Identification Made for Unidentified Female Homicide Victim Discovered in Maryland in 2000
An unidentified female homicide victim discovered in Baltimore, Maryland in 2000 has been positively identified as Brenda Wright, a 46-year-old woman who disappeared from the Baltimore area. Members of The Doe Network provided crucial information to law enforcement that eventually connected the missing woman with the remains.
Robert Lingoes, The Doe Network's Law Enforcement Liaison and a civilian dispatcher with the Quincy, Massachusetts Police Department, was working on a volunteer off-lining project with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) in the fall of 2001. Sheree Greenwood, a member of The Doe Network, found the unidentified female's case on the Nation's Missing Children Organization and Center For Missing Adults (NMCO)'s Web site at http://www.nmco.org. Greenwood submitted it to Lingoes for an offline search.
The victim was described as Caucasian, approximately 4'10 - 5'4 and 120 - 140 pounds. She was estimated to be between 38 - 45 years of age at the time of her death. Authorities believed she had been deceased for 10 - 14 months prior to discovery on December 15, 2000. She was the victim of a homicide. She was located in the 800 block of Rolyn Avenue in the southeast section of Baltimore. The woman had an orthopedic device surgically attached to her left ankle, suggesting that she may have walked with a limp. The victim wore a t-shirt imprinted with the phrase "Wynn Family Reunion 1997." Wynn family members' names and an image of a Native American were also featured on the shirt.
Lingoes' original NCIC offline search initially produced no results as to a possible match for the unidentified woman. He solicited the help of Doe Network member Vicki Siedow, a private investigator based in California, for further investigation into the case. Siedow was able to trace the victim's shirt to a Native American tribe in the Lumberton, North Carolina area.
Doe Network members were able to ascertain that Thomas Wynn, one of the family members believed to be involved in the reunion referred to on the victim's shirt, resided in Tennessee. Todd Matthews, the Tennessee Area Director for Doe Network, contacted Thomas concerning the shirt. Thomas told Matthews to contact his sister, Lola Wynn Haskins, who designed the shirt and lived in Lumberton, North Carolina. Haskins told Matthews that one of the reunion shirts had been given to a woman in Baltimore known as "Brenda." Haskins said that "Brenda" resided with Crystal Wright in Maryland and "Brenda" matched the unidentified woman's description.
Lingoes investigated the information provided by Haskins and located Crystal Wright. He then informed the Baltimore Police Department of the developments in the fall of 2001. A department official notified Lingoes on December 28, 2001 that the woman had been tentatively identified as Brenda Wright, who previously resided with Crystal Wright in the city.
The match was confirmed in February, 2002 by DNA analysis.
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The Doe Network's Law Enforcement Liaison Robert Lingoes and member Sheree Greenwood contributed to this release.