She is described as being between 15 and 25 years old and possibly bi-racial (mix of black and white ancestry). She stood approximately 5' 3" and weighed approximately 191 pounds. Her hair was of a full curly texture and dark brown (reddish) and it was cut just above her shoulders, held back in a pony tail with a white bow. Her eyes were brown.
Her blood type was "O". She had long fingernails painted purple and toenails that were painted pink. Tests showed she was drug-free but she may have smoked cigarettes. She had freckles on face and an old small 4 cm horizontal scar under her right kneecap. She had some dental work (three fillings) and had a number of teeth with decay; however, she was not missing any teeth. Pelvic Inflammatory Disease was present.
She was dressed in a white shirt with yellow and black print smiley faces and red lip prints, white skirt ("JXP Designs" brand), white lace bra, white socks with low cut black athletic shoes with white trim, size 8 1/2. Her left wrist was adorned with a with a leather band that was manufactured by Rumours and usually purchased in stores such as JC Penney.
Following are six 2018 Google images indicating where her body was found. As would be expected, it probably looks quite different from what it looked like in 1996.
Highland Park Jane Doe
Found May 20, 1996 in Highland Park, Michigan
The following females have been ruled out as being Highland Park Jane Doe.
Jahzeel Collazo, Michigan
Misty Ortega, Texas
Crystal Ortega, Texas
Michigan State Police exhumed her body in October 2015 to extract DNA in hopes of breaking the case and giving her a name. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children provided funding to have her exhumed from a Canton Township cemetery. Her body is now being stored with the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office. There is a chance that her DNA could find a hit if a family reference sample is logged in the system. As of January 2018, there have not been any hits on her DNA.
She laid fatally wounded with a shotgun blast to the throat in an alley behind 387 Cortland Street in Highland Park, Michigan, until her body was found at first light on May 20, 1996. Residents in the neighborhood told police they had heard a gunshot in the early morning hours prior to her discovery but no eyewitnesses came forward, nor did potential relatives, even though the Highland Park Police Department sought tips and reached out to the media repeatedly. The location of her body was close to the Lodge Freeway, which leads law enforcement to believe that she may have been traveling along the freeway with her killer. She was ultimately laid to rest in an unmarked grave in April 1997 and became known as Michigan's "unidentified female No. 17" for 1996 although there is a significant amount of information regarding her physical description and clothing. (Her body was exhumed in October 2015, which is discussed in this article.)
This is 387 Cortland Avenue. Her body was found in the alley behind this house.
It is close to the end of the road.
There is a main/busy street at the end of Cortland Avenue. It is the John C. Lodge Freeway, also known as M-10 or The Lodge. It is a state route that runs from Detroit to West Bloomfield. Its southern terminus is at Jefferson and Randolph Street in Detroit and the freeway runs northwesterly to Orchard Lake Road in West Bloomfield.
A left turn goes to the service road.
The driveway to the alley is on the left.
This is the alley where her body was found.
