As uncovered in our Left for Dead series, there are more than 10,000 known Jane and John Does in the U.S. – unidentified and unclaimed bodies languishing in limbo for years, sometimes for decades.
In this episode of Reveal, we crisscross the nation tracing these cold cases, showing why so many bodies remain unidentified despite new and powerful forensic tools. In some cases, amateur Web sleuths end up cracking cases that stymied law enforcement.
She Never Left Harlan Alive
In 1969, a young woman was found stabbed to death in Harlan, Kentucky, and buried without a name.
To many locals, she’s known as “Mountain Jane Doe.” To Darla Jackson and Todd Matthews, her case deserved a little extra digging.
We follow Darla and Todd into the wooded hills of Harlan to exhume the body of Mountain Jane Doe. What they end up finding is … unexpected.
Key Findings
In 2014, a team of forensic anthropologists unearthed mass graves containing the remains of more than 300 migrants.