His real name isn’t known. For years now, he simply has been identified as John D108 Doe.
Those caring for him don’t know his age. Or whether he has family. They don’t know whether he was abandoned or whether anyone is searching for him. It’s not even clear when he went from a man with an identity to someone who no one knows.
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Court records show it has been at least four years since the man was found wandering the streets and knocking on doors. But stories passed down to those caring for him indicate it may be closer to eight years ago when he was first found on Detroit’s east side.
Police ran his fingerprints and didn’t get any hits.
He can’t speak beyond a few words. He has been diagnosed with severe mental illness and has lived in a group home in Detroit since 2008. Now, his new guardian and her daughter want the mystery of John D108 Doe solved.
“The buck was passed to us,” Stacey Conyers said. “But I am determined that the buck will stop here.”
Her mother, Kathleen White-Montgomery, owner of Guardianship Service, became John Doe’s legal guardian in May after a hearing in Wayne County Probate Court. Not knowing his identity has been eating at White-Montgomery and Conyers, who also works for the company, ever since.
“I obsess over it at night,” Conyers said. “I lay in the bed with my phone, and I’ll go through different missing person’s websites.”
John Doe’s predicament is rare, but not unheard of.
In Michigan, 49 living John and Jane Doe adult protective services cases have been documented since 1994, and the majority — 32 — were men, said David Akerly, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Human Services.
The cases are closed when next of kin is located, guardianship is assumed or the person dies, he said.
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) has databases for missing people and unidentified dead people, and the organization now is working to publish living unidentified people, NamUs spokesman J. Todd Matthews said. He said he hears from people about these types of cases three to four times a year.
“We are going to develop a way of doing that for such situations,” he said.
What’s his name?
Earlier this year, White-Montgomery received a call asking her to assume legal guardianship of John D108 Doe. The name was given to him at a hospital before he was placed in adult foster care in 2008.
Conyers is his field guardian and ensures John Doe is being properly cared for at his group home. Audré Watts, an adult foster care provider, takes care of him there along with other staff.
White-Montgomery and Conyers received little information about him — most was passed down from people who have had contact with the man over the years. A social worker said John Doe was found naked on a porch on Detroit’s east side in 2004, and police were called.
But White-Montgomery and Conyers haven’t been able to obtain a police report confirming that story. The Free Press also was unable to get any report because of the limited details.
He doesn’t have any birthmarks, but he has a scar from an immunization shot on his upper left arm, Conyers said.
The man has said Maurice Williams when asked his name, but his caretakers can’t find anyone with that identity who would match.
“He’s had some schooling. He can spell Maurice, but he leaves out some of the letters,” Watts said.
John D108 Doe has remained his identity — even the tags on his clothes are marked John Doe. In 2011, he got lost, police were contacted and found him under a tree in southwest Detroit. The markings on his clothes helped identify him.
“That seems awful to me that somebody would have to live their life unidentified,” Conyers said.
When asked his mother’s name Tuesday, he mumbled something, but nobody could understand what he was saying. He held onto a pen but didn’t write anything on the paper when asked to write her name.
He has severe tremors in his hand, so he holds the pen and paper tight when he’s trying to write, Watts said.
“I know John Doe can talk deep down in his soul,” Watts said.
One day, he said, “Excuse me,” in a deep, baritone voice to a person in his way. He also has said: “How you doing, Ms. Watts?” But that’s about all.
Round-the-clock care
At a group home in Detroit last week, several men gathered around the TV when Watts called for one of them.
“John Doe,” Watts said. “Come here.”
The man got up from the couch and followed her into another room. He took a seat in the living room chair and started picking at his face. His caretaker put socks over his hands to protect his skin from continuous touching.
John Doe stands about 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighs 220 pounds. Court documents list him as about 25, but his caretakers say they believe he is in his 30s or 40s.
He has said his birthday is Oct. 15 — today — but Watts can’t make out the year. She started celebrating his birthday with him on that day because she thinks it’s correct.
John Doe has a short attention span and rarely speaks. His limited vocabulary includes “bathroom,” “bedroom” and “yes.”
He likes to eat — hamburgers, casino buffets and the Golden Corral restaurant are some of his favorites.
“He’s always trying to help you carry the groceries in,” Watts said. “He smiles when you come in the house.”
John Doe can be a danger to himself, in part because he constantly touches things — light switches, doorknobs and potentially hazardous items such as stoves and electrical outlets.
He requires around-the-clock care and needs to be bathed, shaved and taken to the toilet throughout the day, Watts said.
“You have to do everything for John Doe,” Watts said.
He takes medication for schizophrenia, she said. At times, he appears to become increasingly paranoid and responds to internal stimuli, according to court documents.
“Mr. Doe is able to follow simple instructions, such as sit and eat,” Dr. Timothy Chapman of Gateway Community Health wrote in a letter included in a court file encouraging a judge to appoint a guardian for him. “However, he is unable to give information regarding his identity or family information.”
ID needed for benefits
Learning his identity could get John Doe the medical care he needs.
Without an identity and a Social Security number, it’s a struggle getting any benefits.
The Social Security Act requires evidence of identity for everyone applying for Social Security benefit programs, Social Security Administration spokesman Doug Nguyen said.
John Doe needs dental work to remove teeth, podiatry care and treatment for medical problems, which sent him to the hospital earlier this month, Watts said.
“It’s not a roadblock, it’s just a brick wall,” she said about getting him services without identification.
Right now, Dr. Innocent Agbassi of Livonia sees him as a courtesy case and gave him a flu shot when he visited earlier this month.
Gateway Community Health in Detroit treats his mental illness and provides his medications. Watts receives $235 a day to pay for staffing needed to care for John Doe, she said. But that money doesn’t cover the cost of food, clothes, rent, transportation and entertainment, which she often pays for.
White-Montgomery commended Watts for continuing to care for him. Watts estimates she is owed more than $30,000 from care and housing she has provided during the past four years.
“I just stopped writing it down,” she said. “Because who’s going to pay for it?”
Nguyen said the Social Security Administration typically works with authorities to come up with proof of identity. He said the agency will look into John Doe’s case again and try to help put the pieces together.
If no one from the man’s past wants to take care of him, Conyers said, she will gladly continue to watch over him.
She even has considered adopting him and giving him her name. But she still needs to know his identity.
“I cannot imagine living out the rest of my life only being known as John Doe,” Conyers said.
