AZ VALENTINE SALLY: WF, 16-24, found along I-40 in Williams, AZ - 14 Feb 1982 *CAROLYN EATON*

​

585UFAZ - Unidentified Female​

Left to right: Artisic renderings and sketch of the victim; The victim's clothing and hankerchief.


Date of Discovery: February 14, 1982
Location of Discovery: Williams, Coconino County, Arizona
Estimated Date of Death: Approximately 2 weeks prior to discovery
State of Remains: Not recognizable due to insect/animal activity
Cause of Death: Inconclusive, possible homicide

Physical Description​

Estimated Age: 16-24 years old
Race: White
Sex: Female
Height: 5'4" - 5'5"
Weight: 120 - 125 lbs.
Hair Color: Blonde/strawberry blonde, straight, approximately 9.5" in length
Eye Color: Unknown. Subject seen alive had blue eyes.
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Irregular, rough, well-healed scars on the dorsal aspect (top) of the left foot measuring 3.5 and 1.4 cm in maximum dimension; a well-healed diagonal scar on the anterior (back) lower thigh measuring 3.5 cm in length. Left earlobe is pierced (right ear missing due to animal activity), moles on her chest above the right breast

Identifiers​

Dentals: Available; Tooth #19 (lower molar) had been drilled in preparation for a root canal approximately one week prior to her death. Teeth # 1, 16, 17 and 32 not erupted.
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Available

Clothing & Personal Items​

Clothing: Blue jeans (size 8 or 9) with the brand name "Seasons," white sweater with thin red/maroon stripes, and a white bra (size 36C)
Jewelry: none
Additional Personal Items: white hankerchief

Circumstances of Discovery​

This young woman was discovered face down under a cedar tree near westbound Interstate 40, about 11 miles west of Williams, while a Arizona Department of Public Safety officer was searching for a tire. The decedent was found wearing only jeans, with a red and white striped sweater and bra found nearby. Evidence suggests that she was dragged to her location and placed there. Circumstances are unknown otherwise. Coconino County is investigating this case as a homicide. She is known to investigators as "Valentine Sally" and is buried in a cemetery in Williams.

A Northern Arizona University student said that he picked up a hitchhiker fitting Valentine Sally's description near Cordes Junction on February 2 while traveling north. She told the driver that she was coming from Phoenix, where she was living with friends and working as a dishwasher. Because of some family problems, she had to get to New Jersey, and was planning ot go ot the Little America truck stop when she got to Flagstaff to try and get a ride from a truck driver to the East Coast. It is possible she went to a dentist in the Phoenix area before February 2, 1982.

There are witnesses that put Valentine Sally with a man (possibly two men) at the Monte Carlo truck stop in Ash Fork, Arizona during the early morning hours of February 4, 1982. One of her companions is described as a white male, 60 to 65 years of age, 5’8" to 5’10" tall, medium weight, wearing a two-tone, brown, checked leather vest and a felt cowboy hat adorned with a large peacock feather on the front of the hat.

Investigating Agency(s)​

Agency Name: Coconino County Medical Examiners Office
Agency Contact Person: Elizabeth Ross
Agency Phone Number: 928-679-8775
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 82-022

Agency Name: Coconino County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Squad
Agency Contact Person: Detective Chuck Jones
Agency Phone Number: 928-226-5033
Agency E-Mail: N/A
Agency Case Number: 82-11000

NCIC Case Number: U214162293
NamUs Case Number: 9864

Information Source(s)​

NamUs
NCMEC
Arizona Daily Sun (8/28/13)
Coconino County Sheriff's Office Cold Cases & Missing Persons Facebook Page
Arizona Daily Sun (2/19/82)
Arizona Republic (2/82)

585UFAZ

-Click the Report button if you'd like this case moved to the general discussion area to be opened for commenting.

 

[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Have you seen this child?

Missing From: , . Missing Date: .

www.missingkids.org

 

[The Coffeenator]

Valentine Sally from 1982 has been identified as Carolyn Eaton.

DNA match helps identify body known as 'Valentine Sally' found near Flagstaff in 1982

In 1982, the body of a woman was found along the roadway near Flagstaff.

www.abc15.com

"Nearly 40 years after the northern Arizona discovery, an unidentified body that came to be known as "Valentine Sally" has been identified as a 17-year-old girl. (..) A grant allowed officials to complete a familial DNA search to try to locate relatives of "Valentine Sally," and it was discovered that the DNA matched members of a family in Missouri.

Detectives flew to the St. Louis-area family and interviewed them, learning that they had a sibling, 17-year-old Carolyn Eaton, who had run away from home around Christmas in 1981. The true identity of "Valentine Sally" is now confirmed to be that of the runaway teenager."

***There are many other links, but I can't access them since I'm located in Europe.***

Carolyn Eaton's thread:

AZ - VALENTINE SALLY: WF, 16-24, found along I-40 in Williams, AZ - 14 Feb 1982 *CAROLYN EATON*

585UFAZ - Unidentified Female Left to right: Artisic renderings and sketch of the victim; The victim's clothing and hankerchief. Date of Discovery: February 14, 1982 Location of Discovery: Williams, Coconino County, Arizona Estimated Date of Death: Approximately 2 weeks prior to discovery...

www.crimewatchers.net

 

[Kimster]

ST. LOUIS COUNTY — Nearly 40 years after the body of a girl was found on Valentine's Day off a northern Arizona highway, police have identified her as a teenage runaway from St. Louis County.
The Coconino County Sheriff's Office announced Monday that DNA had confirmed the homicide victim was Carolyn Eaton, a 17-year-old who was reported missing in 1981 from her home in Bellefontaine Neighbors.
Eaton was one of six sisters. She ran away after an argument sometime around Christmas in 1981, said Coconino County Sheriff's Office Lt. Jason Lurkins, who is working on the case.

