Categories

The following are all of the tags/labels I use or will use, categorized in a much more organized manner, as well as explanations of some of the terms:

** Note: many of these are shortened due to restrictions on the length of the tags.

Victim Demographics

Female
Male
Sex uncertain

Age Group

Race/Ethnicity

Other

Abuse or domestic violence
College student
Deceased parent

As in, one of the victim's parents was deceased, not that they themselves were a parent (for that, see "Parent" below).
I was unable to add this due to restrictions on the number of tags, but Debbie Shelton also had a deceased parent.

Divorced or separated parents
Former Doe

I.e., unidentified until the 21st century

Foster care

Including group homes

LE link

A connection to law enforcement in some way, especially if the victim was in LE or related to/in a relationship with someone in LE. Also includes victims found near LE stations.

Married (either previously or currently)

Divorced or estranged

Med link

Any connection to the medical field in some way, whether it is the subject works as a nurse or at a hospital in general, or is closely related to someone who does, the event occurred near a hospital or medical center, the subject was last seen going to/from a doctors appointment or the hospital, etc.

Military

Including both active-duty/vets, as well as people and places with some connection to the military (worked at/near a military base/building, related to/in a relationship with someone in the military, etc).

Multiple victims

Couple

In order to abide by tag length limits, when the "Couple" tag is applicable then I will omit 1) the "Multiple victims" tag, and 2) the sex (Female/Male) tag, as I don't believe there are/will be any cases involving same-sex couples, so the Male and Female tags are implied

Survivor(s)

"Attack" is used when all victims survive the act(s) of violence, while "Survivor(s)" is used when one or more survived but others did not.

Older partner

Refers to victims who are reportedly (or possibly) in a relationship with someone who is significantly older than them. This unfortunately often (but not always) consists of a minor female involved with an adult male.

Pregnant
Recent break-up
Recent pregnancy
Parent

Teen mom

This refers to the subject of the write-up being a teen mom, not the subject being born to a teen mom.
Note: If I come across a case centering around a teenaged father, then this tag will be changed to "Teen parent."

Runaway history
Sex work

Case Specifics

Case Type

Abduction
Arson

I.e., of property such as homes or vehicles.
See "Fire or bombing" for cases where arson leads to death or antemortem injuries.
See "Burning" for postmortem burning of corpses; both "Arson" and "Burning" are tagged when the building or vehicle that a corpse is left in is intentionally set alight.

Attack

"Attack" is used when all victims survive the act(s) of violence, while "Survivor(s)" (see above) is used when one or more survived but others did not.

Disappearance
Explosion
Homicide

Possible homicide

Possible misadventure
Robbery

Possible robbery

Sexual assault (SA) or rape

Possible SA or rape

Stalking

See also "Strange calls" below.

Suspicious death

Could be an accident, suicide, overdose, homicide, etc.

Unidentified

Cause of Death/Injuries

Asphyxiation

Smothering, being buried alive, etc.
Does not include strangulation (for that, see below).
Does not include smoke inhalation (for that, see "Fire or bombing").

Blunt force trauma (BFT)

Heights

Falling/jumping/being pushed from a great enough height to cause significant injuries or death.
Includes being pushed from a moving car.

Vehicular collision

i.e., being hit and/or run over.
Includes possible/speculated instances.

COD Unknown or uncertain
Drowning
Fire or bombing

Includes death by burning, smoke inhalation, explosion, etc.
Does not include postmortem burning of a corpse (for that, see "Burning" below).

Gunshot
Hacking

i.e., struck with an axe, machete, hatchet, or cleaver.

Hanging

Used when the victim is found hanging from something, or there's evidence that they were hanged.
Death may be attributed to a broken neck or lack of oxygen.
Regarding the latter, for deaths as a result of something around the victim's neck, but no evidence of hanging itself, see "Ligature strangulation."

Poisoning
Stabbing

With a knife, screwdriver, etc.

Strangulation

Garrote

I personally find the difference between Garroting and ligature strangulation to be confusing/unclear. However, I am still using this tag when my sources specifically use the term "garrote/garroting/etc."; otherwise, I use the tag "Ligature."

