SheWhoMustNotBeNamed
Former Member
Missing Since: May 29, 1971 from Vermillion, South Dakota
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date of Birth: January 24, 1954
Age: 17 years old
Height and Weight: 5'8, 150 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Brown hair, hazel eyes
Medical Conditions: Jackson was hospitalized for hepatitis earlier in 1971. She was still taking medication for the condition at the time of her disappearance
Missing Since: May 29, 1971 from Vermillion, South Dakota
Classification: Endangered Missing
Date of Birth: November 16, 1953
Age: 17 years old
Height and Weight: 5'8 - 5'10, 130 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: Caucasian female. Blonde hair, blue eyes. Miller's nickname is Sherri
Details of Disappearance
Jackson and her friend, Cheryl Miller, were last seen on their way to a high school party on the evening of May 29, 1971. They visited Miller's grandmother in the hospital that day, then stopped and talked to some boys at a church and asked them for directions. The boys were also going to the party and Jackson and Miller decided to follow them there in their beige 1960 Studebaker Lark with South Dakota license plates numbered 19-3994. The car belonged to Miller's grandfather. They never arrived at the party, however. There has been no sign of the girls or their car since then.
The girls were considered to be runaways at first, due to their ages. Authorities initially considered the possibility that the missing teenagers may have accidentally driven their car into the Missouri River. A search of the river turned up no evidence, however. A theory that they were abducted by transients passing through the area has also been discarded.
In August 2004, police searched a rural farm eight miles southwest of Alcester, South Dakota, looking for evidence in Miller and Jackson's cases. The farm is only a few miles from Jackson and Miller's intended destination. Investigators recovered bones, photographs, clothing, and a purse among other items, but are not sure if any of these are connected to the girls' cases. At the time Jackson and Miller disappeared, David Lykken lived on the farm. In 1971, David was seventeen years old and a student at Beresford High School, where Miller and Jackson attended. He knew Jackson through their church. He is currently serving a 227-year sentence in prison for kidnapping and raping a church secretary in 1990. He was also convicted of burglary in 1983. After his rape conviction, several of Lykken's former girlfriends stated he had beaten them, raped them and threatened their lives.
Jackson was employed at Dakota Hospital at the time of her disappearance; Miller also worked there. Jackson's hobbies in 1971 included singing, raising animals for 4-H, and dressmaking. Both girls left behind all their personal belongings, including clothes, makeup, paychecks and Jackson's hepatitis medication, when they vanished. Their families do not believe they would have run away from home, especially as Miller's grandmother was dying. There has been no activity on either of their Social Security numbers since they went missing.
In 2007, David Lykken was charged with murdering Jackson and Miller. Authorities stated one of his cellmates in prison, Aloysius Black Crow, wore a recording device and recorded Lykken admitting to the girls' murders. The indictment accuses Lykken of killing Miller in connection with rape and Jackson in connection with kidnapping. Prosecutors will not be seeking the death penalty, as Lykken was a minor at the time he allegedly committed the murders. He is awaiting trial.
Curiously, this is not the only time Black Crow has given evidence in a missing person case. In January 2007, Black Crow told investigators that one of his other cellmates, James Strahl, had admitted to killing Amanda Gallion, a teenager who disappeared from Wyoming in 1997 and was never found. Strahl has not been charged in Gallion's case, but he is awaiting trial for another murder and authorities plan to use Black Crow's testimony in that case.
Authorities suspect foul play in the Jackson and Miller's disappearances. They were both juniors at Beresford High School when they disappeared. Their cases remain unsolved.
Investigating Agency
If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation
605-773-3331
