Identified! KY - Harlan Co., WhtFem UP5880, 16-22, off Little Shepherd Trail, Jun'69 - Sonja Adams

[bflocket]

It would be easier (then and now) to take I-75 south from Lexington. Back then it only went to Berea. You'd then get on US-25 (US-25E once it splits) to Pineville and turn to go to Harlan. Though it's been reconstructed/widened several times since the body was found, it would still be an easier drive than taking the Mountain Pkwy (or US-421).

 

[fred&edna]

It would be easier (then and now) to take I-75 south from Lexington. Back then it only went to Berea. You'd then get on US-25 (US-25E once it splits) to Pineville and turn to go to Harlan. Though it's been reconstructed/widened several times since the body was found, it would still be an easier drive than taking the Mountain Pkwy (or US-421).

Yes, your route definitely makes more sense! All roads in eastern KY lead to Whitesburg (in my mind ) Was US-25E a two-lane road at that time?

 

[bflocket]

Yes, your route definitely makes more sense! All roads in eastern KY lead to Whitesburg (in my mind ) Was US-25E a two-lane road at that time?

I would assume so. I've verified that it was at least paved. The only part unpaved in 1939 (well before this Doe was found) was a stretch near the Tennessee border and Cumberland Gap.

I have some scans of old maps of Kentucky counties and many of the "official highway maps" of the state (the fold-out ones you'd find at a rest area or visitor center). The one from 1939 has a description of some of the routes on the back.



***
My mom's family is from Harlan and I remember riding up there as a kid in the early/mid-1980's. It wasn't too terrifying of a trip for me, so it probably wasn't bad.

US-25E and US-119 (the turn in Pineville to go to Harlan) have had several reconstructions in the past couple decades and are pretty straight and fairly flat. Before those reconstructions, US-119 basically followed the Cumberland River and was a little wiggly, but wouldn't have been ungodly hilly. I don't recall any "mountain curves" (i.e. hairpins).

I mentioned "scary" because my family would also go to Delaware around that era to see my mom's friend from when she did her residency up there. I would be damn-near in hysterics with an overwhelming fear of US-60 b/w Charleston, WV and the Virginia border (or at least either of my parents driving there). I would literally "hide" so that I couldn't see out the windshield. I was SO thankful when they finally completed I-64 through there and we could avoid the scary hills/curves and panic attacks, etc.

 

[bflocket]

I posted some maps of the area before on the thread, but it seems the images no longer work.

Here is the area in 1968. The Little Shepherd Trail wasn't marked well (it is a tiny road over a ridge) so I put a line over its approximate location. I hope the pics/maps will stay.



http://transportation.ky.gov/Planning/Maps/1968KYF.pdf

 

[lindamichelle1]

I just was searching for a hour on a missing person Kentucky thing checking every single female to see if there was a close match but nothing. i am not from America so wasnt sure of the geography but just saw on google maps its really close to the border of Tennessee, she could have been brought from there and dumped thinking crossing state lines would throw off the investigation. its late now so ill have another look tomorrow at missing women in tennessee

 

[bflocket]

I just was searching for a hour on a missing person Kentucky thing checking every single female to see if there was a close match but nothing. i am not from America so wasnt sure of the geography but just saw on google maps its really close to the border of Tennessee, she could have been brought from there and dumped thinking crossing state lines would throw off the investigation. its late now so ill have another look tomorrow at missing women in tennessee

The area where she was found is in a "border county" and it is close to Virginia, Tennessee and not too far from West Virginia.

Cincinnati (restaurant receipt) is in Ohio, one state north of Kentucky. I'd look there first. We know (or have reason to assume) that she was there because of the receipt. If she were coming from Cincinnati (heading south through KY), she wouldn't have reached Tennessee or Virginia as that would be an all-Kentucky trip, for what it's worth.

For that matter, the Cincy (Cincinnati, OH) "metro/suburb area" basically straddles the southwestern state line with Indiana and the Ohio River (KY on south side). If you're going to go through a bunch of MP profiles, I'd start with Indiana/Ohio before going south.

I also (on another thread) posted on the progress of the Intersate-HWY construction around Cincy, too. I'll post it here because she could be from even further away were she to have been hitchhiking or the like. I think I said this earlier, but "parts" of I-75 were completed in 1969. There were gaps where you'd have to take "regular roads" to get to the next Interstate-size section.

Also, the earlier completed sections seemed to be around large towns. The interstates all seemed to "fill in" the rural areas after they were established in big towns. I know this was true in Louisville, at least.

