***WARNING: This story is quite gruesome and involves pedophilia. If you are sensitive to such topics, consider skipping this week’s report.
Welcome back, everyone, and grab a cup of tea because this story is depressing. We checked out a few notable places during my vacation week, and Jane Doe’s grave was one of them.
Here is the tragic story of St. Louis, Missouri’s Jane Doe, an eight-ten-year-old girl found decapitated in an abandoned house at 5635 Clemens Avenue. She is also known as “Hope” and “Little Jane Doe”; I will be referring to her as Hope in this article.
On February 28, 1983, two individuals found Hope’s body in a basement of a victorian style home in a, not so nice area of St. Louis. I couldn’t find clear reasoning as to why they were taking a smoke break in a creepy old basement; one source said they were looters, another one said they were looking for a pipe to fix their car. That could be something; then again, I’ve found myself in quite a few abandoned places exploring. Thanks to these guys, who weren’t named, they found her.
When police arrived at the scene, they thought there were looking at the body of a sex worker. She was African-American, about 5 feet tall, clothed only in a yellow, blood-stained sweater, with red nail polish and headless. Someone tied her wrists behind her back with a red nylon cord. After further observation, they noted she hadn’t gone through puberty.
There was no blood found in the house, indicating her murder took place elsewhere. She had no distinctive scarring or birthmarks except for one showing she was born with a spina bifida. According to Google, that is when the spinal cord has an incomplete closing.
Her death was estimated within five days of being found due to the mold growing on her neck. Her head was determined to have been removed with a single slice, like with a carving knife. Her head is still missing to this day, which is why this is Missouri’s saddest cold case to date.
Authorities would later find evidence of rape that occurred before Hope's death.
Also, her beheading wasn’t what killed her; it was strangulation. So, that's great. I'm sorry, this story gets sadder and sadder. I hope you have your tea handy.
With no leads, her body was eventually buried at Washington Park Cemetery on December 2, 1983.
In 1993, Police mailed Hope’s sweater and the rope that confined her to a psychic in Flordia. Though I love using this practice to find leads, it’s not always legit. There are many fake psychics out there, and after you read what happens next, you might think it’s a little suspicious yourself. After they mailed it off, it vanished. The psychic said they never received it and police decided it got lost in the mail.
My brain instantly goes to the psychic was the killer or knew the killer, or I guess an asshole who wanted police evidence for their collection. It’s perfect if they think about it. They murder her and dump the body; police only have this sweater, so why not acquire it?
Unfortunately, if the sweater did get lost in the mail, does that mean some random fucking person received a bloody sweater and a rope?
In 2013 Hope was exhumed to run Isotope tests on her bones. They wanted to know the mineral content in her bones to determine where she lived. They found all of this out because different areas have different minerals in their water. Hope ended up being from the southeastern part of America. Meaning she was either from Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Tennessee, North Carolina, or South Carolina.
Her body later reburied at Calvary Cemetery in the Garden of Innocents with other unknown children with no leads.
The only suspect this case ever had was Vernon Brown, who murdered girls the same age in the same way. Brown never confessed that there was never any real evidence linking to the case.
In 2020 Hope’s case was reopened with the St.Louis Metropolitan Police newest cold case unit. Though they have only been up for two years, they have solved ten cold cases. They ask that if you have any leads to call them at 314-444-5371
I hope you found this story...informative, enjoyable isn’t the word for this one. I don’t remember how I came across this story, but I had never heard of it before. Though I focus more on the spooky, ghost stuff at The Raven, having grown up in St. Louis, I was surprised by this story.
Anyway, Dj and I should be recording a new episode this week, and I couldn’t be more excited. Please bear with us; we haven’t done this since September, not that we were killing it back then but still, be prepared for awkwardness.
Until next time.
-Tye
Always Cite Those Sources:
Byers, Christine. “Research Unlocks Some Secrets about Decapitated Girl for St. Louis Detective.” STLtoday.com, 24 Sept. 2015, www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/research-unlocks-some-secrets-about-decapitated-girl-for-st-louis-detective/article_36de5a5c-b615-5292-b5aa-abb99a888a6c.html.
Hessel, Katherine. “St. Louis Cold Case Investigators Still Have Hopes of Solving 1983 'Little Jane Doe' Murder.” FOX 2, FOX 2, 25 Sept. 2020, fox2now.com/news/metro-most-wanted/st-louis-cold-case-investigators-still-have-hopes-of-solving-1983-little-jane-doe-murder/.
“St. Louis Jane Doe.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 16 Nov. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Jane_Doe#:~:text=The%20St.,Louis%2C%20Missouri.
“Who Is 'Little Jane Doe'? A Headless Body, a Haunting Cold Case.” Investigation Discovery, www.investigationdiscovery.com/crimefeed/murder/who-is-little-jane-doe-a-headless-body-a-haunting-cold-case.