FL FL - Fort Lauderdale, 'Donna Doe' WhtFem 13UFFL, 12-25, hit by truck, Aug'82

[not_my_kids]

https://identifyus.org/?p=case&i=1272&=19&s=DateFound_DESC&from=search&t=photos

Namus listing is a mess. Says she only had 2 cards and puts her age at 11-20.
Also says her blouse could have been light brown.

 

[dreamweaver]

Interesting case info.
If she had a Cajun accent, had business cards from TX, OK, and
LA, she must be from somewhere in the south.
She sure could have been traveling with truckers.

If she was hit by an 18 wheeler, could it have been the one that brought her to FL?
Was it at a truck stop? Do we know?

I would like to see the 3 business cards as well.
Wonder if the LE agency still has them?

 

[dreamweaver]

Her eyebrows are distinctive as well.
She has one that has that quizzical arch in it.
Should be easy to match if we find a possible missing person
from 1981 or 1982.

 

[dreamweaver]

I was sitting here thinking, what would a 16 yr old girl be doing hitching rides with truckers. It was 1982.
Did she run away? Was she left on her own?

And then, it dawned on me.
I had a teen daughter that very easily could have been her.
Things turned out well, after a few years, but,
there are many reasons a 16 yr old might have been
out there roaming around.

 

[not_my_kids]

There is a cold case thread for this girl too. Maybe we should merge. There is some good info over there.
http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27378&highlight=13UFFL

 

[Spurser]

When I hear of thick Cajun accents I thick of smaller south-central Louisiana cities: Ville Platte, Church Point, Crowely, Rayne, Port Barre, Chataignier, Krotz Springs, Mamou, Opelousas. I searched some missing person sites for these areas but didn't find anyone that met criteria. A Cajun accent is very distinctive. If the police officer was correct, there is no doubt that she lived many years in one of these areas. Ville Platte probably has the highest number of residents with heavy Cajun accents.

 

[Soulmagent]

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/v/vanschoick_leah.html
Schoick
Missing since August 15, 1982 from Plantation, Broward County, Florida.
Classification: Endangered Missing

Wonder if the information they collected about this girl is about this girl ..KWIM.

 

[tifflee]

Was Emma Lorene Vaughn (Websleuths thread here) ever pursued as a possible lead and ruled out? On NamUs, only Eleanor Parker is listed as ruled out for this Jane Doe.

The reason I ask is because:

• Emma's date last seen (July 10, 1982) and Jane Doe's death (August 3, 1982) are less than a month apart.
• Emma was last seen in Orlando, Florida and Jane Doe died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
• Emma had a tendency to bite her fingernails and toenails (per NamUs). The Jane Doe chewed her nails (per Doe Network profile).
• Emma's height (5'3") and weight (114 lbs) is close to Jane Doe's estimated height (5'2") and weight (110 lbs).
• Emma was 14 and Jane Doe is estimated to be 14-17.
• Emma just had a newborn and Jane Doe is described as "large busted and slim" on the Doe Network. Perhaps this was pregnancy/nursing related?
• Emma was in the company of Rhonda Cannon for a while. Jane Doe may have told the police officer she had a sister in Las Vegas and might have gone by the name Donna.

There are discrepancies. Emma's eye color was reported to be blue and Jane's was reported to be brown. I don't know if Emma had an accent, but I also don't know if Jane did either since everything I have read says the police officer might have remembered her and if so, she might have had a Cajun or Southern accent. I wish we knew how certain the police officer felt about his recollections.

In any case, just curious if anyone has submitted Emma for this Jane Doe. Thanks!

 

[CarlK90245]

There's a postmortem photo available for this Jane Doe.

*** WARNING - POSTMORTEM PHOTO AT LINK ***
http://i1354.photobucket.com/albums...85935610045078242S600x600Q851_zpsc2357804.jpg

NamUs UP # 1272 https://identifyus.org/cases/1272?page=case_information

I don't see the resemblance between her and Emma Vaughan, but the PM photo is of poor quality, and the UID's features are distorted by postmortem effects.

Unfortunately, they didn't put the dental chart in NamUs. Emma has a chipped front tooth, and that would be indicated on the dental chart if there was one.

