Thursday, May 1, 2025

Armchair Genealogy

 

By Melinda Cohenour

Mother's Day is nearly here. There are reasons for celebration ... And memories that bring sweet nostalgic events to mind.


This month touches upon the maternal connection in three areas your author has pursued for years: the mystery parents whose lost identities created our brick walls AND the Mother-Child "Does" linked to our decades long research into the LISK (Long Island Serial Killer) also known as the Gilgo Beach Serial Sadist.


THE FIVE BRICK WALLS


Every family researcher encounters the one inevitable Brick Wall at some stage. Most are met with a brief disappointment but little investment of real disappointment. A few, however, concern key figures in the effort to weave together a continuous line that involves folks whose lives are integral to the core family.


Such importance has been stressed on my personal five brick walls for varying lengths of time.


BRICK WALL 1: My longest researched stumbling block has involved the broken mortar that pieces together the long line of the Joslin, Joscelyn, Josselin ... (many spellings) Family line that comprises half of my core family heritage: the Carroll-Joslin Connection.


What makes this so frustrating is that by DNA our lineage up to then back beyond that lost documentary proof is defining proof of descent. We miss documentation as to WHICH of several Joslin brothers fathered our P. R. Joslin, earning the title of a documented direct line ancestor.


BRICK WALL 2: This core family also lacks certified birth information for our Carroll line ancestor. The dratted Civil War brought about the nasty habit of each side's combatants of burning courthouses - thus destroying the documented heritage for thousands upon thousands of families. Earl Allen Carroll was born in a Missouri county where the courthouse was targeted.


BRICK WALL 3: My first husband was born out of wedlock and surrendered at birth to the Miami-Dade orphanage in Florida. I solved this mystery a few years ago. We now know his father was named Gill.


BRICK WALL 4: That left the identity of his mother as a mystery. Very soon the name of this mystery momma should be revealed. Your author lacks only a bit more research to link the DNA matches to my daughter, Melissa, and also to her nephew, my grandson Adam sired by her brother, John. Every so often we have new DNA matches bringing us closer to certainty as to Mystery Momma's identity.


BRICK WALL 5: This is a success story! We have definitive proof through DNA of the man who fathered Roxanne Marie (LeTourneau) Bradshaw. DNA from Roxanne's only two children, Shaun Jagger and Adam Bradshaw, have brought to light the name of their maternal grandfather. This story will be covered in a near future column as well


LISK (LONG ISLAND SERIAL KILLER) a/k/a the GILGO BEACH SERIAL KILLER or SADIST


This column has covered the emerging story of this sick monster's handiwork for years now. First interest in the case which has become of worldwide fascination was generated in May of 2010. News reports mentioned a young beauty by the name of Shannan Gilbert was lost after being hired through Craig's List to entertain a John in Oak Beach. Oak Beach is an enclave of upper class homes or beach houses in Long Island, New York.


The extended search for Shannan was carried on for months, a fruitless endeavor until December of that year. The Officer tasked with the continued search for Shannan, having exhausted likely recovery sites on Oak Beach, lead his cadaver trained K-9 Blue to nearby Gilgo Beach in December of 2010.


There, Blue made an historic discovery: a set of remains enclosed in burlap discarded in the wildly entangled brush. Everyone assumed Shannan's story had neared its conclusion. However, the next news was explosive. Blue had discovered more remains similarly bound in burlap near the first body. The news of that discovery was immediately eclipsed by the news of yet a third and then fourth discovery.


The young women whose tortured and bound bodies had been discovered were soon immortalized as the Gilgo Beach Four.


The world's news sources responded en masse, joining as close as possible to the army of law enforcement engaged in the search of this lovely but eerily lonely stretch of land oceanside.


Ultimately, the search resulted in the discovery of ten disparate sets of discarded extremities of dismembered or skeletonized victims' remains. None, however, proved to be that of Shannan Gilbert. Her story continues to intrigue as almost exactly one year after the December 2010 discovery of the Gilgo Beach Four, first Shannan's belongings and, finally her almost nude skeletonized remains were discovered in the briar and brush of the marshy land of Oak Beach, mere yards from where she was last seen.


Through the intervening years, all but three sets of remains on Gilgo Beach have been identified. The three victims whose identities had not been discovered were known as Peaches, Baby Doe, and Asian Male Doe (whose diminutive body was clothed in female attire).


Peaches' moniker was given her by the homicide detective who took the call when her dismembered torso was found years earlier in a large green storage bin within days of her murder. Prominently displayed on her left breast was a tattoo featuring a peach with a bite taken and blood drops inked in beneath. The torso had been discovered June 28, 1997 near Hempstead Lake State Park soon enough after her murder a good photograph was able to be taken.


In the intervening years, DNA tests revealed a surprising connection. Baby Doe, whose body was intact and whose skeleton revealed no apparent cause of death, had been left wrapped along with gold jewelry near the remains of Valerie Mack. Valerie and Jessica Taylor had been dismembered and their torsos discovered in close proximity in manorville years before. Baby Doe was proven by DNA to be the infant daughter of Peaches.


More to the mystery: Baby Doe's remains were found at the Easternmost boundary of the Gilgo Beach search and recovery area. Peaches' remains marked the Westernmost boundary. Speculation has risen among some who follow the case that the two, mother and daughter, may have been the victims of domestic violence. My personal opinion is that the serial killer charged with the deaths of six of the victims discarded on Gilgo Beach and with another murdered victim tied to him through DNA is the only logical person to be charged with Peaches' and Baby Doe's deaths. Who else knew the geographic boundaries of his perverted treasure trove of remains now known as the Gilgo Beach Serial Murderer's graveyard?


How does this case come to mind as we prepare for Mother's Day?


Just this past week, the Nassau County New York PD held a news report announcing the bittersweet news that mother and daughter, Peaches and Baby Doe, have been positively identified. THEY HAVE THEIR NAMES BACK AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!


SOURCE: https://abc7ny.com/post/gilgo-beach-murders-nassau-county-police-reveal-id-victim-peaches-toddler/16230218/


'Wednesday morning, police announced the mother was a 26-year-old Army veteran from Alabama named Tanya Denise Jackson. Her 2-year-old daughter was identified as Tatiana Marie Dykes, born in Texas on March 17 1995.


'Both of their remains were recently buried at Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Spanish Fort in Alabama, with military honors.'

* * * * *


May your Mother's Day celebration bring joy, love, good health and sweet memories to each of you. God bless.


Click on the author's byline for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
This issue appears in the ezine at www.pencilstubs.com and also in the blog www.pencilstubs.net with the capability of adding comments at the latter.


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