Ligature
Manual

Postmortem Interval (PMI)

** Note: Other than "Died after discovery," I unfortunately do/will not consistently tag posts with the various PMI labels below, because a) the website that hosts this blog unfortunately limits the length/number of tags, b) not every case has a PMI indicated in sources, and c) PMI is always estimated, and therefore very inexact.

*** Further note: When I do tag a post with a PMI label, I always opt for the most specific one, especially if a specific PMI (e.g., "five to ten hours") is provided by a source. In other instances, a specific PMI is not stated, but can be generally extracted: for example, a case where the victim is last seen at 4pm on one day, and then found at 11pm the next day, would be tagged as "PMI one day," even though a) the interval between disappearance and discovery is more than 24 hours, and b) the victim could have died less than 24 hours after their disappearance, but a specific PMI is not given; in essence, in instances where a more specific PMI is not available, "PMI one day" is used when the victim was found the day after they were last seen alive.

Died after discovery

I.e., the victim was still alive when they were first found, but then died shortly after as a result of their injuries, either before first responders arrive, while on the way to a medical center, or once at a hospital.

PMI minutes
PMI hours
PMI one day
PMI days (but less than a week)
PMI weeks
PMI months
PMI years

Antemortem/Pre-Disappearance Aspects

Bus
Hitchhiking
Rain
School

Last seen at or on way to school or college
As opposed to "Campus" (see below), which refers to cases in which a body is found on the property of a school/college

Strange calls

These may also occur post-event, but I am putting it here for simplicity's sake.

Torture
Vehicle inoperable
With dog

Perimortem / Other Aspects

Binding
Connection to water

See also "Drowning" above.

Date uncertain
Decapitation

May occur peri- or postmortem (i.e., may have been COD or not).

In home
In vehicle

While driving

Motorcycle

Lovers lane
Possible later contact

Refers to missing people who were possibly seen or contacted after their last confirmed time of contact, but the sighting/contact is unconfirmed.

Reported later

Refers to missing people who were reported as missing to LE a significant amount of time (at least a year or two) after they were last seen.

Postmortem Aspects

Burning

Specifically postmortem burning of corpses.

Concealed

Found in sleeping bag, deliberately covered in sheet, sticks, etc.; however, if buried in dirt, then "Shallow grave" is used instead.

Found where killed

The murder occurred where the body was then found (though this may not coincide with where the victim was last seen). See "Body dumped" below for the other possibility.
Because of limits on the number/length of tags imposed by the host website, I unfortunately cannot always tag this whenever it applies.
Furthermore, there are plenty of cases where it's unknown where death occurred in relation to where the body was found, and/or no sources mention it, so I refrain from tagging either option because of the uncertainty.

Items scattered

Personal belongings found at locations other than their residence or where the person was found/last seen.

Body dumped

I.e., the murder occurred at a completely different location than where the body was found. See "Found where killed" above for the other possibility.
Because of limits on the number/length of tags imposed by the host website, I unfortunately cannot always tag this whenever it applies.
Furthermore, there are plenty of cases where it's unknown where death occurred in relation to where the body was found, and/or no sources mention it, so I refrain from tagging either option because of the uncertainty.

Mutilation

Does not include burning of a corpse (see above).

Posed
Shallow grave

Found buried in dirt, and/or signs of a shallow grave nearby.

Stolen vehicle

Often later recovered.

Fully clothed

Shoeless, but otherwise fully clothed

Partially-clothed
Nude

Jewelry only

Completely nude except for jewelry found on or near the body.
Earring

i.e., (parts of) earring(s) found at the scene, and/or evidence of a fresh attempt at a piercing.

No clothing found

Used with UIDs when items may have been scattered or decomposed, making it unclear whether the decedent was actually nude when killed/dumped.

Clothes found

Used with UIDs when clothing is found nearby, but not directly on the body, making it unclear whether the UID was nude at time of death/disposal or if the clothing/body was moved by animals, the elements, etc.

