Show Notes
In 1974, a teenager riding his bike stumbled upon a body behind the newly built mall in Altamonte Springs, Florida. The woman—later known as Seminole County Jane Doe—was stabbed, possibly sexually assaulted, and left unidentified for decades. In 1982, Gerald Stano, a man who would confess to dozens of murders, claimed responsibility for her death. But even his confession did little to answer the most important question: who was she? Today, forensic experts and investigative genetic genealogists at Ramapo College are working to uncover her identity, tracing her ancestry and building family trees in the hope of giving her a name and closure to her family. This episode examines the crime scene, the details that reveal her life, the complicated legacy of serial confessions, and the tireless work of modern investigators. Seminole County Jane Doe’s story is a reminder that every victim deserves to be remembered as a person—not a statistic. If you have information, please contact Seminole County law enforcement. Every share helps in the search for her identity. 📍 Altamonte Springs, Florida | November 1974 📖 Featuring an original poem written in her honor, read by Kimberly-Sue Murray ➡️ Help shine light on stories like Irene’s—subscribe and share this episode. 📍 Find us on Instagram & Facebook. 📚 Get Aimee’s book, Doe, now available via University of Akron Press, Bookshop.org, and Amazon. 📰 For more women-centered true crime content, subscribe to Aimee’s newsletter, GIRLHUNT. More About Kimberly-Sue Murray: Kimberly-Sue is a Canadian actor best known for her recurring roles in Shadowhunters (Netflix), V-Wars (Netflix), and The Boys (Amazon). She won Best Lead Performance at HIFF 2022 and earned an ACTRA Award nomination for her gripping turn in XYZ Films' Trader. Recent credits include Die Alone (with Carrie-Anne Moss & Frank Grillo), The Madness (Netflix), Titans (HBO Max), and Transplant (NBC). Murray portrays Gamora in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy (Eidos-Montréal), which won Best Ensemble Cast Performance at the G.A.N.G. Awards.
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More from She Goes by Jane: A True Crime Podcast
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
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On November 18, 1995, Jacqueline “Jackie” Levitz spent two hours choosing wallpaper for the new home she was renovating in Vicksburg, Mississippi. She had only recently moved back to the area to be closer to her family, and she was already imagining the house as a gathering place for the people she loved.That shopping excursion would be the last time anyone saw her.Two days later, a friend went to check on Jackie after her family realized she wasn’t answering the phone. Her Jaguar was still parked outside and her jewelry and fur coats were still in the house. A television was playing in the bedroom and a half-finished glass of water sat on the windowsill. But Jackie was gone.The search for Jackie produced possible witnesses and conflicting theories about what happened to Jackie that night, but none of those brought law enforcement any closer to finding Jackie or learning what happened to her.Today, more than three decades later, Jacqueline Levitz remains missing.