The Mystery of Miss X

10 min readJan 21, 2022

It was a chilly day in Bear, Delaware on March 18, 1967 when the body of a young woman was discovered. She was a few miles from I-95, just off of Porter Road. It has been over fifty years since that day, and we are still puzzled about the life and death of this woman known as Miss X.

Bear, Delaware was a rural and desolate area in the 60s and was described by investigators as an ideal place to dump a body because it likely would not be found for a while. In this case, however, her body was found around 24 hours after her death.

Miss X had dark brown hair and brown eyes. She is estimated to be anywhere from 16 to 25 years old. She is also likely of Greek, Italian, and/or Jewish ancestry. Miss X was described as being petite, being only around 110 pounds, but had a 34 DD bra size. She was also around 3 months pregnant when she was found. Miss X had type O blood, had both earlobes pierced (but had not worn earrings in a while), had a vaccine scar on her left thigh, and her teeth were in good condition as she had likely been to the dentist six months to a year before her death.

She was found wearing only blue bikini panties with the manufacturers label removed. But she had a laundry bag that covered the lower half of her body. It measured 24" by 36" and was blue in color. The bag was from a company named American Laundry and Dry Cleaning in Trenton, New Jersey and had “Bag O-Storage American Laundry Dry Cleaning EX 5244”. When asked about Miss X, some of the owner’s family remembered seeing a woman who matched the description of Miss X, and they believe that she may have been a New Jersey native and/or a regular customer.

There was also a 1/2" by 8" red ribbon in her hair. It was not made clear if this ribbon was tying her hair back when she was found or if it was just lying near or in her hair. This ribbon isn’t made of “normal” hair ribbon material and seemed to be handmade. It also has something printed on it that is unable to be clearly read or understood.

It was quite clear to investigators that Miss X had not died at the scene, and it was described as an “obvious dump job” by the former forensic investigator on this case Hal Brown. The police found a soapy substance near her vaginal cavity which they believed was a sign that she had died of a failed abortion. Her death certificate stated that her death was caused by a fat embolism, due to the introduction of a foreign object in her uterine cavity, due to a criminal attempt of abortion. However, her cause of death was revised when the case was reopened in 2011 as it was concluded that Miss X and her unborn child had died of septicemia.

Septicemia is a blood infection that occurs when a bacterial infection enters the blood stream from some other part of the body. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 1.7 million adults get sepsis each year with around 270,000 of them (around 15.9%) dying.

Some of its symptoms include:

Decreased interest in food and/or surroundings
Fever
Increased heart rate
Nausea and Vomiting
Light sensitivity
Extreme pain and/or discomfort
Chills
Feelings of lethargy, anxiety, confusion, and/or agitation
Coma
Possible death

When entering the last stages of the disease’s progression, the death rate rises to 50%. Sepsis is a life threatening emergency and should be treated by doctors as quickly as possible.

Despite being potentially fatal, sepsis is treatable, so why would Miss X be dumped?

Abortion:

While this has been ruled out as being the cause of death, it cannot be ruled out as possibly causing the infection that led to the sepsis. This case occurred in 1967, which is about six years before the Roe V. Wade verdict that legalized abortion in the United States. So, any abortion that occurred in 1967 would have been illegal, which means that it probably was not under sterile or medically safe conditions. While we don’t know who could’ve performed the abortion, less than an hour from Bear, Delaware there is an infamous abortion clinic.

In the neighborhood of Mantua in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Kermit Gosnell operated the “Women’s Medical Society Clinic” from 1972–2011. Gosnell was an abortion rights activist in the 60s and even ran a teen outreach program after graduating with his medical degree in 1966. However, his clinic was shut down in 2011 after multiple egregious crimes were uncovered. This includes multiple charges of first-degree murder and manslaughter. Those were for allowing multiple people to die under his care and the fact that he would allow babies to be born alive and then kill them. In addition to his crimes and refusal to provide post-abortion medical care, his tools and office were extremely unsanitary. These unsanitary tools resulted in women getting STDs and sepsis. Gosnell would also tell women in medical distress from infections and having fetal remains inside them that they didn’t need additional medical care, some of them ended up dying.

Now, how is this connected to Miss X? Well, his clinic is less than an hour from where Miss X was found. Additionally, his clinic had a sister clinic in Delaware. Now, we do not know if he was providing abortions in the 60s, but he was an abortion rights activist. Which could indicate that if he didn’t have anything to do with it, a colleague of his might have been responsible. He also had tools that had caused sepsis and would tell seriously ill women that they didn’t need additional medical care. A combination of both of these could have led to Miss X’s tragic death.

This would explain why she was dumped in such a cold and unfeeling manner because no one involved in her death would have cared about her. They could have taken her clothes to avoid identification. This could also explain why the laundry bag was used as it would prevent any body fluids or chemicals from leaking onto the vehicle used to transport her body.

