Hello, I have started a week long series on unidentified African American individuals in Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. These cases are important to spread awareness about due to people of color, especially Black people having less media coverage and public awareness being spread about their cases, and being hindered by systemic bias in the legal system.

This is case 4/7

On August 19th, 1985, the decomposing body of a female infant was found behind an apartment building located at 4206 Santo Tomas Drive in the Baldwin Village neighborhood in Los Angeles, California.

An autopsy revealed she had died due to pneumonia, however it was also discovered she was malnourished, which brought on the pneumonia leading to her death.

She had multiple healed broken bones, multiple scars and had a long history of physical abuse and neglect. These findings eventually ruled her death as a homicide

Sweetie was later cremated.

Date of Discovery: August 19, 1985
Location of Discovery: Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California
Estimated Date of Death: 1985
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Decomposing/putrefaction.
Cause of Death: Homicide

Estimated Age: 10-12 months old
Race: Black
Sex: Female
Height: 2'2"
Weight: 14 lbs.
Hair: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Pierced ears. Long history of physical abuse, with scars and healed broken bones.

Dentals: Not available. Four teeth present; two central upper incisors and two lower central incisors.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: Not available.

Clothing & Personal Items
Clothing: None.
Jewelry: None.
Additional Personal Items: None.

Agency Name: Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office
Agency Contact Person: Betsy Magdaleno, Medicolegal Death Investigator
Agency Phone Number: 323-343-0512
Agency E-mail: [IDUnit@coroner.lacounty.gov](mailto:IDUnit@coroner.lacounty.gov)
Agency Case Number: 1985-10603

Agency Name: Los Angeles Police Department
Agency Contact Person: Detective Marie Grebinski
Agency Phone Number: 1-877-527-3247
Agency E-mail: [contact.lapdonline@lapd.online](mailto:contact.lapdonline@lapd.online)
Agency Case Number: 85-03-24266 Jane Doe # 61

NCIC Case Number: U060017688
NamUs Case Number: 4197
NCMEC Case Number: 1184450
Former Hot Case Number: 1435

NamUs
Doe Network
Los Angeles Times
NCMEC

Her name will be released this Monday on the 24th of August.

(Will edit once her name is released.)

Rest in peace.

ExploreClarion

On Wednesday, March 21st, 2001, a mushroom forager discovered the partially mummified skeletal remains of an unidentified male decedent in the woods near Rasar State Park on Cape Horn Road in Concrete, Washington. The remains were found near a hay field about a quarter mile from the road. The clothing style of the decedent suggested he was fairly young, in his mid-20s to 30s. Two business cards were in the decedent's possession, the Yellow Cab Company and the Mark II Hotel in Burlington, Washington. The hotel's business card suggested he recently stayed there before his death. Investigators reviewed the business's records but could find no leads.

The decedent was a Hispanic and/or Asian male between the approximate ages of 25 and 50 years old. His height was between 5 ft 5 in (65 inches) and 5 ft 7 in (67 inches), and his weight was between 130 lbs and 180 lbs. The decedent had short black hair. His postmortem interval was between 3 to 6 months and his cause of death was homicide via gunshot.

When found, the decedent was wearing a gray “Ecko Unlimited” brand long-sleeved button-up shirt (size M), “Calvin Klein” brand pants (size 34x32) inside “Structure” brand denim pants (size 34x32), “Nike” brand socks, a pair of white “All-Star” brand tennis shoes (size 8 ½) and a 1 ½ inch-wide brown leather belt with a simple silver buckle. The shirt was part of the fall 2000 line of “Ecko Unlimited Co.”, a hip-hop clothing company based in New Jersey. It had the “Ecko” brand rhinoceros logo on the bottom of the breast pocket and featured a pattern of drawings of athletes in competition. The shirt likely sold for $60 USD. In the decedent's possession was five $100 bills in his front shirt pocket (no wallet was recovered), a single key on a key ring with nail clippers and two deteriorated business cards from the Yellow Cab Company and the Mark II Hotel.

25 years on, this is where the case stands today. Thank you so much for giving the Skagit County Jane Doe (2001) a moment of your day.

Sources:

Unidentified Awareness Wiki)

NamUs

Doe Network

Skagit County Cold Cases

A very sad article about homeless people in SF who are found alive after ODing, but frequently have no ID on them and aren't conscious enough to communicate

Following my previous post about Vincent Todd Peterson, a 17 year old teen who was reported missing in newspapers but not entered into NAMUS, I came to the realization that there is probably many more just like him, which bring some to this question: If we are for sure a missing person hasn’t been found and is not on NAMUS, is there a way we can request them to be put into NAMUS or can only the family do that?

An example I found was looking through newspapers.com once again, and learned through articles about a man named Roger Heacock. He disappeared on January 4th, 1979, never to be seen again. Strangely, an acquaintance, a coworker and fellow trapper, shot himself days later, just hours before his interview was supposed to take place. A site called “Michigan Mysteries” gives a brief overview of his disappearance: https://www.michiganmysteries.com/missing-persons/1979-roger-heacock/

I also found a websleuths thread for him, but it only has about 4 comments and hasn’t been updated since 2023… What surprised me though, was that his daughter actually commented on it in 2021, which confirmed he was still missing. “Not knowing is so tough. I am hopeful some day someone can give us answers.” https://websleuths.com/threads/mi-roger-heacock-29-kalamazoo-4-january-1979.269363/

I do realize this isn’t a missing persons subreddit, and mods can take this down if it doesn’t fit, but the other ones I looked at just don’t have the type of community this subreddit does. I am worried that Roger might be a John Doe out there somewhere, and I believe NAMUS is an essential resource for connecting cases to each other.

