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

[CarlK90245]

The one distinctive feature of WCJD that stands out to me as is her very tiny chin.

She also has a thick lower lip and asymmetrical eyebrows, but you can't rely on that for identification because she was severely beaten prior to her death (and therefore, her lips might be swollen as opposed to naturally thick), and eyebrows can be plucked.

Looking at Karen Zendrosky, she has a very normal-sized chin. She does look similar to WCJD in other respects, but her chin is very clearly larger than WCJD's

 

[CarlK90245]

I decided to re-do another WCJD reconstruction from scratch, using the same angle as shown in the postmortem photo.

 

[tamar]

excellent job, Carl.

 

[CarlK90245]

I located 10 Aransas Pass HS alumni (Five from the Class of 1983 and five from the Class of 1984) in Facebook, and sent them messages with the two recons attached.

(If she was approximately 14-15 in 1980, her peers would have been from approximately the 1983-84 graduation classes)

Here is the text of my message:

Pardon the intrusion. I found your facebook page based on your connection to Aransas Pass High School class of 1984. For the past several years, I’ve been trying to solve a 30-year old mystery, and I’m hoping you can help me.

The photo attached below is an artist’s depiction of a young girl who was murdered and left in a roadside culvert in Huntsville Texas near the Ellis Prison Unit on Halloween night, 1980. For 30 years, she has remained unidentified, known only as Walker County Jane Doe. She was approximately 14-15 years old.

Prior to her death, she had been seen in a truck-stop diner. She had been hitchhiking, and was asking directions to the Ellis Prison. The waitress, concerned that a girl so young was hitchhiking alone, asked her where she was from. She replied that she was from the Aransas Pass / Rockport area. The clerk asked her if her parents knew where she was, and she responded “who cares”.

The following morning, she was found dead in the roadside culvert - naked, beaten and strangled. The Police showed her photo to every inmate in the Ellis Prison, and none of them admitted to having known her. Since she was apparently never reported missing, I suspect that she may have been a runaway from a dysfunctional home or foster home. However, her good physical condition and well-cared for teeth suggested that she was from a middle-class family, and had not been on the road very long. Apparently, she had some connection (either a friend or relative) to an inmate at the Ellis Prison.

Since you are from Aransas Pass, and were the same approximate age in 1980 that she was, I am hoping that perhaps you remember a girl that you knew in your teenage years who resembled the girl depicted below, and you have not seen since 1980.

I would appreciate any help that you might be able to provide.

I'll keep you all posted on any replies.

 

[CarlK90245]

I already received one reply:

I do not recognize that picture. High school yearbooks from that time period might help you. From the age you suggest I suppose she would be a freshman or sophomore. The Ingleside and Aransas Pass communities are pretty tied together. Port Aransas as well. Aransas Pass has a very active high school alumni program and might have ideas. aphsalumni.org There is an all class reunion 6/25. Good luck

 

[CarlK90245]

I already received one reply:

I do not recognize that picture. High school yearbooks from that time period might help you. From the age you suggest I suppose she would be a freshman or sophomore. The Ingleside and Aransas Pass communities are pretty tied together. Port Aransas as well. Aransas Pass has a very active high school alumni program and might have ideas. aphsalumni.org There is an all class reunion 6/25. Good luck

BBM - I sent an e-mail to the alumni committee and asked if they would circulate a flyer at the upcoming reunion (if I was to prepare one).

 

[future criminologist]

I decided to re-do another WCJD reconstruction from scratch, using the same angle as shown in the postmortem photo.

has anyone looked into asking DSS if they recognize her from the year she disappeared, starting with former employees of the Texas DSS? Or is that just too big of a pool?

 

[webrocket]

has anyone looked into asking DSS if they recognize her from the year she disappeared, starting with former employees of the Texas DSS? Or is that just too big of a pool?

assuming she was a teenager who was in the system, I don't see how anyone would remember a face 30 years later with the volume of cases child services handles.

 

[CarlK90245]

I sent an e-mail to the alumni committee and asked if they would circulate a flyer at the upcoming reunion (if I was to prepare one).

The woman from the alumni committee replied that she would gladly distribute the flyer at the upcoming reunion. Now I need to put it together.

She also said that one of the members has a large collection of yearbooks, and that she believes that there is a large collection Rockport High yearbooks in the Rockport High School Library.

I will suggest that she offer to loan them to Classmates so that they can be scanned into their yearbook collection.

