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

[yogasleuther]

You know, you're right, thats the simplest thing. I am outside of the US so can't call them but I will send an email and ask if they owned it back then or if they know who did and who would have records.

Thank you I don't know if easy or not. Post the email reply to us right away!

 

[yogasleuther]

Thank you I don't know if easy or not. Post the email reply to us right away!

I'm late on here today
I see you already emailed and someone made a call.

 

[Dr.Strangelove]

She must have been fooling herself that her claim to the waitress of being "nineteen" would ever have worked. Maybe she didn't expect it to work and she was just fobbing off irritating questions?

I suppose she may not have realized how going she actually looked, especially if she way busty. I was pretty busty at that age and i assumed everyone thought I was older because of it. Apparently not because 18 year old me got asked if i was over the age of twelve at a grocery store haha

 

[Roselvr]

<modsnip>

I know...I don't know how long hotels keep records of who stayed...in the 80s some things were computerized and some weren't. Being a small hotel who knows...we'd probably need nights of Oct 28 and 29 maybe... And see if there are couple with an extra person in their party.

My dad had our gas/ service station on computer back then. I doubt they exist now for the hotel. Especially if there's a new owner

A birth record should be on file for all persons born in the US. Texas is one of the states with birth records that can be accessed in Ancestry .com. So if she was born in Texas, there is probably a birth record for her in Ancestry.

As for an ID card, many kids don't need an official government ID card until they start driving (usually at age 16), or a passport if they need to travel outside of the country.

A Social Security number is usually assigned in the first few years of life, but a SocSec number is needed if the parents want to claim the tax exemption allowed for each dependent. And a SocSec number is required to enroll in school and/or start a job.

But none of those sources are of any use to us without a name to search for.

Back when I was 15 I got my social security number in order to be paid at work.

When I had my son in 1985, applying for the social was not mandatory. It was mandatory by 1993 when I had my daughter. That's when they started using socials to track people on income tax from what I remember

 

[rascal32]

That should look into social security numbers that have not been used in many years.. Social security could probably solve a lot of doe cases or at least provide some names to look into


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[zeldazonk1976]

Mia, I know you are in the Huntsville area/at least somewhat close by. I had an "AH HA!" moment as I was working on my family tree this past weekend...

Library "special collections" and genealogical centers in towns/counties often have yearbooks spanning decades. At this point, maybe it's worthwhile checking out libraries/genealogical centers in the cities of Aransas Pass/Rockport or Aransas County to see if they have yearbooks. Usually, the librarians are more than eager to help.

I only wish I was there to lend a hand!

 

[paul1980]

from this thread, none of the witnesses that met WCJD are still alive, 37 years later. Sad as they might have been able to help us.

 

[LeenC]

The age estimate is not just based on her facial appearance. They did a full anthropological examination on her bones and teeth when they exhumed her about 10 years ago. Age estimates based on anthropological examination are usually pretty accurate within a year or two on persons under 20. The estimates are less accurate as the subject gets older.

I wasn't saying that the age estimate based on the anthropological examination was somehow wrong. I was only pointing out that it is subjective to say that she must be closer to the lower age estimate based on how young she looks in the PM pictures Other than that, I agree with everything you said.

 

[paul1980]

the question that still haunts me: "why did no mother or father ever come forward in almost four decades?"

 

[Otterly]

the question that still haunts me: "why did no mother or father ever come forward in almost four decades?"

It will probably be a situation similar to Tammy Jo Alexander. The parents didn't really care that she ran away/disappeared.

 

[carbuff]

the question that still haunts me: "why did no mother or father ever come forward in almost four decades?"

No parents or relatives living
Foster system
Parents didn't know where to look, still don't know where or how to look. There weren't that many options in 1980.
She left willingly and they have no reason to think she's deceased
They're looking in a different area or the wrong time.
They never heard of this case to know it's her.
They reported her but her report was lost, aged out of the system, or never followed up on
They reported her but got a runaround. Runaways especially weren't taken seriously.
She was wanted for a minor crime and is listed as a fugitive. In most areas LE won't take a missing persons report on someone who's considered a fugitive.
Missing report is there but for whatever reason hasn't been entered into the national system yet.