Her body was found Feb. 14, 1982, by an Arizona state trooper off Interstate 40 in northern Arizona. The unidentified girl was soon dubbed “Valentine Sally” by authorities and became a well-known local cold case, Lurkins said.
Detectives exhausted all leads over the years but had been unable to determine the girl's identity. This year, they contracted with a company to compare DNA from the body with online ancestry databases and found a match with a first cousin in the St. Louis area, Lurkins said.

Detectives then traveled to St. Louis County to interview relatives, who confirmed they had a sibling who ran away in 1981.

"The family members were awestruck," Lurkins said. "We told one family member we were investigating a missing person case and they asked: Is this about Carolyn?"


Eaton's death was a homicide caused by some type of violence, but the state of the body made finding a more specific cause of death difficult, Lurkins said. The sheriff's office is continuing to search for a suspect.
Detectives believe a waitress at a truck stop near the remote area where Carolyn was found may have been among the last to see her, Lurkins said.
Patty Wilkins, Seligman, Arizona, told detectives at the time that on Feb. 2, 1982, while working the night shift at an Arizona truck stopped owned by her family, she served a girl matching Carolyn's description when she came in late with a man wearing a cowboy hat with a peacock feather in it.

Eaton told Wilkins she had a toothache, so Wilkins said she gave the young girl an aspirin for the left side of her mouth.

Police eventually found Eaton's body about a mile up the road from Wilkins' family truck stop. When an autopsy was done on Eaton's body, Wilkins said police told her the aspirin was still on Eaton's tooth.
"I could have pulled her off that truck. I could have forced her to stay with me. I could have called 911. I could have done a million different things that I didn't do. The only thing I did was put that aspirin on her," Wilkins said Monday in an interview with the Post-Dispatch.

After almost 40 years, St. Louis Co. teen runaway identified as Arizona cold case victim

Carolyn Eaton ran away from home at 17 years old around Christmas 1981.

www.stltoday.com

 

[Kimster]

I wonder how many runaways were never reported missing? I'm assuming Carolyn was never reported.

 

[Kimster]

Carl Koppelman's recon.

 

[Guess Who]

I wonder how many runaways were never reported missing? I'm assuming Carolyn was never reported.

...DNA had confirmed the homicide victim was Carolyn Eaton, a 17-year-old who was reported missing in 1981 from her home in Bellefontaine Neighbors. ...

 

[Kimster]

...DNA had confirmed the homicide victim was Carolyn Eaton, a 17-year-old who was reported missing in 1981 from her home in Bellefontaine Neighbors. ...

Oh thank you! I must have glossed over it. :

 

[Guess Who]

Oh thank you! I must have glossed over it. :

It happens

I would like to know how info was shared back in 81-82 through different jurisdictions/states. It would seem that if one place had a doe, they would reach out to other states for missing people. Missouri's missing is ran through the Highway Patrol and she should have been listed on it. Did anybody even try very hard back then?

 

[Whatsnext]

Carolyn Eaton

Carolyn Celeste Eaton (October 1, 1964 - c. February 3, 1982), previously known as "Valentine Sally", was a female discovered murdered in 1982 west of Williams, Arizona. Her cause of death is believed to be asphyxia, although it was never conclusively determined. Investigators have affirmed...

unidentified.wikia.org

 

[Kimster]

Carl’s rendition was pretty close, I’d say!

 

[Carbuff]

It happens

I would like to know how info was shared back in 81-82 through different jurisdictions/states. It would seem that if one place had a doe, they would reach out to other states for missing people. Missouri's missing is ran through the Highway Patrol and she should have been listed on it. Did anybody even try very hard back then?

From what I've read, practices varied by state and even locality--and there wasn't much in the way of centralized reporting. Many jurisdictions didn't usually report an unidentified or missing person outside the area, let alone out of state, unless they had reason to believe the person had left the state/was from out of state. Often the missing person would only be reported locally. Does would usually be more widely publicized, but it's a long way between Arizona and Missouri.. And because there wasn't much central reporting, it wasn't easy to go back through older cases looking for someone; Carolyn had been gone for a couple of months before she was murdered. Even if LE had scoured all available resources, they might not have found her.

 

[Guess Who]

From what I've read, practices varied by state and even locality--and there wasn't much in the way of centralized reporting. Many jurisdictions didn't usually report an unidentified or missing person outside the area, let alone out of state, unless they had reason to believe the person had left the state/was from out of state. Often the missing person would only be reported locally. Does would usually be more widely publicized, but it's a long way between Arizona and Missouri.. And because there wasn't much central reporting, it wasn't easy to go back through older cases looking for someone; Carolyn had been gone for a couple of months before she was murdered. Even if LE had scoured all available resources, they might not have found her.

That's exactly how i was picturing it to have happened then. It would totally be luck if one like that was actually matched up.

 

[Kimster]

From what I've read, practices varied by state and even locality--and there wasn't much in the way of centralized reporting. Many jurisdictions didn't usually report an unidentified or missing person outside the area, let alone out of state, unless they had reason to believe the person had left the state/was from out of state. Often the missing person would only be reported locally. Does would usually be more widely publicized, but it's a long way between Arizona and Missouri.. And because there wasn't much central reporting, it wasn't easy to go back through older cases looking for someone; Carolyn had been gone for a couple of months before she was murdered. Even if LE had scoured all available resources, they might not have found her.

Exactly!

Only until I found out how many missing people are out there, and how many unidentified remains are out there, did I realize what a daunting task it is to find people. And that’s today! Back in 1982? It was like a needle in a haystack unless the two cases were nearer to each other.

 

[Jante]

I'm so glad she's been ID'd. I remember her case. Carl does a remarkable job on reconstructions.