| Welcome to Porchlight International for the Missing & Unidentified. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
| NJF820715; July 15 1982 Princess Doe | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 14 2006, 01:47 PM (10,578 Views) | |
| tatertot | Sep 28 2012, 06:32 AM Post #41 |
|
Advanced Member
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/warren-cou..._details_a.html Tests reveal new details about Princess Doe before she was murdered Published: Wednesday, September 26, 2012, 6:00 AM Updated: Wednesday, September 26, 2012, 7:41 AM By Kathryn Brenzel | The Express-Times A princess' locks may be the key to unraveling her identity. Samples of Princess Doe's hair and teeth reveal details about the last 10 months of her life, giving investigators clues about what led up to the discovery of her bludgeoned body in a Blairstown Township cemetery. The murdered girl's remains were found July 15, 1982, at Cedar Ridge Cemetery, where she is buried today as "Princess Doe." Two months after the county commemorated 30 years since Doe was found, authorities may have a better picture of her life in the months leading up to her death. Results from hair samples sent to a lab in Salt Lake City trace Doe's activities in the 10 months before her death, said Stephen Speirs, who recently retired from the Warren County Prosecutor's Office as lead detective on the case. Transient life suspected The hair samples, which were analyzed for mineral content, show that she was in the southwestern region of the United States 10 months before her death. She then traveled for a period of two months, before settling in the Northeast, Speirs said. The specific states she visited haven't been confirmed. "One thing, we're pretty sure, without question, is that she was transient," he said. Prosecutor Richard Burke cautioned that the mineral readings are also consistent with sections of the Eastern seaboard, such as Virginia and Connecticut. "It narrows it down, but it certainly doesn't give you a pinpoint of where she's been," he said. One of Doe's adult teeth was sent to the University of Southern Florida, said Detective Justin Boyce, who now heads the prosecutor's office investigation of Doe's death. The lab tested the tooth for lead, oxygen, carbon and strontium content, in hopes of revealing where she may have originated, he said. A tooth can tell a better story of a person's formative years and delves a bit deeper into Doe's past, Speirs said. The tooth results support the theory embodied by Doe's hair, and go a step further. They suggest she may be from Arizona, Speirs said. This isn't a certainty, but one crucial detail is: She is from the United States. "There was always a fear that the reason no one came forward to say she was missing was because she wasn't from the United States," he said. These tests will enable investigators to inundate Arizona and surrounding states with Doe's composite, in hopes of finding a match. If Doe was in the Southwest 10 months before her death, this opens up a number of questions with potentially revealing answers, such as: Do schools in the area remember a girl between the age of 14 and 18, who suddenly didn't return after winter break? Authorities can also target main thoroughfares between the Southwest and Northeast in their search, Speirs said. "Now there's actually information, if we're lucky, that will lead us to identifying this young lady," Burke said. New tips come in Investigators have gotten many calls since they released a new composite of Doe in July, producing new potential leads. One was Patricia Vaughan, who was reported missing in May 1982. She was last seen in Connecticut and went missing two days short of turning 19 years old, according to the Missing Angels website. This jibes with the test results and Doe's estimated age. Plus, Speirs said she bears a striking resemblance to the latest composite of Doe. The red skirt and shirt Doe was wearing at the time of her death have also brought in potential clues. Speirs said three people called authorities claiming they bought the same outfit from Colombo Dress Factory, a dress factory in Long Island. Because the store no longer exists, investigators are working to find out if the factory's clothing was exclusive to the area or if the outfit could have been purchased wholesale elsewhere, for example, in Arizona. Finding more about Doe is dependent on keeping the case alive, Speirs said. He recently appeared on CNN to discuss the latest findings on the case and will appear on Lifetime's "America's Most Wanted" 9 p.m. Friday for an episode detailing the evolution of the investigation. "It's been a process of elimination for some time," he said. "We're just waiting for the day where one of the potential matches turns out to be Princess Doe." |
