The gold bracelets and necklaces tell part of her story, but not her name. Who was the young woman found under Houston’s freeway in 1980?
It was just another workday on Dec. 10, 1980, for a billboard crew working in the 3600 block of Stokes Street, just six miles from downtown Houston. But what started as a routine afternoon turned into a chilling discovery that has haunted Houston ever since.
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Beneath the Interstate 45 freeway, alongside a set of railroad tracks, the workers noticed something odd: a foot sticking out from beneath a discarded mattress. What they uncovered was the body of a young African American woman. She was lying face-down, her life tragically cut short, and her identity a mystery to this day.
She was a woman between the ages of 16 and 40, standing 5′2″ tall and weighing 135 pounds, with a recognizable face, found just hours after her death from strangulation. The unidentified woman was wearing a pink pantsuit with a vest and had a scar on her left wrist.
Her jewelry included two thin gold bracelets and one orange bracelet on her left wrist, and two necklaces hung around her neck—small clues that investigators hoped might lead to her name. But despite efforts to identify her, including a composite sketch created by renowned forensic artist Lois Gibson based on her morgue photo, she remains unidentified.
The jewelry found on her body, now prominently displayed in sketches and photographs, offers a glimpse of her personal style—perhaps a clue to someone who might recognize her. Houston Police Department believes these details might jog a memory or spark a connection for someone who knew her over 40 years ago.
Detectives have pieced together as much as they could about the scene. The remote location beneath the freeway suggests she may have been brought there, her life taken elsewhere before her body was hidden. But who she was, how she ended up there, and who might have been responsible remain unanswered questions.
The Houston Police Department Cold Case Squad continues to appeal to the public for help. If you recognize the jewelry, if you know someone who went missing around Dec. 1980 and matches her description, or if you have any details that could bring her justice, please come forward.
If you have any information about this case, please contact the HPD Cold Case Squad at 713-308-3618 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.
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