MO MO - St Louis, BlkFem 8-11, 54UFMO, in abandoned bldg, Feb'83

[Mors_Et_Vita]

I'm new here, so I don't quite now the best way for identifying, but I searched the Namus database and searched for "black", "female", aged "8-11" and found one case that stuck out from the rest and would have been the only one to make sense.

"Nine-year-old Toya Hill was last seen on March 21, 1982 in Baltimore, Maryland. She left home to go to a grocery store.

Near the grocery store, Toya talked to her mother's ex-boyfriend & a friend of his and never made it home. The mother's ex-boyfriend and his friend were ruled out as suspects.

Toya was supposed to be a flower girl at her mother's wedding ceremony which took place a week after she disappeared. She was in the 3rd grade at City Springs Elementary School in Baltimore at the time of her disappearance.

Foul play is suspected in Toya's case.

Toya wears glasses, but she wasn't wearing them when she went missing and she has a deep dimple in her left cheek. It's unknown what she was wearing the day she went missing."

I know that from the isotope tests it is likely she was from the Southeast but I don't know how accurate they are. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children did say she could be from a midwestern–midatlantic area. I know Baltimore is not mid-atlantic but it is somewhat close and is on the east coast. I know it's unlikely but it's a start. Sometimes the most unlikely of leads can be the most likely.

 

[Reasonable & Just]

I'm new here, so I don't quite now the best way for identifying, but I searched the Namus database and searched for "black", "female", aged "8-11" and found one case that stuck out from the rest and would have been the only one to make sense.

"Nine-year-old Toya Hill was last seen on March 21, 1982 in Baltimore, Maryland. She left home to go to a grocery store.

Near the grocery store, Toya talked to her mother's ex-boyfriend & a friend of his and never made it home. The mother's ex-boyfriend and his friend were ruled out as suspects.

Toya was supposed to be a flower girl at her mother's wedding ceremony which took place a week after she disappeared. She was in the 3rd grade at City Springs Elementary School in Baltimore at the time of her disappearance.

Foul play is suspected in Toya's case.

Toya wears glasses, but she wasn't wearing them when she went missing and she has a deep dimple in her left cheek. It's unknown what she was wearing the day she went missing."

I know that from the isotope tests it is likely she was from the Southeast but I don't know how accurate they are. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children did say she could be from a midwestern–midatlantic area. I know Baltimore is not mid-atlantic but it is somewhat close and is on the east coast. I know it's unlikely but it's a start. Sometimes the most unlikely of leads can be the most likely.

Welcome, @Mors_Et_Vita , and thank you for this incredibly informative post! You are so right about unlikely leads.

 

[Mors_Et_Vita]

It could have been Shauran Cole.

Although she was from Manhatten, she was 12 years old and went missing 3 days before the body was found. Rather chilling...

 

[Mors_Et_Vita]

Kelly Juanita Staples?

 

[Eman317]

I'm new here, so I don't quite now the best way for identifying, but I searched the Namus database and searched for "black", "female", aged "8-11" and found one case that stuck out from the rest and would have been the only one to make sense.

"Nine-year-old Toya Hill was last seen on March 21, 1982 in Baltimore, Maryland. She left home to go to a grocery store.

Near the grocery store, Toya talked to her mother's ex-boyfriend & a friend of his and never made it home. The mother's ex-boyfriend and his friend were ruled out as suspects.

Toya was supposed to be a flower girl at her mother's wedding ceremony which took place a week after she disappeared. She was in the 3rd grade at City Springs Elementary School in Baltimore at the time of her disappearance.

Foul play is suspected in Toya's case.

Toya wears glasses, but she wasn't wearing them when she went missing and she has a deep dimple in her left cheek. It's unknown what she was wearing the day she went missing."

I know that from the isotope tests it is likely she was from the Southeast but I don't know how accurate they are. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children did say she could be from a midwestern–midatlantic area. I know Baltimore is not mid-atlantic but it is somewhat close and is on the east coast. I know it's unlikely but it's a start. Sometimes the most unlikely of leads can be the most likely.

