Identified! TX - Huntsville, 'Walker County Jane Doe', WhtFem 14-16, 91UFTX, 1 November 1980 - id'd November 2021 - Sherri Ann Jarvis (14)

[Wossy]

I got an idea if Cathleen/Katy is Walker County Jane Doe, and she is from Corpus Christi. Have law enforcement get a hold of Yearbooks from the late 1970s and go through them, see if anyone matches her looks with that name. I’m sure she went to public school sometime during the 1970s. I understand why she would lie to an adult about her age and name but when it comes to another kid there would be no point in lying.

Also, The picture cracks me up. Was the little girl like "Hey, Random Girl I just met at a hotel who is a runaway and might be part of a sex trafficking chain wanna come back to my room with me and take a picture?" ...the1970s and early 1980s must have been a weird time.

 

[Sweetluv]

The bite mark....has it been compared since this first occurred in 1980? This murderer was so coldhearted and callused, I find it hard to believe he didn't kill before....or after.

 

[Alleykins]

I got an idea if Cathleen/Katy is Walker County Jane Doe, and she is from Corpus Christi. Have law enforcement get a hold of Yearbooks from the late 1970s and go through them, see if anyone matches her looks with that name. I’m sure she went to public school sometime during the 1970s. I understand why she would lie to an adult about her age and name but when it comes to another kid there would be no point in lying.

Also, The picture cracks me up. Was the little girl like "Hey, Random Girl I just met at a hotel who is a runaway and might be part of a sex trafficking chain wanna come back to my room with me and take a picture?" ...the1970s and early 1980s must have been a weird time.

IIRC, CarlK scoured all the available online yearbooks for that area.

 

[Wossy]

Oh, If that's the case wonder how many girls he found with her name that looked similar. I would like to know.

 

[sunnynz]

Oh, If that's the case wonder how many girls he found with her name that looked similar. I would like to know.

I’m sure if there were any viable leads he would have followed them up.

 

[chillpills]

I recently learned about this case and found something interesting. I've done a little lurking and found a blog link from the previous thread. There has been a lot of speculation about the Rebekah School in Corpus Christi as a possible location from which WCJD may have hailed.

From the prior thread: The Night Wind: THANKSGIVING PSA UPDATE: PLEASE READ AND SHARE

The still frames in this blog are taken from a video produced at the school supposedly between 1978 and 1979. Freedom's Last Call produced by Roloff Ministries.
It's not particularly reliable, but I isolated the two stills of the lookalike to WCJD and compared both against the two postmortems as well as the photo of Cathy/Kathy zoomed into the face using some free online facial recognition software, Betaface.

The stills from the video were 76 and 77% matches with the postmortems. What's interesting is that the two postmortems compared to each other gave an 83% match to one another, and the two stills compared to each other gave an 84% match. These are all incredibly close considering that comparing two photos known to be of the same person are in the mid 80% match range. The photo of Kathy/Cathy did not break 70% match compared to any of the others.

I know that people have reached out to alumni of the Rebekah School, but the existence of this video and the stills of the girl with a strong resemblance to WCJD and similar hair color, may help to narrow down the time frame of when pertinent records may have been kept. I'm not sure if there are any records from the school still available, but if so, maybe this could provide a starting point?

 

[NotSHolmes]

The stills from the video were 76 and 77% matches with the postmortems. What's interesting is that the two postmortems compared to each other gave an 83% match to one another, and the two stills compared to each other gave an 84% match. These are all incredibly close considering that comparing two photos known to be of the same person are in the mid 80% match range. The photo of Kathy/Cathy did not break 70% match compared to any of the others.

May I ask how you calculated those percentages?

 

[sunnynz]

May I ask how you calculated those percentages?

I believe that’s what this part of their comment refers to: I isolated the two stills of the lookalike to WCJD and compared both against the two postmortems as well as the photo of Cathy/Kathy zoomed into the face using some free online facial recognition software, Betaface.

 

[NotSHolmes]

I believe that’s what this part of their comment refers to: I isolated the two stills of the lookalike to WCJD and compared both against the two postmortems as well as the photo of Cathy/Kathy zoomed into the face using some free online facial recognition software, Betaface.

Oops, totally missed that. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

[chillpills]

Well I may have undercut myself with some more digging. There seemed to be some difficulty determining when “Freedom’s Last Call,” the video the stills were taken from, was produced. The blogger said 78-79 which would fit the timeline nicely, but digging through the Corpus Christy Public Library archives, I found an item dated 9/25/76 “Invitation to premier showing of Freedom’s Last Call.”
Roloff had his 5 day jail sentence and the associated legal troubles prior to 76 before the production of this video, as the video directly references those legal woes. That would put WCJD roughly 4 years older than the lookalike in the video stills.
It’s possible that she was at Rebekah for an extended period of time, but most of the forums and groups of former residents seem to consistently describe stints of 2 years, i.e. 78-79.

