If you want more details about this Jane, there is a page for her in the Meet the Janes section, here. I've been meaning to sit down and write about this Jane for a while but, along with the usual chaotic life with kids, I've been working hard on this case. The process has been tedious and time-consuming, but I feel like it's going to be worth it in the end. This Jane was only 14-17 years old, hitchhiking with a female companion who has never been identified, and police were able to speak with a man who gave the pair a ride several days before she died. The man told police that he thought she said her name was Sherry or Cheryl, but he wasn't completely sure. He also said that the pair were traveling from Minnesota, trying to get to Florida to see the companion's husband. With those names, her age range and possible residence state, I went for a deep dive into Minnesota's birth records. I decided to start with the counties with larger cities, including surrounding counties for good measure. All females named Sherry, Cheryl or similar sounding names born between 1958 - 1962. I put those names, birthdates and counties into a spreadsheet. I made sure to include blank columns for parents' names and whether or not that person can be ruled out as this Jane. After the list was complete, I could work my way through it, name by name, checking to see if they had records/activity after 1976. So far I've completed the following counties:
There were about 1,000 records for those counties, but only a handful of names that I have yet to rule out. So many young women were married before finishing high school or right after graduation, so most of them could be ruled out by marriage records. Some were mentioned in a parent's obituary as a surviving child, ruling them out. Some have passed away, whether at 2 months or 25 years old. One was water skiing on a lake with a friend when she was 13 and both were hit by another boat, resulting in her tragic death. Another was only 4 months old when she was in a car accident with her parents. Going through these records have given me a strange insight into the lives of every Sherry/Cheryl on my list and I can't help but feel a wide range of emotions. Following along as their lives unfold, or reading about lives cut short, seeing yearbook photos and obituary photos, reading articles about accomplishments and announcements. Through it all, I remember the girl that is the center of this search. The girl who never got a photo in the Seniors section of a yearbook. The girl who didn't get a "Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so announce the engagement of their daughter..." blurb in the local paper. The girl who didn't get her name in the "mother" space of a birth record. The girl who decided to go on an adventure, embracing the freedom of youth and the culture of the 1970s, but never returned. Right now, I'm sorting through another large list that brings the total number of records to about 4,000 names so far. The counties I'm currently working through are: Ramsey, Hennepin, Anoka, Dakota and Washington. I have a binder full of these records as well as various information that pertains to her case, including a list of every county in Minnesota. Assuming I finish this group of records without a good lead, I suppose I'll just work my way through the rest of the counties. We'll never know for sure if she really was Sherry/Cheryl born in Minnesota if no one actually does the work so...here I am. Line by line, name by name, record by record. If she's in this list somewhere, I intend to find her.
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EmilyTrue crime, cold case, long-term missing/unidentified, and all things mystery. I've always been interested, but now I'm involved in the search. Archives
June 2023
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Photos used under Creative Commons from Jinx!, Damian Gadal