Oklahoma authorities are requesting the help of truckers and civilians alike in their search for the identity of a woman killed in an accident after hitching a ride in a tractor trailer nearly 30 years ago.
In January of 1990, trucker James Edward Taylor picked up a hitchhiker. As Taylor was driving along US Highway 259 in Oklahoma, he crashed- apparently killing the woman he was giving a ride to.
Taylor survived, but police were unable to identify the deceased woman, whom Taylor said he had picked up 15 minutes prior to the crash. However shortly after the crash, Taylor’s sister explained to investigators that she thought Taylor had picked up the woman, referred to in the case as “Jane Doe,” nearly 1,000 miles away near E. 55th street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio.
Taylor’s sister also added that she believed the woman was going by the name “Beth” or even “Baby.”
Taylor was later charged with the death of the unidentified woman, but the charges were eventually dismissed, reported News 5 Cleveland.
At the time of her death, the woman was thought to be between 25 and 35 years of age and was wearing a shirt, sweater, pantyhose, pants, and a belt – her only other personal item being a gold ring with a pink stone.
The woman in question had short black hair, brown eyes, and a scar on her abdomen – presumably from a C-section.
Last summer, Jane Doe’s body was exhumed in order to obtain a DNA profile. That profile was just recently developed by the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification and has been entered into a DNA database to search for any matches. Officers are still waiting on results.
Anyone with information regarding the case or the woman’s identity is urged to contact Oklahoma Highway Patrol Traffic Homicide Investigator Tim Baker at 1-866-647-8477 or Angela Berg with the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office at 918-295-3400.
