MO MO - St Louis, BlkFem 8-11, 54UFMO, in abandoned bldg, Feb'83

[TmmEye]

I don't believe her killer destroyed her skull. He most likely took it with him and kept it as a trophy. Plus he wanted to prevent investigators from identifying her through dentals and facial reconstruction. Admittedly I do wonder sometimes if her skull is located in the St Louis area and just hasn't been found yet.

How do we know a male even committed the crime?...

 

[Fuuro]

I think there's a good chance that multiple people either were involved in the murder or "covered it up", so to speak. The person who raped LJD might not have been acting alone. In fact, I think that it's possible that if multiple people were responsible here. She could have been raped by one person and later killed by a different person who was angry at her, perhaps for claiming that she had been sexually abused by someone important to the killer. Once again, we don't know all of the details surrounding her demise, so this is just all theory.

Something I noticed: If I recall correctly, an autopsy showed that she hadn't eaten recently prior to her death. I think that maybe she was being "punished" for doing something that enraged her killer(s) in the days leading up to her demise, perhaps being locked in her room.

 

[cvaldez1975]

Rather randomly came across this thread and saw Precious Doe being mentioned in the later posts. I guess a bump for both Does wouldn't hurt:

TX - TX - San Antonio, BlkFem Skull UP11726, 9-15, in backpack on vacant lot, Jun'11

A backpack containing a human skull of an adolescent/teenage Afro-American girl was found on a lot of land that was being cleared of trees and brush. Estimated PMI is estimated at "years".

Her NamUs page:
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

I do not know if they have been ruled out from being each other.

ive always thought this one was related to this one

CA - CA - Barstow, HispFem UP6718, 14-19, severed head in backpack, Feb'10

 

[cvaldez1975]

because both heads were in a backpack off interstates that connect in CA.

 

[Eman317]

The fact that her fingernails were painted is interesting. It gives me the feeling that she came from a loving family.

 

[R. Towle]

I've spent the last three to four days reading this entire thread and there were many times where I wanted to comment or reply but I also wanted to finish reading it first.
Firstly the main perpetrator was Male, this girl was raped not sexually violated with an object so that rules out a female. However it may also be possible, like in the case of Ian Brady and Myra Hindly that it was a couple that killed her.
The coroner has stated that she was well nourished and was not abused or mistreated before her death. So I believe someone did love her dearly.
There are many reasons why she may not have been reported missing (if she hasn't?) Her mother may have been a teen mum that was disowned by her family, so it was just the two of them and if the mother were kidnapped and killed too then there is no one to report either one missing.
Another theory is what if she had grown up in a cult (religious or otherwise) her rape and murder may have been ceremonial or just a sick murder that is then covered up by the cult and she is not reported as missing.
The one comment that infuriates me is it must have something to do with low education/ poor family etc. Just because a family is poor or has little education it doesn't make them incapable of being great parents!! There are some very highly educated parents with a lot of money in the bank that shouldn't have animals let alone children. Sometimes I think those people are more sadistic and sick than parents from poor background.

 

[Reasonable & Just]

I've spent the last three to four days reading this entire thread and there were many times where I wanted to comment or reply but I also wanted to finish reading it first.

Thanks for your post, @R. Towle, and welcome to Websleuths! You made a lot of excellent points. May this be the year that our sweet Little Miss in the yellow sweater is given her name back.

 

[Melt71]

I've spent the last three to four days reading this entire thread...…
There are many reasons why she may not have been reported missing (if she hasn't?) ...

Yay, welcome! So lovely to find someone else that will read a full thread. I have days where I cant deal with too much vicarious trauma where I just want to find/bump older cases for a bit of attention. But equally I find some cases I read from front-to-back. I try not to comment too deeply unless I've read lots of the background.

Agreed there are sooo many reasons. I find a good antidote to the "unidentified" pages is the read the "missing" pages. There are so many cases where people HAVE been reported to Law Enforcement (LE). Lots haven't made it into mainstream media, or into Namus, or into Facebook, or even beyond the local police station - particularly for older cases.

I like to think of my own parents; country people who would trust their local police 100%. In the 80's as a 17 year old I moved to the big city for my first job. If I went missing my parents would have gone to one place - their local small town police station. If that station chose not to move my case, well my salt-of-the-earth parents would have believed they knew best. We have a small family and they would all look to my parents to decide what course of action was taken. I think there's a lot of that out there still.

In short, while we see a lot of cases of disrupted families, I think we should never assume families are uninterested simply because a missing person doesn't pop up on Namus with lots of info attached.

Okay lecture-rant over. Happy New Year and let 2020 be the year this one is solved xx

 

[Fuuro]

I personally doubt that there was not a fairly close relationship between the killer(s) and victim here. I've seen that cases where very young children go unidentified for extended periods of time seldom turn out to be random crimes, and the reasons why they were never reported missing (and I'm not sure that SLJD was ever reported missing) are often tied to the circumstances of their deaths. I think that it was probably someone who knew her fairly well, although not necessarily a family member. It's also very possible that perhaps she was abducted by a person or people who knew her without being biologically related to SLJD and that they committed this crime as a method of terrorizing or retaliating against her family for whatever reason. This could have also silenced her loved ones. Like R. Towle said, there are many reasons why this child may or may not have been reported missing.


I don't get the impression that SLJD or SLJD's family was poor or lacked education at all, either, although given the very limited information we have about her, it is difficult to definitively determine her socioeconomic status.

Edited to add: If SLJD was reported missing, the report could have been lost in the more than three and a half decades that have since passed. It's also possible that she could have been written off as a runaway.