 

[cherrymeg]

Well I may have undercut myself with some more digging. There seemed to be some difficulty determining when “Freedom’s Last Call,” the video the stills were taken from, was produced. The blogger said 78-79 which would fit the timeline nicely, but digging through the Corpus Christy Public Library archives, I found an item dated 9/25/76 “Invitation to premier showing of Freedom’s Last Call.”
Roloff had his 5 day jail sentence and the associated legal troubles prior to 76 before the production of this video, as the video directly references those legal woes. That would put WCJD roughly 4 years older than the lookalike in the video stills.
It’s possible that she was at Rebekah for an extended period of time, but most of the forums and groups of former residents seem to consistently describe stints of 2 years, i.e. 78-79.

This is probably grasping at straws but could the girl that looks similar be a relative, like a sister?

 

[Wossy]

They have apps that can sync up faces. Heck if there are apps that can tell you what celebrity you look like or what pokemon you look like. there sure can be something that can identify how similar to peoples faces are.

There's something I have been wondering. If Cathleen/Kathy/WCJD (assuming it's her) was in Beeville in the Summer of 1980 why would it have took her 2-3 months to make it to Huntsville? it's only 232 miles, so she must have getting involved with someone during that time frame.

 

[chillpills]

They have apps that can sync up faces. Heck if there are apps that can tell you what celebrity you look like or what pokemon you look like. there sure can be something that can identify how similar to peoples faces are.

There's something I have been wondering. If Cathleen/Kathy/WCJD (assuming it's her) was in Beeville in the Summer of 1980 why would it have took her 2-3 months to make it to Huntsville? it's only 232 miles, so she must have getting involved with someone during that time frame.

Yeah they do. Most facial comparison software costs money or requires specific platforms to run the programs, but this one that I used allowed me to upload multiple photos, use one as the index of comparison, and then compared the other uploaded photos to the index.

This is probably grasping at straws but could the girl that looks similar be a relative, like a sister?

Reading some of the old forum posts, it seems like there were sisters occasionally who resided at Rebekah at the same time. It does seem like an incredible longshot though.
I just came across a Medium article about this case by a true crime writer who claims that "Kathy" could be a Kathy H from the school, though she does not provide a source for that idea. She also mentions that the girl in the still frame could be an Angie R, presumably she got that idea from whoever originally noticed the lookalike in the original video. I just emailed the author to see if I might be able to glean a bit more information from her.

The FB and other online groups are all private and I haven't yet found any public mentions of anyone who was there themselves between 79-80, which I would think would be the most likely term to have come in contact with WCJD if she really did run away from Rebekah. From the history I've read up on written by survivors, it sounds like if something went wrong at the home, it wasn't reported. There was a story of a few girls drinking toilet bowl cleaner, the first course of action taken by the adults there was to get more girls together and pray for the sick ones on the couch. Only when they started to have trouble breathing were they taken to the hospital.

Btw, does anyone on here have a line to a moderator, member, or is a member themselves of any of the larger Rebekah groups in FB or elsewhere?

 

[cherrymeg]

Yeah they do. Most facial comparison software costs money or requires specific platforms to run the programs, but this one that I used allowed me to upload multiple photos, use one as the index of comparison, and then compared the other uploaded photos to the index.


Reading some of the old forum posts, it seems like there were sisters occasionally who resided at Rebekah at the same time. It does seem like an incredible longshot though.
I just came across a Medium article about this case by a true crime writer who claims that "Kathy" could be a Kathy H from the school, though she does not provide a source for that idea. She also mentions that the girl in the still frame could be an Angie R, presumably she got that idea from whoever originally noticed the lookalike in the original video. I just emailed the author to see if I might be able to glean a bit more information from her.

The FB and other online groups are all private and I haven't yet found any public mentions of anyone who was there themselves between 79-80, which I would think would be the most likely term to have come in contact with WCJD if she really did run away from Rebekah. From the history I've read up on written by survivors, it sounds like if something went wrong at the home, it wasn't reported. There was a story of a few girls drinking toilet bowl cleaner, the first course of action taken by the adults there was to get more girls together and pray for the sick ones on the couch. Only when they started to have trouble breathing were they taken to the hospital.

