Thirty years ago she was found naked in a field near a farm in rural Kentucky. Since then, she's only been known as Jane Doe.
The woman's body was discovered on May 6, 1988, in Owen County, Kentucky. The coroner surmised that Jane Doe had been strangled and left in the field for five to 10 days. She was believed to be 25 to 40 years old, white with dark brown or black hair, 120 pounds and five-feet tall.
And based on her remains, she was likely a mother.
The three-decade old investigation into how Jane Doe died will get new attention next week when it's featured on an episode of "True Crime Chronicles,” a podcast by VAULT Studios. The podcast's team talked with WHAS investigative reporter Shay McAlister, the woman who found Jane Doe and the detective who is trying to give Jane a name.
You also can download and subscribe to "True Crime Chronicles" on any podcast platform, including Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher and Apple Podcasts. You also can listen to the episode in the player below when it is released on Monday.
Joy Kelly has vivid memories of finding Jane Doe's body.
“Everything. Everything about it I remember," Kelly said. "I know what I was wearing. I know what my husband was wearing. I know what my plans were for that day. You don’t, you don’t forget it.
"For years, every time you close your eyes you see that raising up in front of you,” she said. “It was just a horrible feeling.”
Jane Doe's body was partially decomposed. She had no face, no clothes, except for men’s dress socks, and no identity.
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"Parts of the body [were] missing," Kentucky State Police Detective Endre Samu told WHAS investigative journalist Shay McAlister in 2018. "The right hand still existed but there was a certain portion that the fingers were still intact. We were able to get a fingerprint."
Hear more about the case and the efforts to identify Jane Doe on the next "True Crime Chronicles."
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