Anyways, this shows which Interstates (and other roads) in the Cincinnati area were complete as of 1965. It also shows planned interstate-size roads that may or may not have been finished by 1969. Because if that receipt were hers, it would mean she was in Cincy. But as some of the interstates were done by then, she could also be from just about anywhere and just traveled through the city shortly before she was killed.

 

[Tulessa]

Also alot of the people went to Columbus Ohio as my parents did. They are from Floyd County, and yes to this day if a strange car comes to the area everyone will know..LOL...they still have some phones that are party lines.. There are no black families that live in their area at all.. What happens in Floyd County stays there. When I visit everyone knows what I am driving and when I arrive.. They call me Carlos's Daughter (my Dad Carlos) I am very protected when I visit. If this lady was local she may never have a name.
Hillbillies are not sterotyping to my dads family, That is what they are and they are proud of it. One of my ancestors is Talt Hall.. First man to be hung in VA.

Maybe this young lady came from another part of KY, there are a lot of dumping grounds in those mountains.

Party lines in the United States were ineligible for Universal Service Fund subsidies and telephone companies converted them to private lines to benefit from the subsidies. Universities also phased out the systems, which were once common in student dormitories. Illinois State University terminated its last party line in 1990.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_line_(telephony)

 

[lindamichelle1]

The receipt could have come from the killer though. Or was it on her? he could have come down from up there and saw her hitchiking on the way then dumped her on the way through. I guess she could be from anywhere haha. I will start with your suggestions though
Probably wont find anything but I have some free time and guess it cant hurt. its handy looking at the others though coz I will try to remember some of their faces and might help in other cases. A couple have looked familliar and ive had to try and search for the case I think they look like. No luck though when I find it.

 

[lindamichelle1]

Searched through Ohio, my god there is alot of missing women from there!

The only one kinda close is this woman but she went missing maybe a couple years too early, unless she was held captive for a couple years, she doesnt seem to have left voluntarily.
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/britton_linda.html
Age and height are slightly off.

Same with this girl, a few years too early, but she was 15 when she went missing so still in the age gap.
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/d/drake_anita.html

Nothing from Indiana or Tennessee caught my eye.

And putting the details in namus didnt return anything i was even generous in the age gap and weight and height, the only hit was this woman
https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/18126/0/
But she went missing in California so unless she made it across the country i highly doubt it.

 

[bflocket]

Earlier, I'd just looked into which interstates were around back then. That was how I'd assumed people would get in/out of the area. I forgot about the railroad.

There are railroads in the area due to coal. I'm not sure how much of a "main line" the tracks are, though. I know she wasn't killed and dumped from a train or anything like that. But I forgot you could "hitch rides" on trains from town to town.

But I saw a girl that fits her demographics that went missing near train tracks
Cynthia Dawn Constantine, missing 7/11/1969 from Oakdale, NY blonde/blue, 5'3", 117-lbs.
Then I noticed that she went missing a month or so after Little Shepherd Trail Jane Doe was found...

 

[bflocket]

Searched through Ohio, my god there is alot of missing women from there!

The only one kinda close is this woman but she went missing maybe a couple years too early, unless she was held captive for a couple years, she doesnt seem to have left voluntarily.
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/britton_linda.html
Age and height are slightly off.

Same with this girl, a few years too early, but she was 15 when she went missing so still in the age gap.
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/d/drake_anita.html

Nothing from Indiana or Tennessee caught my eye.

And putting the details in namus didnt return anything i was even generous in the age gap and weight and height, the only hit was this woman
https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/18126/0/
But she went missing in California so unless she made it across the country i highly doubt it.

Those two girls from Ohio went missing from closer to Cleveland and Pittsburgh. I went through the chrono-list on CharleyProject and saw Mary Boston, too, but thought her hair was too dark and too far.

 

[bflocket]

The receipt could have come from the killer though. Or was it on her? he could have come down from up there and saw her hitchiking on the way then dumped her on the way through. I guess she could be from anywhere haha. I will start with your suggestions though
Probably wont find anything but I have some free time and guess it cant hurt. its handy looking at the others though coz I will try to remember some of their faces and might help in other cases. A couple have looked familliar and ive had to try and search for the case I think they look like. No luck though when I find it.

The receipt likely got there with her, whether hers or the killer's. It's pretty remote and it was gravel back then, so there was little traffic. If the receipt was found near her body, it is likely connected as there wasn't a lot of traffic on the road (hence litterers that it could have come from).

 

[nerosleuth]

Earlier, I'd just looked into which interstates were around back then. That was how I'd assumed people would get in/out of the area. I forgot about the railroad.

