What Haunts Us - Opelika Jane Doe 2012

Note: I want this open to all, the only new lead they have gotten since I posted this in October 2016 (as far as I know) is the results of the isotope testing, which indicated she was likely from the area where she was found.

Direct link to Jane’s case on MissingKids.com

Like thousands of others, a small child in Opelika, Alabama, is another child victim whose case falls by the wayside of public attention when a higher profile case comes along in the news. Perhaps her spirit is happier to have a new identity, even if it is one she shares with so many others: Jane Doe. Maybe in keeping company with those like herself she has found the comfort she was not given in life. Abused and neglected while living, she has been stripped of her final dignity by not even being buried with her name while her killer(s) go on about their own lives. The adult(s) she would have depended on may be the ones who dumped her body like illegal trash, and it is possible she has never even been reported as missing, or her birth even recorded. There may be extended family who never knew of her existence or were estranged from those who care she was in, and they themselves may well be among the unidentified dead. A child unclaimed, whose remains will sit in evidence or be buried in a Potter’s Field.

There is a surprisingly high number of children in the care of child services nationwide whose disappearance goes unnoticed or unremarked for various reasons. There are politicians who make noises about how every life is precious when pushing their agendas, but who are silent about the unclaimed victims. We are a nation obsessed, twenty years on, with the murder of a young white girl, the presumed guilt of famous black men in murders and child molestation, with the size of a presidential candidate’s hands and what he grabs with them. There are myriad ways I could go off topic and spin into discourse about racism, sexism, economic standing, all the things that go wrong with the systems we have that contribute to allowing, then mostly ignoring, a case like Jane’s, but that is not the goal of this series. Likewise I could veer off into a lecture on DNA, mtDNA, isotopes, forensic anthropology, and the differences of the coroner system vs the medical examiner system, but on those I will instead include links to allow you to explore those topics on your own, and sites like REVEAL have a lot of articles and information. I shall do my utmost to stay on topic and encourage my readers to do the same.

What do we actually know about Jane and what happened to her?
In late 2011 residents noticed a decaying smell near where her remains would be found in a few months. We know that on January 28, 2012, her skull was found in Brookhaven Trailer Park on Hurst Street in Opelika, AL, by a young resident in his backyard. According to weather reports, the day was clear and fairly cool by Southern standards, with a high in the 60s.

Within a week more of her remains were found close by after grid searches. On February 7, 2012, Lee County Coroner Bill Harris announced to the public that Jane was a victim of homicide, though at that time not much else was known about Jane — her sex, race, even cause of death. Age at time of death was determined to be less than 10 years. Later in 2012 it was revealed that Jane was an African-American female, likely 4–7 years old and underdeveloped.

While some news sources state that Jane had a deformity of her left eye that may have left her blind on that side, I would think that would have made her memorable to someone. There are many conditions that are not visible to the naked eye but do show in photographs, and trauma to the eye including detached retina are among them. The Vacation Bible School (VBS) photos are not clear enough to show visible trauma, but do show a possible indicator of injury or disease that is caught by camera flash or eye professionals. Compare her photos to those on Know the Glow and Eye Doctor Guide. There was damage to the skull that “would have been very debilitating,” was stated in the only news I found that was national rather than local. Debilitating is not the same as fatal, so Jane lived through at least some head trauma.

The same article says “”I think this child was not exposed to the general public, and that’s possibly why she was able to go unnoticed,” said Sergeant Richard Converse, who has been on the case since its onset.” Entirely possible for many reasons. We should also consider traumatic brain injury (TBI) as another reason Jane might have lagged behind peers in social skills. In my personal experience, the children most likely to have approached Jane at some point are the extremely friendly, include everyone type of kids, and at the other end of the spectrum those children that are more like Jane might have been: kids on the fringes of the social group for one reason or another.

Rev. Clifford Jones of Greater Peace Missionary Baptist Church, where the VBS photos showing a child that might be Jane were taken, told me he feels the community is concerned about Jane and that he believes the police are doing everything they can with as little to go on as they have. He encourages those who might know something about Jane to come forward, and if they are not comfortable talking directly to the police they are welcome to come to him with information.

News reports state that attempts to identify Jane from church records have been unsuccessful, and while I, raised with a military father, was brought up with a mentality of paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, found that worrisome, in speaking to people in my own area who run VBS programs I found that it is not at all unusual to keep a minimum of paperwork for these programs, sometimes as little as a list of those who pre-registered.

What are some things we might surmise about Jane?
With so little actually known, we are down to more questions than answers, and the more questions I find myself with and trying to research, the more tangents I find myself trying to track down answers to without having the resources or access to get answers, and knowing that unless someone who does have answers comes forward, it would be easy to lose all track exploring down that rabbit hole. We forget that a simple tunnel entrance on the surface may belie a dark labyrinth beneath, paths that become dead ends or simply lead to another section of the warren; that it takes a team comprised of both professionals and the community to methodically explore all the possibilities and pitfalls. That there may well be monsters within that maze, that we may have more in common with the monsters than we are comfortable with, and there may be no Theseus among us.