![]() |
|
| mimi | Nov 19 2012, 11:38 AM Post #42 |
|
Advanced Member
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
http://hudsonreporter.com/view/full_story/...ies_left_column Hoboken writer tackles unsolved mystery ‘The Untold Story of Princess Doe’ is author’s debut novel by Adriana Rambay Fernández Reporter staff writer Nov 08, 2012 It is a story that everyone in Blairstown, N.J. knows the ending to. The body of a teenage girl was found bludgeoned to death in the rural town’s cemetery on July 15, 1982. Thirty years later the identity of the teenager who local investigators named “Princess Doe,” as well as the identity of her killer, remain a mystery. In “The Untold Story of Princess Doe,” Hoboken-based author Christie Leigh Napurano, 30, weaves a fictional tale of tragedy and despair based on this true story. She hopes to raise awareness about the case and ultimately find out the real identity of “Princess Doe.” Bringing her to life “I felt like I needed to give her a story and a life because she is a person like everyone else and she deserves that dignity,” said Napurano. This is her first novel. “I felt like it could really help the cause of finding ‘Princess Doe,’ her identity and/or her killer.” The unidentified body of a girl between the ages of 14 and 18 was discovered in Cedar Ridge Cemetery by local maintenance workers. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. The face was bludgeoned beyond recognition. The girl was found wearing a 14 karat gold necklace with a cross; a red shirt, and a peasant skirt. She did not have any undergarments or footwear. _____________ “The police haven’t been able to solve this in thirty years. It will take someone who knew her to come forward.” Christie Leigh Napurano ____________ Napurano was born in Blairstown just a few weeks before the body of “Princess Doe” was discovered in 1982. She describes growing up in a place that was very-close knit, “where everyone knows everyone else.” “When something like this happens, a murder and an unsolved murder, it is the talk of the town,” said Napurano. “It is a big deal.” It was the first unsolved murder at the time. “The townspeople couldn’t understand how this could happen in their little farm town,” said Napurano. “Hundreds of people want to know who this girl is. It has bothered everyone for years.” An unnamed daughter The Blairstown residents gathered funds to give “Princess Doe” a proper burial and gravestone near the site where her body was found. This past year over 100 people gathered for a memorial to recognize the 30th year anniversary of the discovery of her body. “She is almost like their unnamed daughter,” said Napurano. She first heard of the unsolved tale around the age of 12. It was a story that has become engraved in local folklore. In the early 1990s another highly publicized murder surfaced of a headless, handless woman’s body in a lake. However, that victim got a name – Rosa Delgado from Connecticut. In 2007, after reading an article about the 25th anniversary of Doe’s discovery, Napurano felt compelled to write a story of the account. Who will claim her? “It went through my mind time and time again,” said Napurano. “How could no one have claimed this girl?” She was flabbergasted by the idea that this teenager didn’t have a mother, sister, cousin, teacher, or neighbor – no one who would come forward and claim her. “How does that happen that you go missing and no one misses you?” added Napurano. The questions floating around in her mind that caused a number of restless nights are what informed the elements of the story. Napurano said she asked herself, “What could have possibly happened to a family that didn’t allow them to report their daughter missing?” In “The Untold Story of Princess Doe” the main character, Julianne Martell, is seemingly an average, young teenager who lives in an affluent neighborhood in Long Island. She is the bedrock of a family that has gone through a series of tragedies. Her ability to hold it all together soon becomes impossible. One by one, her family begins to unravel, haunted by their own tragedy and loss of her oldest sister. She is driven to desperate measures to escape the situation. So much so that family members are lost to her and no one is there for her when she meets her fate at the hands of a murderer in a small-town cemetery in New Jersey – far from the life she once knew, far from the dreams she had for herself. While Napurano said this novel is for “people interested in a tragedy unfolding right before their eyes,” it is also for anyone who may have come across “Princess Doe” in her lifetime. “The police haven’t been able to solve this [case] in 30 years. It will take someone who knew her to come forward,” said Napurano. “Somewhere along the line someone is going to be like, ‘Oh, maybe I know that girl.’” The cold case has garnered national attention and has been featured on HBO, CNN, and most recently America’s Most Wanted. Napurano has done media appearances alongside Lt. Detective Stephen Speirs at the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office, who is in charge of the case. Theories Many theories have surfaced about “Princess Doe” and her killer some of which made it into Napurano’s novel such as that she was a prostitute, and that she was from Long Island. Other theories are that she was a runaway from Maryland, that she worked at a local day camp, or that her killer is already in jail for other homicides. “She could have come from anywhere,” said Napurano. “Lots and lots of girls were reported missing during that time but they never matched up.” In 1999 the body of Princess Doe was exhumed from the cemetery for DNA samples and then re-buried in the same location. The police have recently discovered that she lived in two different regions from hair samples that were taken. It is believed that she spent time in the southwest region of the country, possibly Arizona, before she ended up in New Jersey. Her skirt has been identified as originating from Long Island after three individuals from that area came forward saying they owned the same skirt. An isotope test of her teeth was recently conducted by the University of Florida in efforts to continue to search for clues and a new composite was created this past July that investigators believe is the closest likeness of her. “Over the years this has become a cause that is near and dear to my heart,” said Napurano. She noted that it took her three years to create this character and that the most difficult part was killing her off at the end. She said she was “literally sobbing as I was writing the last chapter.” “Above everything else, even though Julianne Martell is a fictional character, ‘Princess Doe’ is not,” she said. “She is a real person. She does have a name.” Napurano remains hopeful that the true identity of “Princess Doe” will be discovered. “I think the sooner we find her identity the better chance they have of finding her killer.” What’s next? Napurano has begun work on another true crime story. She currently works as the Director of Media for SDL Inc. in Hawthorne. She graduated from Syracuse University in 2004 and works in Public Relations. She has held positions at Sound Communications and Rubenstein Communications in New York City and the Hoboken International Film Festival. Her book, which is published by SDL press, is available in hardcover ($34.95) and paperback ($14.95) online at: http://www.whoisprincessdoe.com/index.php. The “Princess Doe” case remains open. Lt. Detective Stephen Speirs at the Warren County Prosecutor’s Office leads the ongoing investigation. His contact information is: (908) 475-6275 or sspeirs@co.warren.nj.us. Read more: Hudson Reporter - Hoboken writer tackles unsolved mystery ‘The Untold Story of Princess Doe’ is author’s debut novel |
![]() |
|
| mimi | Jan 20 2013, 03:53 PM Post #43 |
|
Advanced Member
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
http://archive.longislandpress.com/2012/09...-long-island-2/ Princess Doe Likely From Arizona, Spent Time in Long Island Area By Jaclyn Gallucci on September 24th, 2012 New tests performed on hair and tooth samples taken from the body of Princess Doe, the unidentified young woman found beaten to death in a New Jersey cemetery in 1982, suggest she spent time in the Long Island area prior to her death and was likely originally from Arizona. Retired Det. Lt. Stephen Speirs appeared on CNN Saturday morning to give an update on the first round of tests investigators hope will lead to Princess Doe’s identity. “We know that from 10 months to 7 months [prior to her death] she lived in a particular region of the United States which they refer to as Region 1, which covers a good portion of the northeast and some of the mid west,” said Speirs regarding the hair sample testing. “And then at approximately 7 months to 5 months what we discovered was that she was definitely transient. She went from one particular region of the United States to another which is Region 2. And for the last five months she was in Region 2 of the United States which puts her in the northeast