139: The Women Who Talk to the Dead: A Conversation with Katherine Schweit
She Goes by Jane: A True Crime PodcastShow Notes
Most people assume that unidentified persons' cases are actively investigated, that somewhere, someone is still working to restore a name to the dead. But the reality is often far more complicated. This week, She Goes by Jane presents a special interview with author and former FBI agent Katherine Schweit about her new book, Women Who Talk to the Dead: The True Story of 200 Forgotten Murder Victims and the Relentless Pursuit of Justice by an FBI Agent and a Detroit Police Detective. Together, we discuss the unidentified dead of Detroit, the challenges of solving decades-old cases, and the investigators who refuse to let victims disappear into forgotten file boxes and evidence rooms. We also explore media neglect, institutional barriers, and the quiet, persistent work required to restore names and histories to those who have been lost. At the end of the episode, actress Mary Lynn Rajskub reads Aimée Baker's poem "Detroit, and Other Sorrows," a meditation on memory, absence, and the lives that remain even when names are forgotten. Because every unidentified person was once known. And every name returned is a story reclaimed. 📍 Detroit, Michigan | 1950s-Present 📖 Featuring an original poem written in honor of one of Detroit’s formerly unidentified Jane Does read by Mary Lynn Rajskub. ➡️ Help bring attention to missing and unidentified women—subscribe and share this episode. 📍 Find us on Instagram & Facebook. 📚 Get Katherine’s book,The Women Who Talk to the Dead, now at Bookshop.org. 📰 For more women-centered true crime content, subscribe to Aimee’s newsletter, GIRLHUNT. More about Katherine Schweit: Katherine Schweit is an author, attorney, former Chicago prosecutor, and career Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent who helped jail bank robbers, kidnappers, and domestic terrorists, while working daily with local police investigating and responding to mass casualty and active shooter incidents. A native of Detroit, Ms. Schweit earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University. She earned a law degree at DePaul University and joined the Cook County prosecutor’s office as an assistant state’s attorney. More about Mary Lynn Rajskub:Mary Lynn Rajskub is a comedian, actress and writer, best known for playing ‘Chloe’ on the Fox drama 24 and ‘Gail the Snail’ from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This spring, Mary Lynn will co-star in the Netflix series, North of North, and she premiered her second hour-long stand-up special, Mary Lynn Rajskub: Road Gig, on YouTube in December. Her book, FAME-ISH: My Life At The Edge Of Stardom, is a comedic look at Mary Lynn’s awkward and endearing missteps on the road to becoming fame-ish. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
More from She Goes by Jane: A True Crime Podcast
“If something happens to me, don’t give up until you find out what happened," Pamela Butler told her brother. He could never have guessed he would need to do just that.
For years, Steven Sherer had called his wife, Jami Hagel Sherer, over and over whenever she was away from him. It was a way for him to constantly monitor where she was, who she was with, and to control her actions. On September 30, 1990, he called Jami’s parents’ house twice. And then the phone stopped ringing.Jami had told her mother that morning that she was leaving Steven. Jami told her mother she just wanted to gather a few belongings, grab her favorite lunch, and then return to her parents’ house. It should have taken minutes.Jami never arrived.When Jami didn’t arrive and Steven didn’t call, her mother worried the two had reconciled. But when Steven showed up without Jami claiming he hadn’t seen her, her mother knew something was very wrong. Jami Hagel has been missing since that day in 1990. Listen to Part 2.📍 Redmond, Washington | September 30, 1990
In 1986, 22-year-old Jami Hagel met Steven Sherer at a bar in Redmond, Washington. He was charming, persistent, and was soon sending her a dozen roses. Within months, the relationship that started with romance would become something far more frightening.
On a June night in 1950, seventeen-year-old Barbara Kelley left home for a date with Henry Baird, a 28-year-old World War II veteran she had been seeing for several months. Barbara told her parents she would spend the night at a friend’s house in nearby Eureka. There was no reason for them to worry. The next morning, Henry was found nude on a remote beach along the Northern California coast. He had been shot to death. His companion, Barbara, was nowhere to be found.Henry had been shot in the back of the head. Nearby, his clothes were found neatly stacked. With them were Barbara’s clothes. But there was no sign of Barbara. Within hours, police began to investigate the theory the teenager had been involved in Henry’s death. In the years since the murder and disappearance, speculation has run rampant including false confessions, searches through the woods, and a connection to an eerily similar case in another county.But at the heart of it all is Barbara Kelley, a seventeen-year-old girl who went on a date and never came home.📍 Humboldt County, California | June 17, 1950
ComposeWrite to Aimée Baker Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices