October 23, 2024 • 34 mins
Listener Note: This is a Special Episode...keeping that in mind there will be a slightly more raw, less polished feel to this and upcoming "Wicked Wednesday" Episodes so please bear that in mind while listening! Thank you as always!
**Trigger Warning** This episode discusses suicide. Please use the below-listed resources if you or someone you know is suffering from a mental health crisis.
If you or someone you know needs help, please use the following resources:
- Suicide Hotline: If you need to talk, the 988 Lifeline is here. Call or Text.
- National Alliance on Mental Illness: 1-800-950-6264
- National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN): 1-800-656-HOPE (4673)
- National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
- Crisis Text Line: Within the US, text HOME to 741741
What drives a young soul to seek anonymity in death, leaving only a cryptic note sealed in a jar? Join us as we explore the haunting mystery of an unidentified teenage boy found hanging from a persimmon tree on Valentine's Day 1975 in Louisiana. Unravel the unsettling details of this unsolved case alongside our special guest Embree, whose insights shed new light on the boy's heartbreaking plea for understanding and his wish for his family to hold onto hope rather than the harsh truth. Together, we navigate the eerie circumstances surrounding his death the lingering questions about his identity, and the inner turmoil reflected in his poignant final words.
Our discussion delves into the psychological and societal factors that may have contributed to this tragic story, including the pressures of the 1970s and the stigma surrounding the LGBTQ+ community. Was this young boy, who referred to himself as a "bomb," struggling with a mental health crisis, or was he a victim of a society that provided no place for his truth? We consider these questions while reflecting on the challenges of uncovering his identity and honoring his request for anonymity. Through an artist's reconstruction and the failed attempts to solve this chilling enigma, we examine the broader implications of this case and the enduring impact it has left on those who have sought answers.
Sources:
Wiki Page
Websleuths
YouTube Video Covering the Case
Madison Tramel Article
This has been an elfaudio production.
Thanks for listening & Take care out there!
All🎶created by: Uncle Sawyer
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
On the evening of Valentine's Day, 1975, a couple
was making their way through aremote section of Highway 23
that followed along theMississippi River around 16
miles south of Belle Chase,louisiana, in Plaquemines Parish
.
They were on their return tripand had left at around 525.
A few hours later, at around1130 pm, they noticed something
(00:21):
white peeking through the trees.
To their horror.
Horror, they found the body ofa teenage boy hanging from a
persimmon tree.
This was the strange andmysterious journey that to this
day has yet to be solved.
Join us now for episode 34, theBoy in the Tree.
(00:54):
Hey guys, I'm Kelly and this isthe very special Halloween month
because, if you know me at all,you know my favorite holiday of
the year is absolutely, withouta doubt, halloween.
So we don't celebrate Halloween, we celebrate Halloween month,
and for that, although I amapologizing in advance and for
(01:15):
all time, apparently every time,for the rest of the month,
every Wednesday, we will haveWicked Wednesday with the Sin
Law podcast, which means we'llbring you a new spooky story
straight from the heart ofLouisiana.
So, without further ado, let'sget into today's story and for
you guys.
You guys are in for a veryspecial treat today.
(01:38):
You, if you've ever listened tothe very end of my podcast,
which I hope you have.
I hope you listened to the wholeepisode, but at the very very
end you hear a voice.
Every single episode bonus, notbonus.
Any episode you listen to.
Yeah, you can go right now.
Go listen, go, go pick it, pickan episode, any episode.
At the very end you hear avoice and that voice says
(01:58):
something like this has been anelf audio production that's
right, guys.
Ambria is actually going to bejoining us for this episode and,
before you get too judgy, shehas been begging and begging,
like I've said before, to be onan episode, so I figure we're
going to do these spooky onesfor Halloween.
They're a little bit lighter,not as terrible, although
today's episode is stillaccompanied by a trigger warning
(02:23):
, because any time we talk aboutany kind of suicide or mental
health issues, we want to makesure that everybody knows that
there are resources out there,there are people that love you,
and we're here to listen if noone else is.
So, um, keeping that in mind,embry, hey what's up, sanal fam?
hey.
So today you're going to bejoining us for the story, right?
Um, she is completely clueless,so she knows a little bit.
(02:48):
Yeah, I mean you know a littlebit because I've talked about it
a couple times now to differentpeople.
So we are going to jump rightin, because this started way
back before I was even born.
I know that's super old, right,very old, yeah.
So you don't even know what the19s were.
You were born in the 20s.
Anyway, today's episode is verysad because I didn't realize
(03:16):
that we, um, as a state as awhole, we have a ton of unsolved
cases which i've've talkedabout in a couple of our
episodes, with EugèneBois-Fontaine and the unsolved
murder of Jimmy Townsend.
If you haven't listened tothose, go give those a listen.
But what makes this onedifferent is he chose to be
(03:40):
unknown.
He chose to have his mark lefton the world as someone who
would not be named.
It's absolutely bizarre.
So we're going to get into itright now.
Amber, are you ready?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Alright, here we go.
I think that's the first timeshe said yes, ma'am, to me in a
year.
So Valentine's Day, what monthis that in?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
February.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Beautiful.
What else is special aboutFebruary?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
It's your birthday on February 2nd.
No, you always get it wrong onmy birthday, Either way Okay so
let's get serious for a second,all right.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So it is February 4th .
Okay, so it is February 4th,okay.
So this couple are justmoseying down having a good
drive and this is completelyshattered when they come across
(04:44):
the body of a young boy, 16, 17years old, hanging from a
persimmon tree off the side ofthe highway.
Now, there is very littleinformation because, again 1975,
things have been lost over time.
But what we do know about himwas he was around six feet tall,
about 160 pounds, he was white,he was between 16 and 17 years
old and he also had slightlyprotruding front teeth.
He was wearing get this amaroon and yellow long-sleeved
(05:06):
Puritan shirt and blue aeropants with a brown belt.
Now, if you don't know whatthose are I didn't know what
those were I've got pictures.
Go to my website.
Thank you.
He had a cleaning number DD44was found in the pants, so like
a dry cleaner's number,basically and a comb was found
in his pocket.
(05:26):
He also had one gray sock andone blue sock on, but he did not
have any shoes.
He was hanging from a bed sheetthat he had tied into a
slipknot.
Now they ruled his death asuicide and the moss found on
his clothes was the same as themoss on the tree.
(05:46):
So it proved that he hadclimbed the tree to hang the
sheep.
So the other part that led itto be a suicide was there was
also a note.
Yeah, huh, it's saying to themicrophone can I read the note?
Well, it's kind of hard, but Imean like, if you want to try it
, you absolutely can.
Um, so the note was a hugepoint of focus because that was
(06:11):
really the only evidence thatanybody had of who this guy was,
where he came from or anything,any kind of hint or clue about
who he could be.
Now his is even moreinteresting.
You know the message in abottle, like people throw in a
message in a bottle out in theocean or whatever.
Yeah, okay, so this guy he puthis suicide note into a jar,
sealed it up and leaned it upagainst the tree.
