Identified! TX - Huntsville, 'Walker County Jane Doe', WhtFem 14-16, 91UFTX, Nov'80 #5 - Sherri Ann Jarvis

[Friday Fan]

That’s strange because my husband is a trucker and I’ve been on the truck many times and have never removed my shoes. Unless it is an old rule. He’s only been a trucker for a few years now. But I think he’s known an older man who used to go trucking. My Uncle was also a trucker and has never mentioned this. I will come back after I confirm it though.

I think it was posted back in 2015.....
I was looking at old posts a few weeks ago.

He gave a name for the place that passengers put their shoes. Air....something or other....

 

[MissTressNine]

I think it was posted back in 2015.....
I was looking at old posts a few weeks ago.

He gave a name for the place that passengers put their shoes. Air....something or other....

Okay I asked my Uncle who was a trucker in the 70s/80s and he said he’s never heard of that rule. I just asked my husband about the air thing who isn’t sure about older trucks. But the only place a passenger could possibly put their shoes would be under the seat, might be called “air ride” since it needs air to raise and lower the seat. But even doing so could crush their shoes.

Maybe it’s a rule a few truckers made up themselves, I don’t know. But thanks, I’m gonna look for the 2015 post because we’re curious now lol.

EDIT: Okay I found it and it definitely doesn’t sound like something that’s too common. Maybe just for truckers who *do* pick up hitchhikers.

 

[cherrymeg]

Thank you Beekarina. So while not impossible, the short period where she was in state custody would seem too short to form an attachment that would take her to Texas? Albeit, kids are very impulsive. There had to be some other established connection to Texas?

Amateur opinion and speculation

She could have ran away because she was taken from her family. She could have decided to hitchhike with a female friend. She could have met someone before being put into the foster system or while she was there. Traveling with another girl would give possibly give her a sense of security. Texas might not have been the original destination. She could have been separated from a friend found she wanted to go somewhere else and along the way got into some creepers car or truck.

 

[LaurenX]

She could have ran away because she was taken from her family. She could have decided to hitchhike with a female friend. She could have met someone before being put into the foster system or while she was there. Traveling with another girl would give possibly give her a sense of security. Texas might not have been the original destination. She could have been separated from a friend found she wanted to go somewhere else and along the way got into some creepers car or truck.

The more that I piece things together in my mind with the new information that has been released I have a gut feeling that she did not run away alone. Understandable if authorities want to keep information about other inhabitants of the truancy home, or just info about the facility itself under wraps. Perhaps if she was with a female companion it was the friend who wanted directions to the prison and sent sherri in to ask, I know when I was a kid it was not uncommon to pin things like that onto others ie "you go ask"

 

[CADwrest]

The more that I piece things together in my mind with the new information that has been released I have a gut feeling that she did not run away alone. Understandable if authorities want to keep information about other inhabitants of the truancy home, or just info about the facility itself under wraps. Perhaps if she was with a female companion it was the friend who wanted directions to the prison and sent sherri in to ask, I know when I was a kid it was not uncommon to pin things like that onto others ie "you go ask"

I think the witness at the gas station said she was alone, though. He saw her get out of a car and, after she asked directions, walked north along the road by herself.

 

[Eddie99]

There is no rule about removing shoes in a commercial vehicle, nor has there ever been.

 

[MissTressNine]

There is no rule about removing shoes in a commercial vehicle, nor has there ever been.

As my husband kept saying, “..doing so would be dangerous..”

The only time to take off shoes, of course, would be to sleep in the cabin beds. Just for a ride though? No.

 

[pukasonqo2]

Maybe she took her shoes off because her feet ache
No idea how high the heels were but maybe they were uncomfortable and if she was in a car she had an opportunity to rest achy, sore feet
Maybe she took them off because she wanted to

 

[MissTressNine]

Maybe she took her shoes off because her feet ache
No idea how high the heels were but maybe they were uncomfortable and if she was in a car she had an opportunity to rest achy, sore feet
Maybe she took them off because she wanted to

Yeah but to say there’s an every truckers rule that passengers must remove their shoes and place them in front of or under the air ride seat is incorrect. Hitchhiking in heels doesn’t even sound appealing, so her taking them off anyway makes sense.

 

[Friday Fan]

I found the post last night. It's from 2015

The shoes being off would lead to the possibility she was killed by a trucker. Crime of opportunity for him perhaps?


Most drivers, myself included will not wear shoes beyond the seat. All shoes are to be taken off and placed on a rug in front of the air seat. Shoes in the sleeper make things harder to clean.
So say a trucker picked her up, tjat could have happened at or near the truck stop she was sited at. And her found location nothing more than a body dump site along his way to his next destination. I have no way to look up and see where active weigh stations woukd have been along that route back in tjat year without finding a old rand McNally commercial version map from that year. He certainly would nit have wanted her in his rig at a weigh station.

