Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee

For the two unidentified victims in Sumter County, South Carolina, see Sumter County Does.
Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee

Digital image created from study of morgue photographs to depict an estimation of the victim in life

Forensic facial reconstruction of "Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee", created in 2012.
Born Approx. 1946 - 1954
Southern Europe. Possibly Laurium, Greece.[1]
Status Unidentified for 45 years, 1 month and 13 days
Died c. 20 January 1971 (aged 17 – 25)
Lake Panasoffkee, Sumter County, Florida, United States[2]
Cause of death Homicide by ligature strangulation
Body discovered February 19, 1971
Resting place Wildwood Cemetery
Bartow, Florida, US
Known for Unidentified victim of homicide
Height Between 5 ft 0 in (1.52 m)
and 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) [1][3]
Weight Between 100 lb (45 kg)
and 120 lb (54 kg) [4]
Children 2 or more

Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee, or simply Little Miss Panasoffkee, is the name given to an unidentified young woman found on February 19, 1971, in Lake Panasoffkee, Florida.[3][5] It is believed that she was a murder victim.

The murder currently remains unsolved despite the reconstruction of the victim's face on two occasions, in 1971 and 2012.[3][6] The case was also featured on the television show Unsolved Mysteries in 1993.[1][2]

Discovery of the body

On February 19, 1971, two teenage hitchhikers discovered a partially submerged body floating beneath a highway overpass in Lake Panasoffkee, Florida.[7]

Authorities retrieved the fully clothed, badly decomposed body of a young woman from the lake. The body had no identification papers.

The body was dressed in a green shirt, green plaid pants, and a green floral poncho. Also found were a white gold watch[3][8][9] and a gold necklace. On her ring finger there was a gold ring with a transparent stone, indicating that she may have been married.[4][10][11]

A forensic examination of the remains was conducted by Dr. William Schutze. Schutze concluded that the victim had been killed about 30 days prior to being found.[6][9] A man's size–36 belt was fastened around her neck, strongly indicating strangulation as the cause of death.[9][12]

Forensic examination

The remains of Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee, as discovered beneath the Lake Panasoffkee bridge on February 19, 1971.

The body was exhumed in February 1986 for further forensic examination.[8][13]

The woman was between 17 and 24 years old when she died, and weighed about 115 pounds. She had dark hair, brown eyes, and prominent cheekbones. She was between 5 feet, 2 inches and 5 feet, 5 inches in height. She had received extensive dental work, including numerous silver tooth fillings. She had a porcelain crown upon one of her upper right teeth.[9][10][12]

It was determined that she had borne at least two children prior to her death.[7][14][15] One of her ribs had been fractured at the time of death, leading investigators to theorize that the killer had possibly knelt upon her while he strangled her with his belt.[16]

Additional facial reconstruction of the victim.

Investigators initially believed the woman to be either of European or Native American ancestry. A further exhumation and examination of the remains, conducted in 2012, established that she was of European descent.[1][14] An examination of Harris lines in the victim's bones indicated that an illness or malnutrition had briefly arrested her growth in childhood.[1]

Examining the lead isotopes within the victim's teeth, a geological scientist was able to deduce that the victim had undoubtedly spent her childhood and adolescence in a location in southern Europe close to the sea — most likely a location south of the Greek city of Athens — until within a year of her murder.[6][10] The geological scientist, George Kamenov, was able to pinpoint the most likely place where the victim had lived as the fishing port of Laurium, Greece.[1][3][17]

Given the fact that there is large Greek-American population within Tarpon Springs (about 117 kilometers (73 mi) from Lake Panasoffkee), and the two additional facts that the victim had been dead for about 30 days and had likely lived in Greece, it was possible to conclude that she had traveled to the United States to attend an Epiphany celebration.[9]

Forensic examination of her hair supported the theory that she had been visiting temporarily. This was indicated by the fact that she had been in Florida for less than two months before her death.[10]

An orthopedic surgery procedure, known as the "Watson-Jones" technique, had been performed on her right ankle when she was about 16 years old.[18] This operation—which involved stretching the tendon by means of screws drilled into the bone—would most likely have been performed to rectify a chronic instability which would likely have seen the victim sprain her ankle several times prior to the operation.[4][8][13] Periostitis was found in her right leg, which may have been discomforting and noticeable to the victim.[10]

External images
Scale model of clothing

Facial reconstructions

In 1971, a collection of forensic facial reconstructions was made in an attempt to show what Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee may have looked like at different stages of her life.[2][8][13] In 2012, another composite was created, which was visually different from the first. The composite was also combined with a scale model of the victim's clothing.[1][9][17]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Peter, Jamison (30 June 2012). "Clues emerge in cold case murder that may be tied to Tarpon Springs". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 Waters, Robert (17 February 2010). "Searching for an identity: "Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee"". Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 D'Marko, Dave (31 October 2012). "Science helps detectives advance Sumter County cold case". Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 "Cold Case File: Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee (1971-0291)". 29 May 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  5. ↑ "Little miss Panasoffkee," by Dan Sullivan (The Villages Daily Sun; Saturday, October 7, 2006)
  6. 1 2 3 Gorman, James (12 November 2012). "A Jane Doe Gets a Back Story". Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  7. 1 2 "LITTLE MISS "P"". Unsolved Mysteries. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  8. 1 2 3 4 "The mystery of Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee: Incredible CSI techniques offer clues to identity of 1971 murder victim". 12 November 2012. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 DiPietrantonio, Stef (29 June 2012). "Thanks to forensic work, cold case heats up again". Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 "Jane Doe 1971". missingkids.org. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
  11. ↑ "Case File 470UFFL". The Doe Network. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  12. 1 2 Gorman, James (2 December 2012). "Isotope Analysis". Manilla Bulitin. Retrieved 15 May 2014.(subscription required)
  13. 1 2 3 Warder, Robin (14 June 2013). "10 Mysterious Cases Involving Unidentified People". Retrieved 8 April 2014.
  14. 1 2 Henderson, John (17 May 1992). "Sumter Gets Help from TV". Ocala Star Banner (NYT Regional Newspapers). Retrieved November 7, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Cleo’s Hobby: Another Jane Doe". 26 June 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
  16. ↑ "NamUs UP # 6040". identifyus.org. National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. 15 October 2009. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
  17. 1 2 "Forensic Imaging Workshop". US Fed News Service. 16 March 2013. Retrieved 15 May 2014.(subscription required)
  18. ↑ Ocala Star-Banner May 14, 1989

External links

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