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Why would someone put a severed head on the side of the road, and who does the head belong to? CASE DETAILS  On a routine walk through the woods, a teenager finds a severed head. It’s a Friday afternoon during the height of deer season in 2015. A Pennsylvania teenager cuts through the woods on his way home and sees what he assumes is a pile of deer entrails left behind by hunters. As he gets closer, he realizes that it’s something much more gruesome — the severed head of an older woman. Her eyes are closed, her lips slightly parted as though she’s about to say something. Local Police Chief Mike O’Brien arrives at the scene and wonders if the rest of Jane Doe’s body could be in the woods somewhere. He assembles his detectives, along with firefighters, search and rescue groups, and cadaver dogs, to comb the woods and beyond, but a body is never found.  The coroner discovers red rubber balls in place of the eyes. Police question the teen who found the head, but he shows no sign of deception and is quickly ruled out as a suspect. They also rule out the theory that an animal carried the head to that location because there are no teeth marks on it. By that afternoon, the “Jane Doe” head is center stage at the county coroner’s office, where Chief O’Brien and his team realize that the head is in surprisingly good condition. It’s free of dirt and hasn’t been ravaged by nature. The gray hair is curled as if in preparation for church. And it’s clear to the coroner that the woman’s head was removed from her body by someone who knew what they were doing — the cut is clean and methodical.  Forensic Artist Michelle Vitali creates a clay bust of Jane Doe. As the coroner opens her eyes, he notes that Jane Doe has been embalmed, and there are plastic eye caps in her eye sockets — a mortician’s tool to give form to the eye and keep the lids closed. But he’s shocked to discover that her eyes are missing. In their place, he finds two red rubber bouncy balls. This is definitely not standard procedure. When the investigators learn that embalming processes are now demonstrated online and embalming chemicals are sold on eBay, they realize that the possible solutions to the case have expanded dramatically. Were Jane Doe’s body parts sold illegally? Did this misplaced head take part in some type of Satanic ritual? Was it a prank?  Investigators hope to identify Jane Doe and reunite her with her loved ones. Thinking the head could have been stolen from a nearby grave, law enforcement throughout the state is asked to check local cemeteries, but no graves are found to have been disturbed. A tip line is activated, and police wait, but only a few leads trickle in. Years later, a coroner in a town 90 miles away tells Chief O’Brien about a woman who was embalmed and buried in a mausoleum. In 1988, the casket was vandalized, and her head was removed from her body, and it’s still missing. Jane Doe’s teeth are examined by forensic dentists and analyzed against a database of filling materials stored at the FBI, hoping to link the body and the head forensically. Sadly, it’s not a match. The forensic analysis shows that Jane Doe’s head and the mausoleum body can’t be the same person. But the determination of Chief O’Brien and his team never wavers as they dive into the sordid world of illegal body trading. They interrogate a local man named Jay Grabner, or J.J., who lives next to the location where Jane Doe’s head was discovered. He reveals an oddly extensive knowledge about purchasing body parts off the internet. Police then unravel a mind-bending tale involving J.J.’s odd and tension-filled relationship with the boy who found the head. Though there are promising theoretical connections to Jane Doe’s head, no hard evidence links J.J. to her discovery in the woods, and they are still no closer to identifying the woman. Investigators decide to provide Jane Doe with a proper burial. The investigators and personnel close to the case hold a service as Beaver County Jane Doe is laid to rest in a casket and buried at a local cemetery, complete with a headstone. But the search for her identity continues. Unlock more content at www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/unsolved-mysteries-volume-4. |
