Girl in the Well: Who Killed Lisa Todd?
A Perplexing Case
This is a case that was perplexing from the start: The skeletal remains of a young pregnant girl found in an abandoned industrial well without a clue to her identity. As police methodically work through the facts, the process of what they learn, and how they learn it, is at times, both bewildering and confounding. This is the riveting account of how police are finally able to give a name to the Girl in the Well, and how the investigation is strangely intertwined with two other cases. And while we now have the answer as to her identity, one question still remains… Who Killed Lisa Todd?
BODY FOUND - PUBLICKER JANE DOE
The abandoned Publicker Distillery in Bensalem, PA had long been used as a dumping ground after operations ceased in 1982.[1] And it wasn’t unusual to find the property littered with stolen cars and trash.[2] But on a cold, bleak day in January 1988 the skeletal remains of a young, pregnant girl are found at the bottom of an old industrial well by a couple walking their dog. Former Bensalem Police Detective, Chris McMullin told APB Cold Case about the traumatizing discovery they made, “They were walking along, they looked down, they see a skeleton. First, they thought it may have been a mannequin.”
BODY SEEMINGLY PLACED WITH RESPECT
McMullin described the curious way in which the remains were found in the underground well. “…she’s laying on her back, and she’s wearing jeans, and she had a, a purple blouse.” McMullin said that her clothing was tattered and the body was completely skeletal when discovered. He felt that she was placed in the well. “She definitely didn’t fall, because it was at least 10, 12 feet, and she had no injuries consistent with falling. And I don’t think she would have landed the way she laid”, adding, “it was almost like she was laid there with a little bit of reverence or respect.”
THE INVESTIGATION
In addition to the clothing on the body, McMullin said that police also recovered two pairs of shoes, and other articles of clothing, almost as if those items had been discarded with the body. An autopsy reveals the remains to be of a white female, 17-23 years old, 5’ 4” and 110 lbs., and she was 6 months pregnant at the time. A full set of fetal bones were recovered as well.
Bensalem police check for any connections to missing person cases in the area, but there is no solid connection. DNA technology is coming of age, but at the time her body is discovered, the science required a substantial sample, something that apparently was not available from the remains at that point. They would have to wait for science to catch up. With no new leads, the case goes cold.
PROMISING LEADS, TWISTS AND TURNS
In 2002, Detective McMullin is recovering from an injury and is assigned to light duty. He is handed a couple of cold cases to follow-up on. One of them is a missing and possibly pregnant 14-year-old girl named Tracy Byrd of Bensalem. (Check out more on the Tracy Byrd case in our episode titled, Family Secrets).
By the time McMullin gets the cold case there had been major strides in DNA technology. No longer was a significant bone or tissue sample needed. So he sends the remains to the Center for Human Identification. McMullin said the lab was able to extract a DNA sample from the remains of the girl in the well and upload the profile into CODIS, the national DNA database which is used to compare against unidentified remains. As part of his investigation into missing Tracy Byrd, McMullin asks for family reference samples from Tracy’s brothers and grandmother. Everyone he asks provides a sample, and the profiles are also loaded into the CODIS database. McMullin requested a direct comparison between Publicker Jane Doe and the Byrd family samples, feeling confident that he is heading down the right track. But surprisingly, the lab comes back with a ‘no hit” – it’s not Tracy. So, who is Publicker Jane Doe?
Sculpture of Publicker Jane Doe, later identified as Lisa Todd; Bensalem PD, Bensalem, PA
A diligent Detective McMullin pursues other possibilities – using the Internet he distributes photographs of the jewelry and clothing recovered with the body, hoping someone will recognize an item. He also tries isotope analysis which examines bones, teeth, hair and fingernails to identify composition that can demonstrate a region where a person lived in, or perhaps travelled to, or their diet.[1] He also considered phenotyping, one of the latest advances in DNA science, which develops a physical profile of what a person might look like based upon their individual DNA.[2] As McMullin is looking into other investigative strategies, a detective in his department suggested that the body could be Jeanette Rose Tambe, a 22-year-old with ties to Bensalem and who had been missing since 1984. McMullin locates a brother who provides a DNA sample which, when examined by the lab, comes back with a match – but it’s not a match to the girl in the well! It is a match to another Jane Doe, a murder victim in Atlantic County, New Jersey. The DNA would lead to the confirmed identity of Jeanette Rose Tambe as the victim of a horrendous homicide in a rural area where a new home was being built. (listen to our episode Tortured for details on this case.)
So now, McMullin knows that the girl in the well is not Tracy Byrd, nor is it Jeanette Tambe. But he is not giving up. In 2012 there had been enough advances in DNA technology for a partial genetic profile to be developed from the skeletal remains. Those results were entered into GED Match, a website for genealogy researchers. At first, the results were said to be insufficient to develop a family tree. Again, McMullin waits.
In the meantime he explores the possibility that the girl in the well could be the victim of an infamous California killer – Victor Paleologos, a man portraying himself as a casting director who would lure young women to secluded areas on the premise of a photo shoot. He would instruct the women to bring extra changes of clothing. But why would a west coast man be a suspect in an east coast murder? Because, said McMullin, “in 1985, Paleologos lived in Bensalem.” So, detectives have another lead worthy of close examination.
ENTER: GENETIC GENEALOGY
While following up on a variety of leads and evidence, McMullin engages the assistance of a private lab in order to take a deeper dive on genetic genealogy – or familial DNA. He teams up with famed crime scene specialist Yolanda McClary. “Once we got Jane Doe’s profile uploaded and Yolanda actually started working and building the family tree, I could not keep up with her”, said McMullin.
