On March 9th, 1988, an unidentified man was found dead in a field near a radio station building. Who was John Doe of Middlesex County, Massachusetts?
The City of Newton, part of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and near Boston, is made up of thirteen “villages.” One village, Auburndale, a small area neighboring the city of Waltham (known as “Watch City”), was home to the WNTN radio station in March of 1988. The small WNTN building was on Rumford Avenue and had been home to the station since 1968, and there was a field behind it. (WNTN is now based in Cambridge.) Next to the field was an apartment building. This part of Auburndale near Waltham is and was also in the same vicinity of Newton’s city dump.
On Wednesday, March 9th, 1988, a woman who lived in the apartment building near the field and the station called WNTN at around 2:30 in the afternoon because she noticed a body in the field. A WNTN employee went out to investigate and, according to the North Adams Transcript, located the body “ten feet from a wooden fence surrounding the base of the station’s transmitting tower.” The North Adams Transcript was a newspaper based in Western Massachusetts, a considerable ways away – oddly, there do not seem to be more local news articles about this John Doe, or more articles at all.
The body of John Doe was badly decomposed, and the authorities told the News-Tribune of Waltham that his body may have lain undiscovered underneath the snow throughout the winter. It is unclear when he died, or how long his body was undiscovered in the field. It is estimated, however, that he died in 1987 or 1988. Possibly due to the level of decomposition, a reconstruction of his face was not created. However, it was determined that John Doe was between 30 and 40 years old, 135 pounds, white, and brown-haired. Initial news reports from 1988 say he was about 6 feet tall, while Namus says he was closer to 5 feet 8 inches.
John Doe’s clothes were intact. He wore a gray sweatshirt, a green sweater with a yellow and white pattern, and a green t-shirt underneath. His pants were brown and worn with a blue and white web belt. He had white sneakers with three stripes at the sides (similar to the Adidas design, if they were not from the brand itself) with white socks. John Doe was found with a wallet, but there was no identification in it. His wallet had nine dollars in it- today, this would be equivalent to about 24 dollars.
Authorities stated there were no signs of foul play- however, this does not mean it is not a possibility, as no cause of death could be found.
To this day, the identity of John Doe is unknown, as is when and how he died.
Links:
Namus: https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/14107?nav (WARNING: contains a post-mortem photograph. The photograph shows John Doe’s shoes and part of his jeans from just beneath the knee down.)
North Adams Transcript: https://www.newspapers.com/article/north-adams-transcript/142652642/
Village 14: https://village14.com/2017/11/20/wntn-newtons-funny-little-radio-station-closes/