(06:32):
Okay, he took really specialcare to make sure the note was
left under the tree.
That's crazy.
Now, if you need to take a breakor anything, just let me know.
I can edit whatever.
So you can start with the firstpart and just read a snippet.
This is the very beginning andthere is only.
I'll have this picture on mywebsite.
There's only one section of thenote that still is in existence
(06:58):
to this day, because the restof it has been lost to time or
however you want to look at it.
But the actual handwriting andeverything you can look at it on
the website and see the sampleof how well I mean, he was,
obviously very well educated.
But anyway, go ahead, embry,take it away.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
All right, mom and dad, I feel like I have acted
very methodically.
Risk that later I will breakand shatter my by violence or
(07:32):
eager years under care.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Linger years under care.
Linger years under care I neverdid develop into a real person
and I cannot tolerate that, thefalse and empty existence I have
created.
Okay, so just from the veryopening lines there we can tell
this was a very troubled youngboy.
(07:56):
He obviously had some issues,more than just one, and it's
really sad because he obviously,like I said, he's obviously
very well-spoken, he's verywell-educated, but he feels like
he hasn't, he's not, like he'snot real, like it's not a real
person, and that he doesn't haveany hope to continue forward in
(08:21):
life and that he would ratherend it now than possibly grow
into something that is dangerousto the rest of his family and
the people he loves and to theworld, which is pretty
insightful and scary to haveinside your mind as a 16, 17
year old.
I mean, that's, that's a toughtime as it is.
So you get the picture of thatjust from that little bit.
(08:45):
In the very beginning he alsosays that he I'm going to I'm
going to like quick, quick ithere, because I'm the note's
pretty decently long.
If you want to read it in full,I'll have it posted, but he
addresses different peoplethroughout the note.
He actually puts in his notethat if whoever finds it should
(09:06):
see a psychiatrist so that theycould understand his death and
his life and ask about what hewas, and that the person his
family is what we assume, willsee that it's not tragic that
I'm gone, but more natural thanif I had continued.
And then he addresses a sectionto the police.
These have hard words.
Maybe you're bound to preservedomestic peace and order.
(09:28):
If you pursue who I was andspend hundreds of dollars, you
will accomplish little.
There are no legal consequencesof my death or any kind of
entanglements.
All that I can say, all thatcan happen, is you will shatter
the domestic peace and order oftwo innocent lives.
(09:49):
Do not deprive them of theirhope that their missing son will
return.
Let me be, let it be as if Iwasn't ever here.
Simply cremate me as john doe.
Then there's another sectionwhich almost makes me cry.
Well, how you should not feelresponsible.
And then just a second baby.
He also again very welleducated.
He cites the works of a umwell-known.
(10:10):
I believe it was a psych um,psychiatrist, like sociologist,
one of those.
I'll have to go look it up, butanyway he.
He cites the work of emDurkheim and according to the
Boy in the Tree, he definessuicide as an inner direction of
homicidal feelings againstsomeone else.
So apparently, according to theBoy and from what we can
(10:33):
surmise from the note, he washaving killer thoughts, like he
was thinking about killingsomebody or somebody else, and
so instead of doing that, hejust decided to kill himself.
And then, by not releasing hisname or who he is and telling
the police not to try to findout who he is, he's saying my
parents will always be able tohold out that hope that I'm
(10:55):
still alive.
So don't take that from them,don't, don't let them know that
I'm dead.
Basically is what he's saying,so they don't have to go through
that sadness, which I don'tknow, which is worse.
I've talked to people that havehad both and they, I mean, they
seem okay Neither.
Neither of those situations areokay.
So the next part it's it'stalking about him being a bomb,
(11:18):
that he should never marry orhave children.
He does not want to botheranyone and just limp through
life.
He's very self-centered.
And then the very end.
It's really sad because hedirects his sentence directly to
his parents.
And Embry, do you want to readthat part at the end?
(11:39):
Mom and Dad, okay.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Mom and Dad, you have provided me excellent advent.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Adventages.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Adventages and privileges and experience.
I have really led more of mylife than many others have been
eligible.
I am extremely grateful for allof your sacrifices, time and
support.
I am now repaying you with anignorant act a what a grant.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Let me see with an arrogant arrogant act.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
In this light, I do see it as a criminal.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
I can hope, only hope , that I see, you see, you see
that it was me who caused it sobasically saying again that they
shouldn't feel responsible ifthey ever do find out that he's
dead and that he committedsuicide.
So that's that's it.
That that's all we have.
We know he was six foot, thathe had brown hair, that he was
(12:50):
white, he was 16, 17 years old.
He was very well educated.
We can see his handwriting.
They actually did a um artistreconstruction, like when
somebody's doing an eyewitness,uh reconstruction and they draw
it out.
They did the same thing, butwith john doe, and you can see
that picture on the website aswell.
I mean like he looks like apretty decent looking guy.
I mean like he doesn't looklike he was, like he didn't have
(13:11):
you know, it looks like he haslike a kind of like a double
chin.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
That's what I said.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
No, no, no, a butt chin.
He's got the temple in his chin.
Yeah, yeah, I totally see that,yeah, but I mean like there's
no grotesque figuring oranything like that.
So I don't have symmetricalfeatures that you're going to be
upset with yourself.
No, that's not what I mean.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
What I mean, is that he?
He kind of looks like Squidwardfor his chin, kind of Not even
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
He kind of looks like one of the Beatles.
Honestly, no, so you don't evenknow who the Beatles are, hush.
So they did, regardless of thefact that he said, please don't
spend money and try, look,because you're never going to
figure it out, which we haven't.
So he was right.
Obviously they still tried tofigure out who he was.
They did an autopsy.
(14:02):
But the doctor, dr Frank Menard, who did the?
He did the autopsy.
He was a gynecologist, that's alady doctor.
That's not a doctor of deadbodies, that's a lady doctor.
So he did the autopsy.
The fingerprints of his weresent to DC but no match was
found.
(14:22):
The sketch was done and put outin the papers.
He was embalmed.
His body was embalmed and keptin Algiers, louisiana, at a
funeral home for viewing.
The search for his identity wasa national story that was
covered by 300 plus newspapersall across the country.
And equally as many familiescame to Plaquemines Parish to
(14:46):
see if John Doe could be theirmissing son, but no one ever
identified him.
Him, no, he was neveridentified as the missing loved
one of any of those families.
So they there were a couplethat were more likely or more um
significant that they thoughtit was a better chance of being.
(15:08):
One of them was the family ofcharles wallace jr.
They came all the way fromtennessee to see if our black
amine john was their missingloved one.
Charles he was 19 at the time.
He disappeared from memphis.
He was in a home for teenagerswith drug problems.
His mom did confirm, though,that the john doe in blackine
(15:31):
Parish was not her son.
However, the charts for theirdental structure, like their
teeth impressions and junk, theymatched, but that's not an
exact science.
They pretty much proved that atthis point that, because our
mouths are constantly changing,it's not something that you can
go off of.
You know as well as like DNA,right.
(15:52):
That's not something that youcan go off of.
