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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 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.
It's Hwy 19 not 190 ...
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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.
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.
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 its worth, but the HitchinPost hours listed on the internet state that it closes at 10pm each night. Itsclosed for remodeling now; even if it wasnt, that doesnt 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 isntunreasonable.
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 visitingwasnt 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? Its definitely not out ofcharacter. As to how far out of the way she goes, shes in a strange town anddoesnt 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 itdidnt help her as much as she thought. (Yeah, sure Ill give you a ride. Imtaking 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, its 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 shes there before 9pm, that means someone gave her a ride,and theres another potential witness out there. Im 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 dont thinkreleasing that would hurt anything, and it might tell us something else.
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 its worth, but the HitchinPost hours listed on the internet state that it closes at 10pm each night. Itsclosed for remodeling now; even if it wasnt, that doesnt 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 isntunreasonable.
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 visitingwasnt 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? Its definitely not out ofcharacter. As to how far out of the way she goes, shes in a strange town anddoesnt 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 itdidnt help her as much as she thought. (Yeah, sure Ill give you a ride. Imtaking 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, its 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 shes there before 9pm, that means someone gave her a ride,and theres another potential witness out there. Im 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 dont thinkreleasing that would hurt anything, and it might tell us something else.
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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