Identified! TX - Huntsville, 'Walker County Jane Doe', WhtFem 14-16, 91UFTX, Nov'80 #4 Sherry Ann Jarvis

[Springrain]

OK, here is a completely, wildly speculative list of events that I think might have made up Sherri's last few months. All theories.

• Sherri escapes the Washington County Courthouse in Stillwater in March or April with the help of a friend. The plan is to go to Denver. As soon as she gets to Denver, or very shortly after, she sends the letter to her family telling them she will contact them between her 18th and 21st birthdays.
• Sherri either has a falling out with the friend(s) who helped transport her to Denver, or her and this friend/friends met someone in the Aransas Pass/Rockport area. She stayed there with a group of people, possibly working under the table. Because she had stayed there for at least a couple of weeks, she felt comfortable saying she was "from there", since she had been spending a lot of time there, and obviously didn't want to tell the Hitchin Post waitress she was from across the country.
• During her stay in Aransas Pass/Rockport, in October, she goes to Huntsvillle to see the prison rodeo, since she wanted to see the horses. During her visit(s) to the prison rodeo, she meets and hits it off with either an inmate or other attendant.
• Not realizing the Sunday prison rodeos are an October-only event, she hitchhiked to Huntsville to try to catch another prison rodeo - or, alternatively, she goes to meet up with the guy she met, with the Ellis Unit acting as their meetup location. At this point, one of two things happen...
  - She is killed by the guy she went to Huntsville to see.
  OR
  - She is killed by a trucker she does not know while hitching a ride. Because the guy she was going to see knew she was underage and didn't want to get into trouble for expressing sexual/romantic interest in a 14-year-old, he doesn't tell anyone what happened and just books it to try to avoid the situation. (What I lean towards).

 

[haroldchasen]

OK, here is a completely, wildly speculative list of events that I think might have made up Sherri's last few months. All theories.

• Sherri escapes the Washington County Courthouse in Stillwater in March or April with the help of a friend. The plan is to go to Denver. As soon as she gets to Denver, or very shortly after, she sends the letter to her family telling them she will contact them between her 18th and 21st birthdays.
• Sherri either has a falling out with the friend(s) who helped transport her to Denver, or her and this friend/friends met someone in the Aransas Pass/Rockport area. She stayed there with a group of people, possibly working under the table. Because she had stayed there for at least a couple of weeks, she felt comfortable saying she was "from there", since she had been spending a lot of time there, and obviously didn't want to tell the Hitchin Post waitress she was from across the country.
• During her stay in Aransas Pass/Rockport, in October, she goes to Huntsvillle to see the prison rodeo, since she wanted to see the horses. During her visit(s) to the prison rodeo, she meets and hits it off with either an inmate or other attendant.
• Not realizing the Sunday prison rodeos are an October-only event, she hitchhiked to Huntsville to try to catch another prison rodeo - or, alternatively, she goes to meet up with the guy she met, with the Ellis Unit acting as their meetup location. At this point, one of two things happen...
  - She is killed by the guy she went to Huntsville to see.
  OR
  - She is killed by a trucker she does not know while hitching a ride. Because the guy she was going to see knew she was underage and didn't want to get into trouble for expressing sexual/romantic interest in a 14-year-old, he doesn't tell anyone what happened and just books it to try to avoid the situation. (What I lean towards).

This is generally what I was thinking. I agree that she had to have the support of someone or multiple people along the way. She may have even been working at the rodeo that month, as I read they hired people in the community.
You’re spot on saying that any guy ( prisoner or not ) would not want to divulge that he may have been romantically involved with a 14 year old, so he never came forward.

 

[Springrain]

You’re spot on saying that any guy ( prisoner or not ) would not want to divulge that he may have been romantically involved with a 14 year old, so he never came forward.

Now I'm wondering if the prisoners and employees shown her photo, who all denied knowing her, were telling the truth. I always suspected someone was lying, but maybe not.

 

[MMc4252]

Don’t forget to consider the fact that visitations for inmates in Texas are only on Saturdays and Sundays. So that could be another reason she was in Huntsville on a Friday. When you’re a hitchhiker, where’s the best place to get a free place to sleep and a possible ride the next morning? Truck stop. Serial Killers are suspected to be highest among truck drivers.

 

[MMc4252]

Now I'm wondering if the prisoners and employees shown her photo, who all denied knowing her, were telling the truth. I always suspected someone was lying, but maybe not.

I think it’s sloppy police work if they didn’t go back and question inmates serving at that time, as well as employees. They can’t be charged with underage relationship now. It sounds like from their video news conference that they suspect the killer is most likely serial. They shared they are “in contact” with other agencies with similar cases in the I-45 corridor. Kenneth McDuff came to my mind but he was still fighting for parole. He was also known as The Broomstick Killer.

