Oct. 15--Death stalks www.doenetwork.org among the lost and found of all shapes, sizes, races and manners.
There are hundreds of missing persons and unidentified bodies stored in binary code, each with a compelling story. For a 43-year-old Pennsylvania man, however, the story of young Jason "Doe" stands out.
"I saw it on the doenetwork and it just seemed so ludicrous, so bizarre to me that something like this would happen and no one would say 'where's my son?' or 'Jason didn't come home,'" said Bill Sammons from his home near Philadelphia. "I find it disturbing and shocking in this day and age of DNA and forensics that someone could be killed and not be able to be identified and no one would wonder."
Friends of a dead man
Mr. Sammons has taken Jason's plight seriously, building the boy his own MySpace Web site. Jason has gained many friends who leave best wishes and repost his story on local sites, including sites in Charlottesville.
Investigators used clues found in the young man's pockets and on his body to come up with this account of his last days alive:
On June 25, 1995, a young man with red hair, brown eyes and a pierced left ear sans earring, put a ticket stub in his pocket and wandered into RFK Stadium in D.C. to listen to the Grateful Dead. While there he picked up a Dead T-shirt and met up with a couple of women named Caroline -- Caroline O. and Caroline T. He was supposed to hook up with the ladies afterward but they left a note saying they had to leave and dropped him a phone number.
The 5-foot, 8-inch, 170-pound youth, wearing blue jeans, size 11 1/2 , blue FILA athletic shoes, a necklace and red Grateful Dead 30th Anniversary Tour T-shirt, hitched a ride with a man in a van on his way back to South Carolina. The two were riding along June 26 when the driver fell asleep and the van crashed in Greensville County, killing both.
Name in a note
Jason's name comes from the note found in his pocket signed by the Carolines. His age is estimated by medical examiners at 16 to 22. His injuries were so severe that his appearance is represented only by an artist's reconstructive sketch.
Mr. Sammons said some clues have come in, but nothing has panned out.
"I just can't imagine that someone hasn't been missing him for all of this time," Mr. Sammons said. "There is something about it that really upsets me. I went to a hundred concerts when I was younger and I just can't imagine what my parents or family would do if I didn't come home. I can't believe that someone out there wasn't worried about this kid."
http://www.dailyprogress.com.