Post by Scumhunter on Jun 1, 2015 23:38:04 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: doenetwork.org)
Those of us who were long-time AMW fans are of course familiar with the late, great Frank Bender, a forensic sculptor whose age-enhanced bust helped lead to the capture of John List, arguably the most famous capture in the history of the show.
We also know he sadly died of cancer in July 2011.
What we may not know is Bender had some unfinished business- solving the mystery of Mebane, North Carolina's James "Jamie" Doe, who has also been nicknamed the "boy under the billboard."
An upcoming documentary about Bender will feature his work and the bust of the boy he brought to life.
What we know about Jamie Doe is that he was 10-11 years old found under a brush. It is assumed he was near the edge of the wooded area for a couple of months before someone found him.
On September 25, 1998, a man cutting the bushes around a billboard found Jamie's skeleton. It was near Interstate 85 in Hillsborough, Mebane, North Carolina.
The cops investigating Jamie Doe's death said he was just dumped there. There was not even an attempt to cover up his body.
The case was to be featured on America's Most Wanted in the early 2000's, however that was interrupted because of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. (Someone claims he was on a show called The Missing, but I don't have proof on that. If anyone has proof this case was on a national crime show, let me on the website contact form and I'll move this to the unsolved on tv section)
The Doe Network and Can You Identify Me pages go into a bit more detail as far as what Jamie was wearing, dental records etc.
Thoughts? The thing that is most strange to me about this case is there was no direct evidence of foul play. So it does make it that much harder to come up with an adequate theory. The following is from the can you identify me website, where they blog as if the Doe is speaking from the grave (I guess you can call it a blog-version of The Lovely Bones), which I think theorizes a little better than I would:
"Many theories have been bounced around about me. They say that maybe I was the child of migrant workers, possibly illegals. Something bad happened my parents got scared and had to leave me. I don't believe that happened to me. It doesn't make sense. If my parents left me there, why didn't they bury me? On those old movies I used to watch when you bury someone you love you leave a stone, I think they call it a marker. Why didn't my parents do that for me?
Maybe my parents don't know I'm dead at all. Maybe I was stolen. Maybe I made a mistake and ran away. If I did, I didn't mean to."
I would agree it wouldn't make sense for the parents to not bury Jamie, but perhaps they got spooked, thought someone was coming and sped away. One would like to think parents wouldn't be so cruel, but we've seen a lot of John and Jane Doe cases with parent(s) or step-parent(s) being the culprit.
Whatever the answers are, hopefully one day this case can be solved, and Frank Bender can grab the spotlight once more.
Admin Note #1: According to online John & Jane Doe-related websites, anyone with any information on James "Jamie" Doe a.k.a. "The Boy Under the Billboard"'s identity should contact the Orange County (North Carolina) Sheriff's Office at 919-644-3050
Admin Note #2: If you have any news-related updates you wanted to let us know about, please contact us here: amwfans.com/thread/1662/website-contact-form
www.wral.com/documentary-returns-attention-to-orange-county-cold-case/14677418/
canyouidentifyme.org/OrangeNorthCarolinaJohnDoeSeptember1998
canyouidentifyme.blogspot.com/2008/01/james-jamie-doe-im-child-looking-for-my.html
www.doenetwork.org/ (look up case file 437UMNC)