Identified! TX - Huntsville, 'Walker County Jane Doe', WhtFem 14-16, 91UFTX, Nov'80 #4 Sherry Ann Jarvis

[rosesfromangels]

this gave me some dang shivers. I hope Rhoades isn't our guy, I can't imagine our poor Sherry dealing with that much terror (considering no lights, the Truck preying, and those weird stickers in every counter (*advertiser censored*, gas, or grass) + her background) I think she had enough with everything during her hitchhiking period.

I'm utterly amazed by how MN truancy law triggered all of this

It gave me a whole new perspective on this sub culture I knew nothing about. I thought it was an anomaly that Sherry would be hitching at truck stops, and most especially at such a tender age. Apparently not according to the author of the article.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[rosesfromangels]

Oh my GOD! re:

When the Illinois state trooper who was trying to identify the body of Regina Walters, the girl Rhoades left in that barn, put her forensic description out on the national teletype, he was totally unprepared for the response. He requested information on missing Caucasian females aged 13 to 15 years old who had disappeared six to nine months earlier. He got over 900 matches.

This is from the same article roses shared.Robert Ben Rhoades: The Truck Stop Killer Wow. If anyone still wonders how poor Sherry wasn't identified early on......

OMG indeed. I'm not saying Rhoades was responsible for 900 murders, but it wouldn't surprise me a bit if it were in the 100's. Let us remember he had a torture chamber on wheels, traveling from town to town....truck stop to truck stop.

And this man still sits in prison getting his three hots and a cot, and likely t.v., pen pals, and so forth. I'll spare you all what I think about that.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[AliceInPain]

Seeing her smiling, happy face makes her murder seem even more brutal to me somehow.
First, who kills a child, and, who kills a smile like that?
Whoever did this was pure evil.

 

[NotSHolmes]

I'm sticking with my Rhoades speculation, and here's why. You are right that some of his signature wasn't present. However, that could be explained if he had a deadline to meet, and this was just a quick effort for him. I think this cretin was prolific, and likely is responsible for many more homicides than he has been pinned with definitively. But what leads me to strongly speculate Rhoades is the extreme sadism in this killing. This wasn't "just" rape and choke, this child was horribly brutalized sadistically. Right up Rhoades alley.
Eventually I think we will learn through the autopsy of some of his signature injuries he inflicted on the child.

So in summary, do to the level of sadism and brutality inflicted on the victim, I still think Rhoades should be right at the top of the suspect list.

Amateur opinion and speculation

If it was he then perhaps he was too near to his destination to do any more than occurred.

 

[Beekarina]

This case is so perplexing.

Alice, you described it perfectly. Sherry really had a smile that lit up her entire face. Her eyes, everything she is projecting just looks so happy and fun. She looks carefree, not troubled. I'm wondering why she ran so far from home? I'm wondering if there was more to this early on than escaping the truancy charges?

I really hope they unravel all of this.

 

[fhesse]

Yes, someone (probably many) would have known.

This is what I have been wondering for some time now. If she was murdered by a trucker she encountered at the truck stop (which I think is the most likely scenario), shouldn't the police have been able to greatly narrow down the list of suspects? You would think that they would have been able to identify at least one or two of the truckers who stayed at the truck stop and question them about who else was there. Then they would make a list of suspects and work through them. Maybe they did that, and it wasn't any of them. But I have never heard anything along those lines.

 

[wary]

Also chances are who killed her is already dead, if the person was a much older individual. (my brain goes to trucker, even if it isn't 100% proven)

MOO

Well, is it proven at all? Even 5% proven? The place was a truck stop, but other people were stopping, right? So what reason is there to think ‘truck driver?’ Did anyone even see her with a truck driver, or approaching a truck? (I know the statistics, but they don’t mean much when you’re looking at an individual case.)

MOO

 

[fhesse]

I know the statistics, but they don’t mean much when you’re looking at an individual case.

The statistics mean quite a lot if you want to say something like "I'm 10%, 50% or 90% certain that this is what happened". How else would you come up with a degree of certainty?

Plus, there is quite a lot of common sense that points toward a trucker other than the last place she was seen.

 

[rosesfromangels]

If it was he then perhaps he was too near to his destination to do any more than occurred.

Quite possible, yes.
Her autopsy, specifically any of his signature injuries would confirm it.

amateur opinion and speculation

 

[rosesfromangels]

This is what I have been wondering for some time now. If she was murdered by a trucker she encountered at the truck stop (which I think is the most likely scenario), shouldn't the police have been able to greatly narrow down the list of suspects? You would think that they would have been able to identify at least one or two of the truckers who stayed at the truck stop and question them about who else was there. Then they would make a list of suspects and work through them. Maybe they did that, and it wasn't any of them. But I have never heard anything along those lines.

And there are check points where they have to weigh, log in, and so forth.
Either everyone kept their mouths shut (very likely IMO), or that aspect of the investigation wasn't thorough enough. Hard to say.

Amateur opinion and speculation

 

[CADwrest]

MOO

Well, is it proven at all? Even 5% proven? The place was a truck stop, but other people were stopping, right? So what reason is there to think ‘truck driver?’ Did anyone even see her with a truck driver, or approaching a truck? (I know the statistics, but they don’t mean much when you’re looking at an individual case.)

MOO

Well, no, but there are a few additional clues that point towards a trucker.
1) The inside of a big rig, while not exactly spacious, does provide a private space in which to commit the acts which were done to her. It also provides the means to get her to the dump site, which is a straight shot up the highway from Hitchin’ Post. Someone picking her up in a car, taking her somewhere, then bringing her back is possible, but not as simple an explanation.
2) Carl’s commented on this before, but she was found in a position that suggested she’d been thrown. Since she was also a good distance off the road, it also suggested she’d been thrown from a relatively high vantage point. Again, a big rig fits the bill there.

