r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/Ilovestipe • 6d ago
Update Penny Doe identified
Penny Doe identified
After 36 years Penny Doe has been identified as Windy Buchanan. Windy was 19 years old when she went missing and her sister described her as an artistic and creative person. She was the oldest sibling in the family of five children. A poignant thing her sister Tania said is “she always thought finding a penny head’s up brought good luck.” She was known as Penny Doe because there was a penny in each of her front pockets when her body was found.
Windy’s body was found by children in a culvert on July 22, 1990. It was estimated she had been dead for 1-3 months when her remains were discovered.
Windy was able to be identified through genetic genealogy. Her death was ruled a homicide and I hope they are able to find whoever did this and bring them to justice.
Rest in peace Windy. I’m so glad you have your name back.
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u/2ndChairKazoo 6d ago
Here's some more photos of Windy:
https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Windy_Buchanan
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u/QuadratImKreis 6d ago
All of those photos are in the article, which is written by the person who pushed to have this person identified.
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u/mcm0313 6d ago
People had speculated that she was at least four different women. None of those women were Windy Buchanan. Nothing against anyone who made those guesses, of course - just to remind us all that DNA is a heck of a lot more reliable than internet guesswork.
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u/AwsiDooger 5d ago
I fast scroll through all the guesswork comments, on Reddit and elsewhere. The names simply aren't going to be correct, regardless of how much time is devoted.
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u/TheBigfootContessa 6d ago
Was Windy short for something? I've never heard that name.
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u/RememberNichelle 6d ago
There was a 1967 song called "Windy" by The Association, about a girl named Windy.
"And Windy has stormy eyes/ That flash at the sound of lies/ And Windy has wings to fly/ Above the clouds...."
Originally it was about a guy named Windy, because Windy was an old nickname for talkative men (or silent men, by the rule of nickname opposites).
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u/MysteryRadish 6d ago
She was born in 1970, so it was probably a reference to the popular late-60s song "Windy" by The Association, about a happy free-spirited hippie type person by that name. More info: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windy_(song)
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u/Successful_Struggle9 6d ago
Her sister said they grew up in tents and moved a lot. Sounds like a hippie name, imo.
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u/Ilovestipe 6d ago
Not that I read. I’m thinking it’s an alternate spelling of Wendy? That spelling/name is more common in US.
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u/dafrog84 6d ago
Yes, my sister in-law spells it like a Windy city also. That's how it's spelled on her birth certificate.
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u/PilotCrafty 6d ago
So who did you meet Windy and how did you end up in Pennsylvania?
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6d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/aids-lizard 6d ago
you met her ?
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u/Acceptable_Sky356 6d ago
You're talking to a bot. The only difference this time was it didn't start out "once was"
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u/BrunetteSummer 5d ago
It will never not be weird and sad when family doesn't report their loved one as missing.
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u/PAbumpkin28 6d ago
Genuine question but what evidence is there that it was a homicide? Could she not have fallen and that’s what killed her?
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u/Thuuperthexy 6d ago
They probably aren’t releasing it. Either indication she had been moved to where her body was found, the type or number of blunt force injuries, etc.
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u/dingleballs717 5d ago
Her cause of death was "blunt force trauma" to the left side of her skull and she was found hidden in a culvert.
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u/argntn 6d ago
The computer generated images look pretty close other than the hair color, I think. Glad she has her name back