Artistic renderings of the victim by NCMEC (most recent depicted first), Karen T. Taylor, Charlaine Michaelis, and the Walker County Sheriff's Department (clothing depicted in each image is approximate); approximations of victim's necklace. .
Identified...Identified...Identified
Artistic renderings of the victim by NCMEC (most recent depicted first), Karen T. Taylor, Charlaine Michaelis, and the Walker County Sheriff's Department (clothing depicted in each image is approximate); approximations of victim's necklace. .
Date of Discovery: November 1, 1980
Location of Discovery: Huntsville, Walker County, Texas
Estimated Date of Death: 6 hours prior
State of Remains: Recognizable face
Cause of Death: Homicide by ligature strangulation
Estimated Age: 14-18 years old (most likely 14.5 to 16.5 years old)
Race: White
Sex: Female
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 100 to 110 lbs.
Hair: Light brown, 10" long. Cut in wing fashion. Natural color with no evidence of being dyed.
Eye Color: Hazel
Distinguishing Marks/Features: 1 1/2" scar at end of right eyebrow (occasionally listed as on the elbow; law enforcement confirmed the correct location was near the eyebrow). Pierced ears, although no earrings were recovered. Toenails painted a "delicate" shade of pink. The general condition of the body and her overall health and nutrition indicated she was raised in a middle-class household. Possibly had inverted right nipple.
Dentals: Available. Her teeth had been well cared for, and some fillings were observed. Her teeth were well-alligned, although orthodontic treatment could not be confirmed.
Fingerprints: Available. RT: X0 63 11 09 04; LT: XI DI 08 07 06.
DNA: Available - mtDNA in CODIS. Ref #F-2713.
Clothing: She may have been wearing jeans, a yellow shirt with large pockets, panties, and pantyhose. A pair of red leather high-heeled sandals, 3" or 4" inch platforms with light brown straps had been thrown beside the body. Pantyhose and underwear (descriptions unavailable) were found at the scene as well.
Jewelry: A rectangular-shaped pendant with a smoky blue glass stone on a very thin gold chain (approximations are shown above).
Additional Personal Items: None noted.
A truck driver passing by the Sam Houston National Forest found the victim's body, nude with the exception of a chain necklace with a rectangular pendant. She was lying face down, 20 feet from the shoulder of I-45 north, a half-mile south of FM 1696 exit, two miles north of Huntsville, Texas. High-heeled sandals were thrown in proximity to the body.
It was determined she was likely killed during the early hours of the morning. She had been sexually assaulted with a blunt instrument, beaten, and strangled with pantyhose (which may not have belonged to her). She had a deep bite wound on her right shoulder. No semen was found on or in the victim's body.
When the murder became known through media accounts, several people came forward and said they had seen a teenager matching her description the day before her body was found. It has not been verified that the girl was the unidentified victim; all witnesses have since died.
A witness identified the victim as a girl who had been at the South End Gulf station around 6:30 PM on Halloween night asking for directions to the Ellis prison unit. She had been wearing blue jeans, a yellow pullover sweater with large pockets that hung below her waist, and she was carrying high-heeled sandals in her hand.
To the best of his recollection, she had been let out of a 1973 or 1974 blue Chevrolet with a lighter colored top, possibly a Caprice, which was being driven by a white male. She looked disheveled like she had been traveling and perhaps sleeping in her clothes. She left the station, walking north on Sam Houston Avenue.
A waitress working at the Hitchin' Post truck stop on Interstate 45 said the girl came into the restaurant the same evening and again, asked for directions to the Ellis Unit, saying she had a "friend" there. A map was drawn for her and she departed.
When the waitress asked how old the female was, she responded that she was 19. The waitress thought that was an obvious lie and then asked the girl if her parents knew where she was. The young girl replied, "who cares." The waitress then asked her where she was from. The girl then mentioned the Aransas Pass or Rockport area.
Her photograph was shown to every inmate at Ellis Prison Unit, but they all denied knowing who she was. The nature of her relationship to whom she planned to visit remains unknown, as to whether the individual was an inmate or an employee.
Had the subject seen alive been the victim, it has been speculated that she was killed in a secluded area of the truck stop, after asking a trucker to allow her to sleep in the sleeper cab, as the prison would have been closed to visitors by the time she was seen for the last time.
On January 16, 1981, the unidentified girl was buried in the Adickes Addition at Oakwood Cemetery after a funeral service was held. The Huntsville Funeral Home buried her and Morris Memorials provided her tombstone.
By the time she was buried, dozens of females had been found murdered or disposed of in a suspicious manner along interstate highways in Texas, specifically around cities such as Houston, Fort Worth, and Dallas. The murders were conducted in a similar fashion, involving strangulation, sexual assault, and rape. Several victims, including this female, had been sexually assaulted without being "conventionally" raped.
A majority of the victims were either known or suspected prostitutes, although there was no evidence that this particular victim did so.
Decades later, it was suggested that there was a possibility that this victim, along with 447UFTX and 1540UFTX and another female who has since been identified were killed by the same offender. All four had been left along the north freeway of Interstate 45 during 1980.
The additional unidentified victims were both located in Houston, and they had been murdered and sexually assaulted in a similar way.
There were initial speculations that the unidentified teen was murdered by Henry Lee Lucas, but investigators could not make a match between the bite mark on her left shoulder and his dental reconstruction.
Lucas was well-known for his confession spree, the vast majority were false or coerced statements.
Her body was exhumed in 1999 and examined by a forensic anthropologist to obtain better information regarding her age and height, as well as to obtain a DNA sample, which was suitable only for a CODIS entry.
The victim's height was confirmed to most likely be around 5'6", and her age range was narrowed from the initial estimation of 15-22 to 14-18.
In 2015, the victim's case was reopened by police. A new facial approximation was released by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (replacing their previous rendering), which police described as accurately depicting the female's facial characteristics and hair color.
The sandals found near her body were reportedly sent to be tested for the presence of DNA, although no additional details have been released. The necklace worn by the female was never photographed, and its current location is unknown.
Agency Name: Walker County Sheriff’s Office
Agency Contact Person: Criminal Investigation Division
Agency Phone Number: 936-435-2400
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 80-11-476
Agency Name: Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences
Agency Contact Person: Deborrah Pinto
Agency Phone Number: 832-927-5000 (Pinto), 713-796-6774 (ID Unit), or 713-796-6740 (Investigations Unit)
Agency E-Mail: meoidunit(at)meo.hctx.net
Agency Case Number: PA80-0254
Agency Name: Texas Department Of Public Safety
Agency Contact Person: Missing Persons Clearing House
Agency Phone Number: 800-346-3243
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: U8807006
NCIC Case Number: U312231075
NamUs Case Number: 4630
NCMEC Case Number: 1104365
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Karen T. Taylor - Forensic Art and Illustration
Walker County Sheriff's Office
Added: Prior to 2001; Last Updated: 11/5/20
Questions or comments? Please contact appropriate member of the Area Team
** Listed information may be estimated.
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