Skeletal remains found near an Interstate 10 construction site in Jackson County, Mississippi, in the winter of 1977 were long known only as Escatawpa Jane Doe. The woman was identified at the time as a petite African American with a gold front tooth who may have worn a wig and had been dead an estimated three to four months before discovery.

Investigators reexamined the case after Samuel Little confessed to murdering a woman in the Jackson County area; his description matched the unidentified remains. Using modern DNA testing and forensic genealogy, authorities identified her in 2021 as Clara Birdlong, born in 1933 and known by the nickname Nuttin. A distant cousin located in Texas led to a 93-year-old grandmother who confirmed Birdlong had gone missing from Leflore County in the 1970s; a separate witness recalled Birdlong leaving in the 1970s with a man who said he was going to Florida and never being heard from again.

The cause of death remains officially undetermined, but investigators consider Samuel Little the prime suspect based on his confession, travel timeline, and a petty-theft arrest in Pascagoula in August 1977 that places him in the region. Did anyone who knew Clara Birdlong or her movements in the 1970s ever speak with her after she left Leflore County?