Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

The Case for St. Louis Doe--Beth Doe

Beth Doe (known officially asIncident No. N3-27244) is the name given to an unidentifiedyoung European-American woman who was found murdered on December 20,1976, in White Haven, Pennsylvania. The brutality of the crime, thefact that she was pregnant when she was killed and the length of timethat she has remained unidentified created national attention. BethDoe is believed to have been an immigrant from a Central Europeancountry. In 2019, it was announced police were considering thepossibility that this victim had been a runaway foster child who waslast known to be in New York. Further investigation revealed thegirl was still alive.

Death and discovery

When discovered, Beth Doe, who wascarrying a nine-month female fetus, had been sexually assaulted,strangled and shot in the neck by an unknown person. Her body wasthen dismembered with a serrated blade. The gunshot wound hadoccurred postmortem. Her nose, breasts, and ears had been severedand have never been found. The dismemberment was described to beunlike that of a surgeon, but not "haphazard."

The parts of her body and that of herunborn daughter had been placed into three suitcases; two werestriped with red, blue, and white, and the other one was tan with aplaid design. They were of vinyl material and were all of the samesize. It was evident that the suitcases had been spray-painted blackat some point and that their handles had been severed.

To dispose of the body, the suitcaseshad been thrown off a bridge over the Lehigh River in White Haven,Pennsylvania along Interstate 80. It is believed that the suitcaseshad been thrown out of a vehicle traveling west. The killer had mostlikely intended to have the suitcases land in the water below, tolessen the chance of their being found. Two of the suitcases hadlanded in the woods, 20 feet from the river; the third, containingthe head and fetus, was found on the river bank.

Having fallen approximately 300 feet,two of the suitcases had opened and parts of the body had emerged.The head, fetus, and the two halves of the torso were exposed.

Other evidence included straw andpackaging foam, as well as a bedspread that was waterlogged withfragments of a newspaper that had been used to wrap parts of thebody. The newspaper was later determined to have been The New YorkSunday from September 26, 1976, and was linked to the northern partof New Jersey. The bedspread was reddish-orange in color with yellowand pink embroidered flowers, and was made of chenille fabric.

Examination and physical description

The body was removed by authorities andtransported in plastic bags to the nearby Gnadden Huetten Hospitalfor examination.

After a three-hour autopsy on December23, 1976, it was determined that she was a white woman in her lateteens or early twenties. However, her identity could not beestablished. The cause of death was determined to be strangulation,although she had been shot in the neck as well.

Beth Doe was between 4 feet 11 inchesand 5 feet 4 inches tall. She weighed 140 to 150 pounds (due to herpregnancy). Her hair, which was shoulder-length, was an undyed darkbrown. The medical examiner classified her blood as type O.

She had some distinctive markings onher body. A 2- to 6-inch scar was visible above one of her heels. Two moles on her face - one above her left eye and one on her leftcheek - may have developed during her pregnancy.

Before becoming a teen, some of hermolars had been extracted, and she had received fillings in herteeth. No false teeth were in place. Despite the evidence ofprevious care, she had likely not seen a dentist in some time, as shewas suffering from severe tooth decay. One of her front incisors hada visible fracture, which was noted to likely cause severe pain.

It is believed that she was probablyborn in Europe and moved to the United States before reaching herteenage years, as examination of her tooth enamel indicated. Aninitial anthropological examination indicated she may have originatedfrom Serbia or Croatia. Isotope testing was conducted on her hair,teeth, and bones. She had lived in the U.S. for 5 to 10 years, andmost likely had resided in Tennessee or a nearby state. Examinationon the unborn girl indicated that the child had gestated while thevictim was in the Southeastern part of the country.

Investigation

After the body was found, the victimwas fingerprinted. Her teeth were examined and recorded on a dentalchart. Missing persons reports throughout the United States andCanada were compared at the time to the victim but were excluded.

The medical examiner noted that a setof numbers had been written on the victim's body. The ink, believedto have been from a pen, was on the left palm of the victim,indicating that she was right-handed if she had indeed written itherself. The writing consisted of the letters WSR and the number 4 or5, followed by 4 or 7.

Her fingerprints were submitted to theFBI, but they did not match anyone in national databases. When sheremained unidentified, a sketch was made and the public was asked forassistance. This resulted in few solid leads. Information about thecase was subsequently published across the country to generate leads.

The body was buried in 1983 after thevictim remained unidentified for a number of years. In 2007, herremains were exhumed to obtain additional forensic evidence and tocreate a new facial reconstruction. The National Center for Missingand Exploited Children released two reconstructions, the latest inMay 2015.

Investigators remain optimistic aboutidentifying the remains and solving her murder.

Twelve missing women have been excludedas possible identities of Beth Doe:

Annastaes Banitskas of Australia

Iris Brown of Vermont

Valerie Cuccia of New York

Teresa Fittin of Florida

Trenny Gibson of Tennessee

Rory Kesinger of Massachusetts

Anna Leatherwood of Tennessee

Georgia Nolan of Kentucky

Sherry Roach of California

Mary Robinson of New York

Patricia Seelbaugh of Pennsylvania

Denise Sheehy of New York[

2019 developments

In September 2019, the PennsylvaniaState Police announced a possible connection between "BethDoe" and Madeline "Maggie" Cruz. A tip wassubmitted to police by an individual who had gone to school with Cruzand saw a resemblance to the reconstructions of Beth Doe. She hadspent time in the Massachusetts cities of Lenox and Framingham; inFramingham she resided with a foster family. Around 1974, at theapproximate age of sixteen, she had run away, to Tarrytown with herfoster sister, who returned after a week. In the summer of 1976, shecalled a friend to request money, claiming she was pregnant. She wasnever heard from again, until the media reported the potential linkto Beth Doe.

Later that month, police confirmed Cruzwas "alive and well" and subsequently eliminated asa potential identity.