Christ Scientists:

One speculation that I’ve seen on Websleuths is that Miss X’s parents could have been members of the Church of Christ, Scientist. Now this is a specific branch of Christianity that still believes in faith healing. What is faith healing? It involves praying and asking God to alleviate ailments. Now this is a gross oversimplification of their beliefs, but it is what’s important for this theory. As neglecting medical treatment for sepsis and opting for faith healing could have led to Miss X’s death.

The parents could have faced some form of neglect charge for denying Miss X proper medical care for her sepsis, so they may have dumped her body in order to avoid this. But it’s hard to think that a family or parent could dispose of her in such a cold manner. It would make more sense for them to just bury her somewhere and not report her death.

The religion was at its peak in 1936 with 270,000 members in the United States. Aside from a small membership spike in the late 60s and early 70s, their membership has declined to under 50,000 in 2009. Her parents could have joined during one of those spikes and denied their daughter medical care she desperately needed.

While their “mother church” is located in Boston, Massachusetts and is quite far away. There is actually a church in Trenton, New Jersey which is a city that Miss X already has a connection to. There is also one in Delaware, but Miss X doesn’t have a connection to that city.

This is a loose connection but an interesting one nonetheless. If this is the case, and you think Miss X might be a relative of yours, just know that the police are not pursuing criminal charges in this case anymore. They are just seeking an identification.

Immigrants:

Some people believe that Miss X and her family could have been immigrants who were in the United States illegally. She was shown to possibly be of Greek, Italian, and/or Jewish ancestry. Her family could have left any of those countries and entered the U.S. illegally. There there was actually a huge spike in Italian immigration in the 1960s, which could indicate Miss X’s country of origin if this theory holds true.

That spike of Italian immigration was in regards to legal immigration, but what about illegal immigration. Well, Illegal immigration had a spike in the 1960s after a 1965 Congress decision that led to a change in immigration policy. However, there is no ethnic or race statistics available for illegal immigration for obvious reasons.

This might explain why they would not have sought traditional medical attention as it could have put them at risk of exposing their immigration status.

However, this doesn’t seem very likely to many people as Miss X has been dumped in such a cold way. A family who loved her but could not seek medical attention would not do something like that to her. They would be more likely to bury her without reporting her death.

If this is the case, and you think Miss X might be a relative of yours, just know that the police are not pursuing criminal charges in this case anymore. They are just seeking an identification.

Rule-Outs:

Although this case is quite old, there was DNA found in 2011 by the former Deputy Director of the Forensic Science Lab at the Delaware State Medical Examiner’s Office Hal Brown. It is unclear exactly what was found, but it was either blood or a piece of her heart. Because of this discovery there are several exclusions as to Miss X’s identity. Most of these women are still missing.

Possible Identities:

Hal Brown has stated, in regards to Miss X’s identity, “Nobody’s ever reported her missing that we can find…We’ve looked throughout the nation and some international connections”. In essence, Brown’s belief is that Miss X was never reported missing by her loved ones. This would mean that DNA, likely genetic genealogy, would be the most likely method of identification at this point.

Her DNA was connected to maternal relatives in either Virginia and North Carolina or New Jersey. Most sources say Virginia and North Carolina, but Carl Koppelman is insistent that the relatives were found in New Jersey.

This was through mitochondrial DNA (DNA from one’s mother) rather than genetic genealogy. However, on the Websleuths forum for this case Othram Inc. expressed interest in this case. Whether or not this has been actively pursued is currently unknown.

So, what is Othram Inc ? Othram Inc. is a forensic genealogy company that uses it to solve murder cases, rape cases, and disappearances. They also identify Jane and John Does. They are located in the Woodlands which is right outside of Houston, Texas. Othram actually aided in the identification of Walker County Jane Doe, Delta Dawn, Septic Tank Sam, Woodlawn Jane Doe, and Beth Doe as well as many others. Needless to say, Miss X’s case could be another identification that is added to their growing catalogue. However, no official announcement has been made in regards to Othram taking on Miss X’s case.

Conclusion:

Article from Wilmington Morning News March 23, 1967

Miss X was buried at Boulden Boulevard Potters Field Cemetery in Wilmington Manor, Delaware. Although Miss X has been unidentified for almost 55 years, and we are no closer to finding her identity. Dental records, DNA, and Fingerprints are available in this case.

If you have any information that could lead to the identity of Miss X, Please contact:

NCMEC at 1–800–843–5678 in reference to case number 1184229
Delaware State Medical Examiner’s Office at (302)-577–3420
Delaware State Police at (302) 739–5911 and ask for Mark Ryde in connection to case number 02–67–000013

Just another reminded that the Delaware State Police are seeking no criminal charges in this case, they only want to identify Miss X and return her to her family.

Whatever the circumstances behind her death, a young woman without a name tragically lost her life to sepsis. And she deserves to have her name back and get that final act of human decency.

Sources:

The Mystery of Miss X

Written by Madison Tramel