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| CA Jane doe Case #04-1000/Anne Fitzgerald; San Mateo Co., CA 5/3/04 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 13 2009, 07:49 PM (772 Views) | |
| mimi | Oct 13 2009, 07:49 PM Post #1 |
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Jane Doe #04-05/Case #04-1000 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On May 3rd, 2004, this office was notified of a suitcase containing a human skeleton that was discovered while clearing out the residence of Douglas Fitzgerald in Burlingame, California. The skeleton was found in a light blue Samsonite hard-shell suitcase. It is believed the skeletal remains are those of Douglas Fitzgerald's wife, Anne Rangley Fitzgerald (maiden name: Zavitz) born 7/15/1913. The Coroner's Office has been unable to locate a death record for Zavitz-Fitzgerald, any dental records or other means for positive identification. DESCRIPTION OF REMAINS: Sex: Female. Race: Caucasian. Age: Approximately 70-75 years old at the time of death. Eyes: Unknown. Hair: Unknown. Height: 5' 3" to 5'4". Weight: Unknown. Clothing:None. Distinguishing marks or tattoos: Trauma to left ribs showing signs of healing. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If you have information regarding the identification of this person, please contact: San Mateo County Coroner's Office Telephone: (650) 312-5562 http://www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/portal/site/c...xtcurrchannel=1 |
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| mimi | Oct 13 2009, 07:50 PM Post #2 |
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Skeleton found in Burlingame man's closet still a mystery Oakland Tribune, May 28, 2004 | by Christine Morente, STAFF WRITER BURLINGAME -- San Mateo County coroner's deputies aren't much closer to solving a Burlingame mystery that involves a locked suitcase filled with a woman's skeleton. Burlingame police found a handwritten note in 82-year-old's Douglas McLennan Fitzgerald's apartment, where the bones, possibly belonging to his deceased wife, were stored. He died of lung cancer April 28 and was found dead in his apartment by a neighbor. Relatives cleaning the apartment found the suitcase in a closet. Based on information in the note, police have gleaned information about Anne Rangely Fitzgerald. They say she was born in Boston, Mass., on July 15, 1913, and was educated in England. She married Richard Douglas Zavitz, who died on April 12, 1968. She also worked at Drenison, a manufacturing company in Las Vegas that closed down. She married Douglas Fitzgerald on June 13, 1975, in Reno, and both lived at Burlingame's Villa Tuscany apartment complex at 789 El Camino Real for 20 years, Coroner Robert Foucrault said. Before that, she had lived in San Mateo, San Francisco, Southern California and Las Vegas. Relatives and neighbors said that they knew she died 10 years ago. But no one has been able to find her birth or death certificates and dental records. Some medical records have been found, but none that can confirm her identity or next of kin, Foucrault said. "Everything (Burlingame police) have done has come up negative," Foucrault said. "They've researched pretty much everything." The Coroner's Office released photographs of Anne Fitzgerald on Tuesday in the hope someone might recognize her and supply more information. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn41...8/ai_n14577082/ |
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| mimi | Oct 13 2009, 07:54 PM Post #3 |
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Douglas McLennan Fitzgerald died 28 Apr 2004 in Burlingame, San Mateo County, CA of lung cancer. In May, 2004, relatives cleaning his apartment found a locked, light blue hard-case Sampsonite suitcase in a closet. The suitcase contained the bones of a woman about 5’3” tall, age 70-75 years. The bones are believed to be those of Douglas’s wife, Ann Fitzgerald, who relatives and neighbors have said died about 10 years previously. However, no death certificate has been found for Ann, nor has any birth or dental record surfaced. The skeleton showed evidence of healing damage to the left rib cage. Douglas Fitzgerald apparently left some sort of handwritten note, but I am not aware of its contents. The San Mateo County coroner’s office is anxious to find a living relative of Ann’s for DNA confirmation of the skeleton’s identity. Ann Rangle Morris, born 15 July 1913 in Boston, is believed to be her maiden name. It is said that she was educated in England. Apparently she first married one Richard Douglas Zavitz, born 17 May 1908 in Minnesota. He died 12 April 1968 in San Mateo, CA. Unknown if there were children of this marriage. She second married Douglas McLennan Fitzgerald 13 June 1975 in Reno, NV. He was born 19 July 1924 in Alameda