Reconstructions by NCMEC and the University of South Florida; earlier clay renderings of the victim.
Reconstructions by NCMEC and the University of South Florida; earlier clay renderings of the victim.
Date of Discovery: August 22, 1973
Location of Discovery: Altamonte Springs, Seminole County, Florida
Estimated Date of Death: 1 - 12 months prior, perhaps July 1973
State of Remains: Not recognizable - Near complete or complete skeleton
Cause of Death: Homicide
Estimated Age: 13-18 years old
Race: White
Sex: Female
Height: 5'1" to 5'7"
Weight: Unknown, but had slender build
Hair Color: Light to dark brown, wavy, shoulder length and pulled back into a short ponytail; held with a rubber band.
Eye Color: Unknown
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Sacralization of the fifth lumbar vertebra.
Dentals: Available. Possibly crooked teeth. Loose teeth found during screenings of surrounding soil.
Fingerprints: Not available.
DNA: Available.
Clothing: None.
Jewelry: White gold, size 6 ring with alexandrite setting, suggesting her birth date may have been in June. The ring was manufactured and/or sold at Davidson & Son Jewelers in New York City.
Additional Personal Items: Unknown
The victim's remains were located in a densely wooded area used as a garbage dump near State Route 431 in Altamonte Springs. The location is along Forest City Road, near Lake Lotus. She was found underneath the body of 18-year-old Laura Lynn Harberts, a homicide victim for whom Joseph "Crazy Joe" Robert Spaziano, a member of the Outlaws motorcycle club, was charged with killing in the mid-1970's.
A witness said that in the spring of 1973, she saw Spaziano at Daytona Beach with a young girl riding on the back of his motorcycle. The girl asked her to hold her purse for safekeeping. The girl didn't pick up her purse after the motorcycle ride. Five days later Spaziano showed up at her door and demanded the purse. She turned it over, but not before peeking inside for the identification. She told investigators that she remembered only that the girl was from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Spaziano avoided the death penalty in Ms. Harberts' case, as a key witness for the prosecution recanted his testimony which would have implicated Spaziano in the crime. His first-degree murder conviction was overturned in 1998 and Spaziano pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of second-degree murder. He is currently serving a life sentence in a Florida prison for the rape and mutilation of a teenage girl from Orlando, Florida.
Chemical isotope testing suggested she was born in the Pacific Northwest or Western United States and resided in the Midwest prior to her death.
The victim is known as "Ginger" to investigators. She was possibly a runaway.
Agency Name: District 7 Medical Examiner - Volusia
Agency Contact Person: Karla Orozco, Medicolegal Death Investigator
Agency Phone Number: (386) 258-4060
Agency E-Mail: korozco(at)volusia.org
Agency Case Number: 1973-01322
Agency Name: District 24 Medical Examiner's Office
Agency Contact Person: Marie Herrmann
Agency Phone Number: 386-258-4060
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 1973-01322
Agency Name: Seminole County Sheriff's Office
Agency Contact Person: Det. Jennifer Spears
Agency Phone Number: 407-665-6847 or 407-665-6650
Agency E-Mail: jspears(at)seminolesheriff.org
Agency Case Number: 1973-00001322
NCIC Case Number: U100025550
NamUs Case Number: 1341
NCMEC Case Number: 1184260
NamUs
NCMEC
WFTV
Seminole County Sheriff's Office (Youtube)
University of South Florida
Florida Unidentified Decedents Database
Seminole County Sheriff's Office
Added: Prior to 2005; Last Updated: 01/15/2023
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information may be estimated.
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