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#Post#: 669--------------------------------------------------
Re: VALENTINE SALLY: WF, 16-20, found under a tree near I-40 -
14 February 1982
DIR By: Akoya
Date: February 8, 2020, 4:42 pm
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#Post#: 670--------------------------------------------------
Re: VALENTINE SALLY: WF, 16-20, found under a tree near I-40 -
14 February 1982
DIR By: Akoya
Date: February 8, 2020, 4:45 pm
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Interstate 40
Williams, Arizona
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#Post#: 671--------------------------------------------------
Re: VALENTINE SALLY: WF, 16-20, found under a tree near I-40 -
14 February 1982
DIR By: Akoya
Date: February 8, 2020, 4:46 pm
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#Post#: 672--------------------------------------------------
Re: VALENTINE SALLY: WF, 16-20, found under a tree near I-40 -
14 February 1982
DIR By: Akoya
Date: February 8, 2020, 4:52 pm
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#Post#: 9915--------------------------------------------------
Re: VALENTINE SALLY: WF, 16-20, found under a tree near I-40 -
14 February 1982
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: December 19, 2021, 7:06 pm
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HTML https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_formerly_unidentified_decedents,_2020%E2%80%932029
The body of a white female, aged between 15 and 24, was
discovered under a cedar tree in Williams, Coconino County, on
February 14, 1982. She was discovered approximately 25 feet from
westbound Interstate 40.
Her death had occurred on or around February 1,[55] and the area
of her discovery area was a place where trucks were known to
have regularly pulled over to cool their brakes. Because her
remains were located on Valentine's Day, she was nicknamed
"Valentine Sally."
Valentine Sally was approximately five feet five inches in
height and weighed 120 pounds; she had blue eyes and strawberry
blond hair which was straight and approximately ten inches in
length. She had distinctive scars on her right thigh and her
left foot.[56] Furthermore, the decedent appeared to have
incomplete root canal surgery upon one of her molars, which may
have been related to a notably discomforting infection. This
surgery had been performed approximately one week before her
murder. She also wore an earring in her left ear. It is unknown
if her right ear was also pierced, as her right ear was not
recovered. Due to decomposition and the activity of scavenging
animals, her fingerprints could not be obtained (although her
DNA and dental charts were).[57][58]
The victim had been murdered by either suffocation or
strangulation[59] and wore Seasons brand jeans with a
handkerchief in one pocket. A distinctive white sweater with
thin red stripes and a bra were also found near her remains,
which may have also belonged to the victim.
It is possible Valentine Sally had been seen by eyewitnesses at
a truck stop in Ash Fork, Arizona in early February, as a
waitress at a truck stop named Patty Wilkins recalled a young
girl matching her description and aged 16 or 17 who had asked
her for aspirin because of a toothache. This girl did not want
any food. She was in the company of an older male—possibly a
father or uncle—who had expressed concern over her teeth.
Wilkins believed the girl was with a relative as normally; had a
runaway entered the premises, she would call the sheriff. The
pair had entered the premises at 3 a.m. and left approximately
one hour later.
On February 22, 2021, she was identified as Carolyn Eaton of St.
Louis, Missouri, who ran away from home in late December 1981
#Post#: 9970--------------------------------------------------
Re: VALENTINE SALLY: WF, 16-20, found under a tree near I-40 -
14 February 1982 *Carolyn Eaton*
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: December 20, 2021, 11:58 pm
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Identified as 17 year-old Carolyn Eaton of St. Louis, Missouri.
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#Post#: 9971--------------------------------------------------
Re: VALENTINE SALLY: WF, 16-20, found under a tree near I-40 -
14 February 1982 *Carolyn Eaton*
DIR By: Scorpio
Date: December 20, 2021, 11:59 pm
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HTML https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/after-almost-40-years-st-louis-co-teen-runaway-identified-as-arizona-cold-case-victim/article_4703986a-7573-11eb-8c49-2788a6af7cf2.html
After almost 40 years, St. Louis Co. teen runaway identified as
Arizona cold case victim
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.
The body had previously been misidentified through facial
reconstruction as Melody Cutlip, a Florida teen who went missing
around that time but was reunited with her family in 1986.
"I've been with this department 23 years now and every so often
we'd hear about the Valentine Sally case," Lurkins said. "So
when it broke like this, it was a big deal and I'm sure it's
bringing up a lot for her family."
St. Louis County missing persons detective Tom Taylor aided
Arizona investigators when they traveled to Missouri for the
case.
"It is an absolute reminder that hope springs eternal for police
investigators and someone with a missing family member," said
Taylor, recalling when he got the call about the DNA matches.
"And it shows the investigators kept this case alive over all
these years."
Taylor said St. Louis County has open missing persons cases
dating to 1955, though police investigations into runaways like
Eaton have changed dramatically.
"The availability in technology makes a huge difference today,"
he said. "Today, everyone has a cellphone that is trackable, and
that's not something that was around at the time of this case."
Bellefontaine Neighbors police Maj. Warren Williss also aided
Arizona investigators and said he had spoken with a few retired
officers from the department who remembered the family and
Eaton's case. The department no longer had case files connected
to the disappearance.
"It's nice to get some sense of resolution," Williss said. "I
hope that knowing more about what happened can help the family
in some way."
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