976. Kenneth Jumper Jr., then 14, was walking near the Lehigh River when he came across a grisly scene — parts of a human body had tumbled onto rocks from two broken suitcases.

Police discovered a third suitcase along the icy banks of the Lehigh River. Inside one of the suitcases, they found a fetus.

According to reports, police scoured the scene but came up with no evidence. Also found inside the suitcases were sections of the New York Sunday News and a cut-up pink chenille bedspread, both items had been used to wrap the body parts.

An autopsy determined the victim was a female in her late teens or 20s. She was about 5-feet-4 and weighed 140 pounds. Her baby had grown to full-term.

Although a composite sketch was made of her face, the artist was unsure of the nose shape because it, along with her ears, had been removed by the killer, according to information from The Doe Network, an amateur group that researches cold cases. And because it was 1976, DNA was unable to be collected. Forensic investigators can use DNA found in blood, skin or hair to identify a perpetrator or, as in this case, the victim.

No one has ever stepped forward to identify Beth Doe. She was buried in Laurytown Road Cemetery in Lehigh Township, a burial ground known to locals as “Potter’s Field,” or a cemetery for unknown and indigent people. Of 84 grave markers in the cemetery, only 14 bear a name.
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/articles/2007/10/30/local_news/18969305.txt

[Wyks]

In one report, it says that the fetus was thrown out of one of the broken suitcases after being dropped 300 ft. off the bridge.  Says that the one suitcase that was not broken contained the legs and arms of the young woman.  Yet in the last report, it says that the fetus was found inside the one unbroken suitcase.  I just find that odd. 

In many states today, this would count as two murders, because at the time death that was a viable fetus. 

Discovered in Pennsylvania, wrapped in a New York Sunday newspaper.  Wonder where this young woman's family was?  Odd that no one reported her missing.   



     

[Wyks]

Looking up references for WSR.  It's difficult to pinpoint info now that was available back in 1976.  Even searching for missing people in the USA turns up way fewer reported back in those years, as compared to the many that can be found today.  Could be a good many from back then just haven't been entered into the databases of today.   

Seems that there was a Creative Writing Program at New York University called WSR, yet info on what year that was isn't available.  Not sure that would have anything to do anyway with the initials found on this woman's palm.

An interesting find for WSR is 'Women's Study in Religion'.  Not sure if these studies were available back in 1976 tho.  The studies include a 'Transnational Feminisms Project', which include topics on women's issues/activism in Europe etc, which include discussions on 'Violence Against Women'.  And since this woman found dead may have been of Mediterranean heritage, I wonder if this is a possible link to those initials WSR, with the numbers found next to those relating to courses within the WSR studies.  Back in the late 70's, having anything to do with feminism and violence against women would have been rather controversial, especially if one was a participating activist.  A woman of Mediterranean heritage doing this would have been a huge no-no, according to what I know of their culture.  Not sure if the WSR courses were available at many universities back in that day, or if these were available in Pennsylvania or New York. 

The university I found this info on is in California: http://www.cgu.edu/pages/5631.asp  What if this woman had been a university student and had ticked off the wrong person with these studies?  I realize this is all a huge stretch, but a possibility nonetheless.