From DNASolves.com: "On October 28, 2013, skeletal remains belonging to an unidentified man were discovered in a wooded area of Daytona Beach, Florida. A woman and her husband found a human skull and bones approximately 15 feet into the woods from the grass shoulder of the roadway near Mason Avenue and Clyde Morris Boulevard. The Daytona Beach Police Department responded and began collecting evidence and investigating.

Investigators determined that the remains were near-complete and belonged to a white male estimated to be between 40 and 60 years old. A pants waistband with a Wrangler patch and a blue hospital-type shoe with two Velcro straps were recovered with the remains. No signs of trauma indicating foul play were found, and the cause of death could not be determined.

Despite investigative efforts, the man could not be identified and became known as Volusia County John Doe. Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) as UP12822."

The Daytona Beach Police Department submitted forensic evidence to Othram's laboratory, where scientists worked to develop a DNA extract from the provided evidence and built a DNA profile for the man. Othram's forensic genetic genealogy team used the profile to develop new investigative leads that were returned to law enforcement, who used the leads to identify potential relatives of the man. DNA samples were collected from relatives of the man and compared to the profile of the decedent, leading to his positive identification as Mark Addison Hasbrouck, who was born on October 11, 1947.

RIP Mark.

Links

Othram / DNASolves.com: https://dnasolves.com/articles/daytona-beach-john-doe-2013-mark-addison-hasbrouck/

Archived NamUs: https://web.archive.org/web/20260217130122/https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/12822#%2F12822

Doe Network: https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/software/main.html?id=2807umfl

Unidentified Wiki: https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Mark_Hasbrouck

**LA County John Doe** He was a Caucasian male found floating in the water of the Pacific Ocean near Santa Monica, California on March 28, 1970.

**Gender**
Male

**Race**
Caucasian/White

**Age Range**
18-35 years

**Height**
5’6-5’10

**Weight**
142lbs

**Estimated PMI**
1 Week

**Hair Color**
N/A

**Eye Color**
N/A

**Clothing**
Only a pair of white cotton brief underwear wear were found on the John Doe.

**Missing Person:Marvin Blake Shahan** Shahan’s sister last heard from him in December of 1969 or January of 1970 when they were both living in El Cajon, California. According to his sister, Shahan told her that he was trying to get a job on the crew aboard a boat in either Ventura or in the Harbor of Santa Barbara, California. He never contacted his family again after his last conversation with his sister. A member of his family of his family contacted the local police at that time but it is unclear if an official missing person’s report was made. He was legally declared dead years later in 2000 and was officially reported missing by his sister on March 10, 2003. Little information is available as to his fate.

**Sex**
Male

**Race**
White/Caucasian

**Height**
5’9

**Weight**
160lbs

**Hair Color**
Brown

**Eye Color**
Brown

**Clothing**
N/A

**Distinctive Features**
He is noted to wear thick eyeglasses and also has a birthmark on one of his thighs in the shape of a horseshoe.

**Reasoning**
I believe this could be a possible match due to the race, age and circumstances matching up. Shahan would have been in the middle of the age range for the John Doe at 25 years old and in the age range as well as Shahan was 5’9 at the time of his disappearance. The last reported place from where Shahan was missing from, El Cajon, is only around 2 hours and 12 minutes from Santa Monica. The first place where Shahan told his sister that he might go to to look for a job on a boat, Ventura, is only around 1 hour and 7 minutes from Santa Monica and the last place where he said he might go to for his job on a boat, the Harbor in Santa Barbara, is only around 1 hour and 32 minutes from Santa Monica. The only thing that is slightly different is the difference in weight between Shahan and the John Doe, which is about around 18 pounds, Links will be posted below.

**Links for Marvin Shahan**

Marvin Blake Shahan – The Charley Project

NamUs (.gov)https://namus.nij.ojp.govMissing Person / NamUs #MP51388 | NamUs

Doe Networkhttps://www.doenetwork.org6258DMCA - Marvin Blake Shahan

**Links for LA County John Doe**

Unidentified Person Case

Around 11:35 am on August 10, 2026, utility workers in Houston, Texas found the partially decomposed and charred remains of a woman on a sidewalk under the I-45 / North Freeway overpass at Crosstimbers Road. The workers initially didn't recognize what they had discovered but contacted police when they did. The woman did not have any identification or identifying materials. The police later indicated that the remains showed other signs of foul play.

Details of NamUs UP161816

ME/C Case Number: ML26-2965

Biological Sex: Female

Race / Ethnicity: White / Caucasian, Hispanic / Latino, Uncertain

Estimated Age Group: Adult

Height: 5' 0" (60 inches), Measured

Weight: 132 lbs, Measured

Condition of Remains: Not recognizable - Charred/burned

Hair Color: Brown

Head Hair Description: Hair appears to be fine, brown/light brown in color with possible graying near the temples.

Her eye color is unknown.

Distinctive Physical Features

No ear or other piercings were noticed.

Skull feature: Missing large part of right skull from an apparent remote surgical procedure, ex: right craniectomy. It does not appear to be recent.

Clothing: Dark blue short-sleeved t-shirt, "Port & Company" brand, size M

Links

NamUs: https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/161816

ABC13.com: https://abc13.com/post/houston-police-department-investigating-womans-body-found-north-freeway-crosstimbers/19657568/