Nut44x4
11-15-2008, 04:29 PM
Hat Tip to Faith on this one!!
Bones of woman found in Berkley; investigators try to determine her identity and give a family closure
Posted Nov 14, 2008 @ 06:05 AM
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BERKLEY — For nearly two weeks, investigators quietly tried to identify the skeletal remains of a woman discovered near railroad tracks here, hoping to bring closure to a family somewhere.
They compared the remains with information in several high-profile missing-person cases, including the 2000 disappearance of Taunton mother Debbie Melo, who was reported missing by her husband in Weymouth after the couple argued, and the 1988 disappearances of two New Bedford women, both of whom are believed to be the victims of a serial killer.
The investigators did not find a match. Now authorities are hoping that someone will recognize the description of the dead woman.
“If there is anyone out there who may know who she may be, we want them to come forward,” said Gregg Miliote, spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter.
Investigators initially concealed the Oct. 29 discovery of the bones, in case the victim was one of the people in the high-profile missing-person cases.
The state medical examiner and an archaeologist examined the remains and determined that the bones were from a white woman who was 25 to 35 years old and had a metal plate in one of her arms.
Experts were not able to pinpoint when the death occurred; they could only say that it was between three and 20 years ago.
Miliote said authorities are now turning to experts who will try to approximate what the woman’s face looked like. That will take weeks, however.
A property owner found the remains off Plain Street on Oct. 29, about 500 feet from railroad tracks.
“He was clearing brush in the wooded back of his 5-acre property when he noticed what appeared to be a human skull several feet away from where he was working,” Miliote said.
Other bones were later found at the scene. A State Police dog trained to find bodies was brought in.
More than 1,400 unidentified dead are entered into the National Crime Information Center missing-persons database each year.
Dorothy MacLean, a former Rockland resident whose daughter Jennifer Fay disappeared in Brockton 19 years ago today, said she – like most families of missing people – has mixed feelings every time remains are discovered.
“It is like, do you want it to be Jennifer or do you want to think she is still alive?” MacLean said. “That is what I go through. I want to believe she is alive. I don’t want her to be dead, but I would like to have some closure at the same time.”
MacLean, formerly of Rockland, said families agonize while waiting for closure.
“It is awful,” she said. “Every time they find remains somewhere, I have to prepare myself that it could possibly be my daughter.”
http://www.patriotledger.com/news/x242066609/Bones-of-woman-found-in-Berkley-investigators-try-to-determine-her-identity-and-give-a-family-closure
Bones of woman found in Berkley; investigators try to determine her identity and give a family closure
Posted Nov 14, 2008 @ 06:05 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BERKLEY — For nearly two weeks, investigators quietly tried to identify the skeletal remains of a woman discovered near railroad tracks here, hoping to bring closure to a family somewhere.
They compared the remains with information in several high-profile missing-person cases, including the 2000 disappearance of Taunton mother Debbie Melo, who was reported missing by her husband in Weymouth after the couple argued, and the 1988 disappearances of two New Bedford women, both of whom are believed to be the victims of a serial killer.
The investigators did not find a match. Now authorities are hoping that someone will recognize the description of the dead woman.
“If there is anyone out there who may know who she may be, we want them to come forward,” said Gregg Miliote, spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney C. Samuel Sutter.
Investigators initially concealed the Oct. 29 discovery of the bones, in case the victim was one of the people in the high-profile missing-person cases.
The state medical examiner and an archaeologist examined the remains and determined that the bones were from a white woman who was 25 to 35 years old and had a metal plate in one of her arms.
Experts were not able to pinpoint when the death occurred; they could only say that it was between three and 20 years ago.
Miliote said authorities are now turning to experts who will try to approximate what the woman’s face looked like. That will take weeks, however.
A property owner found the remains off Plain Street on Oct. 29, about 500 feet from railroad tracks.
“He was clearing brush in the wooded back of his 5-acre property when he noticed what appeared to be a human skull several feet away from where he was working,” Miliote said.
Other bones were later found at the scene. A State Police dog trained to find bodies was brought in.
More than 1,400 unidentified dead are entered into the National Crime Information Center missing-persons database each year.
Dorothy MacLean, a former Rockland resident whose daughter Jennifer Fay disappeared in Brockton 19 years ago today, said she – like most families of missing people – has mixed feelings every time remains are discovered.
“It is like, do you want it to be Jennifer or do you want to think she is still alive?” MacLean said. “That is what I go through. I want to believe she is alive. I don’t want her to be dead, but I would like to have some closure at the same time.”
MacLean, formerly of Rockland, said families agonize while waiting for closure.
“It is awful,” she said. “Every time they find remains somewhere, I have to prepare myself that it could possibly be my daughter.”
http://www.patriotledger.com/news/x242066609/Bones-of-woman-found-in-Berkley-investigators-try-to-determine-her-identity-and-give-a-family-closure