 

[justthinkin]

Carl,

You do an amazing job on reconstructions, and for that we're all truly grateful, but I am having some issues with your latest interpretations of Walker County Doe.

First of all, this case dates back to 1980 Texas.

Now, you are from CA, IIRC, and while it is true that government has classified Hispanics as white, there would be very few whites or blacks in Texas that would agree with that. I can assure you that would have never been the case in Texas in 1980 with white LE. Having lived in TX my entire life, I think you can go to the bank on the description of the Doe as being white or Caucasian.

Also, if you look at the side view of the deceased victim, morgue photo, her skin tone is very light. I do not believe it's a result of death, though it could be, but I think given this is Texas if there were any indications in 1980 this Doe might have been Hispanic or partly Hispanic that absolutely would have been noted in the case file.


I hope you don't take offense at my post as none was intended. I just think you may not have taken into consideration, general thought patterns prevalent in Texas in 1980 or at present concerning illegal aliens or Hispanics in general. Walker County is very conservative, and was even more so back in 1980. Same with Port A (Port Aransas).

Prior to 1982 the only Hispanics in Texas Public Schools were legal citizens.

You might not like this, but if this Doe is featured as a Hispanic, the flyer may be more or less totally discounted or people may take a quick glance, see the skin coloring you've used, and not even give her face closer inspection. Also, the flyer may be accepted, and then not distributed at all based on the recipient's own race or outlook on Hispanics in general, and taking into account the time period in which Walker County Doe was found. IOW, they may just give you lip service about distributing the flyers once they see the photo of the Doe. Sad to say, but that is what you might be up against in Texas.

If you are planning to distribute flyers in the Port Aransas area which I do think is a great idea, you should know they list whites separate from Hispanics, and from this website,
http://www.schools-data.com/schools/PORT-ARANSAS-H-S-PORT-ARANSAS.html
they only show 10 Hispanic students in the high school out of 189 students. I am assuming these statistics are of far more recent vintage than 1980 though I could not find when the statistics were gathered.

Like you I want to see this girl identified. Would like to hear your thoughts on this.
jt

 

[CarlK90245]

Carl,

You do an amazing job on reconstructions, and for that we're all truly grateful, but I am having some issues with your latest interpretations of Walker County Doe.

First of all, this case dates back to 1980 Texas.

Now, you are from CA, IIRC, and while it is true that government has classified Hispanics as white, there would be very few whites or blacks in Texas that would agree with that. I can assure you that would have never been the case in Texas in 1980 with white LE. Having lived in TX my entire life, I think you can go to the bank on the description of the Doe as being white or Caucasian.

Also, if you look at the side view of the deceased victim, morgue photo, her skin tone is very light. I do not believe it's a result of death, though it could be, but I think given this is Texas if there were any indications in 1980 this Doe might have been Hispanic or partly Hispanic that absolutely would have been noted in the case file.


I hope you don't take offense at my post as none was intended. I just think you may not have taken into consideration, general thought patterns prevalent in Texas in 1980 or at present concerning illegal aliens or Hispanics in general. Walker County is very conservative, and was even more so back in 1980. Same with Port A (Port Aransas).

Prior to 1982 the only Hispanics in Texas Public Schools were legal citizens.

You might not like this, but if this Doe is featured as a Hispanic, the flyer may be more or less totally discounted or people may take a quick glance, see the skin coloring you've used, and not even give her face closer inspection. Also, the flyer may be accepted, and then not distributed at all based on the recipient's own race or outlook on Hispanics in general, and taking into account the time period in which Walker County Doe was found. IOW, they may just give you lip service about distributing the flyers once they see the photo of the Doe. Sad to say, but that is what you might be up against in Texas.

If you are planning to distribute flyers in the Port Aransas area which I do think is a great idea, you should know they list whites separate from Hispanics, and from this website,
http://www.schools-data.com/schools/PORT-ARANSAS-H-S-PORT-ARANSAS.html
they only show 10 Hispanic students in the high school out of 189 students. I am assuming these statistics are of far more recent vintage than 1980 though I could not find when the statistics were gathered.

Like you I want to see this girl identified. Would like to hear your thoughts on this.
jt

I've already sent the flyers to the people in Aransas Pass, and they seem pretty enthusiastic about getting them distributed. They say that they will also send copies to the local Chamber of Commerce and the schools (She says that maybe a teacher might recognize her). She also brought up their one missing girl, Blanca Elisa Robertson (missing in 1989), who BTW is Hispanic. I don't get any impression that her race makes any difference in their attitudes about how enthusiastically they pursue it.

