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

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The fact that Jason C was recently identified gives me so much hope for our Ruthie. His identification started out with a single photo of a person that resembled sketches / recons, and ended with resolution :)
 
If someone gives me an email I'm totally happy to be in touch. If anyone can PM it to me (because I can't access the website). I can't call though. It costs me a lot to call the US. But I am happy to email :) (unless someone else wants to do it)
 
CarlK90245 said:
The information in that blog is incorrect. There were no "items relating to WCJD" found with that photo, and the photo was taken in 1980 (sometime after April), not the mid-70's.

The photo comes from a brother and sister who were staying at a motel in Texas in 1980 (with their mother and step-father). The step father worked on radio antenna towers, and traveled around frequently, and stayed in motels in the course of his occupation. While they were at one motel (their best recollection was that it was in Beeville), they met this girl (possibly named "Cathy"), and for those few days, the sister and "Cathy" became friends and spent a lot of time swimming in the pool together and doing each other's hair. At the time, the brother and sister were 12 and 10 years old, respectively. "Cathy" told them that she was 14 years old, and a runaway from Corpus Christi. She was staying at the motel with a couple, about mid-30's in age.

Both the brother (who lives in Texas) and sister (who lives in Oregon) saw the publicity on WCJD independent of each other, and both immediately thought of "Cathy" without prompting by the other. When the sister came to Texas to visit her brother and mother, he asked if she had seen the articles on WCJD, and she immediately said yes, and that the story and drawings of WCJD reminded her of Cathy. When they asked their mother about Cathy, the mother said yes she also remembered her, and said "I even have a photo of her".

Both siblings remember that "Cathy" wore clothing similar to the clothing description of WCJD, and added that she didn't seem to have very many clothes.

There are a few other details provided by the brother that tie in even more to WCJD's narrative, but the sister says that she doesn't remember those details, so I haven't put those details out for discussion.
Click to expand...

Here are a few more details regarding "Cathy" that I should probably add to the mix.

According to the brother (the sister doesn't remember this detail), "Cathy" told him that she had a friend who was incarcerated in the Sugarland Prison, and at one point, asked his step-father if he would give her a ride to Sugarland. Apparently, the stepfather didn't give her the ride. The stepfather drove a 1978 Ford Truck with a camper on it. However, the brother says he recalls that the couple drove a large American car, possibly a chevy, possibly maroon or brown in color. He recalls that it had a beige or white vinyl top.

Of course, if this is true, it would make "Cathy" a very strong possible for WCJD, despite that her friend was in the Sugarland prison, not at Ellis, and that the couple's vehicle was maroon or brown (as opposed to blue - as was reported to the WCSD by the owner of the gas station who saw WCJD prior to her death).

When he first told me this story, he was saying that the motel was in Richmond, and he even drew for me a diagram of the layout of the motel. There are no motels in Richmond, and after many hours searching Google maps for of the motels throughout the area, he came back to me and said that he thinks that the motel was actually in Beeville. He pointed me to the Esquire Inn on St. Mary's street in Beeville, and said that he is pretty sure that is the same motel. The sister agreed that this appeared to be the same motel, and its layout is very similar to the drawing that the brother gave me.

I've been reluctant to mention these details (1) because I wasn't sure if the brother was just repeating details that he had read in public narratives related to WCJD, and (2) his sister couldn't corroborate those details. The sister was only 10 years old at the time, so it is understandible that she wouldn't remember every detail about the few days that they knew "Cathy". But I've decided to go ahead and put it out there and let everyone decide for themselves whether it is credible or not.
 
CarlK90245 said:
Here are a few more details regarding "Cathy" that I should probably add to the mix.

According to the brother (the sister doesn't remember this detail), "Cathy" told him that she had a friend who was incarcerated in the Sugarland Prison, and at one point, asked his step-father if he would give her a ride to Sugarland. Apparently, the stepfather didn't give her the ride. The stepfather drove a 1978 Ford Truck with a camper on it. However, the brother says he recalls that the couple drove a large American car, possibly a chevy, possibly maroon or brown in color. He recalls that it had a beige or white vinyl top.

Of course, if this is true, it would make "Cathy" a very strong possible for WCJD, despite that her friend was in the Sugarland prison, not at Ellis, and that the couple's vehicle was maroon or brown (as opposed to blue - as was reported to the WCSD by the owner of the gas station who saw WCJD prior to her death).