 

[haroldchasen]

I think it’s sloppy police work if they didn’t go back and question inmates serving at that time, as well as employees. They can’t be charged with underage relationship now. It sounds like from their video news conference that they suspect the killer is most likely serial. They shared they are “in contact” with other agencies with similar cases in the I-45 corridor. Kenneth McDuff came to my mind but he was still fighting for parole. He was also known as The Broomstick Killer.

I believe this is an unfortunate possibility. I found old newspaper articles mentioning a string of women in the area at that time who were beaten in the face , strangled and sexually assaulted with an object but not raped and found dumped nude. It’s definitely a very real possibility.

 

[Springrain]

I think it’s sloppy police work if they didn’t go back and question inmates serving at that time, as well as employees. They can’t be charged with underage relationship now.

RSBM

Ellis was and I believe still is pretty much entirely a death row prison. Very high security, for the worst of the worst. Any inmates that were there in 1980 have most likely been executed or died of other causes by now. IMO. But I definitely agree they need to revisit employees who are still alive. 41 years is a long time, I hope at least some are still able to be questioned.

I believe this is an unfortunate possibility. I found old newspaper articles mentioning a string of women in the area at that time who were beaten in the face , strangled and sexually assaulted with an object but not raped and found dumped nude. It’s definitely a very real possibility.

You're on a roll! This was in Texas?

 

[Friday Fan]

I believe this is an unfortunate possibility. I found old newspaper articles mentioning a string of women in the area at that time who were beaten in the face , strangled and sexually assaulted with an object but not raped and found dumped nude. It’s definitely a very real possibility.

Yikes! Post the article, if you find it!

 

[haroldchasen]

RSBM

Ellis was and I believe still is pretty much entirely a death row prison. Very high security, for the worst of the worst. Any inmates that were there in 1980 have most likely been executed or died of other causes by now. IMO. But I definitely agree they need to revisit employees who are still alive. 41 years is a long time, I hope at least some are still able to be questioned.



You're on a roll! This was in Texas?

Yes , I’ll try to find the article

 

[fhesse]

I have to say that I really don't think she was planning to attend a rodeo in Huntsville. First, the idea that she was just using the prison as a landmark and not a destination was already unlikely before, and everything we've learned about Sherri lately has made that less likely, not more likely as some have suggested.

Here's why: The information content of an observation is determined by how unusual it is. If an observation is common, its information content is very low, and the opposite is true if it is uncommon. Now, a 13-year-old girl who loves horses must be about the most common thing ever. My 11-year-old daughter, for example, just loves horses. So do her friends. All of them. So did most of the girls in my class when I was 13. So when I learned that Sherri loved horses, it didn't mean much to me. Because that's what I already sort of assumed before.

But there is one very unusual fact that we have all recently learned about her: that she has been associating with older males who were involved in criminal activity. Neither my daughter, nor any of her friends, nor any other 13-year-old girl I know does that. And no, this is not about blaming, but about showing what information is important and what is not. When I heard that, I changed my certainty that she really was trying to visit an inmate at Ellis Prison from "quite likely" to "extremely likely" because it's such an unusual thing to learn. Needless to say, all other possibilities became accordingly less likely.

 

[Beekarina]

One thing we do not know, is how much older the males involved in criminal activity they were though. One of my sisters went through some stuff when she was 14, and had a summer where she basically refused to come home. Her boyfriend's mom at the time was contributing to it, long story, but things happen. Middle class family, she ran track, was an honor student, just decided she was in love with a guy a few years older who was mixed up in stuff. I believe the boyfriend was 16, but I'm sure he associated with people in their 20s, so by default, so did she. His mother absolutely associated with criminal elements. My point is just to demonstrate how easily this could happen. All it would take is one link, and bam.


Also, in Texas, at least now, you can be certified as an adult for serious crimes at 14. They house the under 18 yos separately. I actually found mention of moving these "youthful offenders" who are classified as adults to the Ellis Unit while looking for info about this case. It was done recently though. I do not believe there were teens there at the time of Sherri's murder.

 

[Beekarina]

Personally, I think the wrong person(s) overheard Sherri asking the waitress for directions. I've forgotten what time she was at the rest stop, but it was pretty late, right? So she obviously would have attracted attention being a young, pretty girl alone. She was probably tired too, and her guard may have been down. So if someone said, "Oh hey, heard you asking about Ellis, we're going that way." There you go.

 

[Beekarina]

Sorry for serial posts. I have been wondering too, and wasn't clear above--need coffee, it's early--if Sherri could have been looking for a "youthful offender", and had the wrong prison. She wasn't from Texas, so someone could have told her "Oh, he did what? Yeah, check Ellis..."