This is a pretty interesting read. I've always had the idea that the killer wanted to make sure her head wasn't found because she had something on her face that might get her identified immediately. A deep dimple in her left cheek fits that description.

 

[Eman317]

Shauran Cole has already been ruled out. It's a shame though, because her timeline of disappearance matched up perfectly.

 

[Mors_Et_Vita]

As far as I know, Kelly Juanita Staples has not been ruled out. I also had the thought that maybe the victim had a significant facial deformity that would have made her recgonisable? It's a bit out there but it's a thought.

 

[KaylaraOwl]

Kelly has been sent in for this Jane Doe. They can't find any of her family members to get DNA from for a comparison. If we could fine some of her family, we could send that information into Namus, and they would be able to try to get family reference samples.

 

[AlwaysCoffee]

I could be wrong, but I thought Toya was ruled out as this Jane Doe as well?

 

[CurvoPop]

Did law enforcement ever rule out that Jane Doe could of been a possible victim of child sex trafficking? Her painted fingernails, could be an attempt to make her appealing. It's not uncommon for sex trafficking victims regardless of age, to get caked in makeup to avoid being identified, among other reasons

 

[chemicalpixie]

If I recall correctly, Toya Hill was also ruled out using DNA, though I'd have to double check that to be absolutely certain. I think that this poor girl was never entered into missing persons databases, because there are so few cases that fit the requirements, and most of those have been ruled out using DNA, which leads me to believe she was never reported missing for some reason. Whether that was because she was killed by a close family member, or adopted out and killed by her foster family and no one bothered to follow up on it, or perhaps never reported for some other reason, I'm not sure.

 

[Mors_Et_Vita]

I always seem to come back to this case. This and the Oklahoma Girl Scouts murders are incredibly sad and scary to me. There's so much that bothers me about this. She did not appear neglected: she was well fed and had painted fingernails. SOMEBODY loved and cared about this girl. She left a mark on this world nobody seems to remember

 

[Mors_Et_Vita]

Current rule out list as of Oct. 20, 2019:
Sherri Truesdale,
Beverly Ward,
Yohanna Cyr
Newton County IN Jane Doe
Telethia Good
Sherise Magee
Toya Hill,
Northampton Co. NC Jane Doewas
Shelia Quinn
Shaunda Green,
Sharaun Cole

Who has not been ruled out?

 

[Mors_Et_Vita]

How do we know a male even committed the crime?...

She was raped, which suggests to me her killer was almost certainly male. But there may have been a woman involved as well.

 

[Melt71]

She was raped, which suggests to me her killer was almost certainly male. But there may have been a woman involved as well.

I have never seen anything to say they took a rape kit/samples but I assume the ME did, otherwise why say she was raped? We have seen quite a few cases where processing old rape kits comes up with hits - I wonder if they have (a) tried this with no hits; or (b) not gone this route with the kit; or (c) didn't take a kit or it was destroyed/cannot be located.

 

[KaylaraOwl]

Who has not been ruled out?

Kelly Staples

 

[Mors_Et_Vita]

Kelly Staples

Thanks. Do you think Kelly could grow from 3 feet tall to 4'10"- 5'6'' in 3 years?

 

[Mors_Et_Vita]

I think it would be helpful if I could find a database for all the murders in 1983 in St. Louis. Perhaps the girl's mother was murdered and that's why the girl was never reported.

 

[Mors_Et_Vita]

Alright. I created this chart of all murders of black females in St Louis in 1983. I excluded one, which was an 86-year-old woman who was burgled and then murdered, since I doubt that it is related to this case. The victim of this crime's details are highlighted in red (I assumed 999 means age unknown), possible women who were mothers of the girl are in green, and murders of other young girls are in pink. I included them in case this is the work of a serial killer.

 

[Mors_Et_Vita]

And all solved murders.