You know as well as like DNA,right.
So after a good while this wasin February, remember February
14th.
When he was discovered On June12th 1975, his body was starting
to decompose, so the search wasthen called off.
He was buried.
Allegedly he was buried in anunmarked grave in woodlawn
(16:13):
cemetery, which was bought outby another funeral home in the
90s and the deputy that was incharge of the case.
He was upset and said I wish wecould have found the real
parents.
Now they'll never know.
And then nothing much reallyhas happened since then.
The case kind of fell intoobscurity.
The people who, uh, like I,live here and I never knew this
(16:34):
was a thing.
I didn't know that we hadsomebody from 1975 that had
never been identified.
The boy in the tree, like it,blew my mind when I saw this pop
up when I was looking forspecifically for spooky
Louisiana-based stories.
I had a couple in mind but Ididn't have enough, so I had to
go dig in for some more and thisone just kind of fell into my
lap and it's just absolutelybonkers.
(16:56):
But it gets even more twisted.
What's up?
I have a question, I have ananswer.
Did he have shoes?
Apparently not.
We're going to get into thathere in just a minute.
Okay, keep that thought in mind.
But if he did, where did hisshoes go?
Right, but see, they didn'treally make mention of the fact
(17:17):
if his socks were dirty or ifthey were just, you know, if
they were ragged or if they hadholes in them.
If he had been walking thewhole time in just socks, we
don't know, but we'll come tothat in just a sec.
(17:39):
So, somewhere between the 1990sand the early 2000s the records
of the John Doe case were lostbecause of a dang old hurricane
Always blamed a hurricane.
So that also means that now noone knows where John Doe was
buried.
They have no way of actuallylocating his grave because all
the records were gone and lostin a hurricane.
So around about 2005, the Webbsleuth armchair detectives.
(18:02):
They started a forum on thecase and it now has over 47
pages probably more by now, it'sprobably closer to 50 to 60,
about this young man inPlaquemines Parish and they have
gathered what they believe tobe proof that he was here in
(18:22):
contact with authorities.
So they were able to track downthe plot location from the
original funeral owner's homerecord.
So the new funeral home wasasked if they could tell us
where John Doe was buried.
However, they said theycouldn't do it because they
could only release it to lawenforcement.
So when the web sleuths gavethe information to law
(18:43):
enforcement they contacted, whenthey tried to give them the
information, they didn't reallycare.
They had little to no interest.
Um, he's been buried.
It's been over 50 years.
Why bother?
So the only people that areinterested are people like us
that create podcasts aboutstories that have been lost and
(19:03):
to keep them, um, in front ofeverybody.
He's actually still listed onthe national missing and
unidentified person system,which is where they list every
person ever that has beenmissing or lost and found.
So, basically, if they have aJohn Doe or a Jane Doe, we
learned what that meant, right?
So if they have either of those, they put them in this national
(19:24):
database so that if, by somemiracle, they get some that
match up or this person matchesthis description, maybe this is
the lost loved one.
They have ways of, you know,putting those side by side and
keeping all those records in onespot.
So the only crappy part is thathe wasn't added until June of
2022.
(19:45):
Now this is where we get intothe little bit conspiracy
theory-ish, because there shouldbe a lot right, there should be
not any theories in theory, butthere are a few as to why or
(20:08):
who maybe he was.
Now the why he ended his ownlife.
They have a couple of guesses.
Some people think he was asociopath, and by that they mean
that he was born evil, like hewas born to have this idea of
violence in his mind and hewanted to remove himself from
the world so that he didn't hurtanyone.
(20:30):
But that doesn't sound like asociopath In my mind, like true
sociopaths.
They live for that, so theylive for that.
They wouldn't.
He wouldn't kill himself.
So likely not a sociopath.
However, they the crime side ofit, like having the belief that
maybe he did commit a crime andhe was worried about doing it
(20:50):
again, or he was so guilt riddenbecause of what he did that was
bad that he didn't ever want todo anything like that again,
taking his own life and notshaming his parents.
I buy that one a hundredpercent.
So maybe he said breaking andshattering by violence in his
letter and it could also meanthat he hadn't done it yet but
(21:12):
was thinking about it.
I don't know, but very likely.
However, the big one I think arethe theories of the mental
health disorders and a possiblespectrum, autism spectrum
somewhere in there.
Obviously in the 70s thatwasn't a big um the.
(21:37):
It wasn't as well as as widelyaccepted as it is now.
Now it's kind of understoodthat that's a thing and we, you
know, we talk about it, weembrace it and we try to work
towards it being inclusive ofall things, all people, all of
all, and also the same thingcould be said about mental
health.
You know that's not something.
That was especially not formales back then it was.
(21:59):
You know men don't cry.
You know you keep it inside.
You don't tell anybody what isa therapist, yada, yada yada.
So those are really good.
In my opinion, those are two ofthe most likely reasons either
a mental health disorder slashum, borderline sociopathy, um,
(22:23):
and that that kind of leads intoit.
But the other, really big one,obviously comes with same as you
know, know, not reallyaccepting, or um being
understanding of mental health,in the same way that they
weren't accepting of anybodythat was gay.
So anybody from the lbgtq pluswhatever it is.
(22:44):
Now I forget.
I'm sorry, no offense, I'm just, I don't know what they are,
but um being gay in the 70s wasextremely, extremely just, taboo
.
You don't talk about it.
If it is, it is, but like,don't bring it up, pretend to
not be like very straight andnarrow, not to be punny.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Very serious.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, you didn't let anybody else know that you're
gay.
It was very shameful to do itif you were, and then your
entire family was shamed for it.
So I mean, that is also a verygood theory as to why he would
have tried to keep fromshattering and breaking his
family because of that.
So there's no way to know forsure.
(23:27):
You know, because he was vague,detailed but vague.
So you know, we'll never reallyknow.
So the one specific thing thatI'm sorry, there's a couple
actually there were a couplepeople that they thought it
might be and there are a couplenames that got thrown around.
(23:54):
Oh, excuse me, all right, skipthat part, but yeah, there was a
couple of names that got thrownaround Emery.
Uh, do you know either of those?
Um, the Bayard cousins, bayardcousins, what about them?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Um, there is a a possibility that John Doe could
have sunk from kind ofconversation therapy program
Conversion therapy.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Conversion therapy oh okay, so that's also a gay
thing.
So people back in the day, whenyou, if you were um, thought to
be gay, they would send you offand try to basically brainwash
you and convince you that youweren't.
So they would send yousomewhere that would basically,
you'd wake up in the morning,you're not gay, you're straight.
(24:49):
And that's what they would doall day long and beat it into
your head that you weren't gayand you were straight.
And that was like they weretrying to converse, they were
trying to get you to believeyourself that you were straight.
So so they believed that thatthe baynard cousins may have
been, um, they were talks ofthat.
Was that what it says?
(25:09):
Um?
Speaker 2 (25:12):
says like could have some conversation, conversion
therapy.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Let me see, I was like, okay, so, okay, so he may
have come from some kind oftherapy program and, as those
were starting to get populararound that same time, he may
have escaped from there and thenended up and just decided to
take his own life, maybe, maybe.
