St. Charles County Jane Doe was a woman who was discovered near West Alton, Missouri on May 25, 2002. She is a victim of serial killer Maury Troy Travis.
Case[]
The victim was discovered after an anonymous letter was sent to local Post-Dispatch reporter Bill Smith on May 21, 2002. Her remains were found west of Highway 67 and south of St. Charles Street and scattered over a thirty foot wide area. One or more limbs and one or both hands were not recovered.
The writer of letter claimed responsibility for nine unsolved murders in the area. He wrote he would tell where many others were located, and to prove he was indeed the killer he gave "directions to number seventeen", attaching a typed internet-generated map. Police soon traced the map back to the only IP address to download it recently and the username was MSN/maurytravis, whose real name is Maury Troy Travis.
Travis, a waiter on parole for a 1989 robbery conviction, was arrested on June 7, 2002 and authorities began an extensive search of his house in Ferguson, Missouri. There, they discovered a torture chamber that held torture instruments, a stun gun, newspaper clippings of some of his crimes, and videotapes of Travis killing or sexually abusing victims. Evidence recovered from the torture chamber, as well as DNA evidence, suggests Travis killed between twelve and twenty women, some of whom were drug addicts and or prostitutes, in Missouri and Illinois between 2000 and 2002.
Despite the overwhelming evidence, Travis never confessed to any of the killings. He died by suicide three days later via hanging from his cell at the St. Louis jail in Clayton, Missouri.
Other presumed victims of Travis include Madison County Jane Doe, Monroe County Jane Doe, and St. Clair County Jane Doe.
Clothing[]
- Sleeveless Chorus Blues denim dress with metal buttons.
- Black and silver V-neck stretch shirt with 3/4 length sleeves.
- Black spandex top.
- Torn piece of blue jean-type material.
- White cotton tube sock.
- Blue shoe string-type tie-up in back.
- Thin white cotton fragment.
Gallery[]
.jpg "UP17787 (Spandex top).jpg (2.56 MB)")
.jpg "UP17787 (Shoe string).jpg (1.44 MB)")
).jpg "UP17787 (Denim dress (Full)).jpg (1.53 MB)")
).jpg "UP17787 (Denim dress (Close up)).jpg (2.81 MB)")
.jpg "UP17787 (Button).jpg (1.41 MB)")
.jpg "UP17787 (Denim dress tag).jpg (1.29 MB)")
.jpg "UP17787 (Denim jean).jpg (2.6 MB)")
.jpg "UP17787 (Sock).jpg (2.45 MB)")
Sources[]
- St. Charles County Jane Doe at the Doe Network
- Murderpedia GRAPHIC POSTMORTEM WARNING
- St. Charles County Jane Doe at NamUs
- Maury Travis on Wikipedia