Unidentified White Female
The victim was discovered on Nov. 16, 1969 in Los Angeles, CA
Estimated date of death: Nov. 14, 1969
Stabbed to death
Case History
The victim was located on Mulholland Drive and Skyline Drive, Los Angeles, CA. She was found down an embankment alongside of Mulholland Drive, near Laurel Canyon, by a hiker.
She had been stabbed to death, and there is evidence of a "rage" or overkill.
Because of the labels in her clothing, detectives suspect she may have come from Canada or the east coast, possibly Europe.
A witness remembered seeing the girl with the Manson Family at Spahn's Ranch, and thought her name was "Sherry".
She had been stabbed to death, and there is evidence of a "rage" or overkill.
Because of the labels in her clothing, detectives suspect she may have come from Canada or the east coast, possibly Europe.
A witness remembered seeing the girl with the Manson Family at Spahn's Ranch, and thought her name was "Sherry".
Mullholland Drive and Skyline Drive
28 comments:
Vital Statistics
•Estimated age: 20 - 23 years old
•Approximate Height and Weight: 5'9 1/2"; 112 lbs.
•Distinguishing Characteristics: Tinted dark brown hair; green eyes. Vaccination scars on left arm and left outer thigh, one-quarter-inch scar under right breast, light brown birthmark on right buttock.
•Dentals: Charts available. She had silver amalgam fillings in upper teeth numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 12, 13, 14, and 15, and lower teeth 18, 19, 20, 21, 28, 29, 30 and 31.
•Clothing: Blue corduroy jacket, size 9-10 made in Canada; Blue hip-hugger Levis, made in Boston, MA.; tan, knee-length, riding type boots (possibly made in Spain), well worn and resoled; tan sweater, size 32; belt marked Thom 38 or Tham 38, The belt is leather, about two inches wide, with one-inch leather strips which go through a brass ring.; Yellow metal ring with red oval stone on right ring finger; white metal ring with Indian designs on left middle finger, made in Mexico.
•Fingerprints: Available
•DNA: Available at state lab.
In the early editions of "The Family", it reads "Jane Doe #59, aka Stephanie Rowe". I know Stephanie Rowe was one of the "Witches of Mendocino".
This is not in the newest edition of the book though.
I'll do some research and find the chapter it says this.
Hi! New member, long lurker! I have always been intrigued by this Jane Doe. Does no one miss her? She had a lot of dental work done, so someone must have cared at some point.
Also being almost 5'10 and 112 lbs would be very distinctive,as well as the overbite. Sad to think that this young woman was so disposable.
Maggie said...
Hi! New member, long lurker!
Glad you finally stopped lurking. Welcome aboard!
Grump-I might be incorrect but-
This is the girl they thought at first was "Sherry Cooper."
Ruby Pearl was shown the clothing and said, she recognized the shirt the victim was wearing as being one she had seen all of the Family girls wearing at some point in time.
Community clothing piles. Never or rarely washed. Ewwww. P.U!!
The reason I think the authorities thought is was Cooper was because Ruby also told authorities the last girl she did see wearing the shirt was Sherry.
There's was a statement on the internet that a body, probably this one, had been confirmed to be Sherry Cooper. I believed it. Then, Sherry turned up alive and well in a video with Donkey Dan.
Liz - all that is correct according to Helter Skelter. I'll get back to you on what is says in The Family.
jane doe #59 is believed to be sherry andrews/claudia leigh smith. her most common alias was collie sinclair. there is a mug shot available of collie sinclair from the barker raids. she had 157 stab wounds to the neck and upper body. ruby pearl identified the dress the victim wore as one she saw at spahn ranch. it is believed that if the victim is sherry andrews that she was murdered because she was a "weak link" and witnessed the murder of john haught.
IIRC this is the one cops thought might have been related to the slaying of Doreen Gaul & James Sharp just a week later.
The overkill neck-stabbing of the females sounds like it could be the same perp. Very bad.
Ken, love your pics...interesting.
There seems to be a lot of confusion over the years with Claudia Leigh Smith and Collie Sinclair. They have two different mugshots,but the nicknames of the family were so interchangeable and it appears that Claudia was called Collie as well. Claudia married Bill Vance and was described as 5'6, so perhaps it is Collie Sinclair that was meant.
ello ello...love the site (another long time lurker :))
I had to pop in as I noticed this sketch bears a slight resemblance to Diane Von Ahn's mugshot (see http://www.charliemanson.com/mugshots/mug-4.htm ....second to last on the page)...or am I imagining things again... :P
Nefaereti said...
I had to pop in as I noticed this sketch bears a slight resemblance to Diane Von Ahn's mugshot
Nice, Nefaereti. She does!
Be sure to pop in often.
I noticed the resemblace as well with the overbite. I wish one of the ex-family members would help with some of these questions that we have. Which of the family girls were almost 5'11", that would narrow it down, if it someone that was with the group.
When Coroner Noguchi saw the Tate bodies, he said the first thing he thought of was an amphetamine killing, which indeed it was. Speed killings, especially methamphetamine killings, are distinguished by massive overkill, usually with knives. The killer loses it completely and usually isnt really aware he is attacking people, think of Tex saying the Tate people looked like blobs. Also that after all were dead, it seems Tex ran around all the bodies just chopping some more.