Then, McMullin gets information from McClary that she has identified a first cousin of Publicker Jane Doe in the Pocono region of Pennsylvania. The next step? McMullin needs to talk with that first cousin. “It was a strange call,” said McMullin. “After all, you’re asking someone about a relative who is missing… or dead.” Detective McMullin speaks with that first cousin, identified through familial DNA - but then, his hopes are dashed. “She was excited about it, and wanted to help me, but she said that she was adopted and didn’t know much about her biological family,” recounted McMullin. “As much as she wanted to help me, she just, she didn’t have the knowledge,” he added.
JANE DOE’S SIBLINGS IDENTIFIED
Again, it’s back to the drawing board. But this time, its only a couple of days that pass when McMullin gets a new lead – and this one will be a turning point. Yolanda McClary sent a text message to McMullin saying, “check your email.” McMullin goes directly to his computer and sees the message: “Your Jane Doe is the sister of Linda Todd and Joseph Todd.” McMullin scrambled to find contact information for Linda and Joseph Todd. Instead, he locates a telephone number for a woman named Kristin, whom he believed would be the daughter of Joseph. In the conversation that followed, McMullin said he asked Kristin if her father ever had a sibling that was missing. McMullin said the call is etched in his memory. He said, “She said, yeah, he did. He had a sister that disappeared… around 1985.” McMullin then asked, “what was her name?” Kristin answered, “Lisa.” Finally, an answer to the ‘who’ question – Publicker Jane Doe is Lisa Todd. McMullin was ecstatic. He arranges to talk with Kristin’s father, Joseph, who calls him back “in a world of emotion”, remembered McMullin, who arranged to drive to Joseph’s home in Philadelphia that evening with 2 other detectives to talk about the case.
McMullin brings pictures of the clothing and jewelry found with the body to show to Joseph. There was a distinctive ring that had been recovered, in the shape of a belt buckle. And when Joseph Todd saw it, he said, “that’s my sister’s ring”, recalled McMullin.
SHE WAS REPORTED MISSING AFTER ALL
Detectives mentioned that the Publicker Jane Doe case was in the newspapers, along with other publicity that Bensalem PD had done, and considering that Lisa’s home was about a 15-minute drive from Bensalem, he wondered if Lisa had been reported missing. Joseph Todd told McMullin that he remembered the police being at his parents house when his older sister Lisa was missing. She would have been 17 years old at the time. So there was a missing person report. But when Bensalem police were comparing missing persons reports to Publicker Jane Doe, it turned out that her missing person report had been purged by Philadelphia police from NCIC – the National Crime Information Center which is the repository for missing persons cases. For some unexplained reason, Lisa Todd’s missing person report was removed on her 18th birthday, even though she was still missing, something that particularly disturbs former Detective McMullin. “How many other times has this happened? How many juveniles were in the system as missing and upon their 18th birthday it was taken out and they’re still missing?” Added, McMullin, “…it pissed me off. Lisa’s mom and dad died before she was found.”
A RECONCILIATION
But now, Lisa’s surviving family has an answer to where Lisa was. But the answer as to “who” is responsible remains unanswered. Lisa dropped out of Frankford High School in Philadelphia in the ninth grade. She had a 2-year-old son at the time who was 37 years old when Lisa was finally identified. McMullin and another detective met with Lisa’s son and attended Lisa’s funeral. “We shared the entire case file with him. He said, ‘you have no idea how much I appreciate you doing this,’ said McMullin. “It was very bittersweet. But now he knew that his mother didn’t abandon him.”
LISA IS IDENTIFIED, BUT HER KILLER IS NOT… YET
It was an arduous journey to finally get an identification of the Girl in the Well. Although Lisa Todd’s remains have been identified, her cause and manner of death are still listed as ‘undetermined’. But McMullin believes it is a case of homicide. “For several reasons: One, she had a, a small fracture on her right maxilla, on her cheek, she also had a chipped tooth, and she was a 17-year-old girl that went missing, was found hidden in a well at an abandoned building – to me that, that suggests some foul play,” said McMullin.
HE KNOWS HE’S A SUSPECT
Retired Detective McMullin who is now a Lieutenant with the Bucks County (PA.) Sheriff’s Office said he has an idea who the suspect is, but he is not ready to share that information publicly. “I think he placed her there, and hid her there, because they were aware of that location. Like I said, she wasn’t, she didn’t fall, and if she was deceased when she was brought there, she wasn’t just dropped down that hole, she was placed there.” McMullin added, “He knows he’s a suspect – I’ll tell you that.”
At the time of Lisa’s disappearance she was 6 months pregnant, living with her boyfriend, Joe (not his real name), and his family. Joe’s brother said that Lisa and Joe did argue a lot, and assumed that Lisa left to get away from Joe.
TIPS: CALL BENSALEM POLICE
The Lisa Todd case remains an open investigation at Bensalem Police Department. If you have any information about the murder of Lisa Todd, call Bensalem detectives at 215-633-3719.
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE: LINK
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[1] Bartelink, Eric J.; Recent Applications of Isotope Analysis to Forensic Anthropology; Forensic Sciences Research; Volume 4, Issue 1, March 2019, Pages 29–44, Accessed 3/4/2024
[2] Parabon Labs; https://parabon-nanolabs.com/dna-forensics/index.html ; Accessed 3/4/2024
[1] The Former Publicker Industries; Historical Society of Pennsylvania; https://m.philaplace.org/story/1766/; Accessed 3/4/2024
[2] The Doe Network; The International Center for Unidentified and Missing Persons; https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/461ufpa.html; Accessed 3/4/2024