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

[sevengirl]

Since Walker Cty is not far from where I grew up, I am now obsessed with solving this case. I have x-referenced known "biters" & came up with Roger Evan Vaughn. He was convicted on bite impression, wonder if that could be compared to our Doe? Vaughn was paroled in late Aug 1980, I wonder if he hung around Huntsville after parole. He was executed in 2003 for brutal beating/rape in tx. Coincidentally, i have just discovered that an investigator on the case at the time in 1980, eventuall went on to work for the DA's office in Montgomery County. I worked with him there, I will give him a call. I am a licensed PI but never worked missing persons, this may be my first!

 

[sevengirl]

Ok I just realized I posted the name Roger Evan Vaughn. I get ahead of myself when trying to type on my phone. :blushing: Now that I'm on my desktop, I can say that I typed the wrong name. The correct name is Roger Dale Vaughn. He was a nasty little man. He even attacked his friends who tried to help him and robbed his family. I really really want to know if LE were able to get impressions from the bite mark on our doe's shoulder.
I also want to say that I find it really strange that this pretty young lady has been unidentified for almost 34 years now. I was 4 when she was found. It's hard to believe that no one is missing her?? As we say here in TX, she was a "pretty little white gal" and she was well taken care of. Her toes were painted pink! She was very attractive and well nourished. Something is off here. I'm theorizing that she became pen pals with an inmate and that's who she was going to see and whether she met her pen pal or not, she found trouble along the way. After all, Roger Dale Vaughn was seeking pen pals while he was awaiting execution in Huntsville.
I found a nice sketch drawing of our Doe and a side profile here which I found helpful:
http://icaremissingpersonscoldcases.yuku.com/topic/794#.UvuK1E2YaUk
I'm praying that this does turn out to be Melinda Creech. IMO, our Doe has a bit of a receding chin....
One final thing I want to say: I discovered the TXDPS Missing Persons Clearinghouse. I was floored by the amount of people on it and lots of recent cases too!!! I thought NAMUS was the only tool I had for missing persons. Silly me. Seeing the TXDPS page opened a whole new can of worms for me and now I feel like I'm disappearing down the rabbit hole........:seeya:

 

[carbuff]

Do I have ur email??

Sent it in a pm several days ago. Did you get it?

 

[L8dedy]

I believe that LE looked at convicted serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades as a suspect in this case. He is still alive and in prison . Reading about his crimes, I can see why he would have been considered.

 

[bringherhome]

I believe that LE looked at convicted serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades as a suspect in this case. He is still alive and in prison . Reading about his crimes, I can see why he would have been considered.

Funny thing,the person that found walker county jane doe,a trucker,also had the last name Rhoads,when I saw this I was like WHOA! could it be the same person? But no they were not the same.

 

[mia g]

Sent it in a pm several days ago. Did you get it?

Yes I sent the info??

 

[bringherhome]

Since Walker Cty is not far from where I grew up, I am now obsessed with solving this case. I have x-referenced known "biters" & came up with Roger Evan Vaughn. He was convicted on bite impression, wonder if that could be compared to our Doe? Vaughn was paroled in late Aug 1980, I wonder if he hung around Huntsville after parole. He was executed in 2003 for brutal beating/rape in tx. Coincidentally, i have just discovered that an investigator on the case at the time in 1980, eventuall went on to work for the DA's office in Montgomery County. I worked with him there, I will give him a call. I am a licensed PI but never worked missing persons, this may be my first!

Well they exhumed Walker County Jane Doe in 2000 or 2001 so maybe they did better testing of the bite area.They must have some kind of plaster cast of the bite cause one of the detectives that was interviewing Henry Lee Lucas wanted to do a comparison of the bite mark on WCJD with Lucas teeth.But it all fell apart as soon as Lucas told them he had had reconstruction dental surgery.

 

[bringherhome]

By the way guys here is Walker County Jane Doe new facebook page:

facebook.com/walkercounty.janedoe

Please feel free to go on and like the page,spread the word.I also encourage other Jane or John Doe cases to be added as well.

 

[L8dedy]

Funny thing,the person that found walker county jane doe,a trucker,also had the last name Rhoads,when I saw this I was like WHOA! could it be the same person? But no they were not the same.

When I first became interested in this case (about 11 years ago), I remember speaking with a female FBI Agent who was going through yearbooks in the Aransas Pass area trying to find a match. She was reassigned to another FBI office not long after. I also recall her mentioning the coincidence of the trucker's name. One thing that stood out to me, is according to this Agent, the witness statements about the young girl seen at the Hitchin Post were never confirmed to be the same as our Doe. I mention this only so we do not get "tunnel vision" with regard to casting a wide net regarding publicity for our doe. Obviously, LE did put some faith in the statement based on media alerts published in the area.

 

[sevengirl]

Bringherhome, that last name jumped out to me as well the more I dug into this. We know that Robert Ben Rhoades was a slick talker and that he was well mannered/dressed. We also know that he was a "long-haul trucker" during the 70's/80's. He also applied to be a peace officer and was rejected, probably because of his dishonorable discharge from the military. This tells us that he would have been very comfortable speaking to law enforcement, he probably considered himself one of them. RBR obviously wouldn't have been on LE's radar at that point, he wasn't arrested until 1990. Would he report his own crime and give a different first name?? We know that he was arrogant enough to think he was smarter than LE and not get caught.
Maybe the last name is just coincidence, but I can't stop thinking about it. I'm going to find time (hopefully this week!) to contact the original investigator in the case. Since I used to work with him, maybe he'll talk to me.

 

[carbuff]

Bringherhome, that last name jumped out to me as well the more I dug into this. We know that Robert Ben Rhoades was a slick talker and that he was well mannered/dressed. We also know that he was a "long-haul trucker" during the 70's/80's. He also applied to be a peace officer and was rejected, probably because of his dishonorable discharge from the military. This tells us that he would have been very comfortable speaking to law enforcement, he probably considered himself one of them. RBR obviously wouldn't have been on LE's radar at that point, he wasn't arrested until 1990. Would he report his own crime and give a different first name?? We know that he was arrogant enough to think he was smarter than LE and not get caught.
Maybe the last name is just coincidence, but I can't stop thinking about it. I'm going to find time (hopefully this week!) to contact the original investigator in the case. Since I used to work with him, maybe he'll talk to me.

That sounds possible but why would he want this particular girl to be found? Did he expect her to be recognized or something?

 

[sevengirl]

That sounds possible but why would he want this particular girl to be found? Did he expect her to be recognized or something?

I wish I knew the answer to that. One gal hitched a ride with RBR in PA in 1985and he let her go. That makes no sense either.
She wrote an article about it for GQ.
http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201211/truck-stop-killer-gq-november-2012
Did LE take scrapings from under our Doe's fingernails?? I would like to know if that sample, if any, has been tested. I'm sure this case isn't on Walker County's front burner anymore, but perhaps even if we don't know who she is, we can find out who killed her.

 

[bringherhome]

When I first became interested in this case (about 11 years ago), I remember speaking with a female FBI Agent who was going through yearbooks in the Aransas Pass area trying to find a match. She was reassigned to another FBI office not long after. I also recall her mentioning the coincidence of the trucker's name. One thing that stood out to me, is according to this Agent, the witness statements about the young girl seen at the Hitchin Post were never confirmed to be the same as our Doe. I mention this only so we do not get "tunnel vision" with regard to casting a wide net regarding publicity for our doe. Obviously, LE did put some faith in the statement based on media alerts published in the area.

Hummmm very interesting,wow I never knew the FBI got involved are they still active in this case?

 

[bringherhome]

Bringherhome, that last name jumped out to me as well the more I dug into this. We know that Robert Ben Rhoades was a slick talker and that he was well mannered/dressed. We also know that he was a "long-haul trucker" during the 70's/80's. He also applied to be a peace officer and was rejected, probably because of his dishonorable discharge from the military. This tells us that he would have been very comfortable speaking to law enforcement, he probably considered himself one of them. RBR obviously wouldn't have been on LE's radar at that point, he wasn't arrested until 1990. Would he report his own crime and give a different first name?? We know that he was arrogant enough to think he was smarter than LE and not get caught.
Maybe the last name is just coincidence, but I can't stop thinking about it. I'm going to find time (hopefully this week!) to contact the original investigator in the case. Since I used to work with him, maybe he'll talk to me.

