Chip Chick
San Diego, California. It was January 24th, 2000, when the San Diego Fire Department rushed to the College Avenue Baptist Church after someone had called about a fire burning right there in the church’s parking lot.
When firefighters arrived on the scene, located at 4747 College Avenue, they realized they were responding to much more than just a blaze that had to be put out.
A young woman was lying in the parking lot and someone had set her on fire. She was covered in cardboard and a rope had been tied around her.
Upon closer inspection, it was obvious that both of her hands had been cut off.
Firefighters worked to put out the fire and help the young woman, but sadly she passed away from the injuries she had sustained.
Sergeant Ronnie Philhower was the first person from the San Diego Police Department to arrive on the scene, and he noticed that next to the parking lot was an apartment building.
He went to the apartment building in the hopes of finding witnesses. He did find a man who said the fire was burning so much that he could spot the flames from over the wall that divided the parking lot and the apartment building.
Other than that, there was not much to go on, and the young woman remained nameless for 21 long years.
When 2019 came around, investigators were able to take some DNA from their parking lot Jane Doe and upload it to a database in the hopes of finding some of her relatives, and they found a few far-off matches to her.
If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe.