area.” Speirs said one of Princess Doe’s teeth was also sent out for isotope testing, which gave investigators an idea of where she spent her early life. “We’ve determined that there’s a potential she could have come from the Midwest area meaning, quite honestly, Arizona is what we’re focusing on now,” said Speirs. Speirs said investigators have also received phone calls regarding Princess Doe’s clothes. “We’ve gotten phone calls from three separate individuals in the Long Island area,” said Speirs. “When they saw the pictures of the composite, as well as the picture of the clothing, three separate people told us they bought the exact same dress from a dress store in the Long Island area. And we have been focusing our efforts in the Long Island area as well.” These are just the first round of recently submitted test results that have come back in a new push to give Princess Doe back her name. In 1999, Princess Doe’s body was exhumed to retrieve DNA from her remains, but forensic science has evolved since then and 30 years later investigators hope that resubmitted DNA will yield more answers. “Preliminary results from those tests suggest that we may have some trace evidence that does not belong or was not contributed by Princess Doe,” Speirs told the Press in August. “Now, we can resubmit [the DNA] because we can do so many better things now. It’s more advanced so we can take the smallest amounts of trace evidence and be able to develop a DNA profile.” That means detectives could actually have DNA belonging to Princess Doe’s killer right now, or at the very least, the DNA of someone close to her before she died who might be able to identify her. “If this evidence does prove to be contributed not from Princess Doe, but from someone other than Princess Doe, then that clearly gives us a person of interest,” said Speirs. “I’ve never been more optimistic than I am now, and I’ve been around the block on everything you can imagine, all over the place, with this case.” Detectives also released a brand new composite of Princess Doe this past July, using the latest technology from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. The new composite, which police say is the most accurate to date, may give some credibility to the story of one woman who claimed she was in the cemetery when Princess Doe was killed. A hand-drawn sketch previously created by a forensic artist with the help of Donna Kinlaw, who told police she witnessed Princess Doe’s murder at the hand’s of currently incarcerated convicted murderer Arthur Kinlaw, her husband at the time, bears similarities to the new computer-generated image. Donna also told detectives the woman was from the Long Island area. While detectives say Arthur had once claimed responsibility for the crime, neither of the Kinlaws’ stories of what allegedly happened to Princess Doe could ever be confirmed. If you have any information on Princess Doe, please call the anonymous tip line at 1-866-942-6467. |
![]() |
|
| mimi | Jan 20 2013, 03:54 PM Post #44 |
|
Advanced Member
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
http://www.portlanddailysun.me/index.php/n...ith-fresh-leads Princess Doe murder case revived with fresh leads Published Date Thursday, 27 September 2012 21:46 Written by Timothy Gillis BLAIRSTOWN, N.J. — The case of Princess Doe, a teenage murder victim unidentified for more than 30 years, is closer than ever to being solved. One of the most notorious unsolved crimes in New Jersey's history has baffled police since her bludgeoned body was found in Cedar Ridge Cemetery on July 15, 1982. Now new evidence has been discovered using isotope analysis of hair and a tooth, and these findings are hitting the airwaves and print media in the hopes of providing a spark to the cold case. The story has been on CNN and will feature on "America's Most Wanted" Friday night at 9 p.m. (on the Lifetime channel). Isotope analysis of her hair by Isoforensics Lab in Salt Lake City indicate that she is either from the Midwest or Northeast. (Study of the isotopes in hair will reveal where she was in the last year of her life.) The evidence suggests she was a transient, police officials say, moving from one geographic region to another until she ended up in New Jersey. Testing on a tooth by the University of South Florida revealed just this week that there's a 40 percent chance she's from Arizona, a 40 percent chance she's from the Northeast, and a 20 percent chance she's from elsewhere in the United States. (Study of a tooth reveals more than hair. It indicates where a person was brought up, as enamel forms and makes the record permanent.) "At