I saw a documentary on Robert Ben Rhoads last year,and yhea he is like everything you said about him.The thing is Rhoads had been killing people as a trucker since the mid 70's all the way to the 90's when he got caught.He would torture and kill his victims in the sleeper berth of his truck,dump them,move on to the next poor soul.IMO that is what happened to Walker County Jane Doe,she was picked up by a trucker,beaten,tortured,killed,dumped by the side of the road,by the time they discovered her body the killer was way out of state going north.

 

[bringherhome]

Since Walker Cty is not far from where I grew up, I am now obsessed with solving this case. I have x-referenced known "biters" & came up with Roger Evan Vaughn. He was convicted on bite impression, wonder if that could be compared to our Doe? Vaughn was paroled in late Aug 1980, I wonder if he hung around Huntsville after parole. He was executed in 2003 for brutal beating/rape in tx. Coincidentally, i have just discovered that an investigator on the case at the time in 1980, eventuall went on to work for the DA's office in Montgomery County. I worked with him there, I will give him a call. I am a licensed PI but never worked missing persons, this may be my first!

Im with you on that Sevengirl I really want to find out who this young girl is,find out her story.Im sure if we all work together we can make a difference in some way or another.

 

[L8dedy]

Hummmm very interesting,wow I never knew the FBI got involved are they still active in this case?

I doubt they are actively involved at this point. I do recall the Agent said she was working the possibility that our Doe was a victim of Rhoades. Several articles I have read suggest he maybe responsible for up to 50 more deaths of young hitchickers during his reign of terror, which they suspect began around 1975. I also understand the Texas Rangers have been involved with the case, over the years.

I sincerely believe her identity can be found especially though national publicity. There is a relative out there who knows about a longtime missing.....cousin, sister, aunt etc...

 

[bringherhome]

I doubt they are actively involved at this point. I do recall the Agent said she was working the possibility that our Doe was a victim of Rhoades. Several articles I have read suggest he maybe responsible for up to 50 more deaths of young hitchickers during his reign of terror, which they suspect began around 1975. I also understand the Texas Rangers have been involved with the case, over the years.

I sincerely believe her identity can be found especially though national publicity. There is a relative out there who knows about a longtime missing.....cousin, sister, aunt etc...

Yes national publicity is key,getting it out to as many people possible.I just read about this young girl that was murdered in 1979 or 80 and just this year they found out who she was,the family was searching all these years,and now thanks to the internet she is coming home.
But one other thing about our Jane Doe she said she was from Aransas Pass/Rockport area,I truly believe she was lying about being from there.Aransas Pass and Rockport are 11 miles apart.I dont know just a feeling she was lying maybe she wanted to cover her tracks,just a theory.

 

[bringherhome]

If at one point she was in Aransas Pass/Rockport maybe she was in some kind of orphanage or runaway shelter?Alot has changed in those two little towns I wonder if they would have any records from that time.

 

[sevengirl]

I have been searching blogs/message boards regarding New Bethany in Louisiana and Rebekah house in Corpus. Looking for anyone who talked about a runaway who never came back. Nothing yet. I did find one post mentioning a runaway who they staff didn't bother to look for because she was "of age", meaning not a minor. Apparently, TX was sending kids from juvie to New Bethany in Louisiana. The sheriff in Acadia said when he picked up runaways from there, he refused to return them to New Bethany because he heard horror stories about that place. There is a FB page for the survivors of Rebekah house, maybe it would be helpful to post there, see if anyone remembers our Doe? It's a shot in the dark but you never know.

One other thing that I really really want to look into is the names of inmates that were released from TDC in Hunstville on Oct 30/31. IMO that would be a list of suspects right there.

 

[carbuff]

I have been searching blogs/message boards regarding New Bethany in Louisiana and Rebekah house in Corpus. Looking for anyone who talked about a runaway who never came back. Nothing yet. I did find one post mentioning a runaway who they staff didn't bother to look for because she was "of age", meaning not a minor. Apparently, TX was sending kids from juvie to New Bethany in Louisiana. The sheriff in Acadia said when he picked up runaways from there, he refused to return them to New Bethany because he heard horror stories about that place. There is a FB page for the survivors of Rebekah house, maybe it would be helpful to post there, see if anyone remembers our Doe? It's a shot in the dark but you never know.

One other thing that I really really want to look into is the names of inmates that were released from TDC in Hunstville on Oct 30/31. IMO that would be a list of suspects right there.

Yes, it's a long shot, but so is everything at this point. I'd say it's worth a try, and somebody might be able to give pointers to other similar places.