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

[Sweetluv]

I'm interested in why a young girl would want to go to a prison...to visit a relative I assume. Did she hitchhike? I would think if she knew the driver, and never returned, they would have reported her missing
Wish we had more info about her time at the diner...how long, eat, use restroom? Story is beyond sad.

 

[Craelius]

Maybe totally off base...but is this girl missing/claimed missing/a missing, missing person? Or are we just hunting a girl/picture from an old video....looking like Walker County Jane Doe? When I look at her....even Slidell Jane Doe comes to mind.

Actually your comment is right on the money... we don't know for certain if the Girl in the Choir is or is not Angie Roca, and we don't have any evidence Angie or the Girl in the Choir were ever reported as a missing person. It is total speculation, based on not only the girl's looks but quite a few circumstances that fit like pieces of a puzzle:

WCJD said she was from the Aransas Pass/Rockport area, the Rebekah Home for Girls was in Corpus Christi, same area. Also the time frame was right.

Local high school yearbooks were searched, WCJD was not found. Could this be because she wasn't in high school, she was in the Rebekah Home?

WCJD was described as being well-nourished. She had no drugs or alcohol in her system, no tattoos. Was this because she was in the Rebekah home, where the girls were well fed and the rules were strict?

She was believed to be on her way to meet someone in prison. This implies there was earlier trouble in her life. My imagination says maybe her father was in prison, maybe her mother was dysfunctional, and that could add up to a troubled teen. Rebekah Home was one place troubled teenagers were sent. She was taken care of but perhaps not well loved. As she said, "Who cares?"

Rebekah Home was somewhat isolated from the outside secular world. Residents had no television, no radio. Owners of the home were resistant to outside interference, perhaps reluctant to cooperate with the government. Tight security, difficult for girls to escape. Maybe her time was simply up and she was released and walked away.

True, all of this is pure speculation, but not without reason.

 

[houndpounder]

Angie L Roca graduated from Rebekah Christian Academy in 1979.

 

[houndpounder]

Very possible from the Rebekah Home in Corpus Christi. Check out this link. Perhaps she ran away from the home, hearing she was placed there because a family member was in prison (or actually not/or prisoner family member did not know she existed?) These are survivors of these homes. Check out Page 2, post #21.
Lester Roloffs Rebekah Home for Girls Survivors-Cult-mindcon

Also the Deanne Dawsey story at the Rebekah Home
https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/remember-the-christian-alamo/

 

[Mockturtle22]

And that is what is baffling. Pretty young girls are accounted for, sought. How is it that no one was looking for her? Or is this simply bad communication between LE departments given the year and manual processes?

Amateur opinion and speculation

It could be poor communication, it's certainly a common occurrence in all of these cases for the most part. The fact that evidence found on the body vanished, leads me to think that the initial investigation was botched pretty badly. I haven't delved into the research of this case yet, as I am currently obsessing over a murder that happened in my hometown before I was born that I never really knew about. . I feel like my brain is at capacity a bit.

It's sad to me though. I want her to get her name back... it seems like she had a rough go of things in her own mind at least, before her death. She was likely a runaway who was just never reported, or not cared enough about to report. Or, her missing persons information got lost in the times and we won't be able to stumble upon it. Fingers crossed that we do though... But I think it's harmful to be posting things about people it could be that aren't even confirmed as being missing or anything. I have seen this a few times here and I think that we need to focus on finding out that information before posting photos of people who may not want their photos posted, some of which don't even have names attached to them; unless proof of them disappearing etc is found. Chances are we will come across a lot of people that may have resembled her. We all have 'twins'

Edit to my comment you quoted.. I meant unrecognizable lol just realized that wasn't written out correctly.

 

[Jdart14]

It could be poor communication, it's certainly a common occurrence in all of these cases for the most part. The fact that evidence found on the body vanished, leads me to think that the initial investigation was botched pretty badly. I haven't delved into the research of this case yet, as I am currently obsessing over a murder that happened in my hometown before I was born that I never really knew about. . I feel like my brain is at capacity a bit.

It's sad to me though. I want her to get her name back... it seems like she had a rough go of things in her own mind at least, before her death. She was likely a runaway who was just never reported, or not cared enough about to report. Or, her missing persons information got lost in the times and we won't be able to stumble upon it. Fingers crossed that we do though... But I think it's harmful to be posting things about people it could be that aren't even confirmed as being missing or anything. I have seen this a few times here and I think that we need to focus on finding out that information before posting photos of people who may not want their photos posted, some of which don't even have names attached to them; unless proof of them disappearing etc is found. Chances are we will come across a lot of people that may have resembled her. We all have 'twins'

Edit to my comment you quoted.. I meant unrecognizable lol just realized that wasn't written out correctly.

Botched or lost or tampered with over the 30 plus years. I don't feel like based on the information we do have that the investigation was handled/documented well. Once again "based on what we know". I don't believe that the report has ever been made public. Also I do believe that the practices used/demonstrated in the WCJD case are a reflection of the times as well. They probably felt that they had done a sufficient job with the tools/technology/resources available to them at the time. Would that be acceptable today? Probably not.