Btw, does anyone on here have a line to a moderator, member, or is a member themselves of any of the larger Rebekah groups in FB or elsewhere?

You can probably send a message to a moderator on a site for Rebekah Home survivors and see if they can pass out info on our Jane Doe.

 

[wmm85]

I recently learned about this case and found something interesting. I've done a little lurking and found a blog link from the previous thread. There has been a lot of speculation about the Rebekah School in Corpus Christi as a possible location from which WCJD may have hailed.

From the prior thread: The Night Wind: THANKSGIVING PSA UPDATE: PLEASE READ AND SHARE

The still frames in this blog are taken from a video produced at the school supposedly between 1978 and 1979. Freedom's Last Call produced by Roloff Ministries.
It's not particularly reliable, but I isolated the two stills of the lookalike to WCJD and compared both against the two postmortems as well as the photo of Cathy/Kathy zoomed into the face using some free online facial recognition software, Betaface.

The stills from the video were 76 and 77% matches with the postmortems. What's interesting is that the two postmortems compared to each other gave an 83% match to one another, and the two stills compared to each other gave an 84% match. These are all incredibly close considering that comparing two photos known to be of the same person are in the mid 80% match range. The photo of Kathy/Cathy did not break 70% match compared to any of the others.

I know that people have reached out to alumni of the Rebekah School, but the existence of this video and the stills of the girl with a strong resemblance to WCJD and similar hair color, may help to narrow down the time frame of when pertinent records may have been kept. I'm not sure if there are any records from the school still available, but if so, maybe this could provide a starting point?

I've been a bit behind on this case, but thanks for linking to that blog post, it's very interesting. It's a shame that the rest of that blog is mostly alt-right propaganda, but I digress...

Reading up on this Rebekah School, it does sound like a place one would want to run away from. I do hope one of the survivors can recognize this girl and perhaps bring us closer to the identity of WCJD.

 

[cherrymeg]

If you saw a sibling taken to The Rebekah Home it seems like a place you might try to avoid. You might run away before it happened to you. Idk. I’ve been reading comments on a blog and it sounds terrifying. People have posted WCJD ‘s info on the blog. It’s older but still.

 

[chillpills]

I've been a bit behind on this case, but thanks for linking to that blog post, it's very interesting. It's a shame that the rest of that blog is mostly alt-right propaganda, but I digress...

Reading up on this Rebekah School, it does sound like a place one would want to run away from. I do hope one of the survivors can recognize this girl and perhaps bring us closer to the identity of WCJD.

I think I'll end up doing that tomorrow while I have some downtime at work. I always feel weird being the random person reaching out of the ether to someone I don't know though lol.

 

[TmmEye]

It’s been too long for WCJD to have been unidentified. I am so sorry to hear that Dt. Bean refuses help from DDP, after being offered by Carl, a person of total care for this case and a DDP member. He said WCJD’s DNA was with a genealogist. Is this for sure claimed? I’m sorry for going on here, but I feel this is what is going to be needed to bring her home. I’ve profiled her killer, so that’s all I can do now until she’s been ID’d. I hope WCJD will get final justice, no matter how much work it takes. I don’t think WCJD was from Texas, although she told people she was from that area, maybe a family member lived there instead, and she wanted to fool people. Or even the possibility she lived with a cousin, aunt, uncle, etc. I have the feeling WCJD’s parents probably weren’t in her life, as she never talked about them. I’ve had friends who’ve been raised by extended relatives, such as their aunts and/or uncles. That’s just my theory though..

 

[carbuff]

It’s been too long for WCJD to have been unidentified. I am so sorry to hear that Dt. Bean refuses help from DDP, after being offered by Carl, a person of total care for this case and a DDP member. He said WCJD’s DNA was with a genealogist. Is this for sure claimed? I’m sorry for going on here, but I feel this is what is going to be needed to bring her home. I’ve profiled her killer, so that’s all I can do now until she’s been ID’d. I hope WCJD will get final justice, no matter how much work it takes. I don’t think WCJD was from Texas, although she told people she was from that area, maybe a family member lived there instead, and she wanted to fool people. Or even the possibility she lived with a cousin, aunt, uncle, etc. I have the feeling WCJD’s parents probably weren’t in her life, as she never talked about them. I’ve had friends who’ve been raised by extended relatives, such as their aunts and/or uncles. That’s just my theory though..

I thought what they meant about the DNA is that they're already pursuing it through another genealogist, so they don't need DDP. Last I looked, there were over 150 forensic genealogists who were members of the largest professional organization, so they'd have lots of options.

But I could be way off about that. I often am.

