Episode Details

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”.

If you have information about this case, please contact the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department at (314) 231-1212.

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)