BCSO Unsolved Case Unit Looking to Find Answers in John and Jane Doe Cases

The Unsolved Case Unit of the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office is asking for your help to answer three questions about the two individuals in the attached photos:

Who were they? What happened to them? Why weren’t they reported missing?

Jane Doe’s partially decomposed body was found by hunters on December 8, 1979. She was lying in the woods approximately 2,000 feet from what is now Hooper Road; near the Hooper Hill Section of Leland. Clothing found with Jane Doe’s body included a tan sweater, red scuffs over knee-high stockings and black slacks or pajama pants. On her left wrist was a gold Snoopy Watch with a yellow band. She was African American and thought to have been between the age of 42 and 55 at the time of her death. She was approximately 5’4” tall, but her weight could not be calculated. Her cause of death could not be determined and to this day she has not been reported missing.

On November 3, 2003, the skeletal remains of a white male were found by a contractor mowing grass in the median of US Hwy 17/74/76, just east of Highway 421. This grass had not been mowed in approximately 5 years and it was determined that John Doe had died sometime between 2000 and November 2003. Found with his body were black leather, steel-toed boots (size 10), white socks, green/blue fabric labeled “Fruit of the Loom” size L42-44, a ”PB SPORTS” baseball cap with a metal adjustable clasp in the back, 18 cents in coins, a pocket lighter, a brown glass bottle and a plastic wrapper from a pack of crackers. He is thought to have been between 5’2” and 5’9” tall and between the ages of 50 and 75. Autopsy showed that he suffered from periodontal disease as well as a chronic, progressive inflammatory disease.

Was John Doe a transient, just passing through? At this time we cannot know. The Unsolved Case Unit is grateful to Deputy Mike Mullins, Wake County Sheriff’s Office, for the artist’s drawings and to Drs. Ann Ross and Chelsey Juarez, Forensic Anthropologists at North Carolina State University, who have examined Jane Doe’s remains and who are performing studies to give us more detailed information. We have asked that they examine John Doe’s remains as well in the hope that we can provide the public with more information on both individuals. Your help combined with their skills, may allow us to find the answers to the questions asked above.

If you have any information on either of these people, please contact Capt. Phil Perry with the BCSO Unsolved Case Unit at (910) 880-4920.

John Doe Facial Approximation (.pdf document)

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