I think she must be from Texas--if her accent didn't sound like she was from Aransas Pass/seacoast area, the witnesses would almost certainly have mentioned it. Though I suppose she might not have lived there too long. Some people pick up accents quickly.

 

[Valdez1M]

91UFTX
<modsnip - remove unrelated link>



Unidentified White Female
Located on November 1, 1980 in Walker County, Texas.
Cause of death was homicide.
The victim had been dead for six hours before she was found.

• 
  [*]Estimated age: 14 1/2 - 16 1/2 years old
  [*]Approximate Height and Weight: 5'0 - 5'3" (most likely 5'2"); 110 - 120 lbs.
  [*]Distinguishing Characteristics: Light brown hair past the shoulders, cut in wing fashion, natural, no evidence of color treatment. Brown or Hazel eyes. A 1 1/2" scar at end of right eyebrow . Her ears were pierced. Her toenails was painted pink. No tattoos.
  [*]Clothing: She was wearing a rectangular-shaped pendant with a smoky blue stone on a gold chain (as seen in the victim's sketch above). She may have been wearing jeans and a yellow shirt. A pair of high-heeled sandals, 3" or 4" inch platforms with light brown straps, had been thrown beside the body.
  [*]Dentals: Available. Her teeth had been well cared for.
  [*]Fingerprints: Available
  [*]DNA: mtDNA available in CODIS

Case History
The victim's body was dumped on side of I-45 north, 2 miles north of Huntsville, TX. The general condition of the body and her overall health and nutrition indicated she had probably come from a middle class home. There were no identification with the body. No semen was found on or in the victim's body.
When the murder became known through media accounts, several people came forward and said they’d seen a teenager matching her description the day before her body was found.
A witness identified the victim as a girl who had been at the South End Gulf station around 6:30 p.m. on Halloween night asking for directions to the Ellis prison unit.
She had been wearing blue jeans, a yellow pullover sweater with big pockets that hung below her waist, and she was carrying high-heeled sandals in her hand. To the best of his recollection, she had been let out of a 1973 or ‘74 blue Chevrolet, possibly a Caprice, with a lighter colored top, which was being driven by a white male. She looked disheveled like she had been traveling, and perhaps sleeping in her clothes.
She left the station, walking north on Sam Houston avenue.
A waitress working at the Hitchin’ Post truck stop on Interstate 45 said the girl came into the restaurant the same evening and again, asked for directions to the Ellis Unit, saying she had a friend there. A map was drawn for her and she departed.
The waitress asked the girl how old she was and the girl responded 19. The witness thought that was an obvious lie and then asked the girl if her parents knew where she was. The young girl replied, "Who cares". The witness then stated she asked her where she was from. The girl replied Aransas Pass/Rockport, TX area. It has not been verified that the girl was the unidentified victim.
Her photograph was shown to every inmate at Ellis Prison Unit, but no one claimed to know the girl.
On January 16, 1981, the unidentified girl was buried in the Adickes Addition at Oakwood Cemetery. Huntsville Funeral Home buried her, and Morris Memorials provided her tombstone.
It is believed that Henry Lee Lucas killed this girl, but investigators could not make a match between the bite mark on her left shoulder and his dental reconstruction.

Case Details:
Walker County Jane Doe was found lying face down and nude by a truck driver on November 1, 1980 near the Sam Houston National Forest in Walker County Texas. This is about a half mile south of the FM 1696 exit near Huntsville.
The victim, an attractive young teenage girl, had been savagely beaten and sexually assaulted before dying by slow strangulation. Her face and body were covered with bruises from the beating and there was a human bite mark on her back near her right shoulder. The autopsy revealed she had been sexually assaulted with a blunt instrument.
When the murder was reported, several people came forward and said they'd seen a teenager matching her description the day before her body was found. One witness, the manager of a gas 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. She was wearing blue jeans, a yellow pullover sweater with big pockets that hung below her waist, and carrying high-heeled sandals in her hand. To the best of his recollection, she had been let out of a 1973 or 74 blue Chevrolet, possibly a Caprice, with a lighter colored top, which was being driven by a white male. She looked disheveled like she had been traveling and perhaps sleeping in her clothes. She left the station, walking north on Sam Houston avenue.
A waitress working at the Hitchin Post truck stop out on Interstate 45 said the girl came into the restaurant the same evening and again, asked for directions to the Ellis Unit, saying she had a friend there. A map was drawn for her and she departed. She never reached the Ellis Unit and she was never seen alive again.


Thread #1

Did anyone ever check yearbook photos of schools in the area she said she was from?