Elko County Jane Doe was a young woman who was found murdered near the I-80 off-ramp to Shafter, Elko County, Nevada. 14 women have been ruled out as the victim.
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Case
The victim had been shot twice--once in the chest and once in the back--with a small-caliber gun and had been severely beaten about the face. There was no sign of sexual assault. Her body was found approximately six days after her death, in an advanced stage of decomposition.
She was dumped at the Shafter off-ramp of Interstate 80, between the towns of Wendover and Wells. The area where her body was found is on the edge of a vast and desolate desert bisected by one of the country's busiest highways.
Investigators believe she was killed in another location and dumped at the off-ramp. It is possible her murder is linked to other Great Basin murders that occurred between 1983 and 1997. Dale Wayne Eaton, a murderer on death row in Wyoming, has been named as a possible suspect in her case.
Characteristics
- In 2009, isotope testing on a hair sample indicated that she'd lived much of her life in the Southwest, including Southern California, New Mexico and Arizona. For the last seven months of her life (likely April - November 1993), she'd lived in Lincoln County, Wyoming, near the town of Afton.
- Autopsy results showed that she suffered from and was being treated for endometriosis.
- She'd given birth at least once.
- She had a 2-inch by 4-inch burn scar or birthmark on her right calf.
- Her teeth were noted to be in excellent condition, except for one tooth that was in the process of getting a root canal. She had all of her teeth, and her wisdom teeth were impacted and had not been removed.
- Her fingernails were painted pink and looked to have been professionally done.
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