Science gives us a window of time for her death. If the girl in the photo is Jane, do one of the photos possibly show her on the last day she was seen alive? Someone took the time to do her hair or have it done by someone else. If she was “unkempt…and had trouble communicating on the same level with other children,” who remembered enough to make this observation, or is it just conjecture? Might this also be an affect of the aforementioned skull damage and potential TBI? Could the skull damage have happened at birth, or out there somewhere might there be an ER or clinic staff member who remembers seeing her? I’m certain someone has already inquired as to who the man in one photo is that seems to be talking to our possible Jane.

We should also not get locked into a theory about how she came to the place where she was found. While on the surface it might seem obvious that someone killed her and dumped her, I don’t know if we can rule out that she wandered there and died there. Yes, I do think it’s far more likely she was carried there, but by whom? Could she have been the victim of a hit and run, hidden to cover that crime? Children wander, or even run off when they’re upset. Most of us would think if that was the case she would have been reported missing, but what if Jane already been the victim of abduction earlier in life or the adult(s) thought she had been taken by another family member? They may have fled themselves in fear of being arrested or being found by the person who found Jane, perhaps an abusive partner that prompted Jane’s guardian into hiding, that may think they are protecting an older child, or may themselves be among the unidentified, unclaimed, or unfound dead. There may be staff in a shelter on the other side of the country that knows Jane’s face, Jane’s name, Jane’s story.

Occam’s razor tells us to look for the simplest explanation as the most likely, and while that is true we should not limit our thinking because of it. To do so would be the same as putting on blinders, to intentionally prevent ourselves from seeing a possibility right in front of us without even realizing we are doing so. If I told you to find a needle in a haystack, to use the old adage, could you tell me what the needle looked like? Would you disregard knitting needles, crochet needles, hypodermic needles, because they were not the picture in your mind? The way human brains work, that is entirely possible, and this is why I ask you to think beyond the obvious and take more into consideration when trying to track down who Jane is or who she was with when last you knew of her.

Some further notes on the story
I have not contacted the family who initially found Jane’s skull. I do wonder how they are doing, and how Jane might influence the boy who found her. Does he have nightmares? PTSD? Will it inspire him to become a leader in his community to prevent more cases like hers? In the interest of their mental health I will not seek to contact them, but am open to them contacting me if they wish to discuss anything they remember or talk about how Jane has affected them and their community.

In talking to Sgt. Alfred White I spent almost an hour on the phone with him trading information and questions. He is the investigator I was transferred to when I mentioned “Jane Doe 2012,” and he struck me as thorough, conscientious, and very involved in his cases and community.

It is that time of year when children dress up to be anonymous and unknown while collecting candy. We don’t know what Jane might have liked to dress up as, but I would bet that Doc McStuffins would be higher on her list than partial skeleton in evidence.

I asked Rev. Jones if there were any plans to build a tribute or plan a proper funeral for Jane through donations, and he indicated there were no concrete plans at the time we spoke.

On looking for missing girls that match Jane, I believe we can rule out Tageana Griffith and Lluvia McCraw, it seems both were still alive at or after the time Jane was found (familial abductions taken to other countries). I believe they have ruled out Jhessye Shockley has been ruled out as well (DNA?) even though her body has not been found, but do know her name has come up often.

Finding out who Jane is is just a step in her case. A big step, to be sure, as it may lead to finding out who did this to her, and exactly what abuses she suffered in her short life, why they did it, and finding justice and peace for Jane.

If you know, or think you know, anything about Jane or someone she may have lived with, please contact one of the following:
Opelika Police Department Investigative Services Division (334)705–5220

Secret Witness Hotline (334)745–8665

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children’s Call Center 1–800-THE-LOST(843–5678)

Lee County Coroner’s Office (334)737–3620

Carrie Sutherland (817)202–5931

NamUs (855)-626–7600

Rev. Clifford Jones (334)749–9487

Acknowledgements
I would also like to thank Sgt. White with the Opelika Police Department and Rev. Clifford Jones from Greater Peace Missionary Baptist Church for taking the time to talk to me, my old friend Natasha Graham for answering my questions and looking things over for me, and my daughter (who doesn’t want her name in print) for proofreading and technical support. Also sending thanks to police, church officials, and reporters in my area that answered questions I had that likely sounded rather strange to them at the time.

Trine

Works Cited

@WBRCnews. “Child Remains Found in Opelika Trailer Park Still Unidentified.” — WBRC FOX6 News. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

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@wrblnews3. “New Photos Released in Opelika “Jane Doe” Case.” WRBL. 29 Sept. 2016. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

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@wsfa12news. “No New Leads in “child Doe” Case in Opelika.” — WSFA.com Montgomery Alabama News. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

@wtvm. “FBI Continues Tests on Remains of Child Found in Opelika.” — WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather & Sports. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

@wtvm. “FBI Joining in to Identify Bones Found in Opelika.” — WTVM.com-Columbus, GA News Weather & Sports. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

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[email protected], Erin Edgemon |. “Opelika Police May Be One-step Closer to Identifying Remains of Unknown Young Girl.” AL.com. 29 Sept. 2016. Web. 14 Oct. 2016.

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