February 28, 1983. St. Louis, Missouri. The body of an African-American girl is found in the basement of an abandoned apartment building. She is believed to be between eight-to-eleven years old and has her hands tied behind her back and it turns out she was sexually assaulted and strangled to death before she was beheaded. Since the victim’s head is never recovered and she cannot be identified, she becomes known as the “St. Louis Jane Doe”. Over the years, investigators explore a number of different leads, but they are unable to determine the girl’s identity or figure out who was responsible for killing her. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore one of the most horrific and tragic stories you’ll ever find about the murder of an unidentified decedent, who has also been known by such as names as “Little Jane Doe” and “Precious Hope”.
Additional Reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Louis_Jane_Doe
http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/54ufmo.html
https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/St._Louis_Jane_Doe_(1983)
“Our Precious Hope: St. Louis’ Little Jane Doe Revisited” Documentary
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/stlouis/the-case-that-haunts/Content?oid=2460475
http://fox4kc.com/2013/06/17/authorities-try-to-locate-body-of-girl-killed-beheaded-30-years-ago/
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/new-hope-in-cold-case-of-decapitated-girl-found-in/article_ef7aca67-2f9f-5c76-9516-4285802f338f.html
http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/research-unlocks-some-secrets-about-decapitated-girl-for-st-louis/article_36de5a5c-b615-5292-b5aa-abb99a888a6c.html
https://fox2now.com/news/true-crime/little-jane-doe-grizzly-1983-st-louis-child-death-remains-unsolved/
https://www.foxnews.com/us/who-was-she-new-technology-brings-hope-to-identifying-headless-girl-killed-30-years-ago
https://www.riverfronttimes.com/movies-tv/new-documentary-digs-into-st-louis-cold-case-of-headless-child-38416649
https://www.stlamerican.com/arts_and_entertainment/living_it/unsolved-mysteries/article_297141c6-43c2-11ec-b8af-db4f4c92958b.html
https://www.newspapers.com/image/151783522/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon_Brown_(murderer)
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/10456sw/st_louis_jane_doe_documentary_gives_a_lot_more/
“The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content.
“The Trail Went Cold” is doing a weekly livestream show on Vokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website.
“The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon UK” at the Tower Bridge, Leonardo Royal Hotel & Spa in London on June 10-11, 2023, as well as “Crimecon” at the World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida on September 22-24, 2023. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to either event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD23”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.co.uk or https://www.crimecon.com.
The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote.
All music is composed by Vince Nitro.
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 376 – Monika Rizzo
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 375 – Vernon Shipman, Charles Glass, and Louise Davis Shumate
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 374 – Malakia Logan
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 373 – Tommy Gibson
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 372 – Anne Barber Dunlap
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 371 – Ginni Wood, Kelly Gaskins, and Ervin Williams
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 370 – Jeffrey Digman, Billy Ray Hargrove, and Mike Carmichael
The Trail Went Cold – Bonus Episode – Mysteries on the True Crime Express
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 369 – Update, Part 5
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 368 – Lynne Harper, Part 2
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 367 – Lynne Harper, Part 1
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 366 – Patricia Viola
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 365 – Phylicia Thomas and Jennifer Barziloski
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 364 – The Lane Bryant Shooting
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 363 – Heidi Seeman and Erica Botello
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 362 – Margaret Dash, Retha Hiers, and Donyelle Johnson
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 361 – Jack Brown
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 360 – Patrick Mullins
The Trail Went Cold – Bonus Episode – New Year New Binge
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 359 – Update, Part 4
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