The identity of an unidentified female accident
victim in Waco, Texas was confirmed as that of missing Kentucky woman
Angela Marie Parks in the early summer of 2001. The
identification was assisted by members of The Doe Network.
The Doe Network's Administrator, Helene Wahlstrom,
selected the formerly unidentified woman's file from the
publicly-accessible files of the Texas Department Of Public
Safety's Web site, located at http://www.txdps.state.tx.us. Wahlstrom, who is a
Swedish citizen, was involved in a National Crime Information Center
(NCIC) project with Quincy, Massachusetts Police Department civilian
dispatcher Robert Lingoes, another member of The Doe
Network volunteer group, in May 2001. Lingoes, who is the
organization's Law Enforcement Liason, submitted the unidentified
victim's data to NCIC Director Monti McKee and discovered a match
between the unidentified victim and Parks' missing person's report.
Parks' file stated that she had distinctive tattoos which matched the
tattoos found on the victim's body. A fingerprint match shortly
thereafter confirmed that Parks was indeed the unidentified victim,
validating Wahlstrom and Lingoes' work.
Parks had not contacted her family since 1992 and led a transient
lifestyle at the time of her death. Her relatives stated that it was
normal for Parks to vanish for extended periods of time and contacted
authorities when Parks' two children became worried as to their mother's
plight.
Parks suffered a severe head injury after being hit by a train on
railroad tracks off of Farm-To-Market Road 308 in Waco, Texas on July
28, 1993. She remained in a coma for several days before dying in a
hospital at 23 years of age. Parks' remains were interred in an
indigent cemetery in McLennan County, Texas. Her family has stated that
they plan to exhume her remains and return her body to Bowling Green,
Kentucky in the near future. The Waco County Commission agreed to pay
for her initial 1993 burial costs.
Wahlstrom has created a listing of all resolved cases featured on
The Doe Network at the following URL: http://www.doenetwork.org/Solves.html.
Parks' case is profiled in the compliation.