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The original was posted on /r/unresolvedmysteries by /u/AlfredTheJones on 2024-01-20 20:20:05+00:00.
Hello everyone! As always, I’d like to thank you all for your votes and comments on my previous post about the Anson County Jane Doe- I hope that her case will be resolved soon and that she will be reunited with her loved ones.
This case is pretty well-known, but I couldn’t find any writeups about it on this sub. This case also involves a Doe associated with a photo, like my last case, just in a different way.
DISCOVERY
On the 19th of December 1980, a partial skeleton of a man was found near a construction site at Northside Parkway and I-75 in a wooded area at the base of a large tree in a brush “cubbyhole” in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. It’s been estimated that he’s been there for “months”, with NamUS seemingly suggesting that he could’ve been there for as much as two years. Most of his bones, except for the lower mandible, managed to be recovered- a set of dentures for the lower jaw has been found nearby, and his upper jaw was toothless. A few pieces of skin have also remained on the skeleton, mostly on the side of his head and back. He was found wearing a blue shirt and blue work pants and a brown belt (shirt size is 16.5 x 34). He was estimated to be 6’ 0" (72 inches / 183 cm) and 175 lbs (79 kg). His age was about 50-70 and he was Caucasian.
What’s remarkable about this case is that he has been found with three notable items- fragments of a hand-written letter and two photographs in a wallet nearby. The letter was addressed to “Dear Dad” and signed by “Pam T Dwight” or “Pam + Dwight”. It was mostly faded and, again, in scraps, but the coroner managed to transcribe it as:
"4-3-___
Dear Dad
Hope yo
alright here
hope ___ it help
th of us
as usual.
Nothing new
much. Both
had ___illins
HA HA really
___ly you
let me know
plenty of this
a cat
- ___
HA HA
Take
can get together
___ together
wonderful husband
___king after me.
call or write
g fine he’s
great dog
and behave
know right
Love Pam __ Dwight"
One of the found photographs featured a young girl with reddish hair and brown eyes, and wearing a yellow sweater. It appears to be professionally made in a studio. The inscription on the back said “Sept. _____, 4 years old”. Another photo’s front has been destroyed by the elements, sadly, but the inscription on the back said “HR Bow dyeing & finishing, 278-3448”.
A bus ticket that suggested that he might’ve been in Panama City, Florida, at some point, was also found.
Conclusion:
I think that the thing that draws people to this case the most is the fact that we got quite a lot of info, but we have no idea how to put it all together. The man was most likely unhoused, and might’ve been a drifter. It’s possible that a part of the reason was that he was found many states away from home, and his case hasn’t been matched yet, if he was reported missing that is. It seems like he had someone who cared for him at some point- a daughter, possibly?
The girl from the photo could’ve been his granddaughter- if she was about 4 in 1980, she would be around 50 now, and might’ve not remember the John Doe, if she even met him in life. The inscription of the letter has garnered a lot of attention- most people assume that “Pam” is John Doe’s daughter and “Dwight” is her husband, as one is mentioned in the letter. But it could also be a surname, though using your full name when writing a letter to your dad is pretty unconventional. There’s even a speculation that “Dwight” might be a name of a dog that belonged to John Doe that his daughter was looking after, as there is a talk about a dog in the letter.
“HR Bow dyeing & finishing” is pretty mysterious- there’s no info on it anywhere online, the only thing that comes up are articles about this John Doe. The name sounds like some kind of textile-related company, perhaps John Doe worked there at some point in time?
His mitochondrial DNA was taken and could’ve been compared in 2009, and I’m assuming that it still can be. There’s been talk of Othram Inc taking in this case, but there’s no official word on it yet.
If you have any info about this John Doe’s identity, contact the Atlanta Police Department at (404) 546-4235.
SOURCES:
- NamUS.gov (Has the girl’s photo uploaded and includes a digital reconstruction of it)
- doenetwork.org
John Doe’s websleuths.com thread (I’ve taken the contents of the letter from a post by Tami Sedivy-Schroder, who seemingly worked as an agency investigator for the Fulton County’s Medical Examiner’s office. The post is #40).