So this killing also could well be such a murder. And probably is just another counter-culture type killing. I am always amazed, given the peace-and-love stuff the hippy movement is associated with, how much violence there really was. How people at the time were afraid of hippies, how quickly the psychedelics turned to speed and heroin, and how many very very dodgy people were around; hanging round the Polanski house, according to the neighbours, which must be true if Abigail Folger really did just wave at dirty scrawny bug-eyed Susan walking past her bedroom door. (This fact I find almost paralysingly interesting.)
So I think it is highly likely 'Sherry' was hanging round with the Family, like so many other runaway drop-outs. I think she probably then wandered into another bad scene and got killed. After all, whatever Bugliosi says, the Family did not 'like to kill.' Ouisch said that when things got violent, it happened very fast and it involved only a few of the group, and given Tex killed nearly all of them, his amphetamine use is a key component. How many other Family used this drug? Susan said it was her and Tex's private stash. Little Paul said the group used acid, weed etc, never ever mentioned speed.
A wandering hippie, scarcely on anyone's radar, no parents come forth to claim her, suggests a runaway from a bad home. Killed with multiple stab wounds and pattern of rage, suggests speed. Seen with Family, but only fleetingly, suggests sad little wanderer (rather like Linda, but not so tough and without the iron-clad instinct for self-preservation). Poor little Sherry: hippie casualty. Manson Family casualty? Who would have been the killer?
I don't think the clothes were rarely washed. One thing all the Family agreed on was that contrary to public opinion, they were all very clean.
Interesting analysis, Fiona. Patty could not agree more about the methamphetamine angle.
Also, Gonorrhea aside, Patty has also often thought that the "dity hippie" thing was way overplayed. Charlie says he'd make love to 'em in the mud, but Patty thinks this statement was more metaphorical. Even if he did to shake them up a little and break down inhibitions, surely a bath or a dip in the stream followed thereafter. Some of the girls' photos from the Barker Ranch raid are very grubby but at this point they were hiding in desert bunkers with nowhere to wash: any water available out there is for drinking, not bathing.
And John Haught was not murdered. He was also known as Christopher Jesus, wasn't he?
In the Manson film, Ronnie Howard is detailing one of Susan's wilder stories, that she had sex with a man and as they both climaxed, he shot himself.
As she is talking, there's a very fast aside to Little Paul: "That's Christopher Jesus you're talking about" he says. Very fast, and he looks sort of shifty. Something about the way he says it suggests it is true, like it's something everyone knows.
Also, in another place, there is more mention of the 'bloodstain where Zero shot himself" but I can't find this reference again, but I think there was some other confirming detail about a sexual climax. Driving me mad I can't find it.
The person who brought the news to Susan Atkins made her very excited. She told either Ronnie or Virginia that he climaxed all over himself when he died and how beautiful it would have been to be there.
Country Sue was there. Susan Atkins wasn't. It was Sue who brought Susan the news. From this, it's a short step to Susan appropriating the story for herself, as she did with the killing of Sharon. Or maybe she told Ronnie Howard the real story and Ronnie just conflated the two names of Sue and Susan, as she did with Charles Watson and Charles Manson. She never seems very on-the-ball, Ronnie, seems half-drugged and full of self-pity all the time, not the kind of person to listen closely and Bugliosi said her recall wasn't good.
I am positive this is what happened to Zero. He did shoot himself, with Country Sue. And they all knew about it, as Paul's statement shows. The guy who shot himself while climaxing is Christopher Jesus, aka Zero, aka John Haught.
Not murdered, I am sure. I don't think this girl is Collie Sinclair. Also another thing, all those fillings do say a lot of dental work, true, but they also say neglect in the first place. Could have been she was picked up by someone who paid to have her teeth fixed. (Didn't Dennis Wilson do this for Mary Brunner?)
And also, Patty, Manson and Paul said the police tipped everything up on the raid and tried to make out they were living that way: and also Gypsy was very keen to show herself having a shower like normal people. They were all middle-class, after all. Cleanliness habits inculcated from birth are going to die hard. They never look dirty, either! They look great. Love the clothes.
Al Springer said they were dirty, but he was really talking about the flies, unavoidable on a horse ranch.
Fiona, Susan Atkins was the one with dental problems who Dennis Wilson sent to the dentist and paid the bill, I read. She apparently continued to have dental problems in prison, eventually appearing to have nice, new dentures (and a funny whistle to the S sound when she spoke) at her parole hearings. State of California must have paid for those.
Was Diane Von Ahn seen after the body was found?
it wasn't just susan who had teeth problems but it was never listed who else dennis paid for their teeth to be fixed.
There is an actual photo of Jane Doe in this article, which may help with identification better than the police sketch. http://www.truecrimediary.com/index.cfm?page=cases&id=179
Wes Johnson said...
There is an actual photo of Jane Doe in this article, which may help with identification better than the police sketch. http://www.truecrimediary.com/index.cfm?page=cases&id=179
I followed the link but there is no picture there.
Who knows. It has my curiosity now. Someone knows something.
This lady has purportedly been identified.
Anybody know she turned out to be?
How do you know she's been identified?
I agree. Diane was my cousin .
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