Forgotten in a Ditch: The Story of Grundy County Jane Doe

9 min readSep 16, 2022

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Grundy County Jane Doe NCMEC Reconstruction

At around 3 pm on October 2, 1976 twelve-year old Robin Henderson-Mitchell was riding a tractor with her grandfather to a soybean field when she spotted something in a ditch on the side of the road that she thought was a deer. Her grandfather went to get Robin’s father, Tom Henderson, who is later noted as saying “It didn’t look like a deer to me. When I got close enough, I could see it was a body”. The family quickly contacted authorities.

Location where Grundy County Jane Doe was found

The area where she was found was in Seneca Township in Grundy County Illinois (around an hour and twenty minutes South West of Chicago), just 1.4 miles East of the LaSalle County line, near U.S. Route 6.

The body that they had found was that of an African-American woman between the ages of 15–27, had black afro style hair, and brown eyes. She was between 5'7" and 5'9" in height and between 130–150 lbs. in weight. Jane Doe had a scar on her right hip and mark on her lower right abdomen which is either a scar or a birthmark.

Her limbs were tangled, her head had been wrapped in a cardigan-style sweater, and underneath it her head had bound in black electrical tape and a green plastic bag. Underneath all of this was a horrific site, Grundy County Jane Doe had been shot execution style in the back of the head with a .38 caliber revolver. The tape and bag were already around her head when she was shot as they both had bullet holes in them. Jane Doe was likely killed elsewhere and moved to the location where her body was eventually found.

Cardigan-Style Sweater Found Wrapped Around Jane Doe’s Head and the Tag

The sweater still had the $15.99 price tag attached, meaning the sweater had likely been purchased fairly recently. The tag on the sweater with an “L” likely means that the sweater was a size large.

There are some additional details that we can get from the sweater. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) allows for businesses to use a registered identification number (RN) in place of a business name. Through the FTC database, the RN number on Jane Doe’s sweater traced back to Alan Originals Inc. located at 34 W 27th Street New York, New York. The company seemed to be registered in 1972. However, on June 15, 1979 bankruptcy proceedings began after being filed by Staylor Industries, Gould Fabrics Inc., and Knit Fabrics Corporation according to the New York Times. The building where it was located was sold in 1982. This all means that the sweater had to be initially purchased between 1972–1976. There is also a possibility that Jane Doe purchased the sweater from a thrift store or consignment shop, meaning that the link to New York may have nothing to do with Jane Doe.

Either near Jane Doe’s body or in the sweater pocket, was a half-consumed bottle of T.J. Swan Wine, which is similar to Boone Farms. It was a rather cheap and sweet wine brand that was popular in the 70s, mainly among younger people, and seemed to have fizzled out in the 1980s.

The Initial Investigation:

An autopsy took place the next day at Morris Hospital in Joliet, Illinois. They were able to determine that Jane Doe’s death was a homicide and that she had not been sexually assaulted or had sex close to her time of death. Her teeth were also noted to be in good condition. Her fingerprints were taken and sent to the FBI, but nothing has ever come of it.

Morris Daily Herald Article about Grundy County Jane Doe from October 4, 1976

Morris Daily Herald Article about Grundy County Jane Doe from October 5, 1976

It seems a few news sources published articles about her case and her picture was run in the Chicago Daily Bulletin, but the news wasn’t very widespread outside of Illinois. Seneca Township was a predominantly white community at the time, so Jane Doe would have stood out if she suddenly arrived in town. But no one noticed anyone matching her description in the days leading up to her discovery.

The policy in Grundy County at the time was to hold the body in storage until she was identified, however, Grundy County Jane Doe has never been identified. So, on Thanksgiving Day in 1976 Grundy County Jane Doe was buried in a unmarked grave in Braceville-Gardener Cemetery. Only two people attended her burial were the Grundy County Coroner, James Reeves, and the cemetery sexton Joseph Tolbert.

Morris Daily Herald Article about Grundy County Jane Doe’s burial

It was strange to authorities at the time that Jane Doe did not stand out to anyone. The town was almost entirely white in 1976, so a black woman who was new would have stood out to the people who lived in the area. But no one ever came forward saying that

Another Discovery:

On December 18, 1976 a bag was located near where Jane Doe had been found two months prior. The bag contained: a bra, two pairs of underwear, a tattered skirt, patent leather high heels, a pair of pantyhose, and another two pairs of pantyhose tied together like a restraint. These clothing items could be pieces of the clothes Jane Doe was wearing before being dumped. Additionally, the pantyhose fashioned into a restraint could give us a grim insight into what Jane Doe went through in the lead up to her murder.

It is still unknown if this discovery is related to Jane Doe, but it is highly suspected.