Sorry to hear about the case from your hometown. Where are you from?

I agree that posting, using names of others in unconfirmed situations is not a good practice. In this instance in my opinion we are ok. This case is going on 40 years and over those 40 years this particular person in the picture is really one of the most solid leads that have been brought forward as a possible link. whether or not the person in question is our girl the background and story behind both is pretty intriguing. Once you dig in I think you will agree. At this point we have no reported missing person documented that fit our girl, that's not to say she was never reported missing but current records do not reflect that she was. so we have to operate partly based on process of elimination. To do that, at times I guess you must use that kind of information.

That being said and this is all my opinion I understand that....I still as stated before feel like this case will not be solved without the help of DNA at this point. Unless there is a miracle and her information makes it into the hands of the right person who recognizes/remembers her and comes forward, and the chances of that are becoming less and less over time.

Hope you make progress on your hometown case and have some time to help look at this one as well. Everyone have a great week!! God Bless!!

 

[houndpounder]

FYI, the girl in the choir photo, AR, is alive, married, living in Texas, was listed in her father-in-laws obituary in 2001, Therefore although she looks like Huntsville, Walker TX Jane Doe, AR is not that UID Jane Doe.

As TMMEYE mentioned in a prior post.

If it did end up being her it would have been the best find ever!

As Jdart14 mentioned no information in system on missing girl, never reported missing. Hopefully a friend may think "whatever happened to her "and follow a path to find her. Look at Buck skin girl, found in 1981, never reported missing by mother. Identified 37 years later in April 2018. Hard to believe but it happens.

 

[CarlK90245]

FYI, the girl in the choir photo, AR, is alive, married, living in Texas, was listed in her father-in-laws obituary in 2001, Therefore although she looks like Huntsville, Walker TX Jane Doe, AR is not that UID Jane Doe.

As TMMEYE mentioned in a prior post.

If it did end up being her it would have been the best find ever!

As Jdart14 mentioned no information in system on missing girl, never reported missing. Hopefully a friend may think "whatever happened to her "and follow a path to find her. Look at Buck skin girl, found in 1981, never reported missing by mother. Identified 37 years later in April 2018. Hard to believe but it happens.

Buckskin Girl's mother did attempt to report her missing. The local LE agency refused to take a report, based on her prior history of wandering.

 

[Paul B.]

Some people do strongly resemble other people.

Some young women make good money being Maisie Williams or Miley Cyrus for events and functions that cannot afford the real celebrities.

Even in this case, we have "Cathleen", who strongly resembles Julie Ann Moseley, only her family has confirmed that she isn't Julie Ann.

 

[Bit of hope]

Buckskin Girl's mother did attempt to report her missing. The local LE agency refused to take a report, based on her prior history of wandering.

Thank you so much for this post. On Facebook this woman is almost butchered by words for supposedly not trying to report her missing.

 

[Bit of hope]

FYI, the girl in the choir photo, AR, is alive, married, living in Texas, was listed in her father-in-laws obituary in 2001, Therefore although she looks like Huntsville, Walker TX Jane Doe, AR is not that UID Jane Doe.

As TMMEYE mentioned in a prior post.

If it did end up being her it would have been the best find ever!

As Jdart14 mentioned no information in system on missing girl, never reported missing. Hopefully a friend may think "whatever happened to her "and follow a path to find her. Look at Buck skin girl, found in 1981, never reported missing by mother. Identified 37 years later in April 2018. Hard to believe but it happens.

I'm very happy with this clear post. And HP I agree with you, she was one good potential match and I thank everybody for finding and keep digging into this.... I sure hope there will be some kind of resolution/exclusion around Kathy/Cathy, the girl traveling with a couple, brought up by CarlK a long time ago...also a very good potential match and sadly never confirmed a yes or a no.

 

[houndpounder]

Thank you so much for this post. On Facebook this woman is almost butchered by words for supposedly not trying to report her missing.

Thanks to the news agencies never getting the story correct.

 

[Bit of hope]

Thanks to the news agencies never getting the story correct.

We all know they color the story as they like...it's what people do with it, take it for the truth....it's not working like this and you know so good HP. Apart from that, in general, people are not able to "go back in time....looking at things the way they were in the old days", just judging from there tiny little reference in the here and now. That's what people do in general...and it's totally human. It's very hard to deal with for me.....and I can't say I never have a judgmental thought....my credo: I you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing.....

 

[Jdart14]

We all know they color the story as they like...it's what people do with it, take it for the truth....it's not working like this and you know so good HP. Apart from that, in general, people are not able to "go back in time....looking at things the way they were in the old days", just judging from there tiny little reference in the here and now. That's what people do in general...and it's totally human. It's very hard to deal with for me.....and I can't say I never have a judgmental thought....my credo: I you don't have anything nice to say, say nothing.....

