Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee

Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee
Discovered	February 19, 1971
Unidentified for	53 years
Sex	Female
Location	Lake Panasoffkee, Florida
Age	17-24
Race	White
Height	5' - 5'5
Weight	110 - 120 pounds
Body condition	Decomposed
Postmortem interval	Weeks - 1 month
Cause of death	Strangulation

"Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee" was a teenager or young adult who was found murdered in Lake Panasoffkee, Florida in 1971.

Case

Two hitchhikers from Illinois discovered the body after noticing a hand by a branch in the lake. The remains were badly decomposed and the decedent was thought to have been killed between three weeks to a month prior to being discovered. She had been strangled with a man's belt that was still around her neck. The victim may have been married, as she wore a ring on her left ring finger.

Testing performed on her remains indicated she may have originated from the area of Laurium, Greece. Following these results, it has been speculated she was possibly in the region for an Epiphany festival. A potential match between the victim and a Greek woman known as "Konstantina" was also investigated, but was neither able to be confirmed nor ruled out.

"Carol"

Around 1988, a woman recognized the bust created by artist Betty Pat Gatliff as a runaway she had seen in 1970 and believed to be Miss Panasoffkee. The woman said the girl, who called herself "Carol", was a runaway from an undisclosed state. The girl was known to hang around Clearwater Beach, south of Lake Panasoffkee. The girl had a previous ankle injury when she tried to run away and had allegedly been pregnant and was forced to give up the child before she ran away. The woman said she last saw Carol around the fall of 1970 when she left with three unknown men from Tampa. Whether the decedent was Carol or not is unknown.

Characteristics

• Brown hair.
• Possible brown eyes.
• The victim had given birth at least once.
• She was likely from Southern Europe, possibly Greece.
• Extensive dental work, including fillings and a porcelain crown.
• She had an orthopedic surgery on her ankle between 1967 - 1970, the surgery (known as the "Watson-Jones" technique) was used to correct instability in the ankle.
• Periostitis in her lower right leg, which is inflammation around the tissue near a bone, which would've caused her pain, and she may have walked with a limp.

Clothing and accessories

• White and green floral poncho or shawl.
• Solid green shirt.
• Green plaid pants.
• Nylon underwear.
• Gold Baylor wristwatch on her left hand.
• Gold ring with a clear stone.
• Small gold necklace.
• Men's size 36 belt (did not belong to the victim and is believed to be the murder weapon).

Gallery

Reconstruction by Carl Koppelman
Please note, all color renderings of this victim are approximate

Reconstruction by Judy Reimer

Sketch by Linda Galeener, circa 1988

Age regression

Age regression

Age regression

Reconstruction by Betty Pat Gatliff

Reconstruction by Kathleen Pacheco

Newspaper mentioning "Carol"

Media

• The case was featured in an October 1992 episode of Unsolved Mysteries.

Sources

• Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee at NCMEC
• Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee on Wikipedia
• Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee at the Doe Network
• Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee at FLUIDDB
• Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee at NamUs
• Unsolved Mysteries episode
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution
  • Article #1
  • Article #2