It’s a mystery that began more than four decades ago, when the body of a young woman was found murdered in the hills of Eastern Kentucky.
To this day that victim has never been identified. People locally call her the “Mountain Jane Doe.” Her body was buried in a cemetery in the mountains of Harlan. Now investigators have exhumed the woman, hoping that act could provide some answers in a case that has long since gone cold.
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Jane Doe’s body was found in June of 1969, partially nude. It appeared she had been stabbed to death on Pine Mountain where her body was discovered. She was in her late teens or early 20s and even now, little is know about her identity.
Author Darla Jackson is hoping to help answer that question.
“Everyone deserves a name. Everyone deserves that respect. I don’t feel that this young girl was given much respect in her life,” says Jackson.
Darla Jackson was fascinated by the story. In her book “Harlan County Haunts” she even talks about the case. The author worked with several agencies to get the woman’s body exhumed, hoping DNA could help provide clues.
“Because of science and technology, with certainty, she can be identified with a match from a family member,” says Jackson.
And now Jackson’s dream is close to reality. She was on site Wednesday as State Police and the Harlan County Coroner removed the victim’s body from it’s burial site.
The woman’s DNA will be entered into a national database, hopefully bringing an eventual end to a decades-old mystery.
“She needs a name. She has one. People know her. She has family. They’re somewhere and they need to know what happened to her,” says Jackson.
