If you're squeamish, turn away now! This tale is as grotesque as it is baffling. Got a strong stomach? Great; you may proceed. Red rubber balls, like those you got out of a grocery store vending machine as a kid. Those were what had been put in place of her eyes. December 12, 2014 should have been just like any other typical school day for a teenager named Charles living off of Mason Road in rural Economy, Pennsylvania. But it wasn't. Little did Charles know that, after stepping off of the school bus, he would discover the severed head of an older woman lying in a nearby field. Instead of her eyes sitting securely in their sockets, someone had taken the opportunity to embalm the head and replace the woman's eyes with red rubber balls. Child's toys. He calmly made the call to a 9-1-1 dispatcher. "I found a human head." As forensic scientists discovered, the woman's head had been severed at the neck with tissues still intact. Surgical precision suggests medical knowledge, and the task of embalming suggests that someone had tried to take care of this body. So, what the hell was this head doing in a horse field where local children like to play? As of December 2017, investigators were still trying to put the pieces together. The woman does not match anyone listed in any missing persons databases, and no hospital, mortuary, or graveyard in the area reported a missing head. And just where was the rest of Jane Doe? Cadaver dogs scoured the area for two days after the discovery was made but were unable to turn up any trace of the body. Could this have been a professional embalming gone wrong when the head was accidentally dropped into the field from a passing vehicle? Doubtful. Police consulted embalmers, and while embalmers use a similar process for replacing donated eyes of the deceased, they certainly don't use crude rubber balls. And they don't typically sever the heads and lose them in a field. Plus, those toys balls surely would've rolled out of the eye sockets had the head been tossed out of a moving vehicle. Since the head couldn't have been accidentally lost, the only answer we have is that it was placed there. But by whom, and why? Teri Tatalovich-Rossi, coroner for Beaver County, stated that, since embalming fluid was used, it was difficult to determine the woman's time-of-death. The coroner also noted that the cuts made to the exterior were somewhat ragged while they were more refined on the interior. The toxicology report indicated that Jane Doe had traces of medication in her system used for treating cardiac issues (potentially heart failure). In addition, further forensic analysis revealed that Jane Doe had, in the few years prior to her death, lived in central and southwestern Pennsylvania, Ohio, and several East Coast states. (This was determined by the water content in her bloodstream since water sources tend to have unique mineral make-ups.) Her last dental procedure was probably done sometime in the 1990's. Police did end up burying the head once forensic analysis was complete. Was this Jane Doe ever in a professionally-run morgue or funeral home? Was she embalmed on the cheap by a hobbyist? Or was something more sinister at work here? The black market is one possible explanation. But what would someone in the black market want with the white-haired head of a woman with potential heart failure in her 50's? Well, they clearly wouldn't have wanted the head at all, which would lead to it being discarded. Murder is the other explanation. But why would someone murder this woman and leave the head in an all-too-obvious location while clearly taking more care to conceal/dispose of the body? That still leaves us with the question: Who is this Jane Doe? There is one possibility. Meet Tamara Porrin, better known as Tammy to her loved ones. In 1986, Tammy went missing in central Pennsylvania. Tammy's brother Ernest saw the rendering of Jane Doe and agreed that it bore a resemblance to his sister. However, Ernest believes that Tammy was murdered in 1986, which doesn't fit the time-frame given by forensics. Tammy was just 15 years old when she disappeared, which means that she would've been in her mid-40's when she died, if this is, in fact, her head. That would make her about a decade younger than what forensics estimated for Jane Doe. Will we ever find out who this Jane Doe was in her lifetime? Police have exhausted well over 30 leads since young Charles made that chilling 9-1-1 call. Certainly, this woman must have loved ones out there somewhere who are searching for her. If you know something, tips should be directed to the Economy Borough Police Department by calling (724) 876-0380 or via e-mail to [email protected].
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