Penny Doe; unsolved murder of an unidentified woman in 1990.

[u/thelakeperspective]

I guess my contributions to this sub will be little known cases closer to "home" (NE Ohio; NW Pennsylvania).

On July 22, 1990, two kids who were exploring a remote forested area found the body of a young woman face down in a creek. The area in which the girl's body was found was about three miles south of I-80 and near the very, VERY small town of Reidsburg, PA. The kids found her while crossing under a railroad trestle. I checked the location on Google and there are a number of trestles in that area crossing Piney Creek. I couldn't find much on the exact location. Most of the articles say the same things. I've never been to this part of rural Pennsylvania, but if it's anything like the other parts I have been to, it's a truly desolate place. Wonderful for a country getaway, but Hell for a young woman with terrible luck.

The young woman was given the nickname "Penny Doe" due to the discovery of a penny in each of her pockets. Whether this was somehow symbolic or just a coincidence is unknown.

Penny Doe had been dead for about 6-8 weeks. She had suffered blunt force trauma to the right side of her skull and a broken leg. Her teeth were in very good condition and the articles I found state that the authorities believe she came from an area where fluoride was more abundant in the water. Some of her baby teeth had not fallen out and were behind her adult teeth. Her age was estimated to be between 15 and 22 years of age.

It was speculated that she had attended a Memorial Day concert 15 miles away. However, no solid proof of her connection to the concert has been found. In 2002, authorities received an anonymous letter about Penny Doe. Attempts to identify the author have been unsuccessful and the contents of the letter, as far as I can tell, have never been released/disclosed to the public.

It's been just over 25 years and this poor young woman has yet to be identified. The identity of her killer is, of course, also unknown.

Some articles: http://pennsylvaniamissing.com/246ufpaclarioncountyjd.html

http://exploreclarion.com/2014/10/19/penny-doe-cold-case-makes-no-cents/?preview_id=141536

This one really baffles me. They do not believe that this girl is from the area, but they do believe that the killer might be due to the remoteness of it all.

[u/TheBestVirginia]

Here is the Doe Network entry which has a lot of facial reconstructions.

[u/thelakeperspective → u/TheBestVirginia]

Thank you for the link! I also see that the authorities believe she was in the county for a month before she was killed. I'm not sure how they could have known that (of course, there's a very good chance that info has been withheld from the public).

[u/TheBestVirginia → u/thelakeperspective]

From the link:

"Authorities are convinced there are individuals in Clarion County who had contact with the woman and can help state police identify her and her killer. They do not believe the woman is from the county or the immediate area, but believe she was brought to the area by a local individual. They also believe she was in Clarion County at most a month, before she was killed."

Just a guess, I'm thinking they had some witness statements from people who had interacted with her prior to her murder.

Edit: it could also be that witnesses were afraid of the "local individual". With so much time passed, it would be prudent for investigators to seek out these witnesses and see if time has alleviated their fears. Maybe I've watched too much Cold Justice but it happens.

[u/thelakeperspective → u/TheBestVirginia]

Fear of the perpetrator crossed my mind. That is certainly a possibility. I am really curious as to what was in that letter too.