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TX - TX - Huntsville, 'Walker County Jane Doe', WhtFem 14-16, 91UFTX, Nov'80 *Sherry Ann Jarvis*

 

[Kiranerys]

I found the post last night. It's from 2015








TX - TX - Huntsville, 'Walker County Jane Doe', WhtFem 14-16, 91UFTX, Nov'80 *NAME NOT RELEASED*

Ah,so the poster wasn't saying no shoes in the truck but as @MissTressNine mentioned as a possibility, not in the sleeping bay,which makes much more sense.

 

[cvaldez1975]

The more that I piece things together in my mind with the new information that has been released I have a gut feeling that she did not run away alone. Understandable if authorities want to keep information about other inhabitants of the truancy home, or just info about the facility itself under wraps. Perhaps if she was with a female companion it was the friend who wanted directions to the prison and sent sherri in to ask, I know when I was a kid it was not uncommon to pin things like that onto others ie "you go ask"

she did run off w some sisters. they prob were elsewhere and she made friends w others there who she stayed with. on and on repeatedly.

 

[Wossy]

Justice for Sherry Jarvis!

May her killer be identified in 2022.

 

[cherrymeg]

The more that I piece things together in my mind with the new information that has been released I have a gut feeling that she did not run away alone. Understandable if authorities want to keep information about other inhabitants of the truancy home, or just info about the facility itself under wraps. Perhaps if she was with a female companion it was the friend who wanted directions to the prison and sent sherri in to ask, I know when I was a kid it was not uncommon to pin things like that onto others ie "you go ask"

If she met up with or left with another girl it’s possible they shared clothing and could have looked similar. Eye witnesses are rarely 100% spot on. People naturally want to help so if they were told what shoes where near her body they might recreate a memory to fit that. It’s not intentional. Also friends could easily ask the same questions. Or you have your friend ask something for you like you said.
I hope her identity will clear up things like this and help catch the person that killed her. She could have been with people that never would have linked her to WCJD but would know her as Sherri a girl who was hitchhiking from whatever place with possibly another person. People passing through giving someone a ride wouldn’t have known anything happened to her.

 

[Beekarina]

From memory, a lot of the sandals popular around this time were not very comfortable, and Sherry was very young. She might still have been more accustomed to wearing sneakers, for example.

I think @cherrymeg makes a lot of good points. It's going to be hard though too, for people who might have only known Sherry in passing/briefly so many years ago, especially if they were also young and transient to remember her. If she lied about her age to the waitress, it seems reasonable to assume she did that when she felt it necessary, and she may have used an alias too. Not victim shaming--I know I wouldn't be keen on revealing personal info either if I was traveling alone, especially if young, vulnerable, etc.

 

[onceuponadecember]

Okay, I know that sleuthing family here isn't appropriate, but I wanted to speculate on certain parts of Sherri's life. My questions were:

1. Why did Sherri say "Who cares?" when the waitress asked if her parents knew where she was
2. Were there other issues in the home at the time? Again, I know people believe that she was removed from her home due to her legal issues but there had to be another layer.

So I did some research and I found this to be interesting:

Sherri's parents' divorce was finalized three days after her death (November 4, 1980)¹

Not only that, but Carl said on the WCJD FB page how she had gotten involved with an older group of men involved in illegal activities and began frequently running away. Is it possible that Sherri's involvement with a troubled group individuals possibly caused the deterioration of her family dynamic? Besides that, I have screenshots of now deleted comments from a family member stating, "After her running many times and police getting involved to find and bring her home plus skipping school and hanging around the wrong group of people, this is what started everything." Is the "everything" in the comment meaning the family dynamic falling apart or possibly Sherri's life starting spiral out of her control? The situation certainly escalated badly enough to cause the State of Minnesota to remove her from her parents' custody and place her in an emergency crisis home, but not her other siblings still living at home.² While I condemn family and victim shaming, I still believe that it's worth noting some of these details.

Sources:

1. “Minnesota Divorce Index, 1970-1995.” Accessed December 25, 2021. FamilySearch.org.
2. Divine, Mary. “After Minnesota Girl Identified as 1980 Texas Homicide Victim, Hunt Goes on for Killer.” Twin Cities Pioneer Press, November 12, 2021. After Minnesota girl identified as 1980 Texas homicide victim, hunt goes on for killer.

 

[deadfoot13]

Not only that, but Carl said on the WCJD FB page how she had gotten involved with an older group of men involved in illegal activities and began frequently running away. Is it possible that Sherri's involvement with a troubled group individuals possibly caused the deterioration of her family dynamic? Besides that, I have screenshots of now deleted comments from a family member stating, "After her running many times and police getting involved to find and bring her home plus skipping school and hanging around the wrong group of people, this is what started everything." Is the "everything" in the comment meaning the family dynamic falling apart or possibly Sherri's life starting spiral out of her control? The situation certainly escalated badly enough to cause the State of Minnesota to remove her from her parents' custody and place her in an emergency crisis home, but not her other siblings still living at home.² While I condemn family and victim shaming, I still believe that it's worth noting some of these details.