Location

Campus

Found on school/college property

Desert
Forest
Golf course and/or country club
Movie theater
Parks, reserves, wilderness areas, and protected lands

Municipal

I.e, town and city parks

Local

This tag is for when I am unsure whose jurisdiction a location falls under, but it's clear that it either a) is a general public hiking trail, and/or b) has the word "park" in the place name (including trailer parks).

Regional

East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD)

Tilden Regional Park

I have also chosen to include areas that are managed by the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD)

State

Mt Tamalpais State Park

National

Angeles National Forest
Yosemite National Park

Remote or rural area

Field

Orchard or vineyard

This also includes commercial flower fields

Side of road
Vacant lot

Metadata (in a way)

Case Status

Note: Unless otherwise stated and/or tagged with any of the following, all cases are unsolved.

Questionable

Someone has been convicted for the crime, but there is public doubt regarding their guilt

Solved

Includes cases in which justice has been served, and ones where the right suspect has definitely been identified but either a) was already in prison for other crimes so no charges were pressed to avoid the hassle of a trial, or b) the suspect had already died or fled

Suspected

A suspect has been officially IDed but has not been charged, and/or there is still some room for doubt.
Includes cases in which authorities have named a suspect, but I can't find a thorough, concrete reason why they came to that conclusion

Theorized

This is less "official" than Suspected, and has a lot more doubt involved.
Also refers to cases where a serial killer may have been involved, but it's not agreed upon (and/or I personally doubt it)

Series

Confirmed Zodiac
Confirmed SRHM
Semi-canonical Zodiac
Unconfirmed SRHM
AM (Astrological Murders)

These overlap with Semi-canonical Zodiac, but I am using Wikipedia's label

Bad Samaritan

These overlap with Semi-canonical Z & SRHM, but can also be seen as a series of its own
I use this tag for the "canonical" Bad Samaritan murders (as outlined on Wikipedia and by others online)

Degree of separation

Link (aka Forum/Connection)

Any case that has been brought up in conjunction with another case here either in a forum or a general Z circle, elsewhere online, or in newspapers

Database

Cases I found through my own searching of databases like NamUs, Doe Network, etc. rather than others proposing similarities to other cases

My Research

Cases that I found through my own research of PD cold case pages, newspapers, etc. rather than others proposing similarities to other cases

Samaritan connection

Cases that I found through other means that I personally think are similar to the oft-mentioned Bad Samaritan murders, and/or that I found myself while deliberately looking for Samaritan cases

SRHM connection

Even further separated from SRHM than the Semi-canonical ones, these are ones I personally feel are similar to SRHM but aren't part of the oft-brought up ones

Time and Place

Day of Week

Decade and Year

1960s

1970s

1980s

Holidays and Events

** Cases do not have to fall on the exact date to be tagged this, but instead reasonably near, i.e., within at most a week. Cases that occur on Christmas Eve or New Years Eve, for example, are simply tagged Christmas and New Years, respectively. Furthermore, events that occur in proximity to All Saints Day/El Dia de los Muertos (Nov. 1st) and All Souls Day (Nov. 2nd) are generally just tagged with Halloween because they are so close together.

***** See the Holidays & Events page (also available from the side bar) for when each event fell each year. I have listed the holidays below by their general chronological order in the yearly calendar (except for eclipses, which vary wildly).

Solar eclipse

Other States

Arizona
Colorado

Denver
El Paso County

Colorado Springs

Fort Carson
Jefferson County

Lakewood

Montrose County

Clark County

Las Vegas

Elko County
Washoe County

Reno

Oregon

Clackamas County

Oregon City

Marion County

Salem

Multnomah County

Portland

King County

Seattle

Yakima County

California Counties and Cities

*** Note: While I do try to, I do not always tag "CA" on every post in California, because a) this blog focuses on California, so it's a bit redundant, and b) limits on the number of tags each post can have.

***** Further Note: only relevant cities and counties are listed here. Not all of these have tags associated with them, but I have listed all that (will) come up at least once.