Very seldom do people take into account how things have changed over time. Communication especially. Reporting someone missing in 1979-1980 meant calling the police department (locally the word MAY get out if there are posters made) or put in the news paper. There was no internet....no facebook...no twitter..And very seldom did something like that end up on even the local news unless it was a high profile case. so for years something like this news would have barely traveled outside the area unless the investigation takes it to different areas of interest. It is a shame but it is reality.

 

[Bit of hope]

Very seldom do people take into account how things have changed over time. Communication especially. Reporting someone missing in 1979-1980 meant calling the police department (locally the word MAY get out if there are posters made) or put in the news paper. There was no internet....no facebook...no twitter..And very seldom did something like that end up on even the local news unless it was a high profile case. so for years something like this news would have barely traveled outside the area unless the investigation takes it to different areas of interest. It is a shame but it is reality.

I know....don't lecture me please. I wanted to tell this same story....

 

[Jdart14]

I know....don't lecture me please. I wanted to tell this same story....

I wasn't lecturing you!! haha...I was elaborating on your comment. didn't mean to steal your thunder...Everyone disregard my previous comment..

 

[Bit of hope]

I wasn't lecturing you!! haha...I was elaborating on your comment. didn't mean to steal your thunder...Everyone disregard my previous comment..

I know you are are a sweet person....sorry. It's time to go for a while.....

 

[Malene]

Very seldom do people take into account how things have changed over time. Communication especially. Reporting someone missing in 1979-1980 meant calling the police department (locally the word MAY get out if there are posters made) or put in the news paper. There was no internet....no facebook...no twitter..And very seldom did something like that end up on even the local news unless it was a high profile case. so for years something like this news would have barely traveled outside the area unless the investigation takes it to different areas of interest. It is a shame but it is reality.

You’re right. That and also criminal investigation may have been approched differently back then.

 

[MadMcGoo]

Of all the faces I've looked at, the Girl in the Choir is the only one that really looks like the victim to me. I found the video online and stepped through it and took screenshots at different intervals. As she is reciting the Psalm, she blinks for a moment, and comparing that picture to the postmortem photo (the one that is almost completely from the front view) the resemblance is striking. It appears the girl in the choir has eyebrows that are not symmetrical, the right one being considerably narrower than the left, pretty much exactly like those of WCJD. All of their facial features are extremely similar: hairline, distance between eyebrows, nose, full lips, and philtrum, which is the indentation above the top lip. (Okay so I had to look that word up.) I cropped the PM photo so that her jaw does not show, as I can't bear to look at it. But we all know what she looks like and her lips are very similar to the Girl in the Choir.

View attachment 182620 View attachment 182622

Thank you for taking the time to pause the video to show her eyes closed! It makes a lot of difference when comparing eyes. IMO, and coming from someone with not-so-perfect-brows, I think the eyelid space and shape of the eyebrows is quite a bit different. WCJD has very little arch (like myself) and even with shaping it’s almost impossible to get one, and she seems to have much less eyelid space than the girl from the Choir. Although, I do agree the resemblance is uncanny! These of course are just my opinions, I’d love nothing more to identify this beautiful girl!!

OAN: As I’ve been scouring through...well, ANYTHING with photos from that time, alternating between inmate records and crimes that may have occurred that would land this girl anywhere but with her biological family, I’ve seen some very young girls (toddler-pre teen) and I wondered if anyone had looked into that or gone down that road. I’m still not completely confident in my understanding of exactly how NamUs “automatically compares UD with MP in their database”, but I don’t think I ever will. So, I certainly have no clue if they would be able to compare say a 4 year old girl who was reported missing in 1966 (for example only) to WCJD? Although statistically it is very unlikely there would be a match there, but certainly not impossible. Just wondering if anyone was familiar with the specifics of those identifications.

I just want to say that you ALL amaze me with your dedication and hard work!! I’ve begun to branch out to a few more “well known” cases (some of you probably got several notifications from “Denim’s” thread ) (I usually stick with the ones that get little to no attention), and I am absolutely blown away when I see some of your names consistently commenting and researching and SO MUCH MORE! You all are very special and everything you all do, does NOT go unnoticed! So, THANK YOU!!

•MMcG•

P.S. Sometimes I feel as though I am mostly chasing my tail, so I appreciate you all humoring me! If there is any “boring work” I can ever do to help, that would be more productive, don’t hesitate to reach out! I know a new set of eyes never hurts, but those of you who have worked on these cases for years and decades know better what might make better use of my time in trying to help Ms WCJD!!

 

[carbuff]

My experience is that it was sadly common in the seventies through the early eighties for families to splinter over politics or lifestyle issues. Somebody would leave, and never be heard from again, but not considered missing because they didn't expect to hear from the person. Some surprisingly young people were runaways, or throwaways. Some made it on their own. Others met a sad end. But in nearly all cases, there wasn't any kind of missing persons report and the cops would have laughed at you if you tried to file one.