Identified! AZ - Coconino Co, 'Valentine Sally' WhtFem 585UFAZ, 14-19, along I-40, Feb'82 -Carolyn Celeste Eaton

Poor Carolyn. She was only 17, so young.

 

Will there be a press conference?

 

I’m unsure, i don’t know if CCPD’s Facebook moderator was my comment.

Hopefully they release further details of her, as her case is being treated as a homicide.

 

I'm curious how she was able to get a partial root canal done while on the road.

 

Also why? Was it urgent? I ask because being on the road, possibly working as a dishwasher and/or trying to get to the east coast, it seems like dental surgery wouldn't be that pressing of an issue for her.

 

I thought the same thing. Had the aspirin not been found in her tooth when she was discovered I might question the witness’ account and if it was really her she saw. But I have no doubt it was her, so that question remains.

 

Hey awsi if you don’t mind can you copy and paste the article ? I’m in Europe it doesn’t let me see.

 

I'm thinking she perhaps may have had it done prior to leaving. It took a lot longer back then between visits to??

I know my mom had one in 1983 and she was a month before she could go in and have it capped. They had her on antibiotics to prevent/ensure no remaining infection in there and on pain killers in the mean time before they could cap it. She had another one done in the late 90s and was only a week between the two visits. She was very happy it was only a week. I'm pretty certain dentistry has come a very long way since the 80s.

 

I agree, I think that she had it done, perhaps in December of 81’ maybe she ran out of pain killers or antibiotics.

 

For those of y'all who think this was done by Long here's my input: I don’t think it was Long, the man in the sketch looks way too old to have been his age, IMO. Plus, their face shapes are different.

 

I wonder if Patty Wilkins has ever been shown Long’s picture to see if that was the man with Carolyn that night.

 

I forwarded to the CCSD, the possibility that the man seen with Carolyn is RRL, hopefully we get a answer tomorrow as they check their inbox from 8 - 5

 

I suggested it a few days ago. Also a wee bit of feedback from the reporter then too as I asked if Patty had been shown RRLs photo as a possible.

She confirmed that he is a possible, but that police will not confirm their "list" of suspects ... suspects in the plural.

 

FLAGSTAFF, AZ (3TV/CBS 5/KMOV.com) – A St. Louis teenager has been identified as a 40-year-old cold case victim out of Coconino County, Arizona. A Jane Doe known for decades as “Valentine Sally.”

Valentine Sally was one of the oldest unsolved "Jane Doe" cases in Arizona. A young woman was found dead on the side of a northern Arizona highway by an Arizona Department of Public Safety officer decades ago on Valentine's Day, and nobody knows who she is until now.

Through funding from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), CCSO was able to send DNA samples to a private vendor testing lab to complete a familial DNA search for her relatives, according to a press release. The testing led them to find family members in the St. Louis area and the identification of the girl as Carolyn Eaton.

It was found that the family members had a sibling who ran away from home around Christmas time in 1981. Detectives were able to retrieve DNA samples from relatives, which matched the DNA profile from “Valentine Sally.”

During CCSO's investigation with the new information, they were able to work with the St. Louis Police Department Missing Persons detectives along with the Bellefontaine Neighbors Police Department in Missouri where Eaton lived before she ran away around the time of Christmas 1981 and the new year.

“I just knew that the family was terribly upset and that Carolyn ran away but nothing was ever found or nothing turned up about her,” said neighbor Peggy Harbke, who still lives across the street on Bliss Drive where the family live.

Harbke is still friends with Eaton’s sister and said this news brings the family some closure after all this time.

“It won’t ever bring her back, but it did provide some closure for the family and I think that means a whole lot.“

CCSO says they are working to further investigate the case with their cold case department. They said there are some leads but nothing additional they can share at this time.

 

Thanks for pointing that out. It is a possibility. We have a WS Royal Russell Long thread here:

WY - WY/OK - Royal Russell Long, 1970s and 1980s

 

Here's a Daily Mail article. No new info, but they have several photos (none of Carolyn).

Body of girl known as 'Valentine Sally' found in Arizona 40 years ago identified | Daily Mail Online

 

Royal Russell Long was 50 in 1985, according to one source I read. That would make him 46 or 47 in early 1982 when the Valentine Sally murder occurred. I don't think that's too young to disqualify him. For one thing, I doubt Carolyn was hitching a ride with someone in his 60s. I think the waitress probably erred when assessing his age. Besides, if she was 17 then a father or uncle would normally be closer to 46-47 than 60s. Not always but people married younger and had kids younger in that era. The father/uncle assessment never fully jived with 60-65 age estimate.

Here is a video from a popular YouTube true crime videographer. The photo of Long and a drawing are at 29:10. We don't know when that photo was taken. If his facial hair had grayed Long easily could have looked older than his actual age in 1982. Basically there are too many connecting points for me to dismiss based on age estimate. Otherwise we've got to look for another murderous trucker in that era with nearly identical choice of hat and victims:

 

I thought about that, but would she still be having issues nearly two months later? Since Carolyn was last seen in December.

 

Oh wow... the drawing and the photo are pretty much identical.

 

Could she have had dental work in Mexico? Was Algodones a popular destination in the 80s?