A Case Reopened:

Not much was discovered about Grundy County Jane Doe after 1976. Her case was closed at some point in the years afterwards. But her case was finally reopened in 2017. The current Grundy County Coroner John Calhoun and Deputy Chief Coroner Brandon Johnson are determined to solve her case.

A billboard of Jane Doe was put up in on Jefferson Street in Joliet, Illinois in October of 2018 to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of her discovery. It is unknown if any significant leads or tips came from this.

Towards the end of 2018 the pair wanted to exhume Jane Doe’s body, but feared that they would have to wait until spring of the next year for the ground to thaw. However, they had a seasonally warm December and were able to exhume Grundy County Jane Doe’s body on December 18, 2018.

Grundy County Jane Doe’s coffin being exhumed

Her body was laid to rest in a coffin that was described as just a “metal box”, so the expectation was that there wouldn’t be much of her left. However, she still had her teeth and hair.

In January of 2019 the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office was awarded a grant by the National Missing and Unidentified Person’s System (NamUs) and the United States Department of Justice to perform DNA testing. One of her femurs and her mandible were sent to the University of North Texas’ Center for Human Identification.

In April her full DNA profile was uploaded to the national DNA system the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). And in May the Grundy County Coroner’s Office began working with the DNA Doe Project, a volunteer genetic genealogy company that specializes in identifying Jane and John Does.

An announcement was made in November of 2019 that a family member of Jane Doe had been located, and she was either a first cousin or a niece. This family member was originally from Alabama, but currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia. She revealed that the family dynamics were quite complicated, and that she was not familiar with many of them (especially her paternal side).

An update was announced in January of 2020 that offered a lot more information about Grundy Count Jane Doe’s life”

She was likely born between 1948–1960
Her parents and likely one set of grandparents were from Selma, Alabama
The surname Calhoun belonged to a grandparent and the surname Harris possibly belonged to a great-grandparent
She has a pool of relatives in Dallas and Wilcox County, Alabama. She also has relatives in the Cincinnati, Ohio area as well as the Detroit, Michigan area.
She could possibly have siblings unaware of her existence.

Following this details about her case were sent to churches in the area of Selma, Alabama.

Other family members have been found and don’t seem to have any more information about the identity of Grundy County Jane Doe than her niece or first cousin. A few have even been asked to provide DNA samples to narrow down Jane Doe’s extensive family tree, but many had scoffed at the idea.

Where We Stand:

It seems like her identity is just barely slipping through our fingers, it seems like we are so close but just not quite there.

Carl Koppelman’s Reconstruction of Grundy County Jane Doe in Brandon Johnson’s Office

Brandon Johnson keeps a photograph of Jane Doe on the wall in his office stating “There’s a constant reminder of what I’m doing, and to keep trying”, he goes on to say that “I feel dedicated to solve this and give her the name that she deserves”.

Johnson also runs an Instagram and Facebook account dedicated to Grundy County Jane Doe’s case.

He has said that if he fails to solve this case during his time at the Grundy County Coroner’s Office, he plans to give Jane Doe a headstone with the inscription “known only to god”.

Rule-Outs:

Many women have been ruled out as being Jane Doe and most still remain missing and are listed below.

The Coroner’s Office works closely with NamUs and the Doe Network and now believe that Jane Doe was likely never reported missing. Which is, unfortunately, what happened to most Jane and John Does.

Despite the fact that she was likely never reported missing, it is important to remember that “She was somebody to someone” as Brandon Johnson put it.

Her Murder:

With all these questions and details surrounding her identity, it is easy to forget that Jane Doe was murdered and someone has gotten away with it for almost forty-six years.

Obviously, without an identity it is highly unlikely that we can solve her murder but it’s not impossible. Her murder seemed cold and calculated as is typically the case with an execution style killing. The initial scene of her murder is still unknown as well, and that location could help us find her killer. There have also never been any suspects mentioned in regards to her case.

Conclusions:

Robin Henderson-Mitchell (54) and Tom Henderson (75) two of the three found Jane Doe’s body, today

Jane Doe has been unidentified for almost 46 years. If Jane Doe was still alive today she would have been anywhere from 62–74 years old, and if her parents are still alive they would likely be in their 80s or 90s. This means the time to find people she knew and her killer(s) is running out. Even the little girl who found her is now a grandmother herself. Grundy County Jane Doe is the only unidentified person in Grundy County.

With no family to mourn her loss it is important to listen to Brandon Johnson when he said that “It’s our job to remember her until she gets her name back”.

If you have any information that could lead to the identity of Jane Doe or the identity of her killer(s), please contact the people listed on the flyer below.

Sources:

Forgotten in a Ditch: The Story of Grundy County Jane Doe

Written by Madison Tramel