On November 1, 1980, the body of a young girl was found off Interstate 45 just outside Huntsville, Texas. For decades she was known as the Walker County Jane Doe; the girl had been sexually assaulted and strangled, and was left near the highway with no identification. Witnesses at a nearby truck stop described a disheveled girl in blue jeans and a yellow sweater who said she was 19 but was actually 14.

Advances in forensic genealogy finally identified her in 2021 as Sherri Ann Jarvis, a runaway from Stillwater, Minnesota who had been in state custody for truancy before running away. No missing person report matching her description was found during the original investigation. The Walker County Sheriff’s Office says the case remains open and investigators renewed efforts to find her killer after her identification.

Did anyone who lived or worked near the Huntsville truck stop in October or November 1980 see a young girl in a yellow sweater or remember someone asking about the prison farm?