Beth Doe (known officially as Incident No. N3-27244) is the name given to an unidentified young European-American woman who was found murdered on December 20, 1976, in White Haven, Pennsylvania. The brutality of the crime, the fact that she was pregnant when she was killed and the length of time that she has remained unidentified created national attention. Beth Doe is believed to have been an immigrant from a Central European country. In 2019, it was announced police were considering the possibility that this victim had been a runaway foster child who was last known to be in New York. Further investigation revealed the girl was still alive.
Death and discovery
When discovered, Beth Doe, who was carrying a nine-month female fetus, had been sexually assaulted, strangled and shot in the neck by an unknown person. Her body was then dismembered with a serrated blade. The gunshot wound had occurred postmortem. Her nose, breasts, and ears had been severed and have never been found. The dismemberment was described to be unlike that of a surgeon, but not "haphazard."
The parts of her body and that of her unborn daughter had been placed into three suitcases; two were striped with red, blue, and white, and the other one was tan with a plaid design. They were of vinyl material and were all of the same size. It was evident that the suitcases had been spray-painted black at some point and that their handles had been severed.
To dispose of the body, the suitcases had been thrown off a bridge over the Lehigh River in White Haven, Pennsylvania along Interstate 80. It is believed that the suitcases had been thrown out of a vehicle traveling west. The killer had most likely intended to have the suitcases land in the water below, to lessen the chance of their being found. Two of the suitcases had landed in the woods, 20 feet from the river; the third, containing the 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 and packaging foam, as well as a bedspread that was waterlogged with fragments of a newspaper that had been used to wrap parts of the body. The newspaper was later determined to have been The New York Sunday from September 26, 1976, and was linked to the northern part of New Jersey. The bedspread was reddish-orange in color with yellow and pink embroidered flowers, and was made of chenille fabric.
Examination and physical description
The body was removed by authorities and transported in plastic bags to the nearby Gnadden Huetten Hospital for examination.
After a three-hour autopsy on December 23, 1976, it was determined that she was a white woman in her late teens or early twenties. However, her identity could not be established. 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 inches and 5 feet 4 inches tall. She weighed 140 to 150 pounds (due to her pregnancy). Her hair, which was shoulder-length, was an undyed dark brown. The medical examiner classified her blood as type O.
She had some distinctive markings on her 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 left cheek - may have developed during her pregnancy.
Before becoming a teen, some of her molars had been extracted, and she had received fillings in her teeth. No false teeth were in place. Despite the evidence of previous care, she had likely not seen a dentist in some time, as she was suffering from severe tooth decay. One of her front incisors had a visible fracture, which was noted to likely cause severe pain.
It is believed that she was probably born in Europe and moved to the United States before reaching her teenage years, as examination of her tooth enamel indicated. An initial anthropological examination indicated she may have originated from 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, and most likely had resided in Tennessee or a nearby state. Examination on the unborn girl indicated that the child had gestated while the victim was in the Southeastern part of the country.
Investigation
After the body was found, the victim was fingerprinted. Her teeth were examined and recorded on a dental chart. Missing persons reports throughout the United States and Canada were compared at the time to the victim but were excluded.
The medical examiner noted that a set of numbers had been written on the victim's body. The ink, believed to have been from a pen, was on the left palm of the victim, indicating that she was right-handed if she had indeed written it herself. The writing consisted of the letters WSR and the number 4 or 5, followed by 4 or 7.
Her fingerprints were submitted to the FBI, but they did not match anyone in national databases. When she remained unidentified, a sketch was made and the public was asked for assistance. This resulted in few solid leads. Information about the case was subsequently published across the country to generate leads.
The body was buried in 1983 after the victim remained unidentified for a number of years. In 2007, her remains were exhumed to obtain additional forensic evidence and to create a new facial reconstruction. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children released two reconstructions, the latest in May 2015.
Investigators remain optimistic about identifying the remains and solving her murder.
Twelve missing women have been excluded as 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 Pennsylvania State Police announced a possible connection between "Beth Doe" and Madeline "Maggie" Cruz. A tip was submitted to police by an individual who had gone to school with Cruz and saw a resemblance to the reconstructions of Beth Doe. She had spent time in the Massachusetts cities of Lenox and Framingham; in Framingham she resided with a foster family. Around 1974, at the approximate age of sixteen, she had run away, to Tarrytown with her foster sister, who returned after a week. In the summer of 1976, she called a friend to request money, claiming she was pregnant. She was never heard from again, until the media reported the potential link to Beth Doe.
Later that month, police confirmed Cruz was "alive and well" and subsequently eliminated as a potential identity.
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