Unidentified White Female
Located on November 9, 1979 in Caledonia, Livingston County, New York.
Estimated Date of Death is November 8, 1979
Died as a result of severe brain hemorrhage caused by a gunshot wound to the head.
Vital Statistics
Estimated age: 13 - 19 years old. Her estimated date of birth is 1958-1967.
Approximate Height and Weight: 5'3; 120 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: She had curly brown, shoulder length hair which had been frosted about four months before her death. The frosted hair was in the process of growing out. She had brown eyes. She was tanned and had visible bikini lines. She had no distinguishing marks. The victim had had no broken bones that would have been in a hospital's records. It didn't look as though she had received much medical attention of any kind.
Dentals: She has some serious decay and tooth #14 was decayed to the extent that only three roots of the tooth were left. She did have some dental work to suggest that the dentist was not trained in the US.
Clothing: She was wearing a a boy's multi-plaid, button-down shirt, tan corduroy pants, blue knee socks, light blue panties; white exquisite bra; brown laceup, ripple-sole shoes and a red nylon-lined man's windbreaker with black stripes down the arms, marked with the inside label Auto Sports Products, Inc..
The Doe Network Case File 1UFNY
NCIC Number: U-157617149
Case History
The victim was discovered by a passing motorist at 10am in a Caledonia, NY cornfield on November 9, 1979. She was found about 20 ft. from the south side of Route 20, about ½ mile from the intersection of Route 5.
She was fully clothed and there was no evidence that she had been sexu*ally molested. Her pockets had been turned inside out, possibly to remove any identification.
An examination of the girl's stomach contents turned up pieces of meat, corn and potatoes. A waitress from a small dinner in Lima, New York, remembered seeing the girl the night before the murder, but she couldn't remember anything more.
She died of two gunshot wounds; one to the back and one to the right temple. The coroner estimated that she was killed the previous night, (November 8) and that the gunshot wound to her back was inflicted prior to the head wound. The victim was apparently shot by the road where a blood spot marked the earth. Then she was dragged into the cornfield and shot again.
Police speculated that the murder weapon used was a .38-caliber handgun. Ballistics experts dug up a slug buried in the dirt underneath the victim. The slug was tested against literally hundreds of other bullets fired from guns seized by police. Over the years, the Livingston County probers traced weapons to as far away as Canada, Europe, and Mexico, but they were never able to match the slug to a murder weapon.
Although the victim is still unknown, over 60 serial killers have come forward claiming responsibility for her death. Henry Lucas and Ottis Toole took credit for killing the unidentified girl in the corn field. At the time, Lucas claimed to have killed over 100 people. Toole often accompanied Lucas on his killing sprees. At the time, Toole was serving time in a Florida state prison, and Lucas was on death row in Texas. The two serial killers claimed they were together when they killed the girl in the cornfield. Toole said he picked up the girl in a park near Philadelphia and traveled with her for a while before he took her out in the cornfield off Route 20 and shot her twice. Authorities were not able to account for the whereabouts of either Lucas or Toole during the time of the murder. Both had been seen in New York State several months before the murder.
Serial killer Chris Wilder was also looked at as a suspect. What sparked investigators interest was Wilder's fas*cination with racing cars. The Livingston County victim's jacket was designed to look like a racing jacket. Wilder was known to be in the area and hiding from the police at the time of the killing. Wilder was, however, killed before the police got a chance to talk to him.
Several truckers also called in with information about a young girl who was traveling and catching rides where she could. One trucker swore he saw the girl the night before she was murdered trying to hitch a ride to Boston from a nearby truck stop.
Police have followed up over 10,000 leads, all to no avail.
The girl's fingerprints were sent to FBI headquarters, but her prints weren't on file.
Jane Doe rests in Dansville, New York. The inscription says, "Lest we forget an unidentified girl. November 9. 1979. And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest."
Jewlery
The victim was wearing a necklace, made with silver beads and three small turquoise stones, one resembling a bird. The necklace was probably homemade-possibly native American- but the best detectives could figure was that it was made somewhere in the Southwest.
The victim was also wearing two key chains that were attached to the front belt loops of her jeans. One key chain, in the shape of a heart, was inscribed, "He who holds the Key can open my heart." The other key chain held the key that fit the small silver heart. The key chains could have been bought in almost any roadside gift shop.
Additional Case Information
Locale of Region
Caledonia, NY is located in the Finger Lakes region of the state and is close in proximity to the Canadian border. Some theories about the victim's identity include the possibility that she was not American, but Canadian. Searches of the Canadian missing persons' databases have not provided any information on a possible ID match for this victim. Route 20 runs parallel to Interstate 90. The crime scene was just past the bifur*cation of Routes 5 and 20 on the south side of the road. On the north side, a small pull-off for truckers and motorists offered a rest area for travelers. Tanned Complexion of the Victim
She had tan lines, suggesting that she had recently lain in the sun in a halter top. Tanning salons were not common in 1979, it is believed that she had recently vacationed somewhere tropical or was from a region more conducive to tanning in November. Furthermore, the victim's hair was lightly frosted in the front, a hairstyle popular on the beach. Clothing Manufacturer
Auto Sports Products. The jackets were a one-shot promotional gimmick. There was no way to track where they had gone after they were distributed.
One caller told investigators that she thought the victim's shoes were popular in the Venjiont area during the late 1970s.
Livingston County Sheriff's Office 585-243-7120
Link
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1ufny.html
