Idaho suicide victim William Toomey update

[Todd Mueller]

Courtesy of RobinW, I read this article on Variety with Terri Dunn Meuer and it said this:

What’s the old case that you think is going to crack soon?

There was a young man who committed suicide in a church in Idaho. He’s a John Doe — he’s been a John Doe for 30 years. And the investigator in this police department of relatively new investigators decided he wanted to try and solve this case. My understanding is he went to the file, which was in a box, and the only thing that was in the box — the only information in the box — was a VHS copy of “Unsolved Mysteries.” He reached out to us and said, “Do you have anything? Do you have the note this man left behind? Do you have any of the details from the case?” And we actually had it, which was surprising to me after all these years. We gave him the information we had, and this investigator has been working on it. He just recently, in the last couple of weeks, reached out and said, “I think that we might have figured out who this man is.”

Now this would be awesome, if true. Hopefully knowing who he is can bring closure to a family and maybe solve this mystery.

Also, "great job" by the original investigators...

[WishfulDreamer]

Originally Posted by Todd Mueller

My understanding is he went to the file, which was in a box, and the only thing that was in the box — the only information in the box — was a VHS copy of “Unsolved Mysteries.”

This sounds like something straight out of a sitcom if true. They didn't keep the note, the buckle, or any other information about the case?

[pardilia]

Originally Posted by WishfulDreamer

This sounds like something straight out of a sitcom if true. They didn't keep the note, the buckle, or any other information about the case?

Not uncommon for stuff to go "missing". The buckle, etc. could have been buried with him even.

I was looking into this a month or so ago? And there's someone with the last name of Toomey who resembles the sketch so I'm curious to see if when this IS solved, if the doe didn't give his real name after all in the note.

[DP1]

This would be great news if it was solved.

Though I still find the omission of the Toomey case from UM on Amazon to be inexplicable.

[Fletch]

That article linked at the top (https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/net...ts-1234703225/) was great!! It is so cool for us UM junkies to be getting stuff like this now. There have been a lot of lean years that we’ve had to endure in regards to news about the show. I truly love seeing all this new interest thanks to the Netflix reboot.

[pardilia]

Originally Posted by DP1

Though I still find the omission of the Toomey case from UM on Amazon to be inexplicable.

They might have left it off because they didn't hear back from the folks handling the case at the time. The case wasn't posted on doe network until late 2019, so they might not have had a way to verify independently that he was still unidentified before the episodes were put together for Amazon.

[mozartpc27]

Really looking forward to this if there truly is an update to be had. This case has been an intriguing one for years.

[Fletch]

Originally Posted by DP1

Though I still find the omission of the Toomey case from UM on Amazon to be inexplicable.

Seriously. If there was ever a case that should be able for people to view easily, this would be it.

[mozartpc27]

So where is the promised update on this case? I am waiting patiently!

[isotope]

Originally Posted by Todd Mueller

Also, "great job" by the original investigators...

You can just imagine...the minute the police concluded there were no suspicious circumstances about his death; straight into the "too hard" basket it goes.

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by isotope

You can just imagine...the minute the police concluded there were no suspicious circumstances about his death; straight into the "too hard" basket it goes.

The original investigators determined that "William Toomey" was the name of a company that manufactured priest and nun garb/clothing. They also traced his belt buckle to a specific shop in Phoenix, Arizona. The problem was that Toomey was definitely not from Idaho (his suntan and the belt buckle suggests the south west), and that his fingerprints did not match anything. And no one came forward to identify him. I'm not sure exactly what more the police could have done.

[Todd Mueller]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

The original investigators determined that "William Toomey" was the name of a company that manufactured priest and nun garb/clothing. They also traced his belt buckle to a specific shop in Phoenix, Arizona. The problem was that Toomey was definitely not from Idaho (his suntan and the belt buckle suggests the south west), and that his fingerprints did not match anything. And no one came forward to identify him. I'm not sure exactly what more the police could have done.

The reference to the original investigators was all about the lack of records they kept. From the OP:

And the investigator in this police department of relatively new investigators decided he wanted to try and solve this case. My understanding is he went to the file, which was in a box, and the only thing that was in the box — the only information in the box — was a VHS copy of “Unsolved Mysteries.” He reached out to us and said, “Do you have anything? Do you have the note this man left behind? Do you have any of the details from the case?”

If the only thing the in the file of an unsolved suicide that the police investigated is a VHS tape of a TV show, that's a huge problem. Somebody either didn't document anything and/or someone threw out the records to an open case. Either way, that's not good and reflects poorly on the police department.

Also, you can't conclude the the suicide victim is "definitely not from Idaho" based on a suntan and belt buckle. Maybe he wintered in Phoenix, maybe he vacationed there, maybe he grew up there and moved to Idaho. But in any case, to say he is definitely not from Idaho can only be assumed and not verified. It feels like they just assumed he was from out of town and then stopped looking anymore.