When he first told me this story, he was saying that the motel was in Richmond, and he even drew for me a diagram of the layout of the motel. There are no motels in Richmond, and after many hours searching Google maps for of the motels throughout the area, he came back to me and said that he thinks that the motel was actually in Beeville. He pointed me to the Esquire Inn on St. Mary's street in Beeville, and said that he is pretty sure that is the same motel. The sister agreed that this appeared to be the same motel, and its layout is very similar to the drawing that the brother gave me.

I've been reluctant to mention these details (1) because I wasn't sure if the brother was just repeating details that he had read in public narratives related to WCJD, and (2) his sister couldn't corroborate those details. The sister was only 10 years old at the time, so it is understandible that she wouldn't remember every detail about the few days that they knew "Cathy". But I've decided to go ahead and put it out there and let everyone decide for themselves whether it is credible or not.
Click to expand...

Perhaps her friend moved prisons? That can sometimes happen.
 
zelda_s said:
Perhaps her friend moved prisons? That can sometimes happen.
Click to expand...

That seems likely to me. I wish prison records for Ellis from 79-80 were available online, so we could see who was transferred, and when.

It would also be a good explanation for her needing directions. If it was Sugarland, I would imagine she'd know it more, but she was unfamiliar to Ellis.
 
she looks so young in both pics, especially in the PM, she looks like a sleeping child (which she was, a child)
i really hope she gets her name back, feels like it is the least she deserves
thank you all for the good work you do, trying to give the lost their names and history back


lupus est *advertiser censored* homini, non *advertiser censored*, non quom qualis sit novit
 
She was a beautiful, innocent child, with her whole life ahead of her. She lost her life to torture and violence and did not have so much as the dignity of a name.

Especially with "Grateful Doe" being ID'd as Jason Callahan, like others have said, it gives us new hope that long-term UIDs will be identified. This year, many well-known UIDs have gone home to their families. Hopefully 2016 is as good for the UID community and others finally have names, and, eventually, justice.
 
I looked up Sugarland prison and Wikipedia indicates "In 1963, before racial desegregation occurred, the facility housed first offenders and white male prisoners under 25 years of age, and Central Unit II housed male African American second offenders under the age of 25.[11]"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Unit

So if he turned 25, he might have been transferred. Lots of other reasons for a transfer as well.
 
Has anyone tried sharing the picture of 'Cathy' and her story in any Facebook pages associated with the Beeville area? I believe I read earlier that we were working on getting the photo around Facebook groups and pages in the Aransas Pass and Corpus Christi areas. We should do the same for the Beeville and possibly Sugarland too, if it hasn't been shared already. Anything to get some extra eyes on this case. I really hope this lead goes somewhere, at the very least we can find out who 'Cathy' is and if she's still missing. She really does resemble WCJD; the nose, the eyebrows, the facial shape, even the necklace possibly. I really hope this is the lead that will bring her back to her family.

As for the Sugerland prison, I am wondering if that was 'Cathy's original destination, but she later found that her friend was transferred to the Ellis unit.
 
Interesting. A couple weeks back I was working a theory that whomever she was looking for might have previously been housed in another facility closer to home. I homed in on McConnel, which is in Beeville, but then realized it was not established until after she had already been found.
Someone earlier in the thread did post names of Ellis prisoners. I'll have to go back to look at that info and how she got the names.
I live about an hour from both Sugarland and Huntsville. Anyone know if prisons or local libraries have historical records about inmates on site that are accessible to the public? I have already been toying around the idea of going to Huntsville to access the old Huntsville Item via microfiche to see what original reports detailed (specifically, I'm interested in location found). I spoke with the librarian and he says you can search the Item by date and download digital copies.
 
WalkerCountyJD(smaller).jpg

If anyone wants to share the 'Cathy' photo/story on other sites outside of Facebook. (Hope I attached that right)
 

Attachments

  • WalkerCountyJD(smaller).jpg
    WalkerCountyJD(smaller).jpg
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I'm glad the photo is getting so much publicity! Whether or not 'Cathy' is WCJD, it's important to find her whereabouts as she is an endangered runaway. Hopefully STCHM will be able to help us, too. There is always a slight possibility that they helped 'Cathy' as they do assist children in crisis.
 
STCHM replied to my email. It seemed that, of the current employees there, only 2 were around in the 70s / 80s. They said to me that neither of them recognised the girl in the photograph, but didn't say anything else.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help, guys :(
 
Happy to hear they replied!

Even if none of them know Cathy, I'm still holding out hope that someone will--just like with Jason Callahan.
 
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