Gallup, New Mexico 7/31/1991

http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/507ufnm.html

The Doe Network:
Case File 507UFNM

Reconstruction by Forensic Artist, Detective Mary Brazas

Unidentified White Female


The victim was discovered on July 31, 1999 near Gallup, New Mexico
Estimated Date of Death: 2 years prior to discovery
Partial Skeleton


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Vital Statistics


Estimated age: 35-50 years old
Approximate Height and Weight: 5'1"-5'7".
Distinguishing Characteristics: Light brown hair; left big toenail painted red in color.
Skeletal Findings: Antemortem compression fracture of lumbar vertebra L5. Arthritic lipping of right patella.
Clothing: Short sleeve, tan-white, collared shirt with pocket over left chest and six button holes. Orange tag on shirt, "machine washable B6 XL"; overlying this tag is a brown tag, with letters "T2", followed by several dashes. Blue-grey, "Bugle Boy" pants with zipper. Recovered with her was a fitted sheet, white with blue, red and white stripes and flowered designs.
Jewelry: Black and red, beaded, ankle friendship bracelet around left tibia and fibula; various earrings.
Dentals: Available.

Earrings and Beaded Anklet Found with Remains



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Case History
The victim was located on July 31, 1999 in a shallow grave, .25 miles north of exit 8 of I-40, west of Gallup, New Mexico.
Ribbons originating at the Stoddard County, Missouri County Fair and presented by the Association of Retarded Citizens in Stoddard County were also found with the remains.



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Investigators
If you have any information about this case please contact:
NM Office of the Medical Investigator
Peter Loomis
505-271-2381
Email
OR
NM Office of the Medical Investigator
Investigator Terry Coker
505-272-3053
OR
FBI - Albuquerque
Special Agent Diana Parker
505-889-1542
OR
Dexter (Missouri) Police Department
Detective Trevor Pulley
573-625-8914
You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

NM OMI Case Number:
1999-03729

Source Information:
NamUs



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Return to the Unidentified Victims' Index

Posted at: 02/23/2009 11:12 AM

By: The Associated Press

Missouri officials help ID woman’s body

DEXTER, Mo. (AP) - Officials in the Missouri Bootheel are helping out with the investigation of a woman’s body found a decade ago and a thousand miles away in New Mexico.

The skeletal remains were discovered in a shallow grave on July 31, 1999, near Gallup. The FBI recently contacted police in Dexter, Mo., about the case because three blue ribbons found with the remains originated from the Stoddard County Fair in Dexter.

Authorities say the ribbons were presented by the Association of Retarded Citizens in Stoddard County.

The woman apparently died of “blunt force trauma,” leading authorities to believe her death was a homicide.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

Could this man be responible for this woman??


TAPSON Floid Todd
: ...
... ... ...
Verdict/Urteil:

According to a federal task force, a serial killer may be responsible for the disappearances of three women who were mentally retarded and lived in Minnesota and North Dakota. The task force is focusing on Floyd Tapson, 38, who is charged in Montana with the rape and attempted murder of a 22-year-old woman with mental retardation. Tapson pleaded not guilty in the Montana case and is free on bail.
Tapson, a former supervisor in group homes in northwestern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota, is being investigated in three cases covering a nine-year period -- the homicide of a Moorhead, Minn., woman who was mentally retarded and the disappearances and presumed murders of women with similar disabilities in Wadena, Minnesota, and Grand Forks, N.D. Additionally, investigators in Maryland are reviewing cases of women who disappeared in the late 1980s, when Tapson worked at a group home in Baltimore.
On August 11, 1999, the former group home manager was sentenced to life in prison for trying to murder a mentally disabled woman in Billings last year. Calling Tapson "a cold-blooded, would-be killer" and "a grave risk" to women with disabilities, District Judge G. Todd Baugh ordered the maximum sentence sought by Yellowstone County prosecutors. Under Montana law, Tapson, 38, will have to serve at least 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
An unrepentant Tapson, who continued to say the victim had fabricated her accusations and suggested that he should be released having served four months since his conviction. The sentence, one of the stiffest in Yellowstone County in recent years, could also have far-reaching effects as a task force of detectives in North Dakota and Minnesota try to solve the murders of three developmentally disabled women in those states.
Task-force members consider Tapson their prime suspect and hope that the long sentence will motivate Tapson to aid their investigations. Members of the task force have said they may offer Tapson immunity in exchange for his cooperation. Representing Tapson, Billings attorney Jeff Michael said afterward that Tapson may be willing to talk with those investigators, although Tapson continues to say he had nothing to do with the deaths of those women.
Yellowstone County prosecutors had stated that in October of 1998 Tapson lured the mentally challenged woman to the group home where he worked, took her to his home, restrained her with handcuffs for several hours in his basement and then repeatedly raped her. To cover his crime, he drove the woman west of town on the Molt Road, shot her twice at close range - once in the head - and left her for dead. Despite her injuries, the woman crawled through a barbed-wire fence and ran to a nearby home for help. She survived and identified Tapson as her assailant.

According to a federal task force, a serial killer may be responsible for the disappearances of three women who were mentally retarded and lived in Minnesota and North Dakota. The task force is focusing on Floyd Tapson, 38, who is charged in Montana with the rape and attempted murder of a 22-year-old woman with mental retardation. Tapson pleaded not guilty in the Montana case and is free on bail.
Tapson, a former supervisor in group homes in northwestern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota, is being investigated in three cases covering a nine-year period -- the homicide of a Moorhead, Minn., woman who was mentally retarded and the disappearances and presumed murders of women with similar disabilities in Wadena, Minnesota, and Grand Forks, N.D. Additionally, investigators in Maryland are reviewing cases of women who disappeared in the late 1980s, when Tapson worked at a group home in Baltimore.
On August 11, 1999, the former group home manager was sentenced to life in prison for trying to murder a mentally disabled woman in Billings last year. Calling Tapson "a cold-blooded, would-be killer" and "a grave risk" to women with disabilities, District Judge G. Todd Baugh ordered the maximum sentence sought by Yellowstone County prosecutors. Under Montana law, Tapson, 38, will have to serve at least 30 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
An unrepentant Tapson, who continued to say the victim had fabricated her accusations and suggested that he should be released having served four months since his conviction. The sentence, one of the stiffest in Yellowstone County in recent years, could also have far-reaching effects as a task force of detectives in North Dakota and Minnesota try to solve the murders of three developmentally disabled women in those states.
Task-force members consider Tapson their prime suspect and hope that the long sentence will motivate Tapson to aid their investigations. Members of the task force have said they may offer Tapson immunity in exchange for his cooperation. Representing Tapson, Billings attorney Jeff Michael said afterward that Tapson may be willing to talk with those investigators, although Tapson continues to say he had nothing to do with the deaths of those women.
Yellowstone County prosecutors had stated that in October of 1998 Tapson lured the mentally challenged woman to the group home where he worked, took her to his home, restrained her with handcuffs for several hours in his basement and then repeatedly raped her. To cover his crime, he drove the woman west of town on the Molt Road, shot her twice at close range - once in the head - and left her for dead. Despite her injuries, the woman crawled through a barbed-wire fence and ran to a nearby home for help. She survived and identified Tapson as her assailant.
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