Beth Doe

Beth Doe (known officially as Incident No. N3-27244) is the nickname given to an unidentified young American woman who was discovered murdered on December 20, 1976 in White Haven, Pennsylvania. She was pregnant when she was killed and the fetus was found with her remains. The brutality of the crime and the length of time that she has remained unidentified has sparked national attention. Death: Beth Doe, who was carrying a nine-month female fetus, had been strangled and shot in the neck by an unknown perpetrator and was then dismembered with a serrated blade. Her nose, breasts and ears were then severed and have never been found. The parts of her body and her unborn daughter were then placed into three suitcases, two were striped with red, blue and white and the other was tan with a plaid design. They had vinyl material and were the same size. It was also evident that the suitcases had been spray-painted black at some point and their handles were severed. To dispose of the body, the suitcases were presumably thrown off of a bridge on the side of the Lehigh River in White Haven, Carbon County, Pennsylvania, along interstate 80. The suitcases were estimated to have fallen approximately three-hundred feet before colliding with the ground. It is believed that the suitcases were thrown out of a vehicle moving west. The killer most likely intended to have the body land in the water below, to lessen the chance of it being found and identified. However, they failed to reach the water, as they were likely carried off course by wind. Two of the suitcases landed in the woods, twenty feet from the river, and the third, containing the head and fetus, was found on the bank. Her body was later found by a teenage boy at approximately 4:30 PM, within seven hours to a week after Beth Doe's death. Examiners stated that the victims had died recently, as they appeared to have few signs of decomposition and looked to be "freshly thrown." However, some believed the remains may have been at the location longer than a day, as the low temperatures may have preserved the bodies. Due to the force of falling a long distance, two of the suitcases had opened and parts of the body had emerged; the head, fetus and the two halves of the torso had been exposed. Other evidence included numbers and letters written with ink on the corpse, straw, packaging foam, a bedspread and waterlogged fragments of a newspaper, later determined to have belonged to The New York Sunday from September 26, 1976. The newspaper was linked to the northern part of New Jersey, where the perpetrator of the crime may have had "ties" to. The comforter was a reddish-orange color of chenille material and was wrapped around some of the body and had yellow and pink embroidered flowers. The bedding and newspapers had been wrapped over some of the body parts. The ink, believed to have originated from a pen, was located on the left hand of the victim, indicating she was right-handed if she had written it herself. The writing consisted of the letters "WSR" and the numbers "4" or "5," followed by "4" or "7." Investigation: After her body was found, the victim was fingerprinted and also had her teeth examined and recorded into dental charting. The blood type was classified as O. Her prints were submitted to the FBI, which did not match anyone in national databases. Information about the case was subsequently published across the country in hopes to generate leads. After she remained unidentified, a sketch created by a "physical anthropologist" was released to ask for the public's assistance, which yielded few solid leads. In 2007, her remains were exhumed to achieve additional forensic evidence and to create a new facial reconstruction. Three missing people have been excluded as possible identities of Beth Doe. Iris Brown of Vermont, along with Teresa Fittin of Florida, Trenny Gibson and Anna Leatherwood of Tennessee and Valerie Cuccia and Denise Sheehy of New York have all been ruled out. Her face was reconstructed a second time in 2007, replacing a sketch created previously, around the time her body was found. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has also released two reconstructions, the latest in May 2015. Examination and physical description: The body was removed by authorities and was transported in plastic bags to the nearby Gnadden Huetten Hospital for examination and to attempt to establish the victim's identity. After a three-hour autopsy was conducted on December 23 by an assistant medical examiner, it was estimated that she was a white female in her late teens to early twenties, aged fourteen to twenty-five, yet her identity could not be determined. The dental examination indicated that the victim was around the age of twenty-four. Upon the discovery of the body, officials presumed the victim and the fetus were females, yet officials decided to wait to have a medical examiner to confirm the speculation. The cause of death was officially ruled to be due to strangulation by the examiner. Beth Doe was between four feet eleven and five feet four inches and weighed 140 to 150 pounds due to her pregnancy. Her hair, which was shoulder length, was an undyed dark brown and a two to five and a half inch scar was visible above one of her heels. It is believed that Beth Doe was likely born in Europe and may have moved to the United States before becoming a teenager, as examination of her enamel indicated during a recent examination. Once in the country, where lived in the United States for five to ten years before, she likely lived in states such as Tennessee or other nearby states before her murder. Although she is believed to have been predominantly white, she may have had ancestors who were Asian or Native American, as well as those with traits from European countries such as the Mediterranean, Silesia, Poland and the Czech Republic. These theories were developed after isotope testing was later conducted on her hair, teeth and bones. She was also initially reported to possibly been of Italian and Spanish descent. At one point during her life, prior to becoming a teen, some of her molars had been extracted and she had received fillings in her teeth due to cavities. However, she had not likely seen a dentist recently, as she was suffering from some severe tooth decay and a fracture. During her pregnancy, it was possible that two moles found on her face, one above her left eye and one on her cheek, may have developed.