Naming Spokane’s unknowns
The woman’s hands, feet and head were cut off. What remained of her was found June 20, 1984, on the south bank of the Spokane River near T.J. Meenach Bridge. The woman had a scar on each knee, another scar on her left arm and two prominent moles on the front of her neck. She was likely between the ages of 20 and 35.
The woman’s skull was found 14 years later in a vacant lot at Seventh Avenue and Sherman Street in Spokane. Lorrie Hegewald, deputy investigator with the Spokane County Medical Examiner’s office, believes someone in Spokane knows what happened to this woman.
And the woman’s killer might have killed before. As Hegewald – a forensic mystery buff – explained: “Dismemberment isn’t usually a first-time deal.”
Hegewald, along with other medical examiner staffers, recently laid to rest the identity and mystery of one of their John Does – Michael Keith Roberts – who died unknown in downtown Spokane 23 years ago.
These staffers, however, are not resting on one “cold case” success. Information on approximately 20 John Does, who died in the county between 1961 and 2001, remains in their files. Hegewald is focused now on the dismembered “Jane Doe.” She needs your help solving this case and others.
Go to the medical examiner’s Web site at www.spokanecounty.org/ medexaminer. Then click on the box titled “Unidentified bodies and missing persons.” There you’ll find short descriptions of the county’s unidentifieds.
It’s sad reading. Five infants are on the list; most were born premature. The first one was found in a Liberty Lake campground July 1, 1974; the next in Spokane’s sewage treatment plant. The third infant was discovered near Little Spokane River; the fourth in a toilet at the downtown Spokane YWCA. The final infant, a full-term male, was discovered April 25, 2001, in a Dumpster at an East Trent Avenue convenience store.
Hegewald, though saddened by these losses, doesn’t consider them true unknowns, because their mothers know how – and why – their babies died.
The adult unknowns are almost all men who dwelled on society’s margins. Many of their bodies were found near the Spokane River or near railroad tracks. One man died June 27, 1978, in an abandoned apartment building. His liver was shot from alcoholism. He had no teeth.
Some descriptions include photos, though not photos of the bodies. After the skull of the Jane Doe was discovered in 1998, forensic artists did renderings of what she might have looked like. A John Doe discovered July 3, 1989, in the North Side landfill had distinctive tattoos.
Hegewald wonders: “What about the tattoo artist? Someone out there knows who he is.”
She regularly visits The Doe Network ( www.doenetwork.org) which lists cases of unidentified and missing persons from throughout the world. The site’s guiding statement: “They all deserve a name.”
If a person disappears, no matter how estranged from family and society, someone should file a missing-person report, Hegewald says, because it makes searching so much easier.
Hegewald investigates these past cases mostly in her spare time. The main task for medical examiner office staffers is to investigate current cases of county residents who die suddenly, mysteriously or violently.
In this summer filled with news of public servants failing in their duties, it was encouraging to spend time with the county employees I interviewed for this column series. They rose above their usual duties to look out for the least among us – the John and Jane Does who died forgotten, their stories untold.