Show Notes
On Valentine’s Day in 1991, a young woman was seen hitchhiking along U.S. 1 in the Florida Keys. The next morning, her body was discovered in a wooded area near mile marker 35. She had been beaten, sexually assaulted, and strangled. For nearly three decades, she was known only as “Valentine Doe.” In June 2020, she was finally identified as On Valentine’s Day in 1991, a young woman was seen hitchhiking along U.S. 1 in the Florida Keys. The next morning, her body was discovered in a wooded area near mile marker 35. She had been beaten, sexually assaulted, and strangled. For nearly three decades, she was known only as “Valentine Doe.” In June 2020, she was finally identified as Wanda Deann Kirkum. Wanda had run away from home as a teenager amid alleged abuse. She was never reported missing. Her parents both died before her identification. Through forensic DNA comparison, investigators also identified her suspected killer: Robert Lynn Bradley, whose DNA matched evidence collected in 1991. Bradley was found murdered in Texas in 1992. Wanda’s case is now considered closed. In this rereleased episode, we revisit Wanda’s story including her life, her long path to identification, and the reality of how some victims are forgotten until science brings their names back. 📍 Florida Keys | February 14, 1991 📖 Featuring an original poem written in her honor, read by actress Patricia Rae ➡️ Help bring attention to missing teens cases like Wanda’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 Patricia Rae:PATRICIA RAE is a dynamic Latin American actress and producer born and raised in New York City, currently based in LA. She got her “big break” in John Polson’s cult classic “Swimfan” and starred in a major supporting role in the Academy Award nominated film, “Maria Full of Grace”. The bilingual talent recurred on “All Rise” on OWN for three seasons, as the powerful and sassy Judge Delgado. Her long list of television credits include NCIS: Los Angeles, Blue Bloods, The Mentalist, and Chuck. Another notable performance was her hilarious portrayal of the character Madonna in the 2013, star-studded “The Big Wedding”. She is currently co-hosting the entertaining, and controversial podcast “Believe This” on Spotify with Chris Crimy, from the Scientology survivors podcast “Come Get Sum”. Patricia also produces the cooking segments “Cooking With Patty” that can be viewed on instagram and her youtube channel @cookinguppatty. You can also find her on X and Facebook. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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
Thank you to our sponsors!
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.