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 194 – Mary Jane Van Gilder
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 193 – Noreen Greenley
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 192 – Rodney Marks
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 191 – Martha Jean Lambert
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 190 – Ed Baker
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 189 – Bethany Decker
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 188 – Geetha Angara
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 187 – Rey Rivera
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 186 – Marcia King
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 185 – Keith Warren
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 184 – George Owens & Walter Dunson
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 183 – Dimitric Moore
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 182 – Cherita Thomas
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 181 – Tamra Keepness
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 180 – Joseph Edwards
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 179 – The Diggs Family Murders
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 178 – The 3X Murders
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 177 – David Lewis
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 176 – Heather Uffelman & Jennifer Lynn Stone
The Trail Went Cold – Episode 175 – Mary Agnes Gross
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