(25:39):
So, amber, you wanted to talkabout his shoes, though, right?
Yes, the area where he wasfound.
Now I didn't talk about it much, but I want to touch on it a
little bit here Belle Chase inPlaquemine Parish.
I mean, obviously, if you're inLouisiana, I live here.
I didn't know where the hell itwas, so Plaquemine Parish, and
(26:01):
Belle Chase specifically, isbeneath.
But, okay, the Mississippi Rivercomes down.
Oh, everybody knows how itcomes down, like we all draw the
elf, when we the elf when we'relearning geography, and then we
follow the river all the waydown from North Dakota all the
way down to the Gulf of Mexico.
Right, and the Gulf of Mexico,it actually uh toe.
(26:22):
It creates a shoe-like uh toearound inside of Louisiana,
still, and Louisiana is on bothsides of the river at that point
, but Belle Chase actually isthe of that area and I know I'm
terrible at explaining this, butif you follow the river around
right after it hit.
After you hit New Orleans.
You follow the river around andright where it starts to curve
(26:44):
and become like the underside orthe sole of the shoe, if you
were calling the river a shoe.
Anyway, that area isPlaquemines, paris, which is the
Belle Chase area.
Now you have to remember we aretalking swamps, we are talking
mud, we are talking swampy, youknow all of those things.
This is not somewhere that youwant to go without shoes.
It's presumed that most peoplewould have on freaking shoes.
(27:07):
So where are his shoes?
Where do they go?
Okay, if he even had shoes,maybe he did, maybe he didn't,
but it doesn't say anythingspecifically about the socks
being torn or tattered oranything like that.
It doesn't say like they couldstill tell the colors.
So maybe somebody stole hisshoes after he died.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I have another question.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Uh-huh, he's wearing mixed matched shoe socks, yeah,
but how often do you wearmatching socks?
Just today does not count,because there are halloween
socks and they don't I wear Isaw you barely wear socks at all
, much less matching ones.
No, I'm okay with not matchingsocks, and here's why If you
have the same type of socks, soif they came out of like the
(27:48):
same package, I don't care ifthey match or not, as long as
they're the same type, like theyboth have to have, they both
have to be ankle socks or theyboth have to be Christmas socks.
You know what I mean.
Like, I have um batty socks,batty Skeletons and marty we
were bats last year.
Anyway, now, around the sametime, because this is February,
right, what else happens inFebruary?
(28:09):
Do you know?
In Louisiana we have a specialholiday for it that is literally
assigned by the governor.
We get a state holiday.
The state takes the day off forMardi Gras.
Oh yeah, that's in February,yeah, so maybe John Doe wasn't
even from here, maybe he wasfrom somewhere else and had come
from Mardi Gras and maybe hehad taken something or done
something during that party time, because I mean, this is the
(28:32):
70s, maybe he had something thathe shouldn't have.
And then, I don't know, maybe,and like being 16, 17 years old,
especially back then, you knowyou were a lot, specifically,
you know you had moreresponsibility, is what I mean.
What is that?
Oh, no, yeah for sure we can dothe very end, okay.
So, as much as I would like tobelieve that you know he, it's
(28:59):
hard to say that he found peacebecause nobody actually knows
where the remains are.
Yeah, and you know, what'sreally crazy about that is that
remember I told you that one ofthe guys that they thought it
might be him, that they sent thedental records, the ones that
were really close to that match.
(29:20):
They sent those to compare themto the John Doe and Belle Chase
, and then they mysteriouslywere lost as well.
So if you have any informationabout the whereabouts of Perry
Otter Corlew which was the guywith the dental records that
matched, but the mom said itwasn't him or the location of
his remains, please contact theCrawford County Sheriff's Office
(29:41):
at 989-348-4616.
Sheriff's Office at989-348-4616.
Now, other than that, I don'tknow that anything is going to
happen with this case ever.
I don't know that it's evergoing to be solved or found.
I mean, maybe if.
But see, this is the thing wedon't know where the body is.
We have no idea where his graveis located, so we can't even
(30:03):
pretend to hold out hope for aDNA which may have already
solved this case.
By now had his body and thelocation of his remains not been
lost.
So, everybody, keep your fingerscrossed and see if you know,
maybe one day they find itSomebody on the Internet.
I mean, it's happened before.
It could happen again.
Right, we'll see Exactly.
(30:30):
So, embry, can you tell thesewonderful people that have
listened to us ramble on andsound very, very educated indeed
, this is our spooky story ofthe day.
This is our Wake at Wednesday.
Topic the boy in the tree, alsoknown as the John Doe of
Plaquemines Parish.
So Embry is going to read younow some very important
information that you may or maynot need for you, or or for
(30:50):
someone you love or know, andthey may need it.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
So mbri take it away.
All right, the barn bayardcousins were last seen in
virginia beach, virginia, onfebruary 1st no, baby, hang on,
hang on, let's not do that,let's not do that.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Um, we're not gonna do that one because we didn't
talk about them at all.
So here's what's gonna happen.
I need you to do this one righthere, if you have any
information.
We're almost done.
Here you go this one.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
It wasn't me, it was him, that's okay okay, that's
okay.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
We're literally.
She's reading the stuff rightnow to, if you have any
information about it, then she'sgonna read all that and then
we'll be done.
Come here for a minute, almostdone, come on.
Oh, go watch bluey with daddybluey, or you can go watch
mamushi.
Tell hoppa how to get tomamushi.
I hoppa like the big snake.
All right, baby girl.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Whenever you're ready , take it away can we do the
virginia beach together Beach,if you have any information like
we didn't talk about them atall, about being a possible
identity.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
We barely, barely, barely, touched it.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
But yeah, go ahead if you have any information as to
the identity of Primine's parish, please contact LSU Faces
Laboratory at 225-578-4761.
(32:14):
In reference to case numberLSU-22105.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Okay, so read that one one more time You're going
to call what number.
that one one more time you'regoing to call, what number
225-578-4761 and the id for thecase number is lsu 2205 perfect,
and so we also want to makesure that everybody knows that
(32:41):
in the episode show notes fortoday's episode, there will be
links to all of the resourcesthat you may need for suicide,
mental health, all of thosethings, the suicide hotline, all
of that they actually have atext line now.
If you need help, if you needsomeone to talk to, they're
there to listen.
We're here to listen.
(33:01):
We love you, they love you,someone loves you are here to
listen.
We love you, they love you,someone loves you, and we don't
want you to make, we don't wantyou to feel like you don't
belong and that that's the bestoption, because it never is.
You are loved.
Just remember that you willalways be loved.
And that is going to wrap it upfor our very first Wicked
(33:23):
Wednesday of the Halloween month, and we will be back next week.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
We were a little bit late Because it's Tuesday, but
it's okay.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Mama's going to get it edited and we're going to get
it out and it's going to begreat.
Thank you, uncle Sawyer, forthe wonderful background music
that you guys are listening tothis episode.
Yeah that's my uncle, and hedid an amazing job.