 

[sunnynz]

I think a waitress accurately described the clothing the deceased had down to the red shoes.

But then Sherri wasn’t found with any clothing

 

[Friday Fan]

I have to say that I really don't think she was planning to attend a rodeo in Huntsville. First, the idea that she was just using the prison as a landmark and not a destination was already unlikely before, and everything we've learned about Sherri lately has made that less likely, not more likely as some have suggested.

Here's why: The information content of an observation is determined by how unusual it is. If an observation is common, its information content is very low, and the opposite is true if it is uncommon. Now, a 13-year-old girl who loves horses must be about the most common thing ever. My 11-year-old daughter, for example, just loves horses. So do her friends. All of them. So did most of the girls in my class when I was 13. So when I learned that Sherri loved horses, it didn't mean much to me. Because that's what I already sort of assumed before.

But there is one very unusual fact that we have all recently learned about her: that she has been associating with older males who were involved in criminal activity. Neither my daughter, nor any of her friends, nor any other 13-year-old girl I know does that. And no, this is not about blaming, but about showing what information is important and what is not. When I heard that, I changed my certainty that she really was trying to visit an inmate at Ellis Prison from "quite likely" to "extremely likely" because it's such an unusual thing to learn. Needless to say, all other possibilities became accordingly less likely.

Maslow's Heirachy of Needs tells me that she was not thinking of horses while she was on the run. The family is remembering the simpler times in her life when she did enjoy horses.

We may never know why she was in Huntsville. She could have simply wanted a quick weekend gig at a rodeo, she may have planned to visit someone, I theorized she was sent by roommates in Rockport (with criminal records of their own) to run messages the way Audrey Hepburn's character did in Breakfast at Tiffany's (Audrey visits "Sally Tomato" in prison to give him a "weekly weather report". )

Either way, Sherri was out of control. Although she did not come home, I think she also hated her time on the run. Housing situations were temporary. Tempers flare, relationships go sour and she moves on. Her experience with an older crowd hardened her enough to allow her to tolerate it. I bet almost everyone she met along the way to Huntsville were older than her. Many of her acquaintances on the way to Huntsville probably had criminal records. It's just a rough life, but she kept running...The odds are that the people she associated with did not kill her. However, her high risk life style, placed her in a situation where she unfortunately, met a brutal end to her life.


I also ran with a rough crowd myself......

 

[fhesse]

Maslow's Heirachy of Needs tells me that she was not thinking of horses while she was on the run. The family is remembering the simpler times in her life when she did enjoy horses.

Good point. I have no idea what life is like on the run, but I imagine it's pretty tough to say the least. Going to a rodeo show on the weekend is a luxury you can hardly afford when you have to worry about where you're going to sleep the next night and making sure you're not going to get raped.

 

[Friday Fan]

All it would take is one link, and bam.

Yep

 

[PuzzlinEvidence]

But then Sherri wasn’t found with any clothing

The sandals were found with her though, that's how they linked her almost conclusively to the girl seen in the Hitchin' Post.

 

[Beekarina]

The sandals seem to me exactly like something a 14 yo girl who wanted to seem older would have. We established they were likely Candies, which was a very trendy brand at the time. (I'm a few years younger, and remember the ads everywhere.) Those slip on Dr. Scholl's sandals were another. Totally impractical if you were on the run, walking, hitching rides, so probably someone with more life experience would have worn more practical shoes. A young teen though? Especially one going to meet someone? They would have wanted to look cute, IMO.

 

[Kiranerys]

One thing we do not know, is how much older the males involved in criminal activity they were though. One of my sisters went through some stuff when she was 14, and had a summer where she basically refused to come home. Her boyfriend's mom at the time was contributing to it, long story, but things happen. Middle class family, she ran track, was an honor student, just decided she was in love with a guy a few years older who was mixed up in stuff. I believe the boyfriend was 16, but I'm sure he associated with people in their 20s, so by default, so did she. His mother absolutely associated with criminal elements. My point is just to demonstrate how easily this could happen. All it would take is one link, and bam.


Also, in Texas, at least now, you can be certified as an adult for serious crimes at 14. They house the under 18 yos separately. I actually found mention of moving these "youthful offenders" who are classified as adults to the Ellis Unit while looking for info about this case. It was done recently though. I do not believe there were teens there at the time of Sherri's murder.

I am certain that I read somewhere,possibly in the older threads here,that the last person released shortly before Sherri was found was a 19 yr old. Sadly I have no clue where to start looking for this info or where I saw it so please take this as complete hearsay and speculation by me.