We have any number of cases where mistakes in the reporting or jurisdictional barriers have caused obvious matches to be overlooked. There was one in Texas where the missing woman was found only a few days later, two towns over, but the connection wasn't made until the year I joined Websleuths. A girl in California wasn't matched because at first they thought her remains were male, and then her missing date was wrong and said she disappeared after the remains were found.

It's possible they really didn't care. There are enough dysfunctional and uncaring families around. But there are a lot of other possibilities too.

 

[Triss]

No parents or relatives living
Foster system
Parents didn't know where to look, still don't know where or how to look. There weren't that many options in 1980.
She left willingly and they have no reason to think she's deceased
They're looking in a different area or the wrong time.
They never heard of this case to know it's her.
They reported her but her report was lost, aged out of the system, or never followed up on
They reported her but got a runaround. Runaways especially weren't taken seriously.
She was wanted for a minor crime and is listed as a fugitive. In most areas LE won't take a missing persons report on someone who's considered a fugitive.
Missing report is there but for whatever reason hasn't been entered into the national system yet.

We have any number of cases where mistakes in the reporting or jurisdictional barriers have caused obvious matches to be overlooked. There was one in Texas where the missing woman was found only a few days later, two towns over, but the connection wasn't made until the year I joined Websleuths. A girl in California wasn't matched because at first they thought her remains were male, and then her missing date was wrong and said she disappeared after the remains were found.

It's possible they really didn't care. There are enough dysfunctional and uncaring families around. But there are a lot of other possibilities too.

These are some good reasons, carbuff. For some reason I've always believed she was a foster kid.

 

[carbuff]

These are some good reasons, carbuff. For some reason I've always believed she was a foster kid.

I get that impression too. As young as she was, I think she was out on her own.

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[Bit of hope]

I was in temptation to do all the "or's' Carbuff but I didn't want to go there, it makes my tiered, angry and sad...thanks for your post....

 

[carbuff]

I was in temptation to do all the "or's' Carbuff but I didn't want to go there, it makes my tiered, angry and sad...thanks for your post....

I prefer to think that there's a long list of concrete paths to investigate to try to find who a person belongs to. So there's hope. When I started at Websleuths, it seemed like we were lucky to get half a dozen matches in a year. Now we sometimes see that in a month. As we get word out, as people realize there are tools to find a loved one, as law enforcement departments realize that some of their oldest cold cases can be solved, there will be more and more matches.

But it does get discouraging sometimes. Hang in there. Take a break if you need to. You do amazing work in here but even the best of us need breaks.

 

[paul1980]

Is WCJD's killer most likely dead by now? He'd probably be between 70 and 90 by now

 

[yogasleuther]

I prefer to think that there's a long list of concrete paths to investigate to try to find who a person belongs to. So there's hope. When I started at Websleuths, it seemed like we were lucky to get half a dozen matches in a year. Now we sometimes see that in a month. As we get word out, as people realize there are tools to find a loved one, as law enforcement departments realize that some of their oldest cold cases can be solved, there will be more and more matches.

But it does get discouraging sometimes. Hang in there. Take a break if you need to. You do amazing work in here but even the best of us need breaks.

Carbuff and bit of hope...definitely she was on her own, she said "who cares" at Hitchin Post like to say no one cared. And wandered off to. her death...I always wondered why she was carrying red shoes...maybe she hooked through truckers at truck stop first to get money. One if the ended her life maybe. Or I often think maybe it was the couple.

 

[paul1980]

I wonder if the waitress tried to persuade WCJD/Ruthie Doe to stay in the diner?

 

[Bit of hope]

No discussion here....that is not the issue if you ask me....just keeping an open mind. Yes, I think she was on her own, a foster child? a child running from the system? a bad home? a troubled, angry kid? probably, maybe....a lot of young people turn away from there families for a lot of different reasons. She could have said that nobody cared but we don't know it this was actually the case. Could be totally her perspective and her parents (if they were there for her and if they were asked) could tell a very different story.

 

[paul1980]

True. Michelle Garvey's family loved her and missed her but Michelle still ran away to her death.