Thank you again.
And then next week we'll haveanother story.
But the next week's story isgoing to be even creepier, and
not because we don't knowanything.
(33:52):
It's probably more wickedbecause we know everything.
And one more thing Come herebaby.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
If you would like to, I can read you all a Halloween
story I can find online.
Oh, we could definitely do thaton Halloween for sure.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Maybe we could do it live on YouTube.
That would be awesome.
Alright, say bye-bye.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
I'll try to go look at my books and find something
on the internet or books.
Alright, say bye-bye.
One more thing.
One more thing, mom, that's toohard Mama, that's too hard.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
I love you.
We will be making more bloopers, all right, all right, thank
you, all right, thank you guys,so much for listening.
We hope you see you next time,see you later.
Take care out there.
Take it easy, guys.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Happy halloween remember to contact that number
and I'm-.
On the evening of Valentine's Day, 1975, a couple
was making their way through aremote section of Highway 23
that followed along theMississippi River around 16
miles south of Belle Chase,louisiana, in Plaquemines Parish
.
They were on their return tripand had left at around 525.
A few hours later, at around1130 pm, they noticed something
(00:21):
white peeking through the trees.
To their horror.
Horror, they found the body ofa teenage boy hanging from a
persimmon tree.
This was the strange andmysterious journey that to this
day has yet to be solved.
Join us now for episode 34, theBoy in the Tree.
(00:54):
Hey guys, I'm Kelly and this isthe very special Halloween month
because, if you know me at all,you know my favorite holiday of
the year is absolutely, withouta doubt, halloween.
So we don't celebrate Halloween, we celebrate Halloween month,
and for that, although I amapologizing in advance and for
(01:15):
all time, apparently every time,for the rest of the month,
every Wednesday, we will haveWicked Wednesday with the Sin
Law podcast, which means we'llbring you a new spooky story
straight from the heart ofLouisiana.
So, without further ado, let'sget into today's story and for
you guys.
You guys are in for a veryspecial treat today.
(01:38):
You, if you've ever listened tothe very end of my podcast,
which I hope you have.
I hope you listened to the wholeepisode, but at the very very
end you hear a voice.
Every single episode bonus, notbonus.
Any episode you listen to.
Yeah, you can go right now.
Go listen, go, go pick it, pickan episode, any episode.
At the very end you hear avoice and that voice says
(01:58):
something like this has been anelf audio production that's
right, guys.
Ambria is actually going to bejoining us for this episode and,
before you get too judgy, shehas been begging and begging,
like I've said before, to be onan episode, so I figure we're
going to do these spooky onesfor Halloween.
They're a little bit lighter,not as terrible, although
today's episode is stillaccompanied by a trigger warning
(02:23):
, because any time we talk aboutany kind of suicide or mental
health issues, we want to makesure that everybody knows that
there are resources out there,there are people that love you,
and we're here to listen if noone else is.
So, um, keeping that in mind,embry, hey what's up, sanal fam?
hey.
So today you're going to bejoining us for the story, right?
Um, she is completely clueless,so she knows a little bit.
(02:48):
Yeah, I mean you know a littlebit because I've talked about it
a couple times now to differentpeople.
So we are going to jump rightin, because this started way
back before I was even born.
I know that's super old, right,very old, yeah.
So you don't even know what the19s were.
You were born in the 20s.
Anyway, today's episode is verysad because I didn't realize
(03:16):
that we, um, as a state as awhole, we have a ton of unsolved
cases which i've've talkedabout in a couple of our
episodes, with EugèneBois-Fontaine and the unsolved
murder of Jimmy Townsend.
If you haven't listened tothose, go give those a listen.
But what makes this onedifferent is he chose to be
(03:40):
unknown.
He chose to have his mark lefton the world as someone who
would not be named.
It's absolutely bizarre.
So we're going to get into itright now.
Amber, are you ready?
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Yes, ma'am.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Alright, here we go.
I think that's the first timeshe said yes, ma'am, to me in a
year.
So Valentine's Day, what monthis that in?
Speaker 2 (04:07):
February.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Beautiful.
What else is special aboutFebruary?
Speaker 2 (04:12):
It's your birthday on February 2nd.
No, you always get it wrong onmy birthday, Either way Okay so
let's get serious for a second,all right.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
So it is February 4th .
Okay, so it is February 4th,okay.
So this couple are justmoseying down having a good
drive and this is completelyshattered when they come across
(04:44):
the body of a young boy, 16, 17years old, hanging from a
persimmon tree off the side ofthe highway.
Now, there is very littleinformation because, again 1975,
things have been lost over time.
But what we do know about himwas he was around six feet tall,
about 160 pounds, he was white,he was between 16 and 17 years
old and he also had slightlyprotruding front teeth.
He was wearing get this amaroon and yellow long-sleeved
(05:06):
Puritan shirt and blue aeropants with a brown belt.
Now, if you don't know whatthose are I didn't know what
those were I've got pictures.
Go to my website.
Thank you.
He had a cleaning number DD44was found in the pants, so like
a dry cleaner's number,basically and a comb was found
in his pocket.
(05:26):
He also had one gray sock andone blue sock on, but he did not
have any shoes.
He was hanging from a bed sheetthat he had tied into a
slipknot.
Now they ruled his death asuicide and the moss found on
his clothes was the same as themoss on the tree.
(05:46):
So it proved that he hadclimbed the tree to hang the
sheep.
So the other part that led itto be a suicide was there was
also a note.
Yeah, huh, it's saying to themicrophone can I read the note?
Well, it's kind of hard, but Imean like, if you want to try it
, you absolutely can.
Um, so the note was a hugepoint of focus because that was
(06:11):
really the only evidence thatanybody had of who this guy was,
where he came from or anything,any kind of hint or clue about
who he could be.
Now his is even moreinteresting.
You know the message in abottle, like people throw in a
message in a bottle out in theocean or whatever.
Yeah, okay, so this guy he puthis suicide note into a jar,
sealed it up and leaned it upagainst the tree.
(06:32):
Okay, he took really specialcare to make sure the note was
left under the tree.
That's crazy.
Now, if you need to take a breakor anything, just let me know.
I can edit whatever.
So you can start with the firstpart and just read a snippet.
This is the very beginning andthere is only.
I'll have this picture on mywebsite.
There's only one section of thenote that still is in existence
(06:58):
to this day, because the restof it has been lost to time or
however you want to look at it.
But the actual handwriting andeverything you can look at it on
the website and see the sampleof how well I mean, he was,
obviously very well educated.
But anyway, go ahead, embry,take it away.
Speaker 2 (07:07):
All right, mom and dad, I feel like I have acted
very methodically.
Risk that later I will breakand shatter my by violence or
(07:32):
eager years under care.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
Linger years under care.
Linger years under care I neverdid develop into a real person
and I cannot tolerate that, thefalse and empty existence I have
created.
Okay, so just from the veryopening lines there we can tell
this was a very troubled youngboy.