 

[webrocket]

I have to reiterate Spurser's post from 2009. Anyone born in Louisiana would recognize a true Cajun accent. This police officer said the girl he spoke to had a "heavy" Cajun accent. so the girl the cop spoke to (whether or not its this same UID) most certainly came from the bayou parishes of Louisiana and nowhere else.

 

[Cymro]

Webrocket - agreed that we can be pretty confident of a Louisiana connection if the cop witness is reliable, but a runaway from southern La. might not have disappeared from there if reported missing.

She could have moved with family in her teens, or have run away from there and (especially if 17 rather than 14) put down some roots. So many missing persons sites/reports are missing key information (not usually the site's fault) that we can't exclude anyone not listed as missing from Louisiana.

 

[CarlK90245]

Webrocket - agreed that we can be pretty confident of a Louisiana connection if the cop witness is reliable, but a runaway from southern La. might not have disappeared from there if reported missing.

She could have moved with family in her teens, or have run away from there and (especially if 17 rather than 14) put down some roots. So many missing persons sites/reports are missing key information (not usually the site's fault) that we can't exclude anyone not listed as missing from Louisiana.

It also said that she may have had a friend or sister in Las Vegas.

 

[lieber32]

When reading the profile on her it said dark blue or light brown blouse. Dark blue and light brown are two very different colors. Found the dental info very lacking as well. As far as accents go you wouldn't need to live in a location for long to acquire its accent. I am from the midwest and lived two years in a southern city, my friends in Chicago told me I sounded as if I was from West Virginia when I visited only a little over a year later. Luckily I have reacquired my Midwestern accent no offense have friends from all over, but home is the Midwest and I'd like my accent to reflex that.

 

[tifflee]

Thanks for adding the photo, CarlK!

I agree that a Louisiana police officer would recognize a heavy Cajun accent. I just wish we knew how certain he was that the runaway he met was her and the length of time since what I've read so far puts the encounter a few days before and nothing more specific. The Cajun accent detail is either a great clue that narrows down where she spent her life before or is a red herring.

I am curious on the other two business cards. Not necessarily the people's names since I can see some folks not wanting to be connected with runaways or Jane Does, but rather the occupations or businesses. Also, the context in which the police officer talked to her would be helpful, too.

 

[rpipergirl]

It is said she was hitchhiking to Vegas,but, one question. How did a girl in Louisianan wind up in FL if she were Hitching to Vegas?? " In her pockets, she carried $30.00 and three business cards -- from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Canutillo, Texas, and West Monroe, Louisiana. Investigators contacted the names on the cards. Two of them were no help. The third, a Louisiana police officer, thought he might have talked to the girl, a runaway, a couple days before she was killed. If it's the same girl, she had a friend or a sister in Las Vegas and a thick Cajun accent. She might have been hitchhiking to Las Vegas." http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/13uffl.html That is in the totally opposite direction.

 

[webrocket]

would be nice to know what the business cards were. my hunch is that she was hitchhiking around and either she picked up the cards herself (for whatever reason) in transit, or they were given to her by her rides (for whatever reason).

so the next logical question is why would someone collect a business card when she was a transient (no offense to her intended)? mementos that she had been someplace? a kindly driver who gave her a ride at one time like "if you are ever around, stop by my office"? who knows how long she possessed the cards and that could be why the guys on the cards could not help any.

 

[Angie4b1g]

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/h/hogland-mccluskey_mary.html

I'm not sure about the nose here, and the cajun accent isn't really a fit, but it's the closest I could find in my limited search. She ran away about a year before this UID was found. The thing that most caught my attention was that she was already a B cup at age 12, which fits with the UID being large chested. It looks like her hair might be curlier but maybe it was just done up for the photos. There's not a lot of details on her missing page to go on.

 

[tifflee]

I found this article published by the SunSentinal in 1986, four years to the day this Jane Doe was found. Just a head's up that it is a two page article - I nearly missed the pagination at the bottom. It has a lot more information including more details on the business cards!

Aug. 3, 1982, was a hot and muggy Tuesday. At 11:35 a.m., the girl was trying to cross I-95. A semitrailer truck struck her, and she died three hours later at Broward General Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale.