County, CA, and his mother’s maiden name was MacLean. Douglas Fitzgerald may have been married previously, as he had talked about having several sons living on the East Coast. Ann had worked until about 1978 at a Las Vegas, NV manufacturing firm called Drenison, which is now closed. Ann and Douglas living for about 20 years (since their marriage) at the Villa Tuscany Apartments, 789 El Camino Real, Apt. 17, Burlingame, CA. Ann previously had lived in San Mateo and San Francisco, CA, somewhere in Southern CA, and in Las Vegas, NV. Douglas Fitzgerald is said to have been a heavy drinker who spent more than his $556/month social security income at a pub in Burlingame. Douglas Fitzgerald, 82, died of lung cancer alone in his Burlingame apartment some days before his body was discovered by a neighbor April 28. County authorities located a niece who had seen her uncle perhaps once in the last 30 years. As she and her daughter cleared his apartment, they found a suitcase that contained skeletal remains bundled into plastic and paper bags. |
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| mimi | Oct 13 2009, 07:54 PM Post #4 |
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SAN MATEO COUNTY Bones found in closet likely missing woman's Maria Alicia Gaura, Chronicle Staff Writer Thursday, May 20, 2004 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- San Mateo County coroner's investigators are pretty sure that a suitcase found in the late Douglas Fitzgerald's closet contains the earthly remains of his long-vanished wife, Anne. But a positive identification has so far eluded county officials, who say the couple left few documentary traces despite long lives, and that leads in the case have nearly petered out. How she died is also a mystery. Investigators Wednesday released photographs of a woman they think is Anne Fitzgerald in hopes that someone will recognize her and help flesh out details of the couple's hazy past. The photographs were found in Fitzgerald's apartment. "Hopefully, somebody who worked with her, a neighbor, or a doctor who treated her, will recognize the photograph," said San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault. "Maybe there are family members out there. There are one or two relatives on his side, but we know nothing about her side of the family." Douglas Fitzgerald died of lung cancer, alone in his Burlingame apartment at age 82, some days before his body was discovered by a neighbor on April 28. All neighbors knew about the reclusive man was that he had lived in the building for about 20 years, and he claimed in recent years that his wife had died about a decade ago. County authorities located one Fitzgerald relative living locally, a niece who had seen her uncle perhaps once in the past 30 years. As that niece and her daughter cleared Fitzgerald's apartment, the daughter opened a Samsonite-style suitcase, revealing skeletal remains bundled into plastic and paper bags. The bones proved to be those of a white woman, about 75 years of age and 5 feet 3 inches to 5 feet 4 inches tall. The left ribs had been injured but were fairly well healed at the time of death. The cause of death was not obvious, but the bones had apparently been buried for years before they were placed in the suitcase. The physical dimensions of the remains generally match those of the absent Anne Fitzgerald, who, if she were alive, would now be 90 years old. Douglas Fitzgerald and Anne, whose maiden name was Morris, married in 1975 in Reno. She had been married previously to a man named Zavitz. Her last known job, with a Nevada manufacturer, ended in 1978, and the firm has since gone out of business. His last job was with a San Mateo convalescent home, which also went out of business. Officials have been unable to find a death certificate for Anne Fitzgerald in either California or Nevada. They have also been unable to locate complete medical or dental records. Despite tantalizing clues, officials can't say for sure if the bones in the suitcase or the photographs found in Fitzgerald's apartment are those of Anne Fitzgerald. "We have some indications," Foucrault said, "but proving it scientifically is going to be a challenge." E-mail Maria Alicia Gaura at mgaura@sfchronicle.com. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...&sn=001&sc=1000 The San Mateo County Coroner believes remains found in a suitcase could be those of Anne Fitzgerald, shown in the first photo in 1942. The second photo is undated. They are reaching out to the public, hoping that someone will recognize her and help them solve the mystery of the couple's past. |
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| mimi | Oct 13 2009, 08:08 PM Post #5 |
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Douglas M. Fitzgerald |
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