Showing posts with label 1950's. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1950's. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Disappearance of Tony Gikoff

 On July 9, 1955, 62-year-old Tony Gikoff was last seen near Colborne, Ontario, Canada at a property he rented out. 

Tony is a white male and was 62-years-old at the time. He was 193 cm (6'4") and 120 kg (265 lbs). He has dark brown hair. 

SOURCES:

Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Ontario's Missing Adults

International Missing Persons Wiki


Sunday, June 8, 2025

June 8, 1950 Pomona, California John Doe

In Pomona, California an elderly transient would work for a woman. He would reside in her barn as he worked for her. On June 5, 1950, he would admit that he was not feeling well. She would contact her doctor to check him out. He was prescribed medicine but had refused to take any of it. He would be last seen alive at 8 pm on the 7th and at 6:35 the next morning he would be found dead. It's not stated how long he'd worked there or if he told them his name/what they had called him.

John Doe was a white male between 70 and 90 years old. He was 5'10" and 140 lbs. He had grey or greying hair. Army tan undershirt, gray workshirt, inner trousers khaki, outer pants Levis, Army hook leggings, and heavy work boots.

SOURCES:

Wednesday, December 11, 2024

December 11, 1957 Florida City, Florida "H. Daniels"

On December 11, 1957, skeletal remains were found in a homeless camp located 100 feet south of Lucy Street and 11th Avenue in Florida City, Florida. There was no form of identification at the scene, but there was a laundry slip with the name "H. Daniels". According to the scene, it's believed that he had died from wood-alcohol poisoning as there were sterno cans found. It's believed he died weeks prior to discovery.

John Doe was a black male between 40 to 50-years-old. He was 5'5" and had black hair. He was wearing Dark colored pants and a khaki shirt. There were other pieces of clothing at the scene. 

SOURCES:

Friday, November 22, 2024

November 22, 1957 Dublin, Virginia Baby John Does

 On November 22, 1957, the bodies of two infant boys were found in a box recently buried in an unmarked grave near a cemetery in Dublin, Virginia. It is not stated how the boys had died or when they died. It's possible that the two were twins.

The baby John Does were both African American Infants. The boys were 18 inches long and one was 5 lbs and the other was 4 lbs. 

SOURCES:

NamUs Boy 1

NamUs Boy 2

Friday, November 8, 2024

November 8, 1981 Danville, Virginia John Doe

November 8, 1981, the skeletal remains were found scattered in an old dumpsite near Danville, Virginia. It's believed that he had died likely in 1959.

John Doe was a Black male and was between 40 to 60 years old. He was 5'2" to 5'7". He was wearing a large dark-colored cotton T-shirt.

SOURCES:

Thursday, October 24, 2024

October 24, 1958, Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin John Doe


On October 24, 1958, teenagers would find the cranium of a man resting on the ground while hunting near Lac du Flambeau, Wisconsin. It was noted to be sitting in an area of dirt devoid of plant growth and leaves, although the surrounding area had thick ground cover of grass, foliage, and leaf litter.

John Doe was believed to be 23 to 57 years old. 

SOURCES:

Sunday, July 14, 2024

July 14 1950, Braidwood, Illinois John Doe

On July 14, 1950, the body of a man was found in an abandoned strip mine pit between I-55 (Route 66 at the time) and Route 113 in Braidwood, Illinois. The area was a strip mine and farm. He had been dead around 4 to 5 weeks.

John Doe is a white man Pre 50. He's 5'8" to 5'10" and 175 to 180 lbs. He had brown hair that was thinning on top. He had a tattoo on his left arm. 

SOURCES;

Monday, July 8, 2024

July 8, 1957 Houston, Texas EJC Doe

 On July 8, 1957, the body of a man was found in Buffalo Bayou in Houston, Texas. He was found face floating face down on the south bank and had been dead for around 3 days.

John Doe is a white male between 25 to 40 years old. He was 5'6' and 142 lbs. He had brown to black hair. He was wearing a green and brown striped long-sleeve shirt with a pocket on the left upper chest, khaki pants, a pair of white cotton socks, 9A brown shoes with a strap and buckle, a brown woven, cowboy-type belt buckle, and two combs in his pocket. He was wearing dentures that contained a serial number and the notation of "EJC 810-56". EJC is possibly a set of initials, while the numbers indicate the date of August 10, 1956

SOURCES:
NamUs
Doe Network

Tuesday, June 18, 2024

June 18, 1979, Baltimore, Maryland (New Jersey) John Doe

 On June 18, 1979, the remains of a man were found in a pump of a dry dock in Baltimore, Maryland. The dry dock was towed from New Jersey to Baltimore in the late 1950s. This would estimate that the man had died between 1929 and 1959.

