Do you remember this man?

Photo reconstructions may offer hope in identifying San Diego John Doe

By Morgan M. Hurley

An organization that helps with unsolved murders and the search for missing persons is urging San Diegans to look at reconstructed photos to see if they recognize a man who was killed in San Diego over 20 years ago.

“John Doe” was a Hispanic male, 5 foot 5 inches tall, approximately 130 lbs, and he was stabbed to death on April 20, 1993, in Balboa Park. He has never been identified. 

Because this man’s death occurred close to our neighborhood, and because, especially in the 1990s, Balboa Park is often used for “hook-up” encounters, I felt it was important to share this story with our readers.

Additional details about John Doe: both ears were double-pierced; he had long, dark brown hair, which was worn in a ponytail at the time of his death; his age was estimated to be somewhere in his 20s or 30s, meaning he could have been born between the mid-1950s to 1970s.

Barbara Rotella, the owner/operator of Underground Mysteries, an online search portal and database run out of New Jersey, reached out to LGBTQ San Diego County News recently with a plea to get the word out regarding this unidentified man.

Underground Mysteries has reportedly helped solve several hundred cold cases and has been circulating information about this case throughout her network since December of 2023, but decided to start contacting news organizations in the San Diego area.

“This John Doe’s case has never received any media attention, and up until now, his photos were never circulated; that is because no photos had existed until Underground Mysteries decided to reconstruct his post-mortem photos to give him a life-like appearance of how he may have appeared when he was alive,” Rotella shared in an email. “Because he had a recognizable face at the time of his death, his photo reconstructions are an accurate depiction of how he appeared.”

Rotella is a missing/unidentified person activist/advocate, a forensic investigator, an investigative journalist for missing persons, and as a graphic designer, for the past two years she has begun to use facial reconstruction to help identify mostly underrepresented unidentified persons who have been found dead or missing for long periods of time. She is also a forensic genealogist for cold cases, which she does through her doenaming.com website, but she said the two websites go hand-in-hand. 

If you recognize this John Doe, or think you might remember him or the circumstances surrounding his death, please contact Barbara Rotella at info@doenaming.

For more information about Underground Mysteries, visit undergroundmysteries.com.

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