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Identified! TX - Huntsville, 'Walker County Jane Doe', WhtFem 14-16, 91UFTX, Nov'80 Sherry Ann Jarvis
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Part 2
Okay I went to Huntsville met with some others and we drove several routes to see what made the most since ..and I figured something out . I feel certain BRoach. The owner of the station would have told her to go to Hwy 19 and follow it to fm 980! So IF WCJD did go that direction.. she would have come across Fm 2821... ( this is the first cross road she'd have come to that was "lit" up) . ( keep in mind it would have had to be dark by this time in October its after 630) So if for whatever reason she did go down FM 2821 it ends up basically at Hitchin Post. ALSO another discovery today there is a cross road FM 947 ( I think I'll have to double check that) but it goes to Ellis also ( now there is a sign marking it as a route to Ellis .. I'm pretty certain the sign wasn't there in 80 if it was it woulda been dark) ..
Now there are also a couple others to shoot across to Fm 2821 going through Huntsville .. the Hwy 19 makes most sense .. though.. but now with the street names the map folks will be able to have better knowledge ..
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Okay I went to Huntsville met with some others and we drove several routes to see what made the most since ..and I figured something out . I feel certain BRoach. The owner of the station would have told her to go to Hwy 19 and follow it to fm 980! So IF WCJD did go that direction.. she would have come across Fm 2821... ( this is the first cross road she'd have come to that was "lit" up) . ( keep in mind it would have had to be dark by this time in October its after 630) So if for whatever reason she did go down FM 2821 it ends up basically at Hitchin Post. ALSO another discovery today there is a cross road FM 947 ( I think I'll have to double check that) but it goes to Ellis also ( now there is a sign marking it as a route to Ellis .. I'm pretty certain the sign wasn't there in 80 if it was it woulda been dark) ..
Now there are also a couple others to shoot across to Fm 2821 going through Huntsville .. the Hwy 19 makes most sense .. though.. but now with the street names the map folks will be able to have better knowledge ..
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There is a large culvert at this point . The side of the road drops very steeply .. and it drops right down into this culvert .. the culvert looks like a small very small stream and goes into the piney woods .. today there was standing water as far into the woods as we could see ..
disclaimer the pictures I posted in 2010 stung it was the area is incorrect I went about a quarter mile to far..
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rascal32
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It's been a year or two since my last revision, and I got to tinkering with it again.
I decided that my prior version had her looking too dolled up, and her hair too poofy. So I gave it another shot. I had based my prior version on the description indicating hair styled in "wing fashion". This time, I have her looking slightly younger and less make-up, with her hair more consistent with what I can see in the side-view PM photo.
I think this is the best one I've ever seen compared to the actual photos. I really think this is what she looked like. After likely being on the road and hitching she would probably have looked a little warn out. I really like this one!
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I am in Texas for a few days, so I decided to pay a visit Huntsville today (Saturday). I met "Mia G" and a friend from the Who Was WCJD FB page at the cemetery, and we spent several hours driving around to the various points of interest.
Mia G showed us where the gas station was located. It is now a vacant corner lot next to the Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church on 5019 Sam Houston Avenue. (The church was not there in 1980.)
We then drove to the entrance of the Ellis Unit (20 miles from the gas station), then to the Hitchin Post Truckstop (between 5 and 7 miles from the gas station, depending on the route), and then to the culvert aside I-45, where her body was dumped.
Several things were very obvious after this visit:
(1). The 20 miles from the gas station to the prison, starting at 6:30 pm was ridiculously too far for her to walk.
(2). The shortest route from the gas station to the Hitchin Post was the opposite direction from the route from the gas station to the prison.
(3). Mia G made the point that the most logical route to the prison would have taken her north on Sycamore to Hwy 190, left on hwy 190 to State hwy 247, and then north to State Hwy 980, which takes you to the Ellis Unit. It would seem that she likely missed the turn on Hwy 247, and continued along Hwy 190, which eventually leads back to the Hitchin Post on I-45. That is a 7-mile walk, and it would have been around 9 PM by then. By then, she would have been exhausted, and she was probably looking for somewhere to sleep.
(4) The hitchin post is adjacent to the northbound on ramp to I-45, and the dumping spot was only a few miles north of that.
IMO, the most likely scenario is that she encountered a trucker parked at the Hitchin Post, and asked if he would let her sleep in his truck. He probably killed her in the truck, and then pulled on to northbound I45, drove a few miles north, and then dumped her onto the embankment aside I-45.
Mia G showed us where the gas station was located. It is now a vacant corner lot next to the Saint Stephen's Episcopal Church on 5019 Sam Houston Avenue. (The church was not there in 1980.)
