She Was Wearing Nothing But A Necklace When A Truck Driver Found Her Dead Along The Highway And 41 Years Later She’s No Longer A Jane Doe
Huntsville, Texas. 41 years ago, a truck driver was making his way along I-45 on the morning of November 1st, 1980, close to where the Sam Houston National Forest is, when he spotted something off the edge of the highway.
He stopped, close to the FM 1696 exit, to see what had caught his eye. 20 feet off the highway was a young girl’s body, placed face-down.
The only thing she had on was a pendant; it was a rectangular, smoky-colored stone hanging off of a fine, gold chain.
Her toes had been painted the lightest shade of pink, her brown hair was cut into feathered wings, which was a very fashionable style back in the 80s.
Someone had tossed a pair of red, high-heeled style sandals close to where she was lying, and there were some pantyhose found nearby that seemed to have been the instrument used to strangle her, but nobody could tell for sure if they were hers or not.
Aside from the necklace and the sandals, there was no other way to possibly identify her. She had no license, no identifiable clothing; nothing.
Authorities suspected her life had been taken just hours before she was found by the truck driver. As her death made the local news, a few individuals would say that they thought that they had seen a teenaged girl that may have been her just a day earlier.
One of those people mentioned this girl was spotted around 6:30 in the evening on Halloween, holding onto a pair of heeled sandals.
She had been at the South End Gulf station, and she was wondering if someone could point her in the direction of the Ellis unit, which is a men’s prison located in Huntsville.
Another witness later confirmed they had seen this girl later on that night, and again, she was wanting directions to the prison. She had said that she was going to see one of her friends at the prison.
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Investigators naturally spoke to every male prisoner at the Ellis Unit, and every single employee, though none of them said that they knew this girl. It was a dead end.
And so, on January 16th, 1981, she was laid to rest, without a name to place on her headstone. She was nicknamed the Walker County Jane Doe in the absence of her real name.
National Center For Missing & Exploited Children; pictured above is a composite photo of the Walker County Jane Doe
Decades flew by, and there simply weren’t any leads in her case, so it was closed.
In 2015, her case was opened once again, and the National Center For Missing & Exploited Children created the above composite photo of her in the hopes that someone would recognize her.
It wasn’t until last year when the Walker County Sheriff’s Office reached out to Othram to help them obtain a viable sample of her DNA to test that things began to move forward.
Othram was able to help close in on the Walker County Jane Doe’s living relatives, and they turned that information back over to Detective Tom Bean, who was leading the investigation into the case.
Detective Tom Bean was able to finally figure out who the Walker County Jane Doe was, and today at a press conference, the Walker County Sheriff’s Office revealed that her name really is Sherri Ann Jarvis.
Sadly, Sherri was just 14-years-old when she was murdered on November 1st, 41 years ago.
Sherri’s family back in Stillwater, Minnesota had lost contact with her shortly before her death, but they had hired a private investigator in an effort to track her down, without any success.
Walker County Sheriff’s Office; pictured above is Sherri Ann Jarvis, the Walker County Jane Doe
“She loved children, animals, and horseback riding,” Sherri’s family said in a statement read aloud at the press conference identifying her as the Walker County Jane Doe.
“She was a tender 13 years of age when the state removed her from our home for habitual truancy. Sherri never returned to our home as promised, in a letter we received from her shortly after her departure.”
“She was deprived of so many life experiences as a result of this tragedy. She was denied the opportunity to experience romance, and love, and marital bliss. The heartache, and the pain of loss.”
“The pure joy of having children or growing old and being able to reflect on set milestones afforded by abounding lifetime.”
The Walker County Sheriff’s Office is now focused on finding out who took Sherri’s life, and her case is quite similar to other murders that have happened throughout Texas.
Authorities revealed that after Sherri was officially identified, they received new information that may hopefully lead to her killer.
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