(07:56):
He obviously had some issues,more than just one, and it's
really sad because he obviously,like I said, he's obviously
very well-spoken, he's verywell-educated, but he feels like
he hasn't, he's not, like he'snot real, like it's not a real
person, and that he doesn't haveany hope to continue forward in
(08:21):
life and that he would ratherend it now than possibly grow
into something that is dangerousto the rest of his family and
the people he loves and to theworld, which is pretty
insightful and scary to haveinside your mind as a 16, 17
year old.
I mean, that's, that's a toughtime as it is.
So you get the picture of thatjust from that little bit.
(08:45):
In the very beginning he alsosays that he I'm going to I'm
going to like quick, quick ithere, because I'm the note's
pretty decently long.
If you want to read it in full,I'll have it posted, but he
addresses different peoplethroughout the note.
He actually puts in his notethat if whoever finds it should
(09:06):
see a psychiatrist so that theycould understand his death and
his life and ask about what hewas, and that the person his
family is what we assume, willsee that it's not tragic that
I'm gone, but more natural thanif I had continued.
And then he addresses a sectionto the police.
These have hard words.
Maybe you're bound to preservedomestic peace and order.
(09:28):
If you pursue who I was andspend hundreds of dollars, you
will accomplish little.
There are no legal consequencesof my death or any kind of
entanglements.
All that I can say, all thatcan happen, is you will shatter
the domestic peace and order oftwo innocent lives.
(09:49):
Do not deprive them of theirhope that their missing son will
return.
Let me be, let it be as if Iwasn't ever here.
Simply cremate me as john doe.
Then there's another sectionwhich almost makes me cry.
Well, how you should not feelresponsible.
And then just a second baby.
He also again very welleducated.
He cites the works of a umwell-known.
(10:10):
I believe it was a psych um,psychiatrist, like sociologist,
one of those.
I'll have to go look it up, butanyway he.
He cites the work of emDurkheim and according to the
Boy in the Tree, he definessuicide as an inner direction of
homicidal feelings againstsomeone else.
So apparently, according to theBoy and from what we can
(10:33):
surmise from the note, he washaving killer thoughts, like he
was thinking about killingsomebody or somebody else, and
so instead of doing that, hejust decided to kill himself.
And then, by not releasing hisname or who he is and telling
the police not to try to findout who he is, he's saying my
parents will always be able tohold out that hope that I'm
(10:55):
still alive.
So don't take that from them,don't, don't let them know that
I'm dead.
Basically is what he's saying,so they don't have to go through
that sadness, which I don'tknow, which is worse.
I've talked to people that havehad both and they, I mean, they
seem okay Neither.
Neither of those situations areokay.
So the next part it's it'stalking about him being a bomb,
(11:18):
that he should never marry orhave children.
He does not want to botheranyone and just limp through
life.
He's very self-centered.
And then the very end.
It's really sad because hedirects his sentence directly to
his parents.
And Embry, do you want to readthat part at the end?
(11:39):
Mom and Dad, okay.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Mom and Dad, you have provided me excellent advent.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
Adventages.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
Adventages and privileges and experience.
I have really led more of mylife than many others have been
eligible.
I am extremely grateful for allof your sacrifices, time and
support.
I am now repaying you with anignorant act a what a grant.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Let me see with an arrogant arrogant act.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
In this light, I do see it as a criminal.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
I can hope, only hope , that I see, you see, you see
that it was me who caused it sobasically saying again that they
shouldn't feel responsible ifthey ever do find out that he's
dead and that he committedsuicide.
So that's that's it.
That that's all we have.
We know he was six foot, thathe had brown hair, that he was
(12:50):
white, he was 16, 17 years old.
He was very well educated.
We can see his handwriting.
They actually did a um artistreconstruction, like when
somebody's doing an eyewitness,uh reconstruction and they draw
it out.
They did the same thing, butwith john doe, and you can see
that picture on the website aswell.
I mean like he looks like apretty decent looking guy.
I mean like he doesn't looklike he was, like he didn't have
(13:11):
you know, it looks like he haslike a kind of like a double
chin.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
That's what I said.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
No, no, no, a butt chin.
He's got the temple in his chin.
Yeah, yeah, I totally see that,yeah, but I mean like there's
no grotesque figuring oranything like that.
So I don't have symmetricalfeatures that you're going to be
upset with yourself.
No, that's not what I mean.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
What I mean, is that he?
He kind of looks like Squidwardfor his chin, kind of Not even
a little bit.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
He kind of looks like one of the Beatles.
Honestly, no, so you don't evenknow who the Beatles are, hush.
So they did, regardless of thefact that he said, please don't
spend money and try, look,because you're never going to
figure it out, which we haven't.
So he was right.
Obviously they still tried tofigure out who he was.
They did an autopsy.
(14:02):
But the doctor, dr Frank Menard, who did the?
He did the autopsy.
He was a gynecologist, that's alady doctor.
That's not a doctor of deadbodies, that's a lady doctor.
So he did the autopsy.
The fingerprints of his weresent to DC but no match was
found.
(14:22):
The sketch was done and put outin the papers.
He was embalmed.
His body was embalmed and keptin Algiers, louisiana, at a
funeral home for viewing.
The search for his identity wasa national story that was
covered by 300 plus newspapersall across the country.
And equally as many familiescame to Plaquemines Parish to
(14:46):
see if John Doe could be theirmissing son, but no one ever
identified him.
Him, no, he was neveridentified as the missing loved
one of any of those families.
So they there were a couplethat were more likely or more um
significant that they thoughtit was a better chance of being.
(15:08):
One of them was the family ofcharles wallace jr.
They came all the way fromtennessee to see if our black
amine john was their missingloved one.
Charles he was 19 at the time.
He disappeared from memphis.
He was in a home for teenagerswith drug problems.
His mom did confirm, though,that the john doe in blackine
(15:31):
Parish was not her son.
However, the charts for theirdental structure, like their
teeth impressions and junk, theymatched, but that's not an
exact science.
They pretty much proved that atthis point that, because our
mouths are constantly changing,it's not something that you can
go off of.
You know as well as like DNA,right.
(15:52):
That's not something that youcan go off of.
You know as well as like DNA,right.
So after a good while this wasin February, remember February
14th.
When he was discovered On June12th 1975, his body was starting
to decompose, so the search wasthen called off.
He was buried.
Allegedly he was buried in anunmarked grave in woodlawn
(16:13):
cemetery, which was bought outby another funeral home in the
90s and the deputy that was incharge of the case.
He was upset and said I wish wecould have found the real
parents.
Now they'll never know.
And then nothing much reallyhas happened since then.
The case kind of fell intoobscurity.
The people who, uh, like I,live here and I never knew this
(16:34):
was a thing.
I didn't know that we hadsomebody from 1975 that had
never been identified.
The boy in the tree, like it,blew my mind when I saw this pop
up when I was looking forspecifically for spooky
Louisiana-based stories.
I had a couple in mind but Ididn't have enough, so I had to
go dig in for some more and thisone just kind of fell into my
lap and it's just absolutelybonkers.
(16:56):
But it gets even more twisted.
What's up?