We then drove to the entrance of the Ellis Unit (20 miles from the gas station), then to the Hitchin Post Truckstop (between 5 and 7 miles from the gas station, depending on the route), and then to the culvert aside I-45, where her body was dumped.
Several things were very obvious after this visit:
(1). The 20 miles from the gas station to the prison, starting at 6:30 pm was ridiculously too far for her to walk.
(2). The shortest route from the gas station to the Hitchin Post was the opposite direction from the route from the gas station to the prison.
(3). Mia G made the point that the most logical route to the prison would have taken her north on Sycamore to Hwy 190, left on hwy 190 to State hwy 247, and then north to State Hwy 980, which takes you to the Ellis Unit. It would seem that she likely missed the turn on Hwy 247, and continued along Hwy 190, which eventually leads back to the Hitchin Post on I-45. That is a 7-mile walk, and it would have been around 9 PM by then. By then, she would have been exhausted, and she was probably looking for somewhere to sleep.
(4) The hitchin post is adjacent to the northbound on ramp to I-45, and the dumping spot was only a few miles north of that.
IMO, the most likely scenario is that she encountered a trucker parked at the Hitchin Post, and asked if he would let her sleep in his truck. He probably killed her in the truck, and then pulled on to northbound I45, drove a few miles north, and then dumped her onto the embankment aside I-45.
CADwrest
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Carl and Mia, thank you for taking the time and doing all ofthat! That kind of information really helps those of us out here on theinternet to get a sense of what she was dealing with that night. I noticedthat, as I was thinking about her movements, I kept thinking of her showing upat the Gulf station in broad daylight and maybe getting to Hitchin Post atdusk. As Mia noted, it was actually already night. It had been dark for aboutan hour before she even got to the Gulf Station.
One thing that stands out to me is that Bobby Roach did saythat he last saw her going NORTH on Sam Houston Hwy; if he actually told her totake HWY 19 (which would make sense), then the very first thing she does is go inthe wrong direction. (I wonder if the directions he actually gave her are inthe case files.)
Also, and take this for what it’s worth, but the HitchinPost hours listed on the internet state that it closes at 10pm each night. It’sclosed for remodeling now; even if it wasn’t, that doesn’t mean that the hourswere the same in 1980. Midnight seems late for it to still be open, but I alsoagree that if she ended up there by random wanderings, that time isn’tunreasonable.
OK, so let me bounce a different theory off you all. This isa girl who has apparently grown comfortable hitch-hiking. She apparentlyarrived in town on a borrowed ride; presumably the prisoner she was visitingwasn’t going to be able to help her leave, so she probably planned tohitch-hike out of town too. And I agree that she probably met her killer in thesame way.
So- maybe the reason she ends up so far off course is thatshe got a ride from someone after the Gulf station? It’s definitely not out ofcharacter. As to how far out of the way she goes, she’s in a strange town anddoesn’t have a map at this point. I can easily see her getting in a car headingin the right general direction and only realizing when she gets out that itdidn’t help her as much as she thought. (“Yeah, sure I’ll give you a ride. I’mtaking I-45 from here, but I can drop you at the north end of town if you want.”“That sounds great.”
That would also explain why she actually asks someone todraw a map the next time.
I just googled the walking directions, and taking intoaccount she started by going north on Sam Houston, it’s a five mile walk if shegoes directly there, and google lists it as over an hour and a half. Takinginto account missteps and backtracking, we can probably add at least an extrahour to the travel time. So we have her at Hitchin Post at 9pm at the earliest,IF SHE WALKED. If it did indeed close at 10pm, and she got so messed up thatshe extended her walking distance to 7 miles, we have to ask if she even COULDhave gotten to the restaurant before it closed.
So the time she was at Hitchin Post gets evenmore relevant: If she’s there before 9pm, that means someone gave her a ride,and there’s another potential witness out there. I’m assuming at this pointthat the police never released that because they reached the same conclusionmost people have, that the killer picked her up from there. They probably wantto hold onto that because, if someone came forward and knew that detail, itwould show that they actually had real info about the case. But given where weare at this point, 36+ years with no real leads on her killer, I don’t thinkreleasing that would hurt anything, and it might tell us something else.
One thing that stands out to me is that Bobby Roach did saythat he last saw her going NORTH on Sam Houston Hwy; if he actually told her totake HWY 19 (which would make sense), then the very first thing she does is go inthe wrong direction. (I wonder if the directions he actually gave her are inthe case files.)
Also, and take this for what it’s worth, but the HitchinPost hours listed on the internet state that it closes at 10pm each night. It’sclosed for remodeling now; even if it wasn’t, that doesn’t mean that the hourswere the same in 1980. Midnight seems late for it to still be open, but I alsoagree that if she ended up there by random wanderings, that time isn’tunreasonable.