I've looked pretty closely at her. To me, she looks Caucasian with a slight hint of either a Hispanic or Native American mix. And while I can't entirely get eyes 100% right from closed eyes, I think I have the size, shape, spacing and slant pretty close. I overlaid a transparency of the postmortem photo over my reconstruction, and everything aligns perfectly (except that I raised her chin slightly to depict her with a closed mouth).

And I'm not sure you can get a sense of her true skin tone from that photo. Not only is she pale from being dead for at least 5-6 hours, but the tint of the actual photo is off, particularly because it is 30-years old and the colors of the photo are faded.

Also, it indicates that her eyes were hazel, and her hair is naturally light brown (no evidence of color treatment), which would support a European mix. My straight-on view emphasizes more of a Caucasian mix, while the angled view emphasizes more of an Hispanic/Native mix.

I also put the URL of the NamUs photo at the bottom of the flyer for those who might want to see the actual photo.

 

[webrocket]

the fact that Aransas Pass is an affluent and overwhelmingly white community actually tends to support the UID as being from there as it was noted that she had very good teeth, which for many people is a luxury they cannot afford.

what befuddles me is why they would take the time to show her face to the prisoners without going to Aransas Pass to do the same thing. (not sure whether they did or not, but they specifically mentioned the prison).

 

[CarlK90245]

the fact that Aransas Pass is an affluent and overwhelmingly white community actually tends to support the UID as being from there as it was noted that she had very good teeth, which for many people is a luxury they cannot afford.

what befuddles me is why they would take the time to show her face to the prisoners without going to Aransas Pass to do the same thing. (not sure whether they did or not, but they specifically mentioned the prison).

I don't know how thoroughly they pursued the Aransas Pass angle, but I don't think these two women from the Alumni association had ever heard of this case.

 

[justthinkin]

Thanks, Carl! Maybe its just me, but I thought both the straight on and the angled reconstruction looked Hispanic, and I was worried that's how this DOE would be viewed in Port A. Perhaps its my computer, but the skin tone looks too dark for someone labeled white in 1980 Texas from my POV.

 

[Ambercat]

I wonder whether it might be worth asking people again, now that the statute of limitations (or whatever the American equivalent is, if there is one) on statutory rape has passed? I can't imagine it would be a nice experience being asked about your girlfriend because she's dead and unidentified, and having to say "Nope, never seen her." Someone might be willing to talk if they know it is too late to get in trouble.

It's statute of limitations here, too. I think the statute is somewhere between 5 to 7 years depending on the jurisdiction, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[justthinkin]

I don't know if anyone is aware of this or not, but a high school girl was murdered in August of that same year in an adjoining county. Girl died by slow strangulation.

There have been a number of victims along I-45 attributed to more than one serial killer. Details in the other murder warranted its mention as to a possible suspect in this case. Unfortunately I don't see where Walker Co. took bodily samples or fingernail scrapings.

 

[CarlK90245]

Thanks, Carl! Maybe its just me, but I thought both the straight on and the angled reconstruction looked Hispanic, and I was worried that's how this DOE would be viewed in Port A. Perhaps its my computer, but the skin tone looks too dark for someone labeled white in 1980 Texas from my POV.

Remember that Lt. Perkins told Mia G that he thought that WCJD might be partially Hispanic or Asian.

 

[reasypeasy]

Has it been considered that a person might get a slight asiatic/indigenous genetic heritage from being of Eastern European descent? Just my opinion, but to me she looks like she got her exotic looks from the other side of the Bering Straight. That chin and all through her jawline area looks very Russian to me.

 

[CarlK90245]

Has it been considered that a person might get a slight asiatic/indigenous genetic heritage from being of Eastern European descent? Just my opinion, but to me she looks like she got her exotic looks from the other side of the Bering Straight. That chin and all through her jawline area looks very Russian to me.

I was thinking the same thing, that she might have Eastern European lineage. She might have even been adopted from an Eastern Bloc country.

 

[CarlK90245]

My Aransas Pass contact has friends who own restaurants and other businesses around the area, and she is going to distribute flyers all over the area. She has given them to the three local newspapers and the local Police departments and schools in Rockport, Ingleside, Portland, and Aransas Pass.

I'm very pleased that she is clearly taking a strong interest in this case.