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WARNING!: Description below may be disturbing to some readers.
Hillcrest Memorial Park & Mortuary b/w Medford & Phoenix, Oregon. This small grave is of an unknown baby John Doe who was found under mysterious circumstances, perhaps even a homicide. The grave is located in a plot dedicated to young children who died in the 1960s & 70s. I almost didn't find it as it was not the same size as the nearby headstones & it was also completely buried by a pile of oak leaves. Originally the grave stated, "John Doe name only known to God." However during the summer of 2008 his grave was exhumed for further DNA testing & facial reconstruction.
Only one foster child at the time, Cecil Roy Rapp (PeeWee), had disappeared in early 1963, yet other individuals recognized him as being alive & living with other foster parents, which omitted him as the unknown baby. As for the John Doe boy, he was relaid to rest in July 2010 & now nearly 60 years later he remains unknown & will probably remain so.
Info from FindAGrave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49143882/john-doe) below:
An unidentified boy was discovered July 11, 1963 in Keene Creek Reservoir, Jackson County, Oregon wrapped in two blankets held together with wire. His estimated date of death was after October 1962. He was around 2 years old, weighed between 20-30 pounds, 32 inches tall, sandy blonde hair, and brown eyes.
Additional Personal Items: The body was wrapped in an aqua blanket and a handmade patchwork quilt that included lots of red, including red gingham squares. Two iron assayer's molds were wrapped in the quilt, apparently to weigh the body down. Thin brass wire and several loops of copper wire with a lead sheath and rubber insulation secured the bundle. Reports indicated that both the molds, designed for refining and casting metal, and the telephone wire were once common, but already old and seldom used by the time the boy was found.
Circumstances of Discovery
A man named Roy Rogers was fishing with his wife & two co-workers in the Keene Creek Reservoir along Highway 66 in the mountains east of Ashland when he hooked on what he thought was a blanket roll. But the bundle, a blanket and quilt wrapped with wire, contained a boy's body.
An autopsy performed the next day estimated that his death likely happened after October 1962. Winter's freezing temperatures could have helped preserve the body, but the medical examiner couldn't be sure. The condition of the body prevented him from determining a cause of death.
The child's footprints were taken with the help of the FBI, and deputies spent days with magnifying glasses comparing them with imprints taken of newborns at local hospitals around the time they estimated he had been born.
The child was buried in Medford. His grave marker reads "John Doe name only known to God."
Some agencies list July 23 as the date of discovery.
Anyone with information should contact the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, reference case number 63-23011 or the Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office, reference case number 08-14146.
UPDATE:
In December 2020 using genetic geneology with a DNA match from a maternal half-brother, the boy's identity was finally confirmed as that of Stevie Crawford. His identity was not released until June 2021. Born October 2, 1960 & identified with Down Syndrome, he had family members in New Mexico who stated that his mother had returned with a trip stating that they wouldn't have to worry about Stevie anymore. The mother has since died & Stevie's family are planning to return his remains to New Mexico to the family plot. The identification has solved Oregon's oldest unidentified missing person case.
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The United States is one of the most diverse countries on earth, jam packed full of amazing sights from St. Patrick's cathedral in New York to Mount Hollywood California.The Northeast region is where it all started. Thirteen British colonies fought the American Revolution from here and won their independence in the first successful colonial rebellion in history. Take a look at these rolling hills carpeted with foliage along the Hudson river here, north of New York City.The American south is known for its polite people and slow pace of life. Probably they move slowly because it's so hot. Southerners tend not to trust people from "up north" because they talk too fast. Here's a cemetery in Georgia where you can find graves of soldiers from the Civil War.The West Coast is sort of like another country that exists to make the east coast jealous. California is full of nothing but grizzly old miners digging for gold, a few gangster rappers, and then actors. That is to say, the West Coast functions as the imagination of the US, like a weird little brother who teases everybody then gets famous for making freaky art.The central part of the country is flat farmland all the way over to the Rocky Mountains. Up in the northwest corner you can find creative people in places like Portland and Seattle, along with awesome snowboarding and good beer. Text by Steve Smith.