John Doe was likely white between 40 to 65 years old. He was 5'11" with a muscular robust build. He had arthritis in his knees and had mouth stress suggestive of a mind instrument player or glass blower. Two china buttons were found with the body. The buttons were likely used on suspenders and were a style of WWII. 

SOURCES:

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

June 11, 1952 Tama County, Iowa Baby John Doe

On June 11, 1952. road construction was happening along the route of U.S. Highway 30, about four miles west of Tama, Iowa. A construction worker discovered a box 350 feet east of the Raven Creek bridge on the south side of the roadway. The box was a Wilson Packing Company box marked “chili.” and was wrapped with a cord.

The worker would open the box to find something horrifying. Inside the box were two packages wrapped with newspapers and tea towels. Inside the packages was the horrifying sight of the body of a baby boy. The other package was the afterbirth. It was found that the baby had blunt force trauma to the head and the baby was alive for 2 and a half to 3 hours.

They were the April 17 and May 8 issues of The Marshalltown Times-Republican. The newspapers had no mailing address attached, but two “stars” were discovered in the newspapers. This indicated they had been delivered on a Marshalltown city route. One tea towel had the embroidery of a lamb in one corner and the other had the numeral 49 in black.

John Doe was a white male newborn. He was fully developed. He weighed 8 lbs and had blonde hair.

SOURCES:
Iowa Cold Cases

Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Disappearance of Mary Belle "Mary Beth" Henley




On June 5, 1951, 25-year-old Mary Belle Henley was last seen in Witchita, Kansas. There is little information in this case. She May go by Mary Beth.

Mary is a white female and was 25-years-old at the time. She's 5'8" to 5'9" and 125lbs to 135lbs. She has brown hair and brown eyes. She has a mole on her chin.

SOURCES:
NamUs

Saturday, April 27, 2024

April 27, 1958 Long Beach, California Baby Girl Doe

On April 27, 1958, a newborn girl was found washed ashore in the Alamitos Bay in Long Beach, California.

Jane Doe was 1'3" to 1'6" and 7 lbs. She was wrapped in a woman's long housecoat size 38-40, it was in a duster-style and lightweight. The housecoat was faded with red piping on the collar. It opens from the neckline to the waist and is fastened with two buttons. The brand was Charmode which was sold at Sears Roebuck & Co.

SOURCES:

Saturday, April 13, 2024

April 13, 1989 New York, New York John Doe

On April 13, 1989, the Synagogue on 12 Eldridge St in New York City, New York was undergoing renovations. A worker was shoveling a pile of coal ash in the basement when a skull would be found. Police were called and the rest of the skeletal remains of a teenage boy were found. It's believed that the remains may have been there for a long time. There was a bottle from the 1930s was found in the same area. It's not clear how it may be forensically significant to this case. Also, the building did not have a coal burner for the last 50 years. So it's believed the young man had died between 1930 to 1960. 

John Doe was a black male between 14 to 17 years old. He was around 5'2".

SOURCES:
Daily News April 15, 1989

Saturday, March 9, 2024

Murder of Patricia Ann Lupton

 


On Feb. 16, 1959, 12-year-old Patricia Lupton and her three friends saw a babysitting notice posted on the bulletin board at the A&P supermarket in the Kennedy Park Shopping Plaza at Kennedy Rd and Eglinton Ave E. in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 

The girls all put their names, addresses, and phone numbers for the ad, as they all had a history of babysitting. On March 9th Patricia would receive a call from the man answering the ad. Patricia was not the only one who received a call as two of the other friends were. One missed the call as the line was busy and the other was sick.

He called himself Mr. Johnson and told her that he and his wife were visiting their infant son in the hospital and needed a babysitter for their slightly older son.  Patricia agreed and was excited as she liked taking care of younger children. She was supposed to get picked up by Mrs. Johnson at the Kennedy Park Drugs in the same Plaza where she saw the bulletin. 

Her parents felt safe with her accepting the job as she was highly regarded by the people she previously babysat for. She told her parents she was going to check in with them when she got home. At 5:30 pm she left her home to the Plaza.  