RS & BBM

A lot of us on here have our own stories of being a troubled teen and the factors that influenced those behaviors, but many of us can also say that our behaviors weren't a direct result of neglect or abuse in the home. I was one of those nightmare teenagers, yet I come from a wonderful family and had an enviable childhood. My parents had rules and expectations and my friends' parents didn't, so I was in trouble a lot. Unless one of Sherri's family members indicates otherwise, we really can't assume that her home life was the reason for her choices; then again, there's an equal chance that it was a factor.

Kids are still removed and placed in Foster Care for PINS and JD behaviors, and if there aren't any underlying abuse or neglect issues in the home, there's no reason to remove siblings, too. I work in child welfare, and I frequently see kids come into care who start off with problems at school and that escalates into behaviors that result in contact with law enforcement, eventually leading up to placement as a JD, but the family has never had involvement with CPS before. Placement as a PINS or JD is somewhat punitive, but it's primarily so the child can be more closely supervised while receiving whatever treatment or services they need to address their behaviors, or even to ensure they attend school if they are habitually truant. Back then, JD placements were definitely more punitive in nature, so it's entirely possible that Sherri was "sentenced" to a period of time in detention.

The answer to your question as to what "everything" is may refer to the events that led up to Sherri being removed from the home -- once Sherri got in trouble involving law enforcement, it started the ball rolling with juvenile court involvement and possibly probation and then placement. I don't doubt that dealing with her running away and having the school calling added unneeded stress to her parents' marriage, and if their split wasn't amicable then maybe tension in the home influenced Sherri's choices, but I would think that they were two separate events unraveling at the same time.

This is all MOO.

 

[onceuponadecember]

RS & BBM

A lot of us on here have our own stories of being a troubled teen and the factors that influenced those behaviors, but many of us can also say that our behaviors weren't a direct result of neglect or abuse in the home. I was one of those nightmare teenagers, yet I come from a wonderful family and had an enviable childhood. My parents had rules and expectations and my friends' parents didn't, so I was in trouble a lot. Unless one of Sherri's family members indicates otherwise, we really can't assume that her home life was the reason for her choices; then again, there's an equal chance that it was a factor.

Kids are still removed and placed in Foster Care for PINS and JD behaviors, and if there aren't any underlying abuse or neglect issues in the home, there's no reason to remove siblings, too. I work in child welfare, and I frequently see kids come into care who start off with problems at school and that escalates into behaviors that result in contact with law enforcement, eventually leading up to placement as a JD, but the family has never had involvement with CPS before. Placement as a PINS or JD is somewhat punitive, but it's primarily so the child can be more closely supervised while receiving whatever treatment or services they need to address their behaviors, or even to ensure they attend school if they are habitually truant. Back then, JD placements were definitely more punitive in nature, so it's entirely possible that Sherri was "sentenced" to a period of time in detention.

The answer to your question as to what "everything" is may refer to the events that led up to Sherri being removed from the home -- once Sherri got in trouble involving law enforcement, it started the ball rolling with juvenile court involvement and possibly probation and then placement. I don't doubt that dealing with her running away and having the school calling added unneeded stress to her parents' marriage, and if their split wasn't amicable then maybe tension in the home influenced Sherri's choices, but I would think that they were two separate events unraveling at the same time.

This is all MOO.

That is true about home life/personal choices not always being directly linked, but it, in a major portion of situations like this, are usually a common root. The family member did say, "Of the 6 of us kids at home she was the only one doing this. She hung out with the wrong kids at school. that's what started this." Granted, children do tend to copy or are heavily influences by their parent or parents' behavior (I will link a research study regarding these claims below). But if it was just a good home life, why did Sherri answer the question about her parents wondering where she was the way she did by saying, "Who cares." Yes, she was technically on the run (she was supposed to be in a detention center but ran away from her court hearing) but a parent's care vs. legal issues are definitely both similar and different. She was reported missing and there was a PI, but how did Sherri feel? We can't ask her now but we can look at both sides and see the different perspectives; was this a case where a girl with a strained relationship with loving parents causing her to go down a bad path in life or are we looking at a bad home life causing Sherri to be taken advantage of by others perhaps? <modsnip> We'll never know for sure and all we can really do is judge what evidence supports which school of thought.

Effects of Parents’ Conflicts on Children (ijser.org)

 

[Kiranerys]

I think she said "Who cares?" More in the context that she didn't care if they knew or not,as in she was off on her adventure being wild and free,who cares what the adults think,they aren't the boss of me rather than that her parents didn't or wouldn't care where she was.
She was a rebellious teen just leaving the 70's with the whole world at her feet. I think her " Who cares" was the equivalent of today's "Whatever ".

 

[deadfoot13]

I think she said "Who cares?" More in the context that she didn't care if they knew or not,as in she was off on her adventure being wild and free,who cares what the adults think,they aren't the boss of me rather than that her parents didn't or wouldn't care where she was.
She was a rebellious teen just leaving the 70's with the whole world at her feet. I think her " Who cares" was the equivalent of today's "Whatever ".

I agree. Without knowing all of the details, it's the first thing my mind goes to.