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The Unnamed: Sumter County Does Part II

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John and Jane Does Murders True Crime

          This is one of the most frustrating Doe cases I’ve ever read about. We have so many clues about these people. They boy had very distinctive features. Why can’t anyone find a string to follow here? This second part was very frustrating to research and is ultimately not satisfying. There are no answers here, and I can only speculate as to why that is. Someone has to recognize these people. Someone, somewhere, holds the key to identifying them.

Current Exclusions

          The first exclusion for Jane Doe is Rebecca Doisy from Boone, MO. Doisy disappeared from her apartment on August 5, 1976. Doisy left her apartment unlocked and her cat alone – which was very atypical. Doisy was last seen at a tavern, where she was accompanied by a man named Johnny Wright. He fled town shortly after her disappearance. Wright was obviously a suspect. In 1985, investigating authorities issued a second-degree murder warrant for Wright’s arrest, though he was not apprehended until 2009. No sign of Rebecca Doisy has ever been found.
          The second exclusion for Jane Doe is Cordelia McMinn from Kauai, HI. Cordelia and her husband John went missing on May 12, 1976. They set off in a homemade trimaran boat. They had sailed from the continental US to Hawaii before. They were planning on a return trip to Port Angeles, WA on the day they disappeared. Both were skilled sailors. They vanished before reaching their destination. Authorities suspect foul play in the case, leading many to think they were taking part in a smuggling operation or they were hijacked by low-seas pirates. The only exclusion for Jock Doe is John McMinn.

(The McMinns.
via NamUs)

Jane Doe – Possible Identities

          There were no NamUs cases that matched Jane Doe. I even expanded the last seen/reported missing dates to cover an entire decade. There is just no one in the NamUs database that matches Jane Doe. However, we must remember that the couple was not necessarily American. And so we move on.
          Now, based on the fact that investigators believe that the Does may be from Canada, I also attempted to search through Canadian missing persons cases. Their databases available to the public are nowhere near comprehensive and are difficult to navigate. In fact, after using Canada’s Missing (https://www.services.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/) Advanced Search Function, not a single case came up as possibly matching Jane Doe’s characteristics.
          Unfortunately, even the Doe Project’s Canadian case listings fell short for me, though it was easier to navigate and had far more cases with photos of the missing. Still, I wasn’t able to find any possibilities that matched up with the date and description of Jane Doe. As maddening as that is, it has led me to a conclusion – Jane Doe was likely never reported missing. Or, if they were, the case was not taken seriously by PD or was not preserved in the migration to digital case keeping. Of course, that could be wrong, but it feels likely after all of this research.

Jock Doe – Possible Identities

    Unlike Jane Doe, there was one missing persons case on NamUs that I could see matching Jock Doe – Robert McDonald. Even this, though, is not a strong match by any means. McDonald fits the general characteristics of Jock Doe. McDonald’s eyes are listed as hazel rather than brown, though that is only a slight difference. What really got me about this is McDonald’s eyebrows. They seem to be reminiscent of Jock Doe’s based on photos. McDonald was last seen on May 20, 1976. He left his home in Sunset, HI as usual that day. He has not been seen or heard from since. Rumors in the case suggest that McDonald was murdered over a drug debt.

(An image of Robert McDonald.
via websleuths)

          The Canadian Missing Persons site did not yield much either. I only came across cases that were somewhat similar, but each of these had some characteristic that DEFINITELY ruled them out as being Jock Doe (such as tattoos, digit amputations). Again, I’m led to believe that Jock was not reported missing or their case was not taken seriously. Maybe their case got lost, as I speculated in the above section. There’s no way to possibly know

Theories 2.0

           Okay, now that all my research has led exactly nowhere, let’s take a look at the theories again. Everything I explored in the theories section last week still stands, but now there’s another layer to them – where did Jock and Jane Doe come from? Some online sleuths have put forth that they may not actually be Canadian, but were claiming to be so because it was easier to travel without papers as Canadians. Remember, the US borders were not nearly as tight then as they are today. I think this is a very interesting theory – it fits. Their belongings showed that they’d potentially been all over the southern United States – rings from the southwest, shirt from Florida, etc.
            So if not from Canada, then where were the Does from? The place I see popping up again and again is Argentina. That makes so much sense to me. The political climate in Argentina at the time was extremely tense, making it quite dangerous to live there. The Does’ complexions and features also seem to at least marginally match “typical” (I use quotes here because I know there is no typical when it comes to features – everyone is different) Argentinian features. Of course, that makes them all the more difficult to track. 

Investigating Agency

           The internet sleuthing on this one didn’t yield much, but that doesn’t mean this was all useless. Someone knows something. Someone might recognize Jane and Jock’s faces. Someone may have seen them in the days leading up to their deaths. Someone, or many someones, have missing pieces to this. Ask family or friends who lived in Sumter county around the date of their death. Do your own internet sleuthing. And if you hold or find one of those missing pieces, please contact the appropriate authorities. You can reach the Sumter County Sheriff’s Office at 803-436-2000 and reference Case Number 76672.

Sources

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Join me every Friday as I research and present topics ranging from cold case true crime to folklore from all over the world, in an effort to preserve and uplift underrepresented stories.

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