A call that was supposed to happen never came and this worried her family. Unknown to them her body was found at 7:20 in a snowbank on McCowan Rd, less than two miles from her home. She had been strangled to death with her own scarf, her knees were bruised, and her clothing was in disarray, she was not sexually assaulted, but it can be assumed that that was the motive.

Four hours later her family learned of what had happened to her from the news.

SOURCES:

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

February 14, 1959 Miami, Florida John Doe

On February 14, 1959, the body of a man was found in shallow water near the shoreline of a rock pit on Bailes, Rd in Miami, Florida. He was found nude and laying face down. His cause of death was unknown or unstated.

John Doe was a black male between 30 to 40-years-old. He was 5'5" and 150 lbs. He had black curly hair and black eyes. Clothes were found near the body by the shoreline. The clothes were a white T-shirt, white jockey shorts, a blue sports shirt, tan pants, and a pair of army-type ankle high-laced shoes. 

There were also various pans and food scraps found nearby. 

Saturday, February 10, 2024

February 10, 1952 San Pedro, California John Doe



On February 10, 1952, the body of a man was found floating in the surf at the end of Barracuda St on Terminal Island in San Pedro, California by two fishermen. He was greatly decomposed when he was found and was missing body parts such as the legs below the knee and both arms. 

John Doe was between 20 to 25-years-old. He was between 6'0" and 6'5". 

SOURCES: 
News-Pilot February 11, 1952 

Monday, February 5, 2024

February 5, 1956 Arcadia, California John Doe

On February 5, 1956, two boys found leg bones in some brush at the Santa Anita Wash in Arcadia, California. More remains were found, but not all. It's believed that there was animal activity on his body. It's unknown how the man had died, but he may have been there for a year or more. 

John Doe was a man over 50 years old. He was 5'7" to 5'9" and around 200 lbs. He had grey or greying hair. He had Khaki trousers Penney's Big Mac with a 30" inseam x 40" waist, Blue denim trousers with a 30" inseam x 40" waist, a blue denim jacket, a brown sleeveless fleece lined leather vest, a pair of work gloves, a dark brown socks, army like work shoe, and horned rim glasses. There were also items found in the area. A bath towel, a feather pillow, a big box of matches, and a small box of matches.

It's unknown if all the items found with the body had anything to do with him. 

Thursday, February 1, 2024

February 1, 1992 Grand Rapids, Michigan Doe

February 1, 1992, partial skeletal remains were found in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This person died between 1940 to 1992.

SOURCES:
NamUs

Wednesday, December 27, 2023

December 27, 1953 Los Angeles, California John Doe STW



On December 27, 1953, an off-duty Los Angeles Police Officer was hiking in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California when he discovered skeletal remains scattered along the hillside. He had died around a year before and there was no evidence of violence on the skull. A broken phonograph was found nearby. It was the type to be used for home recordings so police suspect it was a suicide note. It's also believed that he was not wearing his pants when he died. v

John Doe was a man between 50 to 60-years-old. He was 5'0". He was wearing a grey hat with the initials 'STW', grey trousers, a white nylon shirt, a red sports shirt, and brown Oxford shoes. He had a pocket comb, black plastic lead pencil, a gold wristwatch 'Gruen' brand, a silver scapular medal and chain, a pair of old bifocal glasses, and a pair of horn-rimmed eyeglasses.

SOURCES:
Daily News December 28, 1953

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Disappearance of Nancy Anderson

 On December 13, 1958, 60-year-old Nancy Anderson had a dinner party with her neighbors at her home 
in Palmer, Washington. At 8 a.m. the next morning, a neighbor would bring her a newspaper but would find her front door open. Along with that, some lights were on, her purse was inside the dishes were still in the sink, and her dog was running loose. This was odd of her. There were several searches for her, but none turned her up. According to Black Diamond History Nanct had a habit of throwing trash into a nearby river and at the time it was high. It's possible that she may have accidentally fallen in, but there was no evidence of it. 

Nancy is a white female and was 60-year-old at the time. She was 5'4" and around 105 to 110 lbs. She had white hair and blue eyes. She was wearing a bright blue dress.

SOURCES:
NamUs
Black Diamond History

Chu "Joe" Wong Kung

On September 26, 1946, 50-year-old Chu "Joe"  Kung was visiting Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He was at the time staying at the Alexan...