Pima County Jane Doe

For other unidentified bodies found in Pima County, see List of unidentified decedents in the United States.
Pima County Jane Doe

Most recent reconstruction of the victim
Born 1959 - 1963
Status Unidentified for 34 years and 19 days
Died c. April 6, 1981 (aged 18 - 22)
Tucson, Pima County, Arizona
Cause of death
 Ligature strangulation, beating
Body discovered
 April 8, 1981
Known for Unidentified victim of homicide
Height 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) (minimum)
and 5 ft 3 in (1.60 m) (maximum)
Weight 100 lb (45 kg) (minimum)
110 lb (50 kg) (maximum)

Pima County Jane Doe is a currently unidentified American murder victim who was found on April 8, 1981 within days of her death. To this day, her identity has never been confirmed, although a photograph resembling her reconstructed face surfaced in late 2014.[1] She was buried under a headstone with the placeholder name of "Jane Doe" with the phrase "UNK - 1981"[2]

Physical characteristics and clothing

The body of a white female was found in a desert on April 8, 1981 in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona, near Houghton Road by interstate 10.[3] Her remains were found by hunters driving in the desert who saw a jacket hanging from a tree and then looked through the area and discovered her body lying on the ground.[4][2] She was a young adult, between eighteen and twenty-two when she was strangled with some sort of ligature and severely beaten about two to one and a half days before she was found.[4][5][2] She was also a victim of sexual assault.[2][6] Although she died recently, her body was already unrecognizable due to decomposition, preventing accurate analysis of her eye color. However, it was possible to determine that she had a light complexion and had light brown to blond hair that was a foot long. The victim also had a white spot on one of her upper front teeth that was noticeable and likely a significant marker for identification.[3][7]

She was approximately five feet two to five feet three inches and weighed around 100 to 110 pounds.[8] Her age was initially estimated to be between seventeen and twenty-five, but was later changed to eighteen to twenty two.[2][8]

She wore a denim jacket, denim jeans, white socks with pink pom poms, a white bra, blue underwear, brown suede shoes and unique blouse that was a dark blue with "puffy reddish-colored sleeves" with a flower design.[3][4][3] Her jacket appeared to have been thrown into the trees near her body, possibly by the Jane Doe to distract her killer or by the killer themselves for unknown reasons.[1]

Investigation

Unidentified subject, dubbed as "Flower Girl"

The crime scene was photographed and police also flew over the area to take additional photographs and to find any additional potential clues.[2] Decomposition was not advanced enough to completely alter her fingerprints, which were eventually taken, along with dental information and, further on, her DNA.[3] The DNA of someone possibly involved in her death was extracted from her clothing in 2006 and was then, after analysis was completed in 2007, a DNA profile of a potential suspect was created.[6] At the time she was found, authorities in Tucson were unable to obtain fingerprints, so her hands were severed from the body and transported to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where they were successfully obtained, although they did not match any missing person or convicted criminal's prints. The case was also compared to several missing persons cases, but all, at least twenty-three, were ruled out.[2][3]

Because of the style of some of her clothing, she could have been involved in the local county fair, which occurred within the time of her murder.[5][2] Images of her clothing have been featured on online websites, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children posters and on various news reports in hopes to identify her.[9] The victim had been walking or running through a wooded area before her death, as scratches on her body suggested.[5][2]

After her 2012 exhumation, her face was digitally reconstructed after her skull was subjected to a CT scan by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children as an attempt to show an estimation of what she may have looked like when alive.[1][10][11]

Many different theories about the victim exist. It is possible she may have been a runaway child before she became an adult, had possibly been estranged from family, had been murdered elsewhere and dumped at a new scene or had hitchhiked to Tucson from another location.[2][5]

"Flower Girl" and Jack Kalhauser

In late 2014, a photograph of a young woman with light hair holding a bouquet was found in possession of Jack Kalhauser, a convicted murderer from Massachusetts, which resembled the victim.[12] The female in the photograph matched the victim's description and the photograph was believed to have been taken between 1979 and 1981, which fit the time frame that the Jane Doe was found in. The girl in the photograph has not yet been identified and has been dubbed as "Flower Girl."[13] Kalhauser is considered a suspect in the Jane Doe's murder and refuses authorities' requests to identify the Flower Girl.[14] [15] He had ties to Arizona and is believed to have murdered his wife, Diane Van Reeth in 1995, while living under a false name. Van Reeth's body has never been found. He was convicted of the murder of Paul Chapman, whom he shot to death in 1974 at the age of seventeen.[13] He was also indicted for the attempted murder of a man in 1979. After he was indicted, he fled after being released from jail.[16]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Murillo, Lupita (9 December 2014). "Crime Trackers: "Jane Doe" Cold Case heating up". KVOA News (NBC). Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Kimble, Mark (11 April 2002). "Jane Doe: 21 years here in a grave marked UNK". Tucson Citizen. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "NamUs UP # 10566". identifyus.org. National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. August 27, 2012. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "Jane Doe #3". Pima County Sheriff Department. 3 November 2010. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Case File: 1058UFAZ". doenetwork.org. The Doe Network. November 10, 2013. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Murillo, Lupita (25 June 2013). "New technology helping in '81 cold case". KVOA News. NBC. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "Pima Arizona Jane Doe April 1981". canyouidentifyme.org. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Jane Doe 1981". missingkids. National Center for Missing & Exploited Children. Retrieved December 22, 2014.
  9. ↑ Melanson, Alana (6 December 2014). "Police seek woman's ID in cold-case probe". Lowell Sun. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  10. ↑ Matas, Kimberly (26 June 2013). "Cold Case: 32 years after her death, deputies seek to ID Jane Doe". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  11. ↑ Goldstein, Sasha (27 June 2013). "Arizona sheriff hopes DNA, facial reconstruction, will help crack 32-year-old cold case". New York Daily News. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  12. ↑ "Pima County Jane Doe Killer- Arizona- 1981". AMW Fans. 28 December 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Huff, Steve (6 December 2014). "Pima Jane Doe and the Flower Girl, Part 1". Cold Papers. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  14. ↑ "Chelmsford Police Seek Info In Arizona Cold Case Murder". CBS Boston (CBS). 6 December 2014. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  15. ↑ Taurasi, Liz. "Police Asking Public's Help in Identifying Woman in Jane Doe Case [Updated]". Westford Patch. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  16. ↑ Huff, Steve (24 December 2014). "Pima Jane Doe and the Flower Girl, Part 2". Cold Papers. Retrieved 21 January 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to unidentified murder victims.