 

[taramarie]

I'm sticking with my Rhoades speculation, and here's why. You are right that some of his signature wasn't present. However, that could be explained if he had a deadline to meet, and this was just a quick effort for him. I think this cretin was prolific, and likely is responsible for many more homicides than he has been pinned with definitively. But what leads me to strongly speculate Rhoades is the extreme sadism in this killing. This wasn't "just" rape and choke, this child was horribly brutalized sadistically. Right up Rhoades alley.
Eventually I think we will learn through the autopsy of some of his signature injuries he inflicted on the child.

So in summary, do to the level of sadism and brutality inflicted on the victim, I still think Rhoades should be right at the top of the suspect list.

Amateur opinion and speculation

I’d also like to point out that 1980 was still early in his serial killing “career”. He’s thought to have started murdering in the mid to late 1970’s, but his first confirmed murders weren’t until 1990. AFAIK he’s never been proven to be involved in any earlier cases, although he’s suspected to have murdered many more than what he’s admitted to. I mention all of this to say that the torture chamber in the rig and his toolbox weren’t discovered until 1990; I’m sure his tools and techniques were refined over the years. Regardless of the method, his signature was cruel, sadistic torture. That is clearly apparent in our Sherry’s case. I don’t know if Robert Rhoades murdered our girl, but I don’t see any reason to count him out unfortunately.

 

[PawneeDew]

This case is so perplexing.

Alice, you described it perfectly. Sherry really had a smile that lit up her entire face. Her eyes, everything she is projecting just looks so happy and fun. She looks carefree, not troubled. I'm wondering why she ran so far from home? I'm wondering if there was more to this early on than escaping the truancy charges?

I really hope they unravel all of this.

The 'group home' is nagging at me, too...Was she trying to escape the home they put her in?

 

[PawneeDew]

Well, no, but there are a few additional clues that point towards a trucker.
1) The inside of a big rig, while not exactly spacious, does provide a private space in which to commit the acts which were done to her. It also provides the means to get her to the dump site, which is a straight shot up the highway from Hitchin’ Post. Someone picking her up in a car, taking her somewhere, then bringing her back is possible, but not as simple an explanation.
2) Carl’s commented on this before, but she was found in a position that suggested she’d been thrown. Since she was also a good distance off the road, it also suggested she’d been thrown from a relatively high vantage point. Again, a big rig fits the bill there.

Where was the high vantage point? Was she found close to an overpass or something else?

 

[PawneeDew]

There are to to many details about this that just bugs me...
1. The group home. (I don't even know why it bugs me.)
2. The necklace.
3. Asking for directions to the prison. It was important to her.
There's probably even more...imo, to many 'off' details may indicate that this was not a random act by a stranger..Not 100% convinced, but I'm leaning that way a little.

 

[Rbkidk]

And there are check points where they have to weigh, log in, and so forth.
Either everyone kept their mouths shut (very likely IMO), or that aspect of the investigation wasn't thorough enough. Hard to say.

Amateur opinion and speculation

Plus considering that Rest areas are a quite common place for truck drivers + homeless at night, especially in rural areas and that there was a rest area just 1.7 miles from where she was found -according to Crabbs Prairie 1963 map attached-. It kinda seems like where she was -sadly- thrown is a midpoint from Hitchin'post and that rest area.

¨Full Crabbs Prairie 1963 map https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/img4/ht_icons/overlay/TX/TX_Crabbs Prairie_108916_1963_24000_geo.jpg

If what I'm speculating returns to be true, I'd be amazed by how nasty that guy was, sleeping/resting just after doing what he did to our girl.

 

[CarlK90245]

Where was the high vantage point? Was she found close to an overpass or something else?

"high vantage point", meaning the cab of a big rig. The passenger seat is probably about 6-8 feet above ground, so a limp body thrown from that height is going to land in an unnatural position.

If she was removed from an ordinary car, she probably would have been dragged to the spot where she was found (as opposed to thrown), and her body position and the surrounding vegetation would show signs of that.

 

[PawneeDew]

"high vantage point", meaning the cab of a big rig. The passenger seat is probably about 6-8 feet above ground, so a limp body thrown from that height is going to land in an unnatural position.

If she was removed from an ordinary car, she probably would have been dragged to the spot where she was found (as opposed to thrown), and her body position and the surrounding vegetation would show signs of that.

Thanks, Carl K. Thanks for your work, also. It's remarkable how your composite resembles Sherry.

 

[Beekarina]

I have a question. Sherry weighed around 110 pounds, right? And she was found about 20 feet off the road?

Could one person acting alone throw another person that distance? Would this perhaps point to multiple people?

I hope I'm not asking too graphic of a question. The ground not being disturbed was just mentioned, so I'm thinking it would also have been if her body rolled, etc. ( awful....)

 

[Tabirey]

I have a question. Sherry weighed around 110 pounds, right? And she was found about 20 feet off the road?

Could one person acting alone throw another person that distance? Would this perhaps point to multiple people?

I hope I'm not asking too graphic of a question. The ground not being disturbed was just mentioned, so I'm thinking it would also have been if her body rolled, etc. ( awful....)

IMO, at her weight and height, I would say, yes, one person could.
I'm approximately 115lbs, 5'2" and my son is 6'2", 250lbs. He thinks it's hilarious to pick me up when I'm not paying attention and lift me above his head as if I weighed no more than a pillow. I have no doubts he could easily launch me pretty far! MOO