Ellery Jane Doe
Part II
Chautauqua’s Enduring Mystery
Digital Rendering of Ellery Jane Doe circa 2022
In the movies the investigator with a past linked to the killer pours over the decades-old file and finds the one clue that every other detective overlooked. The “AHA” moment. Loose ends are tied up, the mystery is solved. We get to see it happen, watch their eyes go wide as the puzzle pieces slide into place. We’re in on finally solving the murder.
Roll credits.
On December 6th, 1983, a woman was discovered by the side of Route 17 in Chautauqua County. The woman was murdered and left in the snow. No identification. No wallet. No name. Nothing.
Her place-holder name was Ellery Jane Doe.
Forty years later the murder is still unsolved. Her case is open and cold.
The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office has revisited the mysterious case of Ellery Jane Doe periodically in the past four decades. Investigators come and go, technology advances, DNA, on-line access to records, social media. But this case is stubborn, it’s eluded answers and frustrated the professionals looking to end a four-score old secret. No one has uncovered a clue that wasn’t previously considered. No one has overlooked a fact, a piece of evidence. There has been no “AHA” moment.
The early 2000s held promise when DNA technology reshaped cold-case investigations. Samples from the body were re‑tested. Forensics added information. Her clothes were European and expensive. She was from Canada or possibly a Scandinavian country. She had at least one child. She had a tracheotomy at some point in her life, and there was a scar behind her ear that indicated she’d had some sort of surgery. Hospital records turned up nothing. The digital rendering of her face was posted on international media. Profiles were uploaded to national databases.
Road Where Ellery Jane Doe was Discovered
Again, nothing. Whoever she was, she left no genetic trail in any official system. Noone has stepped forward to identify her. Not a parent, not a child. Not a friend, a classmate, a distant cousin. Not a coworker who remembers the girl who stopped showing up at a job.
In 2022 the Chautauqua Sheriff’s Office released a new digital reconstruction built with modern imaging tools. The new image was circulated widely online. It sparked a brief surge of attention, but no actionable information emerged. She remains suspended anonymously in the world of the unknown, as if that is her natural state of being.
Jamestown Post Journal Article on Ellery Jane Doe Discovery
There is now a Facebook page dedicated to Ellery Jane Doe (https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=Ellery%20Jane%20Doe), and investigators continue to seek answers.
The following is a message from The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office:
“Investigators continue to actively investigate the December 6, 1983, homicide of a female who was found shot to death along Route 17/Interstate 86 in the Town of Ellery. When the victim could not be identified she was named “Ellery Jane Doe.”
In the ensuing 43 years since her body was found by a utility crew working in the area, “Ellery Jane Doe” remains unidentified. Advanced forensic analysis of Ellery Jane Doe’s DNA, dental work, and fingerprints here in the United States, Canada, and around the globe has not led yet to her identification, or to the identification of any of her family members.
Following a media release by the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office in December of 2025 noting the 42nd year anniversary of Ellery Jane Doe’s murder, the Sheriff’s Office received new leads which are currently being investigated.
We ask the public to once again look at the forensic artist sketch completed of “Ellery Jane Doe” along with photographs of the clothing she was wearing when her body was found, and a picture of the crime scene. The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office would like to speak to anyone who knows the identity of “Ellery Jane Doe” or the person who murdered her.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to please contact the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division at (716) 753-4578, or via email at Tarpley@Sheriff.us.”
Gravesite Dedicated to The Mystery Woman
Bill Burk's collective writing...and some other stuff. 