first glance, it seems like we have a lot of area to deal with," said Det. Justin Boyce of the Warren County Prosecutor's Office. "But it allows us to exclude a lot. We can confirm that she was born in the U.S. Now we want to saturate these areas with information, in the hope that her story will ring a bell, and someone will come forward with information." Over the years, there have been many grieving parents who thought Princess Doe might be their missing daughter, Boyce said. But in each case, the DNA didn't match and disproved their hopes. For police, these isotope analysis discoveries are significant because they give them new leads on a case that has baffled them for three decades and left her grave marked Princess Doe, as she was dubbed by locals. Boyce took over the case from Det. Stephen Speirs, who had worked on it since 1999. Although Speirs is retired, he is still searching for clues. "I've had a great relationship with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children," Speirs said. "They have a forensic unit there. I had a meeting in February with them about a project called ALERT, or Area Law Enforcement Response Team. They'd taken a bunch of retired law enforcement personnel. They hire them on and send them out to help police agencies like ours. They wanted to use Princess Doe as a test case for project ALERT." The group is made up of a retired U.S. marshal, forensic scientists, and other specialists. "They prepared a precise report on what we can do. With a high resolution CAT scan, using the skull and scanned at the Smithsonian Institute, they created an image that's so lifelike it's chilling — a 3D model," Speirs said. "The Center did an image in 2005, but it was 2-D. This image is 3-D and looks molded out of clay. We've got that image out there in hopes that someone will recognize her." Also scheduled to appear on the "America's Most Wanted" segment is Christie Leigh Napurano, author of a probing fictional account of who this 14-18 year old girl might be. Napurano who was born just weeks before the discovery of Princess Doe's body and grew up hearing countless tales of Princess Doe. She said it always haunted her. Upon reading news articles in 2007 about the 25th anniversary of Princess Doe's death, Napurano became fascinated by the fact that after two and a half decades, Princess Doe's identity still had not been discovered. She wondered how it was possible that no one had ever claimed this girl or reported her missing. She lives in Hoboken, N.J., but says folks back home have been very positive about her book. "Blairstown is a very small, close-knit community. Things like this just don't happen. If you're from there, you know this story," Napurano said. "It's been saddening people for thirty years. Two hundred people at her memorial service this year, which was held in July." Residents were mortified at the grim discovery of her body, Napurano said, and then further disheartened as she remained unidentified. "When she was found, the people in town raised the money to get her a proper headstone because they didn't want her to be buried in a 'potter's field.' It's an unfortunate thing. That's what hits home. It could happen to anyone. How could a little girl go missing and no one identify her?" For the novel, her first, she tried to imagine what could have happened, and gave Princess Doe a name, a family, and a tragic series of events that culminate in the foregone conclusion. Napurano said the process of writing the book inspired dark theories about the possible killer, wondering perhaps if maybe her family did it, and that's why she hasn't been ID'ed. She has already started the next book, which is sort of a prequel to Princess Doe. "That's all I'll say for now, it's kind of from a different perspective," she said. While a victim's remaining unidentified for so long is rare, the general circumstances are not. "They find 4,000 unidentified persons per year," she said, "And by end of year, 1,000 remain unidentified." There are 13,500 unidentified deaths currently, according to dna.gov. Napurano was interviewed for the "America's Most Wanted" segment. Producers from the show were sent up for the memorial service in July, where Napurano spoke. "As time goes by, it gets more disheartening. But because technology has become more advanced, time is actually on our side." |
![]() |
|
| Ell | Feb 22 2015, 09:52 PM Post #45 |
|
Heart of Gold
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]()
|
