Not sure, we are so used to being saturated with media in today's technology age, the age of instant information. This was 1980 and things were a LOT different back then, if someone didnt read the local newspaper or see a flyer posted it is easy to not know of the case.
Additionally, she may...
IMO if that cheek dent was there while she was alive it would have been mentioned by one of the eyewitnesses. Something like, so and so positively identified Jane Doe from a unique dent that was observed in her left cheek.
The points you mentioned above are what makes me believe she was a native. I am very familiar with Rockport/Port Aransas, my family spent summers there from before I was born until I was an adult. The fact that the towns are so tiny, and that they were not as popular as say Galveston, Corpus...
From the Porchlight Article linked on the first page "Bobby Roach, who managed the South End Gulf station, (which no longer exists) positively identified the victim as a girl who had been at the station around 6:30 p.m. Halloween night asking for directions to the Ellis prison unit."
Of...
I know I'm a little late on this thread - but wanted to post because I lived in Huntsville for a decade, and actually worked at the Ellis Unit for years. My thoughts - it's a lot simpler than we are speculating, she mentioned to someone she was from Rockport, I believe that to be true. Rockport...