OK, so let me bounce a different theory off you all. This isa girl who has apparently grown comfortable hitch-hiking. She apparentlyarrived in town on a borrowed ride; presumably the prisoner she was visitingwasn’t going to be able to help her leave, so she probably planned tohitch-hike out of town too. And I agree that she probably met her killer in thesame way.
So- maybe the reason she ends up so far off course is thatshe got a ride from someone after the Gulf station? It’s definitely not out ofcharacter. As to how far out of the way she goes, she’s in a strange town anddoesn’t have a map at this point. I can easily see her getting in a car headingin the right general direction and only realizing when she gets out that itdidn’t help her as much as she thought. (“Yeah, sure I’ll give you a ride. I’mtaking I-45 from here, but I can drop you at the north end of town if you want.”“That sounds great.”
That would also explain why she actually asks someone todraw a map the next time.I just googled the walking directions, and taking intoaccount she started by going north on Sam Houston, it’s a five mile walk if shegoes directly there, and google lists it as over an hour and a half. Takinginto account missteps and backtracking, we can probably add at least an extrahour to the travel time. So we have her at Hitchin Post at 9pm at the earliest,IF SHE WALKED. If it did indeed close at 10pm, and she got so messed up thatshe extended her walking distance to 7 miles, we have to ask if she even COULDhave gotten to the restaurant before it closed.
So the time she was at Hitchin Post gets evenmore relevant: If she’s there before 9pm, that means someone gave her a ride,and there’s another potential witness out there. I’m assuming at this pointthat the police never released that because they reached the same conclusionmost people have, that the killer picked her up from there. They probably wantto hold onto that because, if someone came forward and knew that detail, itwould show that they actually had real info about the case. But given where weare at this point, 36+ years with no real leads on her killer, I don’t thinkreleasing that would hurt anything, and it might tell us something else.
nannymo
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Thank you CarlK and mia g for taking the time to do this. Carl, you make it sound so simple.....I was in Texas for a few days so decided to go to Huntsville for the day! Considering it takes around 12 hours non-stop to drive from one side to the other and 9-10 hours North to South, just "going to Huntsville" for a few hours is not an easy feat! Thank you for your efforts in what you do......You are an amazing person.
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Hwy 190 is 11th Street. After talking to you, I thought it more likely that B Roach would direct her through the city, rather than up a remote freeway.
After looking at the map, I was thinking a different route than you showed me.
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I started from Dallas, so it was only about a 3 hour drive.
Awww I see .. what ya mean there are so many routes .. wish le had thought to ask which way he sent her .. or would tell us... I'm working on getting a min thru thurs shift if I do I'm going back to talk to them ..
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I'm 80% positive HP was 24 hours in 1980.. I'll call when they re open to verify .. remember I was 7 in 1980..
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nannymo
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OT but interesting.....my husband, daughter and myself were in the Hitchin Post ONE time a long time ago. A year or so later, my husband and I were back through there and stopped to eat. The SAME waitress from a year earlier waited on us and stated......haven't you been here before? You came in about a year or so ago with your daughter!? I was very impressed with her remembering our visit. It would have been about 1990 or 1992. I wasn't aware of Jane Doe then, but wonder if it was the same waitress? She said she had worked there a long time. Amazing memory. FWIW
I meant to stop and get a Huntsville map and highlight the routes and then upload a picture (since I can't seem to get my google maps to cooperate ) I forgot ..
so I will order one and get that done ..
and thanks to Carl with me being directionally challenged I'd have never been able to map it out as well as we did ..
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so I will order one and get that done ..
and thanks to Carl with me being directionally challenged I'd have never been able to map it out as well as we did ..
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cvaldez1975
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Or maybe.... she got a ride to the hitchin post from her killer, then when she left he was still there and felt she could "trust" him and rode w him again?
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holmesleuthing
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I haven't read through the entire thread. Don't know if something like this has already been done. Am wondering if it's possible to get a list of the inmates of the prison at the time of her murder. Then try to cross match names to see if any of them are from the area she or her family she mentions are. Since no one seemed to know or admit to knowing her, perhaps she was looking for a family member such as a father that didn't know about her or had been out of the picture for sometime. She could have been raised in the system or by grandparents who didn't keep tabs on her, any number of possibilities.
CADwrest
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I had that thought, but I don't think so. If he already has her in his vehicle, he has control of her, and letting her out, he risks losing her. And by stopping somewhere where there are people coming and going, he risks someone seeing him with her. I can't see what he killer would possibly gain by that.
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