She said she was a runaway from Florida, but police believe she was actually from the Long Island, NY area. Where ever she was from, she was still only a child and she needs to go home. She was found beaten beyond recognition. What kind of monster could do this to a child? What could she have done in her short life to deserve such cruelty? Please look at her necklace and the clothing she was wearing. Maybe you'll remember seeing her somewhere On July 15, 1982, the remains of a white female were found at the north end of Cedar Ridge Cemetery on State Hwy 94, in Warren Co., NJ. This homicide victim, is believed to be between 14 and 18 years of age. She was found beaten beyond recognition. What kind of monster could do this to a child? What could she have done in her short life to deserve such cruelty? Please look at her necklace and the clothing she was wearing. Maybe you'll remember seeing her somewhere. The color images shown are a reconstruction by Carl Koppelman bottom right is a computer-assisted facial reconstruction done by forensic artists at the NCMEC. The "DOB" and "Age" fields are approximations. Police believe Princess Doe was from the Long Island, NY. area, and was estranged from her family. Her face had been bludgeoned beyond recognition. She was not pregnant when she died, and had never given birth. Toxicology results showed she was not using drugs at the time of her death -- but those results may have been tainted because investigators believe she was found several weeks after she died. She was found beaten beyond recognition. What kind of monster could do this to a child? What could she have done in her short life to deserve such cruelty? Please look at her necklace and the clothing she was wearing. Maybe you'll remember seeing her somewhere. On July 15, 1982, the remains of a white female were found at the north end of Cedar Ridge Cemetery on State Hwy 94, in Warren Co., NJ. This homicide victim, between 14 and 18 years of age, is believed to have been deceased for up to one week before her discovery. Her hair was shoulder-length. Her weight was estimated between 100 to 120 lbs. Her eye color couldn't be determined. At one time, a woman called NCMEC and said she was working at a local motel (near Blairstown) when the "Princess" checked in - about two nights before she was probably murdered. She did not recall the name, but did recall "Princess" was looking to be a hotel maid and said her father was dentist and that she was a runaway from FL. Dental charts of "Princess" were compared with those of Emma Vaughn, a missing girl from Orlando, Florida, but there was no match. BLAIRSTOWN NJ UNIDENTIFIED GIRL DOB: Jan 1, 1968 (Approximation) Found: Jul 15, 1982 Age at time of discovery: 14 (Approximation) Age Now: 46 Sex: Female Race: White Hair: Brown Eyes: Unknown Height: 5'2" (157 cm) Weight: 110 lbs (50 kg) Found: BLAIRSTOWN, NJ, United States NCMEC-Unidentified Circumstances: On July 15, 1982, the remains of a white female were found at the north end of Cedar Ridge Cemetery on State Hwy 94, in Warren Co., NJ. This homicide victim, between 14 and 18 years of age, is believed to have been deceased for up to one week before her discovery. Her hair was shoulder-length. Her weight was estimated between 100 to 120 lbs. Her eye color couldn't be determined. Clothing and Accessories: She was wearing a red V-neck shirt with yellow piping on the front portion of the shoulder and blue and black piping around the neck, sleeves and waist. She had a wrap around skirt colored red, white and blue with a border print of peacocks on the lower portion. She had a gold chain with white beads and a 14K gold cross with ornate design. The image shown in the linked poster is a computer-assisted facial reconstruction done by forensic artists at the NCMEC. The "DOB" and "Age" fields are approximations. At one time, a woman called NCMEC and said she was working at a local motel (near Blairstown) when the "Princess" checked in - about two nights before she was probably murdered. She did not recall the name, but did recall "Princess" was looking to be a hotel maid and said her father was dentist and that she was a runaway from FL. Dental charts of "Princess" were compared with those of Emma Vaughn, a missing girl from Orlando, Florida, but there was no match. ANYONE HAVING INFORMATION SHOULD CONTACT-- Warren County Prosecutor's Office (New Jersey), Attn.: Sgt. Steve Speirs Jr. -1-908-475-6624 |
|
Ell Only after the last tree has been cut down; Only after the last fish has been caught; Only after the last river has been poisoned; Only then will you realize that money cannot be eaten. | |
![]() |
|
| « Previous Topic · Unidentified Females 1982 · Next Topic » |
- Pages:
- 1
- 2





![]](http://z6.ifrm.com/static/1/pip_r.png)




2:01 PM Jul 11