Who is Chautauqua County’s ‘Jane Doe?’
By JAN KURTH
12/9/2006 - Nearly a generation later, we still don’t know who she is.
‘‘Jane Doe’’ showed up in Chautauqua County back when Ronald Reagan was president and gas was around $1.30 a gallon. To this day she has remained stubbornly nameless. And how ‘‘Jane’’ came to be here is still veiled in mystery. We can only imagine the grief of her loved ones, who have lived for 23 years without any word as to the fate of their missing mother, daughter, sister or friend.
A Niagara Mohawk truck driver was the first to stumble upon ‘‘Jane’’ on Tuesday, Dec. 6, 1983, sometime between 8:30 and 9 in the morning. She had been dumped in a shallow, water-filled ditch, about 15 feet from the eastbound lane of Route 17 (now Interstate 86) in the Town of Ellery. The location was 11/2 miles east of the Chautauqua Lake bridge and approximately 450 feet from the Westman Road overpass. The body was reportedly found face up and ‘‘partially clad.’’
There was no doubt that ‘‘Jane’’ had been the victim of a homicide. According to the coroner’s report, she had been shot once in the back, twice in the chest and once inside the mouth with what was characterized as a ‘‘large-caliber weapon.’’ After combing the shoulder of the road with rakes and a metal detector, a large fragment of an expended bullet was eventually located, though it wasn’t immediately apparent what connection the bullet fragment had to the woman’s death.
Investigators believed that ‘‘Jane’’ could have been in the ditch for up to 24 to 36 hours before she was found. Snow cover would have buried her from view until a barrage of cold, drizzly rain showers revealed her body. Unfortunately, for several days following the discovery, bad weather including a Wednesday snowstorm hampered a thorough search and investigation of the vicinity.
What do we know about ‘‘Jane’’ herself? The basic description states that she was a white female, 5-feet 4-inches in height and 128 pounds. She was somewhere around 30 to 37 years of age at the time of discovery. She had brown eyes and long brown hair (sometimes described as ‘‘dark,’’ sometimes as ‘‘mousy’’) with flecks of gray at the temple. Distinguishing marks included a wart above the left eye, a raised mole behind the left ear and a scar on her throat. Her blood type was A positive. According to one anthropologist, it appears that she had given birth to at least one child in the 15 years prior to her death.
At the time of her discovery, ‘‘Jane’’ matched no missing person reports from the region at all and it soon became clear that ‘‘Jane’’ was going to be a very tough nut to crack. In fact, the evidence hinted that she may have come from somewhere outside the United States (probably Canada or Europe) which thoroughly complicated the matter, particularly in the early 1980s.
One example of the evidence suggesting a foreign connection: The clothing she was found with included a white V-neck camisole that was manufactured in Carpi, Italy, an item that was not then available for export.
Other clothing items she was found with included a high-quality green-, brown- and red-checked trench coat that was reversible to olive drab wool; a homemade plaid wool skirt in various shades of brown, blue and red; and a blue-gray wool crewneck pullover. ‘‘Jane’’ was found without shoes (though it has been determined that her shoe size would have been a 5 or 6). She was found with no jewelry or evidence of jewelry or any other personal property.
The medical evidence also suggests European or Canadian origin. ‘‘Jane’’ had expensive bridgework on the right side of her mouth that appeared to have been done in Europe — at least the gold was reportedly of European origin. She also had an IUD which was foreign made (Finland, Belgium and Holland) that was then available in Canada but not available for distribution in the United States.
Perhaps the oddest clue found with ‘‘Jane’’ was a handwritten note on paper from the Blue Boy Motor Lodge in Vancouver, British Columbia. There is no identifiable message on the note, just abbreviations and numbers. Investigators have been unable to clarify what they mean.
To date, computer checks in the United States, Canada and Interpol have not produced any hits with missing person reports resembling ‘‘Jane.’’ Attempts to identify her through fingerprints have also been unproductive.
Of course, the other mystery is just who was it that murdered ‘‘Jane.’’ Why did the killer (or killers) choose to leave the body here? How did ‘‘Jane’’ end up in his clutches so far from home? Where was the killer driving from and where was he headed? The early investigation hinted at some possible clues. Several employees at truck stops along I-90, including a service station near North East, Pa., thought they might have seen a woman resembling ‘‘Jane’’ on the evening of Monday, Dec. 5. So it appears that ‘‘Jane’’ may have been traveling east along I-90, which swings around the Great Lakes through Chicago.
Surprising enough, even in this day of CSI and DNA, there are homicide victims who aren’t identified for years — if ever. According to the records of various Web sites devoted to missing and unidentified persons, more than 50 unidentified persons have been registered in New York State since the late 1960s. Perhaps an equal number of unidentified persons have never been registered, at least in any computerized database.
The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Department emphasizes that this is still an open case and that they continue to investigate leads as they develop. Nevertheless, ‘‘Jane’’ is very much a case gone cold.
‘‘There is just no new information since way back when,’’ Officer Jim Hanson stated. ‘‘We’ve been checking missing person files, but nothing has come up. She’s still on the nationwide computer, there’s been checks every now and then out of the country for missing persons, but there’s just nothing. Nothing as far as identification on her or suspects.’’
If for any reason you have information on this case, contact the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Department at 753-4231.
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