 

[ManicPixieDreamAlien]

I have been researching this case for awhile now, it's become my passion project. This story is so haunting and just so sad. I would like to see Hope's identity restored, so that she can rest easy with her real name.

Does anyone have any information on the two men who found her body?

Who the psychic was that they mailed her sweater and the nylon rope to? All I can find is that the psychic was residing in Florida. I'm thinking the missing items are somewhere near that area in piles of unclaimed mail. I find it beyond frustrating that they mailed key evidence to a psychic and the items were lost. I understand the frustration of being unable to solve a case, especially when the victim is so young and there are no leads, but if they insisted on using a psychic, they should have gone down to Florida with the evidence itself. My gut is telling me the killer's DNA is on her sweater and it needs to be found.

 

[Reasonable & Just]

I have been researching this case for awhile now, it's become my passion project. This story is so haunting and just so sad. I would like to see Hope's identity restored, so that she can rest easy with her real name.

Does anyone have any information on the two men who found her body?

Who the psychic was that they mailed her sweater and the nylon rope to? All I can find is that the psychic was residing in Florida. I'm thinking the missing items are somewhere near that area in piles of unclaimed mail. I find it beyond frustrating that they mailed key evidence to a psychic and the items were lost. I understand the frustration of being unable to solve a case, especially when the victim is so young and there are no leads, but if they insisted on using a psychic, they should have gone down to Florida with the evidence itself. My gut is telling me the killer's DNA is on her sweater and it needs to be found.

Welcome @ManicPixieDreamAlien! Thanks for your very touching post. This little girl's story really is haunting, and how the evidence was handled is really concerning. I have seen nothing about the 2 men, but others here have echoed your curiosity. I hope a cold case detective takes another look. I wish we could call in Cold Justice, lol.

 

[Moonwalker9]

In 20 days it's been 37 years. Any news about Parabon taking her case? I want this to be the year when her identity is revealed.

 

[Roselvr]

In 20 days it's been 37 years. Any news about Parabon taking her case? I want this to be the year when her identity is revealed.

I haven't heard anything. I know that they know about Parabon because Carl spoke to them about it. I'm clueless why they haven't done it. It's the only way she's going to get identified.

 

[Bit of hope]

I haven't heard anything. I know that they know about Parabon because Carl spoke to them about it. I'm clueless why they haven't done it. It's the only way she's going to get identified.

I don't know but could Parabon have the same policy about not taking children's cases, like DNA Doe project?

 

[TmmEye]

I don't know but could Parabon have the same policy about not taking children's cases, like DNA Doe project?

They could go to NCMEC’s forensic genealogy program.

 

[Al Ka]

I don't know but could Parabon have the same policy about not taking children's cases, like DNA Doe project?

No, Parabon does not have such a policy.

They could go to NCMEC’s forensic genealogy program.

Yes, they could and should. I have suggested this some pages back. This case does fall under NCMEC and hence also qualifies for their genealogy program.

There is unfortunately some stalling happening somewhere or by someone on this case for reason unknown to any of us.

To add: To correct myself, actually this case IS now with NCMEC as I have seen her case being profiled on Help ID Me in the past, which is part of NCMEC for unidentified children. There is no news though about her case and using their genealogy program.

 

[Roselvr]

No, Parabon does not have such a policy.



Yes, they could and should. I have suggested this some pages back. This case does fall under NCMEC and hence also qualifies for their genealogy program.

There is unfortunately some stalling happening somewhere or by someone on this case for reason unknown to any of us.

To add: To correct myself, actually this case IS now with NCMEC as I have seen her case being profiled on Help ID Me in the past, which is part of NCMEC for unidentified children. There is no news though about her case and using their genealogy program.

NCMEC has their own genealogy program? Wonder when NamUs will start one...

It's her LE who aren't motivated to solve her case. There really aren't many excuses; except not having the money to have it done at Parabon

 

[TmmEye]

NCMEC has their own genealogy program? Wonder when NamUs will start one...

It's her LE who aren't motivated to solve her case. There really aren't many excuses; except not having the money to have it done at Parabon

I can confirm this, as a former resident of STL. They haven’t said a peep about the case since all of this new fancy testing. Nothing about this girl since about 2015. If she doesn’t have a family, I will step up to be her family. I don’t care what it takes, because we are her family until she is given her name back. I don’t care what people think of my statement here, or ever, I will be her family until she is given back to hers. We mustn’t judge the family when she gets her name back, hopefully. I really hope that a family member didn’t do this to her. That’s all I have to say.

 

[PezCandy]

I can confirm this, as a former resident of STL. They haven’t said a peep about the case since all of this new fancy testing. Nothing about this girl since about 2015. If she doesn’t have a family, I will step up to be her family. I don’t care what it takes, because we are her family until she is given her name back. I don’t care what people think of my statement here, or ever, I will be her family until she is given back to hers. We mustn’t judge the family when she gets her name back, hopefully. I really hope that a family member didn’t do this to her. That’s all I have to say.

you are such a kind soul!
i believe everyone should get their name back especially children! This poor child, it’s so sad and terrible that someone could do this to another human being. I wonder if it was a family member who did this just due to the fact that no one has came looking for her, no similar missing kids in the area, she was healthy previously. I wonder if she was sent to live with a different family member and things gone wrong? Hmmm... sad sad sad situation regardless

 

[Eman317]

I wonder if her skull is somewhere in the St Louis area and just hasn't been found. I'm reminded of the Spokane County Jane Doe where her body was found in 1984 and her skull wasn't found until 1998.