There are railroads in the area due to coal. I'm not sure how much of a "main line" the tracks are, though. I know she wasn't killed and dumped from a train or anything like that. But I forgot you could "hitch rides" on trains from town to town.

Another way that folks would get in/out of the area is the Greyhound bus. I remember that years ago there used to be Greyhound bus routes in the mountain region of Eastern Kentucky.

 

[nerosleuth]

Currently, google tells me the drive is approx 4 hours. However, in 1969 the roads were different.

Important to note that this is just my best guess/recollection (others here may remember things much better).

I also (on another thread) posted on the progress of the Interstate-HWY construction around Cincy, too. I'll post it here because she could be from even further away were she to have been hitchhiking or the like. I think I said this earlier, but "parts" of I-75 were completed in 1969. There were gaps where you'd have to take "regular roads" to get to the next Interstate-size section.

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I remember very well what the roads were like in the mountain region of Eastern Kentucky during the late 60’s to early 80’s.

A lot of the U.S. routes and state routes during the late 60’s to early 80’s were two lane highways with curves. And the back roads on the high mountain had the S-curves and the hairpin curves.

I also remember that during the 70’s, U.S. Route 23 between Prestonsburg and Pikeville was the only area in Eastern Kentucky that had a divided highway. It wasn’t until the mid 80’s and early 90’s that some of the main U.S. routes and state routes in Eastern Kentucky became divided highways.

The map about the freeways in the Cincinnati area during the late 60’s and early 70’s is correct. I remember that Interstate 71 did not exist between downtown Cincinnati and I-275 on the northeast side of Cincinnati during the early 70’s.

When my late father was going to Lexington or Louisville from the Columbus area back then, he had to take I-275 and then get on I-75 on the north side of Cincinnati to go to Kentucky. I remember that it wasn’t until about 1975 or 1976 that Interstate 71 was completed and opened between downtown Cincinnati and I-275.

 

[bflocket]

I just came across a place that is cold cases in Harlan Ky and its some kind of forum, so I don't know if I can post that link here,
but it has some great information!. I googled Darla Jackson Harlan Ky and came up with the site.

Did you post it and it got taken away? If that is the case, please send me the link (PM or whatever you call it).

 

[bflocket]

I don't know if this story has been posted already. If it has, the link would be dead. It is a story about this girl's murder from the WKYT/WYMT website from 2008. WKYT (27) is a Lexington station whose website is shared with WYMT (57) from Jackson (Central and Eastern KY CBS affiliates).

Whether you believe in ghosts, discredit any mention of them or just take ghost stories with a grain of salt, this girl's ghost is mentioned in the article.

I'm probably "quoting" too much of the story, but didn't know if the copyright stuff would apply with a dead link. My link below is via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine (web.archive.org). I thought it would be easier to just quote and use the archived link since people might not be able to find the dead link otherwise.

Incredibly, Jackson says her uncle believes the woman was guiding him to the answers nobody else could find. She told him her name was Caroline, that she was from Ohio, and even mentioned the name of her killer. Of course, none of this has been proven, although an order ticket from a Cincinnati, Ohio restaurant was found near the body.

"She would like to go home. She's not familiar with this area, she feels like she doesn't belong here, she doesn't like to be referred to as the unidentified girl," Jackson said.

Mountain Cold Case - Unidentified Girl - 1969 (WKYT/WYMT, KY)

Anyone who was alive in Harlan County in 1969 probably remembers the story of a young woman found stabbed to death on Pine Mountain. Nearly 40 years later, it's still not known who she was, where she came from, and who killed her.

After a short walk through a wooded area on a hill overlooking the city of Harlan, you'll find a grave marker that simply says, Unidentified Girl Burial, June 5th, 1969, Colonial Chapel. Newspaper articles at the time say a man picking flowers found the woman's nude, decomposed body about 50 feet off the Little Shepherd Trail. She'd been stabbed in the chest.

"Caroline" was believed to be white, about five foot three, with a medium build and reddish-blonde hair. Joe Mahan says she had a broken collar bone at one point during her life that had healed.

 

[bflocket]

Did you post it and it got taken away? If that is the case, please send me the link (PM or whatever you call it).

~Lyric~... I found it.

 

[carbuff]

Hm. That's interesting.

 

[Tulessa]

Hm. That's interesting.

Especially to those of us, that used to be a paranormal investigator.....Hmmm.

 

[carbuff]

I don't see any Caroline or Carolyn missing in that time frame. I did find a Caroline Street in Wheeling, which I think is across the river from Cincinnati?