It's obvious they investigated this and it may have been difficult to solve. But again, where are the records and files from the investigation?

[TheCars1986]

Originally Posted by Todd Mueller

The reference to the original investigators was all about the lack of records they kept. From the OP:

Record keeping was terrible. But, IMO, the investigators tracking down his belt buckle to one shop in the Phoenix area shows that they didn't just brush this aside.

Originally Posted by Todd Mueller

If the only thing the in the file of an unsolved suicide that the police investigated is a VHS tape of a TV show, that's a huge problem. Somebody either didn't document anything and/or someone threw out the records to an open case. Either way, that's not good and reflects poorly on the police department.

Seems to me that the records would have been destroyed. They recounted evidence they collected in a story written about Father Ryan's murder 20+ years after the fact.

Originally Posted by Todd Mueller

Also, you can't conclude the the suicide victim is "definitely not from Idaho" based on a suntan and belt buckle. Maybe he wintered in Phoenix, maybe he vacationed there, maybe he grew up there and moved to Idaho. But in any case, to say he is definitely not from Idaho can only be assumed and not verified. It feels like they just assumed he was from out of town and then stopped looking anymore.

It was December in Idaho...he had a suntan. The guy's buckle and bolo tie were traced to the southwest. I mean it's pretty apparent that if no one in the town came forward to identify this guy, the odds that he is not from the area are fairly high. Not one person saw this man at a gas station, church, etc.

Originally Posted by Todd Mueller

It's obvious they investigated this and it may have been difficult to solve. But again, where are the records and files from the investigation?

Probably destroyed by an inept new staff that took over after the original investigation.

[TheCars1986]

I scoured over the DOE Network and Charley Project websites trying to find any "match" for Toomey, and found absolutely nothing. I checked virtually every state in the country with the exception of the Northeast. Then I wondered if the man was possibly Canadian, which could explain why no one has come forward after all of these years.

Interestingly enough, I found a man who disappeared in March of 1982 along with his wife, named James Robinson. A house he was taking care of had burned to the ground 3 months prior to his and his wife's disappearance. They were scheduled to take polygraphs shortly before they disappeared in relation to the arson investigation. Blood was found in the house they were living in, as well as their abandoned vehicle. Saddles and jewelry were taken from the residence. The reason this case sticks out to me is that Robinson looks like the only known picture of Toomey, and the circumstances leading up to Robinson's disappearance. He and his wife were the suspects in an arson investigation and were due to take polygraphs before their disappearance. I know this is wild speculation here, but if he and/or his wife were guilty for the arson, and his wife was going to confess to the police during her polygraph, if an argument ensued resulting in him killing his wife and then fleeing the area (with jewelry and other items to sell), disposing of his wife's body, I could see how this would ultimately end with him showing up at a church (to confess) before ending his own life.

I guess what I'm getting at is that the police may have been too focused on tying his death with the murder/s of Catholic priests, and that he could have been someone involved in another still unsolved homicide. The only problem is that there is no record of anyone being reported missing from around that timeframe that 100% matches up with Toomey.

[jOHnNyD]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

I scoured over the DOE Network and Charley Project websites trying to find any "match" for Toomey, and found absolutely nothing. I checked virtually every state in the country with the exception of the Northeast. Then I wondered if the man was possibly Canadian, which could explain why no one has come forward after all of these years.

Interestingly enough, I found a man who disappeared in March of 1982 along with his wife, named James Robinson. A house he was taking care of had burned to the ground 3 months prior to his and his wife's disappearance. They were scheduled to take polygraphs shortly before they disappeared in relation to the arson investigation. Blood was found in the house they were living in, as well as their abandoned vehicle. Saddles and jewelry were taken from the residence. The reason this case sticks out to me is that Robinson looks like the only known picture of Toomey, and the circumstances leading up to Robinson's disappearance. He and his wife were the suspects in an arson investigation and were due to take polygraphs before their disappearance. I know this is wild speculation here, but if he and/or his wife were guilty for the arson, and his wife was going to confess to the police during her polygraph, if an argument ensued resulting in him killing his wife and then fleeing the area (with jewelry and other items to sell), disposing of his wife's body, I could see how this would ultimately end with him showing up at a church (to confess) before ending his own life.

I guess what I'm getting at is that the police may have been too focused on tying his death with the murder/s of Catholic priests, and that he could have been someone involved in another still unsolved homicide. The only problem is that there is no record of anyone being reported missing from around that timeframe that 100% matches up with Toomey.

Definitely differences in their nose and chin structures but the eyes and rest of his face are very close. Robinson disappeared from Washoe Valley, which is less than 7 hours from Boise. Only problem is there is a 9 month gap between his disappearance and Toomey’s death.

My birthday is the same day (not year) of Toomey’s death, so it always felt eerie to hear Robert Stack give the day of these events at the beginning of the segment.