Cascade County Doe was a child or teenager whose remains were found on April 19, 2000, in the residence of Nathaniel Bar-Jonah in Great Falls, Montana, after his 1999 arrest. It is believed this victim was abducted, tortured, killed, and possibly eaten by Bar-Jonah.
Case[]
Twenty-six bone fragments of the victim were recovered from the dirt floor of Bar-Jonah's garage at his Great Falls home at 1216/1218 1st Avenue North. Although the bones were very small, and some of them may not even have been human, DNA tests confirmed the bones belonged to a black male child or teenager[1].
Bar-Jonah was arrested in December 1999 for the impersonation of a police officer and weapons concealment. A warrant was issued to search his house for evidence. Police found bondage and auto-erotic asphyxia documents, roughly three thousand and five hundred pictures of children, and a list of children, some from Bar-Jonah's youth in Massachusetts, including three that he molested. There was one entry for "Zackery Ramsey" next to the word "DIED". This is believed to be a reference for Zachary Ramsay, who went missing on February 10, 1996, on his way to school. Bar-Jonah also had multiple news clippings of Ramsay's case, an undeveloped film containing sexual images of Bar-Jonah and three unidentified boys. A large, stained section of plywood was found in Bar-Jonah's garage; it was scrubbed with bleach and struck several times with a meat cleaver as if it had been used as a cutting board. Bar-Jonah also owned a book written in code. When the code was deciphered, it showed the book was a cookbook with recipes like "little boy pot pie," "French fried kid," and "little boy stew."
The evidence collected at the house and witness testimony indicated to authorities that Bar-Jonah had abducted, sexually tortured, and possibly killed and cooked several children, including Ramsay and this victim. DNA proved Ramsay and this victim, as well as hair belonging to a black male found on Bar-Jonah's meat grinder, were all different individuals.
Bar-Jonah was going to be charged with the murder of Ramsey and this victim, but the charges were dropped as Ramsey's mother believed her son was still alive. He was convicted of sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping, and assault with a deadly weapon in 2002 about other attacks on boys in Great Falls. He died in prison on April 13, 2008.
Between 1964 and 1999, Bar-Jonah abducted, raped, sexually tortured, and attempted to murder several children and teenagers in Massachusetts and Montana. He was known to target non-white victims due to the belief they would be easier targets. He has been labelled a suspect in the disappearances of Zachary Ramsay, Amanda Gallion in Gillette, Wyoming in 1997, and Janice Pockett in Tolland, Connecticut in 1973 and the murder of this victim and James Teta in Rindge, New Hampshire in 1973. DNA evidence has further proven that this victim is not Gallion or Pockett. Some reports state Andrew Amato was abducted by Bar-Jonah, but this is untrue as Amato was abducted in Webster, Massachusetts, in 1978, a year after Bar-Jonah was convicted for a 1977 attack. As a result, this victim's DNA has not been compared to Amato's.
Exclusions[]
- Zach Ramsay
- Amanda Gallion (non-NamUs rule-out)
- Janice Pockett (non-NamUs rule-out)
Sources[]
- Cascade County Doe at NamUs
- Murderpedia
- Nathaniel Bar-Jonah on Wikipedia
Footnotes[]
- ↑ According to news articles at the time. NamUs states that age, race, and sex are unknown.