Please place this case/TV segment

Years ago, I saw a TV segment about a young woman (not a prostitute) who took a ride from a trucker at a gas station or truck stop and was later found dead, left in plain sight by the side of the road, in the snow. I believe the area of the country was the northeastern US, but I'm not positive about that part.

A different, kind-hearted truck driver had given the girl $20, and by determining what time that trucker bought gas, they were able come up with a short list of suspects, i.e. others who had purchased gas around the same time.

They finally tracked down the girl's killer and sentenced him to prison. He was suspected of other, similar killings, but they didn't have any proof. The segment was not about Kibbe or Rhoades, two more infamous trucker killers.

I saw this program quite a while ago, probably in the early-to-mid-90s. I am trying to figure out what show it was and the names of the killer and victim. I believe it aired too long ago to be Medical Mysteries/Forensic Files. I doubt it was Unsolved Mysteries because the killing had been solved already. I watch unsolved-mystery/true-crime shows fairly often, but I have never seen that segment repeated, so I think it must be from a program that doesn't get re-run.

Not being able to remember the details has been bugging me for some time, so if anyone remembers this specific TV segment or the case, please let me know. (My biggest worry is that the guy may have gotten out eventually because he had only been convicted of one killing.)

Not sure if this is what you are referring, 2nd link has episodes.

Details: In Ohio, police are searching for a serial killer who is suspected of murdering at least eight prostitutes throughout the state. On April 19, 1990, the body of an unidentified white female was found off of Interstate 75 behind a truck stop. Four years earlier, the body of 23 year old prostitute Shirley Dean Taylor was found 100 miles away behind a traffic barier. Although the two cases at first seemed to be completely isolated crimes, investigative reporter Michael Berens was able to link the two cases together along with several other Ohio unsolved murders. Eight women were found murdered along a major interstate, each of the identified victims were suspected to be prostitutes, and each of those women were believed to work at truck stops.

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http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Ohio_Prostitute_Killer

Here is a list of Case Files for the series Unsolved Mysteries by episode in as close to the order as they appeared. Repeated clips, segments and some updates are not included. Seasons 14 and recent have been moved here.

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Casefiles

That appears to be a different case, but I appreciate the reply & links all the same.

Ward Weaver, Jr? IIRC he killed women in his truck along highways in Oregon and/or Nth California.. sorry, having a brain fart on the location details.

His kid, Ward Weaver III is also a serial killer.

No, but thanks for trying. This case is more obscure; one that I couldn't locate with extensive google searches, probably one that didn't get much media attention except for the one TV show I mentioned.

Could you have watched it on 48 Hours?

Peliman said:

Not sure if this is what you are referring, 2nd link has episodes.



http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Ohio_Prostitute_Killer

Here is a list of Case Files for the series Unsolved Mysteries by episode in as close to the order as they appeared. Repeated clips, segments and some updates are not included. Seasons 14 and recent have been moved here.

http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/Casefiles

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Going through these links/surfing from there did lead me to one case that looks pretty close - James Cruz, Jr., convicted of killing Dawn Marie Birnbaum (who was a young runaway, not a prostitute) - but I can't be positive because I couldn't find anything about one of the details I remembered, i.e. the girl having been given money by another trucker right before she was abducted. I'll have to try to find out if that case was featured in any true-crime TV shows.
http://murderpedia.org/male.C/c/cruz-james-robert.htm

eileenhawkeye said:

Could you have watched it on 48 Hours?

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It's possible. Do you know if they ever covered the case I just mentioned (victim=Dawn Marie Birnbaum)? That might clinch it.

Ozoner said:

It's possible. Do you know if they ever covered the case I just mentioned (victim=Dawn Marie Birnbaum)? That might clinch it.

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I am still looking to see if it was covered by 48 Hours. It was covered by the FBI Files though.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1202954/

An Ohio trucker - traced through tire marks, gas receipts and DNA testing - has been arrested in the rape, kidnapping and murder of a teenage girl who had run away from a reform school in Maine three days before her strangled body was dumped on a snowbank near State College last spring, authorities said yesterday.

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http://articles.philly.com/1993-09-10/news/25984585_1_dna-testing-truckstop-body

eileenhawkeye said:

http://articles.philly.com/1993-09-10/news/25984585_1_dna-testing-truckstop-body

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Thanks. That has to be the case I'm thinking of. I'll have to watch that episode of FBI files again (even if I have to buy the DVD!) just to be absolutely positive, but I'd be surprised if that's not it.

I am now convinced that this case is the one I was thinking of. This is a memorial page for Dawn Marie Birnbaum, in case this thread sparked anyone else's interest:
http://www.ilasting.com/dawnmariebirnbaum.php

Investigation Discovery (ID) channel shows FBI Files episodes every weekday at 6 AM. It doesn't look like the episode about Dawn is airing in the next 2 weeks though.