She was 5 feet 2, buxom, weighed 110 pounds and had shoulder-length curly hair, Cory said. She carried no purse and wore no jewelry.

The only leads investigators found were business cards in her jeans pocket and a list of men's names. One of the business cards was from a police officer in West Monroe, La. Another was from the Spurs nightclub in Oklahoma City. Each card had a handwritten phone number on it and the first name of a man, Cory said.

Cory called the police officer in Louisiana. The officer said he remembered picking up a girl who was hitchhiking about a week before the girl died in Broward. He took her to a bus station and gave her a few dollars.

The girl, the officer remembered, spoke with an accent, possibly Cajun or southern, Cory said.

He had the Broward Sheriff's Office hypnotize a Southern Bell employee who found a purse near the intersection of State Road 7 and State Road 84 that contained papers with information similar to that in the dead girl's pocket. The hypnosis was needed because the telephone company employee had read letters in the purse, but the purse was thrown away by the Hacienda Village police.

The nylon purse, found two years after the girl died, was near a truck stop, Cory said. Based on other information he has gathered, he thinks the girl hitchhiked with truckers across the United States and thinks the purse could have been the girl's.

Bravo to Steve Cory of the Broward Medical Examiner's Office for searching so hard. I see him quoted in articles up to 2002 as a former investigator.

As for the business cards, each had a handwritten phone number and the first name of a man. One card was from a nightclub. She also had a list of men's names. Perhaps they were clients if she were a prostitute or client/job leads if she were dancing. Maybe the "If you are ever back in town, let me know" or "I can help" type cards as webrocket mentioned.

As for the police officer, given it sounds like more than a few minutes of contact, I am surprised in this article, it does not sound more certain it is the same girl. In fact, it sounds less certain that it was Cajun versus Southern. Maybe the police officer cannot remember faces well (but he is a police officer so you hope that is not the case) or he just met that many runaways a week? The encounter was a week before Jane Doe's body was found and he gave her a ride plus money so I am hopeful that the accent detail is not a red herring, but I guess we cannot treat it as a solid clue.

I am trying to find more information on the Spurs nightclub in Oklahoma City. So far, I have only found this mention in a Billboard Magazine article from July 17, 1982 (2.5 weeks before Jane Doe was found) which I have typed out below. It does not sound like an adult club, but more of an entertainment one back then?

If clubs are trying to take a chance on newcomers, so is television. Gene Autry's Golden West Broadcasters, KAUT, Channel 43, Oklahoma City, implemented a new programming idea last January cutting a deal with Cal Roberts, owner of Spurs nightclub.

The live, country-western show utilizes three cameras, two hand-held and one stationary in the balcony," explains Bill Davis, general sales manager for KAUT. "We put in our own lighting grid and instituted our own mixing board. We take two remote trucks there every evening at a monthly production cost of $20,000."

Hosted by Wade Carter, a former KOMA DJ who has been elevated to host/producer. It's his decision as to who is booked and amount of air time. There is no pay.

"It's unusual for anybody to be able to get on a local television show anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes. The exposure is reward enough, " says Davis.

On one show, Autry, who returned for Oklahoma's Diamond Jubilee Celebration, served as guest hot [sic]. Connie James also did a guest spot, singing while sitting on the shoulders of the Schlitz malt liquor bull.

Artists appearing in town have gotten wind of the show and "they want to do a guest shot on Tuesday to hype this or that," Davis relates. Winners of Henson's Monday night talent contest are also booked.

 

[CarlK90245]

I noticed from the article that the girl had blonde curly shoulder-length hair. In the postmortem photo, it looks very dark. I wish there was a better-quality color photo available.

 

[tifflee]

To add to the confusion, on the finger print card scanned into NamUs, it was filled out as "Eyes: Blue" and "Hair: BR" which means brown, yes? Everywhere else, it says her eyes are brown. Maybe a mistake by the person who took her fingerprints. The date on the card is cut off, but I can see "/25/82" so maybe it was taken so far later, her eyes had changed color in death to blue?

CarlK: I think most descriptions I have read have her hair as "dark blonde" or "brown" which seems to match the post-mortem description more.