1969 Harlan County Jane Doe Mystery

TODD MATTHEWS (Missing Pieces Host): I'm Todd Matthews. This is Missing Pieces and tonight we have Darla Jackson. Welcome, Darla.

DARLA SAYLOR JACKSON (Guest, Author of 'Harlan County Haunts'): Thank you.

TODD: How are you doing?

DARLA: I'm doing great.

TODD: You're a Southerner, right along beside of me, Harlan County.

DARLA: Uh-huh.

TODD: I've been there a few times; I didn't know you were there, actually, and I didn't know you had a Jane Doe.

DARLA: Oh, yeah. Yeah, we do. Harlan County has its own Jane Doe.

TODD: Well, nobody else knew it, is one of the problems. I actually saw a newspaper article that featured you and your book, 'Harlan County Haunts' and that's what did this; that's what changed everything. That book and that newspaper article brought this to the attention of a lot of people. I actually saw the article posted; I didn't know you had a Jane Doe and I contacted the medical examiner, Dr. Emily Craig, anthropologist for the state, you know they didn't know, this has not been fully reported. This was before the current State Medical Examiner system was in place and basically it's outside the jurisdiction...

DARLA: Right.

TODD: ...so I have contacted your coroner, and I think there is a possibility with 'Caroline,' as you guys call her...

DARLA: Uh-huh.

TODD: ...and a lot of it is just because you finally got somebody's attention. There was a passage in your book that says, "I have spent hours going over every Jane Doe network and cold case website on the Internet. I have posted messages in Fayette, Ohio forums and basically exhausted all Internet sources. This murder is not listed with the Kentucky State Police Cold Case website. The 'Tent Girl' found near Lexington is a popular Jane Doe case and so is the 'Lady in Black' found murdered outside a hotel in Harrodsburg in the 1830s, but no one seems to be interested in Caroline." Well, I am! (Chuckles) Actually, I did work with the 'Tent Girl' and that's what actually began my work with missing and unidentified persons, was the 'Tent Girl.'

DARLA: Uh-huh.

TODD: So I was really glad to see this.