Walker County Jane Doe is an unidentified teenage girl who was murdered more than 40 years ago. Her body was found on the side of the roadway in Huntsville, Texas. However, despite the efforts of local authorities, her identity, as well as that of the person responsible for her death, remains unknown.
At around 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 1, 1980, police officers with the Walker County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to an area near I-45 in Huntsville, just south of the FM 1696 exit, after receiving a call from a truck driver.
According to KBTX, the trucker informed law enforcement officers that as he was passing through Sam Houston National Forest, he saw a human body.
When officers arrived on the scene, they discovered the nude body of a female lying face down on the ground. Her remains were transported to the Harris County Medical Examiner for an autopsy.
The results concluded that she had been raped, and her cause of death was strangulation by ligature. However, pathologists could not identify her and she, therefore, became known as the Walker County Jane Doe.
An investigation revealed that the victim may have been between the ages of 15 and 20, and detectives believe she arrived in Huntsville just one day before she was found dead, ABC 13 reported.
Several witnesses recognized the body as that of the young lady who claimed to be from the Rockport/Aransas Pass area.
They also stated that she was seeking directions to the Texas Department of Corrections Ellis Prison Farm, but they didn’t know her name.
Walker County Jane Doe was also seen at a gas station, asking the owner for directions to the prison. She was seen again at the Hitchin’ Post truck stop restaurant along Interstate 45, questioning several employees about how to get to Ellis Prison Farm.
When she was given written directions on how to get there, someone asked if her parents knew of her whereabouts, and she reportedly said “who cares” before leaving on foot.
Throughout the years, investigators made several attempts to identify Walker County Jane Doe by trying to find out if she had a relationship with someone at the Ellis Prison Farm. They also searched the missing persons database, but their efforts were unsuccessful.
Sgt. Danny Billingsley told The Huntsville Item that “There are some composite sketches of Jane Doe out there, but none of them looked alike. We worked with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and now we have one that we believe most looks like what the victim would have looked like at the time of her murder.”
He added, “Maybe this new composite will stimulate some interest. We would love to get her identified, which would be somewhat of a win, and catch her killer.”
“It just gets harder and harder to solve a case the older it gets. The three witnesses who saw her in Huntsville have all passed away.”
Anyone with information regarding Walker County Jane Doe is encouraged to contact the Walker County Sheriff’s Office in Huntsville, Texas, at (936) 435-2400, using the reference number 8011476.