Starr Valley Jane Doe

‘Starr Valley Jane Doe’ was the nickname of a naked, dead woman whose remains were discovered on July 14, 1972, in Elko County, Nevada. She had been found half a mile from Starr Valley Road, and a few miles from the I-80. The area was difficult to access, and it was believed that her murder had likely been committed by a local, or someone familiar with the area.

‘Starr Valley Jane Doe’ was shot twice in the head by a .22-caliber handgun. The unknown woman had been beaten severely — and the woman’s nose was broken so badly that it greatly hindered the identification process.

The authorities believed that ‘Starr Valley Jane Doe’ had been there for weeks to months before her remains were discovered. ‘Starr Valley Jane Doe’ had been left out to rot in the hot July heat during that time. Her body had been posed in the shape of a crucifix.

‘Starr Valley Jane Doe’ had been a white woman, with curly reddish-brown hair, estimated to be about 17–25 years. She’d been 5’2”, and weighed from 105 to 140 pounds. She’d had a scar on her right knee, and had lost her appendix at some point. It was believed that the woman had given birth at some point. She’d had all of her teeth, including her wisdom teeth — and they’d been in good condition. She’d had bright pink nail polish. Tests showed that she’d had a small amount of marijuana, and alcohol in her system.

Tire tracks found on the scene suggested that a truck, or van had been used to transport her remains to the site. There had been a sighting of a VW Beetle with Tennessee license plates that had been seen in the area a week before the woman’s remains had been discovered. It is unknown if the vehicle had been related at all. It was possible that the vehicle had been stolen in Tennessee at some point, though the vehicle was never located.

There was a theory that convicted murderer Dale Wayne Eaton had been responsible for ‘Starr Valley Jane Doe’s murder. He’d been found guilty of murdering teen Lisa Kimmell, and for attempting to abduct a young couple and their baby. It is believed that he was responsible for murders in the ‘Great Basin’ area during the ’80s and ’90s — especially since the murders in that area stopped once Eaton was behind bars. And it is known that Eaton had lived in the area at the same time that ‘Starr Valley Jane Doe’ had been murdered.

In 2009, investigators performed an isotope test on Jane Doe’s hair, in an attempt to learn more about her. The results showed that she’d lived in southwestern states — likely California, Arizona, or New Mexico. And they learned that in the last seven months of her death (from April to November 1993), ‘Starr Valley Jane Doe’ had lived in Afton, Wyoming (located in Lincoln County). Although the Nevada State Police Department investigated Eaton as a suspect, no charges were ever filed against him — and the findings during the investigation were never released to the public. ‘Starr Valley Jane Doe’ is still unidentified to this day, and her murder is still unsolved.

The authorities believed that the ‘Starr Valley Jane Doe’ was related to another Jane Doe case that occurred twenty-one years later. The ‘Elko County Jane Doe’ (also referred to as ‘Shafter Jane Doe’) was found on November 16, 1993. The unidentified woman’s remains were discovered near the I-80 exit for Shafter, Nevada (Elko County, Nevada).

There had been drag marks on the scene, which led the authorities to believe that she had been murdered in a different location, and then her remains were transported to the body dump site about six or seven days before being discovered in the sagebrush near the I-80 exit. Tire tracks found on the scene had been from a pickup truck, or a van.

When the coroner investigated the woman’s death, they determined that she’d had traces of alcohol, and marijuana in her system. ‘Shafter Jane Doe’ had been posed on her back, with her arms and legs positioned like a crucifix. She’d been beaten, and then shot twice in the chest. A partial thumb print was discovered, but there were no hits in any databases.

‘Shafter Jane Doe’ was 5’7”, and had weighed 140 pounds. She’d had blonde hair, and brown eyes. The woman had all of her teeth intact — which were in good condition, except for a root canal. She had been estimated to be 27–28 years old. The woman had a scar on her right shin. Both of her ears were pierced, though she wasn’t wearing earrings at the time of her death.

When a Utah crime lab analyzed hair samples from ‘Shafter Jane Doe’, they determined that she’d spent the last seven months in Star Valley (located in Lincoln County, Wyoming).

It was believed that both unidentified women had been murdered by the same person — as they’d both been beaten, then shot twice with a .22-caliber handgun. And then, their remains were dumped in the same area near the I-80, with their bodies posed in the shape of a crucifix. The two Jane Does were both similar in appearance and age.

SOURCES

https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Starr_Valley_Jane_Doe

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Basin_Murders

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/57ir14/her_naked_and_beaten_body_was_found_stretched_out/

https://billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/wyoming/cold-case-turns-up-link-to-wyoming/article_83dd7138-2422-11df-911f-001cc4c03286.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/8lnz56/is_starr_valley_jane_doe_another_victim_of_the/

https://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Eaton,%20Dale%20Wayne.pdf

https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/8358

https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Elko_County_JaneDoe(October_1972)

https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Elko_County_JaneDoe(1974)

https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/8359

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/icaremissingpersonscoldcases/unidentified-female-found-in-1993-in-elko-nevada-t848.html

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/125ufnv.html