This week’s case is unfortunately the first of many that we will cover this year that comes with very, very little information publicly available. But that’s the whole purpose of what we’re doing here – preserving and amplifying stories that don’t have a lot of coverage online, and need to find their way to the right set of eyes in order to move forward.
The Discovery
On March 5, 2003, the body was found floating in the Elizabeth River in Norfolk, Virginia. It was near the Harbor Park Stadium, which is a venue for minor league baseball. The river flows east to west, so the Doe went into the water somewhere to the east of the discovery site. Several shipyards are to the east of the discovery point, as well as several boat ramps. Both VA-166 and a Railroad rail cross the river at points east of the discovery site as well.
The Description
For the description, keep in mind that this individual was not recognizable due to the decomposition process. Some of these attributes may be estimated or best guesses by the investigators.
The sex of the Doe was male. Their hair was black, and they had no facial hair. They had no scars or tattoos. The height was measured at somewhere between 5’6 and 5’8. The weight was measured at 135lbs. They were wearing a black shirt (which, according to NCMEC, had illustrations of sailboats on it), blue jeans, and brown Brahma work boots. They also had a brown leather belt, which had a belt buckle with a horse on it, blue plaid boxers, and black socks.
via NCMEC)
The Investigation
We don’t really have any information regarding the investigation of this case. In fact, all I can really find is that investigators brought in a forensic anthropologist to try to determine this Doe’s racial makeup. The result of this examination led to the belief that this Doe is primarily of Asian descent, though they may also have traces of caucasian and/or Hispanic ancestry as well.
Beyond that, there isn’t really any information online about what investigators did to try and find the identity of this Doe.
Possible Identities
As of the writing of this post, the Norfolk John Doe has three rule-outs on NamUs: David Crabtree, who went missing from Mayes County, Oklahoma on April 9, 2000; James Higham, who went missing from Mahoning County, Ohio on January 3, 2002; and Nestor Moyado, who went missing from Cabarrus County, North Carolina on January 25, 2003.
As for possible identities for this Doe, I’m hitting a brick wall when it comes to research. NamUs was a dead end. I went through all cases from 2000, 2001, 2002, and the first two months of 2003 on the Charley Project as well, and did not find a case that aligned with the details of the Norfolok John Doe.
This tells me that a few things could be happening.
First – the reconstruction could be off. Because the remains were unrecognizable at the time of discovery, the reconstruction is based on educated guesses based on genetics and was still intact. The reconstruction is a representation of what a Doe might look like, and is rarely a perfect picture.
Second – this Doe possibly wasn’t reported missing officially. There are many reasons this may happen. Perhaps the police wrote them off as a runaway and refused to take an official report. Perhaps the people responsible for reporting their disappearance did not trust the police and did not make a formal report because of that. Perhaps there was a language barrier. Any number of reasons could have caused this person’s disappearance to go unreported.
Third – If not unreported, just not digitized. There have to be thousands of cold cases that have been relegated to archive boxes in basements and back rooms of police stations, especially in small towns. Plus, over the years, who knows how many undigitized records have been destroyed by the elements – I’ve heard of many cases where things were destroyed in a fire or a flood that affected the station.
Fourth – Along with the idea of the Doe going unreported, they may have been an undocumented immigrant, which would explain why their disappearance was unreported (if it was).
That’s all I’ve got for theories on this one, unfortunately.
Investigating Agencies
If you or anyone you know has any information about this John Doe, please reach out to the proper authorities. This young man needs his name back, and his family deserves to know what happened to him. You can reach the Norfolk Police Department in Virginia at 1-757-441-5610 or the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia at 1-757-683-8366.