I have a question, I have ananswer.
Did he have shoes?
Apparently not.
We're going to get into thathere in just a minute.
Okay, keep that thought in mind.
But if he did, where did hisshoes go?
Right, but see, they didn'treally make mention of the fact
(17:17):
if his socks were dirty or ifthey were just, you know, if
they were ragged or if they hadholes in them.
If he had been walking thewhole time in just socks, we
don't know, but we'll come tothat in just a sec.
(17:39):
So, somewhere between the 1990sand the early 2000s the records
of the John Doe case were lostbecause of a dang old hurricane
Always blamed a hurricane.
So that also means that now noone knows where John Doe was
buried.
They have no way of actuallylocating his grave because all
the records were gone and lostin a hurricane.
So around about 2005, the Webbsleuth armchair detectives.
(18:02):
They started a forum on thecase and it now has over 47
pages probably more by now, it'sprobably closer to 50 to 60,
about this young man inPlaquemines Parish and they have
gathered what they believe tobe proof that he was here in
(18:22):
contact with authorities.
So they were able to track downthe plot location from the
original funeral owner's homerecord.
So the new funeral home wasasked if they could tell us
where John Doe was buried.
However, they said theycouldn't do it because they
could only release it to lawenforcement.
So when the web sleuths gavethe information to law
(18:43):
enforcement they contacted, whenthey tried to give them the
information, they didn't reallycare.
They had little to no interest.
Um, he's been buried.
It's been over 50 years.
Why bother?
So the only people that areinterested are people like us
that create podcasts aboutstories that have been lost and
(19:03):
to keep them, um, in front ofeverybody.
He's actually still listed onthe national missing and
unidentified person system,which is where they list every
person ever that has beenmissing or lost and found.
So, basically, if they have aJohn Doe or a Jane Doe, we
learned what that meant, right?
So if they have either of those, they put them in this national
(19:24):
database so that if, by somemiracle, they get some that
match up or this person matchesthis description, maybe this is
the lost loved one.
They have ways of, you know,putting those side by side and
keeping all those records in onespot.
So the only crappy part is thathe wasn't added until June of
2022.
(19:45):
Now this is where we get intothe little bit conspiracy
theory-ish, because there shouldbe a lot right, there should be
not any theories in theory, butthere are a few as to why or
(20:08):
who maybe he was.
Now the why he ended his ownlife.
They have a couple of guesses.
Some people think he was asociopath, and by that they mean
that he was born evil, like hewas born to have this idea of
violence in his mind and hewanted to remove himself from
the world so that he didn't hurtanyone.
(20:30):
But that doesn't sound like asociopath In my mind, like true
sociopaths.
They live for that, so theylive for that.
They wouldn't.
He wouldn't kill himself.
So likely not a sociopath.
However, they the crime side ofit, like having the belief that
maybe he did commit a crime andhe was worried about doing it
(20:50):
again, or he was so guilt riddenbecause of what he did that was
bad that he didn't ever want todo anything like that again,
taking his own life and notshaming his parents.
I buy that one a hundredpercent.
So maybe he said breaking andshattering by violence in his
letter and it could also meanthat he hadn't done it yet but
(21:12):
was thinking about it.
I don't know, but very likely.
However, the big one I think arethe theories of the mental
health disorders and a possiblespectrum, autism spectrum
somewhere in there.
Obviously in the 70s thatwasn't a big um the.
(21:37):
It wasn't as well as as widelyaccepted as it is now.
Now it's kind of understoodthat that's a thing and we, you
know, we talk about it, weembrace it and we try to work
towards it being inclusive ofall things, all people, all of
all, and also the same thingcould be said about mental
health.
You know that's not something.
That was especially not formales back then it was.
(21:59):
You know men don't cry.
You know you keep it inside.
You don't tell anybody what isa therapist, yada, yada yada.
So those are really good.
In my opinion, those are two ofthe most likely reasons either
a mental health disorder slashum, borderline sociopathy, um,
(22:23):
and that that kind of leads intoit.
But the other, really big one,obviously comes with same as you
know, know, not reallyaccepting, or um being
understanding of mental health,in the same way that they
weren't accepting of anybodythat was gay.
So anybody from the lbgtq pluswhatever it is.
(22:44):
Now I forget.
I'm sorry, no offense, I'm just, I don't know what they are,
but um being gay in the 70s wasextremely, extremely just, taboo
.
You don't talk about it.
If it is, it is, but like,don't bring it up, pretend to
not be like very straight andnarrow, not to be punny.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Very serious.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, you didn't let anybody else know that you're
gay.
It was very shameful to do itif you were, and then your
entire family was shamed for it.
So I mean, that is also a verygood theory as to why he would
have tried to keep fromshattering and breaking his
family because of that.
So there's no way to know forsure.
(23:27):
You know, because he was vague,detailed but vague.
So you know, we'll never reallyknow.
So the one specific thing thatI'm sorry, there's a couple
actually there were a couplepeople that they thought it
might be and there are a couplenames that got thrown around.
(23:54):
Oh, excuse me, all right, skipthat part, but yeah, there was a
couple of names that got thrownaround Emery.
Uh, do you know either of those?
Um, the Bayard cousins, bayardcousins, what about them?
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Um, there is a a possibility that John Doe could
have sunk from kind ofconversation therapy program
Conversion therapy.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Conversion therapy oh okay, so that's also a gay
thing.
So people back in the day, whenyou, if you were um, thought to
be gay, they would send you offand try to basically brainwash
you and convince you that youweren't.
So they would send yousomewhere that would basically,
you'd wake up in the morning,you're not gay, you're straight.
(24:49):
And that's what they would doall day long and beat it into
your head that you weren't gayand you were straight.
And that was like they weretrying to converse, they were
trying to get you to believeyourself that you were straight.
So so they believed that thatthe baynard cousins may have
been, um, they were talks ofthat.
Was that what it says?
(25:09):
Um?
Speaker 2 (25:12):
says like could have some conversation, conversion
therapy.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
Let me see, I was like, okay, so, okay, so he may
have come from some kind oftherapy program and, as those
were starting to get populararound that same time, he may
have escaped from there and thenended up and just decided to
take his own life, maybe, maybe.
(25:39):
So, amber, you wanted to talkabout his shoes, though, right?
Yes, the area where he wasfound.
Now I didn't talk about it much, but I want to touch on it a
little bit here Belle Chase inPlaquemine Parish.
I mean, obviously, if you're inLouisiana, I live here.
I didn't know where the hell itwas, so Plaquemine Parish, and
(26:01):
Belle Chase specifically, isbeneath.
But, okay, the Mississippi Rivercomes down.
Oh, everybody knows how itcomes down, like we all draw the
elf, when we the elf when we'relearning geography, and then we
follow the river all the waydown from North Dakota all the
way down to the Gulf of Mexico.
Right, and the Gulf of Mexico,it actually uh toe.
(26:22):
It creates a shoe-like uh toearound inside of Louisiana,
still, and Louisiana is on bothsides of the river at that point
, but Belle Chase actually isthe of that area and I know I'm
terrible at explaining this, butif you follow the river around
right after it hit.
