DeSoto County Jane Doe identified after 40 years, but questions remain
Recently identified after 40 years, there are questions about a woman’s body found on the side of the road in DeSoto County, including whether she could be a victim of the “Bible Belt Strangler.”
In recent years, online detectives have linked the case to a series of murdered women who had physical characteristics similar to her and who were killed under comparable circumstances throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, a theory dubbed the “redhead murders.” Others informally connected the series of deaths to the “Bible Belt Strangler.”
A relatively new field of forensics has identified the body and allowed the family to receive “some closure,” but it raises the question of whether she was the victim of a suspected serial killer.
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North Mississippi Olive Branch DeSoto County Sheriff's Department DeSoto County Jane Doe Subscriber Only Lorie Ann Mealer Pennell Lorie PennellThank you for supporting local journalism.
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Rob Moore
Rob Moore covers North Mississippi for The Daily Memphian. He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in English from The University of Memphis.
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