Sherri Jarvis

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Walker County Jane Doe was a teenager or young adult found murdered on November 1, 1980. She had been seen alive a hours before her body was found and claimed she was from the nearby cities of Aransas Pass or Rockport.

Sightings

Some claimed to have seen the victim, who claimed she was a runaway from Aransas Pass or Rockport, Texas. The victim said she wanted to go to the Ellis Prison Farm to see a "friend."

She was seen by the manager of the South End Gulf Station and two employees of the Hitch 'n Post truck stop.

A waitress at the truck stop asked the girl if her parents knew where she was. The girl replied, "Who cares?"

Each of the three witnesses who saw the victim are now deceased.

Case

The young woman's body was found face down near a highway in Huntsville, Texas. She had been strangled, beaten and violently sexually assaulted; her body was unclothed, but a pair of red high-heeled sandals were disposed of near the body.

Authorities decided to test the sandals for DNA, but no results have been released.

Investigation

After the discovery of the body, witnesses from the gas station and truck stop came forward and identified the decedent as a teenage girl who had asked for directions to the Ellis Prison Unit. No inmates or staff could identify the victim.

Her body was exhumed in 1999 to obtain a DNA sample and for more information on her age.

Related cases

She may have been killed by the same man as Orange Socks, who was found around the same day a year before. The pair had both been strangled, sexually assaulted and left nude by a highway, except for footwear.^[1]

Lucas confessed to killing Orange Socks but later recanted. Lucas had been working in Florida the day Orange Socks was murdered in Texas. Lucas was known to have confessed to multiple crimes that were almost certainly not committed by him.

Early in the investigation, serial killer Henry Lee Lucas was considered a possible suspect in the Walker County case. However, bitemarks on the victim's back could not be matched to Lucas.

Another theory indicates the victim could be one of four other victims (along with Harris County Jane Doe) killed along Interstate 45 in 1980. Each victim was strangled and some were victims of sexual assault.

Physical characteristics

She had brown hair, cut in a "wing" style.
Her eyes were hazel but could have been brown.
She painted her toenails a light pink.
She was at a healthy weight.
She had some dental fillings.
Her right nipple may have been inverted, according to one news report.

Clothing and jewelry

She was found wearing a thin gold necklace with a pendant containing a smoky or blue-colored stone.
- This necklace was mysteriously lost and was never photographed
She was found alongside a pair of high-heeled, strapped red sandals.
She was found with pantyhose, which appeared to be the murder weapon.
She may have worn a yellow pullover sweater.
She may have worn blue jeans.
She may have worn a white blouse.

Media appearances

Her sketch and morgue photographs appear in Karen T. Taylor's Forensic Art and Illustration.

Theories

She may have been killed by a serial killer connected to the Texas Killing Fields.
She may have known the prisoner she was seeking to visit through a prison pen pal program.
She may have been from the Gulf Coast region of Texas.
She may have run away from the New Bethany School for Girls or a similar institution.
Her name may have been Cathleen/Kathleen, Kathy/Cathy or Katy.
- In late 2015, a picture of a possible runaway from Corpus Christi surfaced that resembled the victim.

She may have been "Kitty", an unidentified 17-years old girl who was living in Galveston youth shelter and whose photo - featured in 1980 documentary "Runaways"- shows resemblance to the victim. It's also possible that Jane Doe, "Kitty" and "Kathy/Cathy" mentioned above are the same person.