After you hit New Orleans.
You follow the river around andright where it starts to curve
(26:44):
and become like the underside orthe sole of the shoe, if you
were calling the river a shoe.
Anyway, that area isPlaquemines, paris, which is the
Belle Chase area.
Now you have to remember we aretalking swamps, we are talking
mud, we are talking swampy, youknow all of those things.
This is not somewhere that youwant to go without shoes.
It's presumed that most peoplewould have on freaking shoes.
(27:07):
So where are his shoes?
Where do they go?
Okay, if he even had shoes,maybe he did, maybe he didn't,
but it doesn't say anythingspecifically about the socks
being torn or tattered oranything like that.
It doesn't say like they couldstill tell the colors.
So maybe somebody stole hisshoes after he died.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
I have another question.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Uh-huh, he's wearing mixed matched shoe socks, yeah,
but how often do you wearmatching socks?
Just today does not count,because there are halloween
socks and they don't I wear Isaw you barely wear socks at all
, much less matching ones.
No, I'm okay with not matchingsocks, and here's why If you
have the same type of socks, soif they came out of like the
(27:48):
same package, I don't care ifthey match or not, as long as
they're the same type, like theyboth have to have, they both
have to be ankle socks or theyboth have to be Christmas socks.
You know what I mean.
Like, I have um batty socks,batty Skeletons and marty we
were bats last year.
Anyway, now, around the sametime, because this is February,
right, what else happens inFebruary?
(28:09):
Do you know?
In Louisiana we have a specialholiday for it that is literally
assigned by the governor.
We get a state holiday.
The state takes the day off forMardi Gras.
Oh yeah, that's in February,yeah, so maybe John Doe wasn't
even from here, maybe he wasfrom somewhere else and had come
from Mardi Gras and maybe hehad taken something or done
something during that party time, because I mean, this is the
(28:32):
70s, maybe he had something thathe shouldn't have.
And then, I don't know, maybe,and like being 16, 17 years old,
especially back then, you knowyou were a lot, specifically,
you know you had moreresponsibility, is what I mean.
What is that?
Oh, no, yeah for sure we can dothe very end, okay.
So, as much as I would like tobelieve that you know he, it's
(28:59):
hard to say that he found peacebecause nobody actually knows
where the remains are.
Yeah, and you know, what'sreally crazy about that is that
remember I told you that one ofthe guys that they thought it
might be him, that they sent thedental records, the ones that
were really close to that match.
(29:20):
They sent those to compare themto the John Doe and Belle Chase
, and then they mysteriouslywere lost as well.
So if you have any informationabout the whereabouts of Perry
Otter Corlew which was the guywith the dental records that
matched, but the mom said itwasn't him or the location of
his remains, please contact theCrawford County Sheriff's Office
(29:41):
at 989-348-4616.
Sheriff's Office at989-348-4616.
Now, other than that, I don'tknow that anything is going to
happen with this case ever.
I don't know that it's evergoing to be solved or found.
I mean, maybe if.
But see, this is the thing wedon't know where the body is.
We have no idea where his graveis located, so we can't even
(30:03):
pretend to hold out hope for aDNA which may have already
solved this case.
By now had his body and thelocation of his remains not been
lost.
So, everybody, keep your fingerscrossed and see if you know,
maybe one day they find itSomebody on the Internet.
I mean, it's happened before.
It could happen again.
Right, we'll see Exactly.
(30:30):
So, embry, can you tell thesewonderful people that have
listened to us ramble on andsound very, very educated indeed
, this is our spooky story ofthe day.
This is our Wake at Wednesday.
Topic the boy in the tree, alsoknown as the John Doe of
Plaquemines Parish.
So Embry is going to read younow some very important
information that you may or maynot need for you, or or for
(30:50):
someone you love or know, andthey may need it.
Speaker 2 (30:52):
So mbri take it away.
All right, the barn bayardcousins were last seen in
virginia beach, virginia, onfebruary 1st no, baby, hang on,
hang on, let's not do that,let's not do that.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
Um, we're not gonna do that one because we didn't
talk about them at all.
So here's what's gonna happen.
I need you to do this one righthere, if you have any
information.
We're almost done.
Here you go this one.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
It wasn't me, it was him, that's okay okay, that's
okay.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
We're literally.
She's reading the stuff rightnow to, if you have any
information about it, then she'sgonna read all that and then
we'll be done.
Come here for a minute, almostdone, come on.
Oh, go watch bluey with daddybluey, or you can go watch
mamushi.
Tell hoppa how to get tomamushi.
I hoppa like the big snake.
All right, baby girl.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
Whenever you're ready , take it away can we do the
virginia beach together Beach,if you have any information like
we didn't talk about them atall, about being a possible
identity.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
We barely, barely, barely, touched it.
Speaker 2 (31:53):
But yeah, go ahead if you have any information as to
the identity of Primine's parish, please contact LSU Faces
Laboratory at 225-578-4761.
(32:14):
In reference to case numberLSU-22105.
Speaker 1 (32:20):
Okay, so read that one one more time You're going
to call what number.
that one one more time you'regoing to call, what number
225-578-4761 and the id for thecase number is lsu 2205 perfect,
and so we also want to makesure that everybody knows that
(32:41):
in the episode show notes fortoday's episode, there will be
links to all of the resourcesthat you may need for suicide,
mental health, all of thosethings, the suicide hotline, all
of that they actually have atext line now.
If you need help, if you needsomeone to talk to, they're
there to listen.
We're here to listen.
(33:01):
We love you, they love you,someone loves you are here to
listen.
We love you, they love you,someone loves you, and we don't
want you to make, we don't wantyou to feel like you don't
belong and that that's the bestoption, because it never is.
You are loved.
Just remember that you willalways be loved.
And that is going to wrap it upfor our very first Wicked
(33:23):
Wednesday of the Halloween month, and we will be back next week.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
We were a little bit late Because it's Tuesday, but
it's okay.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
Mama's going to get it edited and we're going to get
it out and it's going to begreat.
Thank you, uncle Sawyer, forthe wonderful background music
that you guys are listening tothis episode.
Yeah that's my uncle, and hedid an amazing job.
Thank you again.
And then next week we'll haveanother story.
But the next week's story isgoing to be even creepier, and
not because we don't knowanything.
(33:52):
It's probably more wickedbecause we know everything.
And one more thing Come herebaby.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
If you would like to, I can read you all a Halloween
story I can find online.
Oh, we could definitely do thaton Halloween for sure.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
Maybe we could do it live on YouTube.
That would be awesome.
Alright, say bye-bye.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
I'll try to go look at my books and find something
on the internet or books.
Alright, say bye-bye.
One more thing.
One more thing, mom, that's toohard Mama, that's too hard.
Speaker 1 (34:23):
I love you.
We will be making more bloopers, all right, all right, thank
you, all right, thank you guys,so much for listening.
We hope you see you next time,see you later.
Take care out there.
Take it easy, guys.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Happy halloween remember to contact that number
and I'm-.
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