Jane Doe September 6,1986 Summerfield, Saint Clair County,IL
The Doe Network: Case File 11UFIL Sketch of Victim; Left sketch by Wesley Neville. Unidentified White Female Summerfield Jane Doe Discovered on September 6, 1986 outside Summerfield, Saint Clair County, Illinois. The victim had been strangled with a piece of her clothing. The victim was located within 24 hours of death. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Vital Statistics Estimated age: 16 - 21 years old. Estimated date of birth is 1960 -1967. Approximate Height and Weight: 4'11"; 110 lbs. Distinguishing Characteristics: Curly brown hair; brown eyes. She had a mole on her upper left arm, a small scar on her left shoulder and a scar on the back of her right wrist (possibly from a burn). Small stature, wore children's size clothing. Dentals: The victim had good oral hygiene with no stain or calculus. She had endodontic treatment in #9 at age 10-12 (early to mid 1970s); lateral incisor endodontics several years later and fabrication of 3-unit FPD; and loss of tooth #30 at very young age, with subsequent good alignment of #29 and #31 (only a 1mm diastema). Other oral findings include: both bridge abutments (maxillary left central and right lateral) had endodontic therapy, the right lateral has a Para Post build up; and right maxillary and left mandibular molars are only partially erupted. Occlusal amalgams have been placed on the maxillary right first bicuspid; the first and second molar and the left second molar; a mesio-occlusal on the left first molar; and occlusal fillings on the mandibular right second molar and left first and second molars. There are proximal mesial caries on the maxillary left first molar, distal of the mandibular first molar and mesial of the second molar. The presence or absence of #16 is unknown; endodontic treatment of #9 is wide fill; endodontic treatment of lateral incisor (#7) is not wide fill; fixed partial denture does not exhibit an access opening (probably fabricated after treatment of lateral incisor; timing of loss of #8 is unknown; alloy radiopacity suggests a base metal substructure; and when viewed from the occlusal, #4 is rotated clockwise. A base was placed under amalgams on #2, 3, 5, 18 and 31 that appears to be zinc phosphate or cement of similar radiopacity. Size of caries on #14, 15, 18 and 19 suggest the victim did not receive active dental treatment for several years prior to her death. Clothing: She was wearing a salmon-colored bodysuit. She had a gold bracelet on her right wrist. A silver band ring with a clear stone in the middle and an a plain silver band were both worn on her right hand. On her left hand ring finger she wore an opal ring that had 4 opals with a clear stone center. Assorted clothing and jewelry she had been carrying in a travel bag was found at the scene. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Case History The victim was found by a farmer harvesting corn just outside Summerfield. She had been strangled with a piece of her clothing, and her nude body was left in the cornfield. Her pelvic area had been savagely slashed and mutilated by a killer who left behind relatively small, Western-style boot prints. Investigators received a telephone call in August 2002, from a man who described a recent conversation with an acquaintance, a small-time burglar, who in 1986 lived in Summerfield. The caller said his acquaintance talked about killing a young woman and leaving her body in a field near Summerfield. The suspect is in state prison on an unrelated charge. In 2001, investigators were contacted by a psychic who claimed that the victim came from North Carolina, but a probe of certain landmarks provided by the psychic led nowhere. Another lead is that the victim may have been a follower of the rock band The Grateful Dead, and was in the metro-east because she was hitchhiking to the band's next concert. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Investigators If you have any information on the identity of this woman or the circumstances involved in her murder, please contact: St. Clair County Sheriff's Office 618-277-3504 You can remain anonymous if you wish when submitting information. NCIC Number: U-214712509 Please refer to this number when contacting any agency about this case. More info at: http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/11ufil.html

ID'd from 1986 Summerfield case By Nicholas J.C. Pistor ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH 02/04/2008 This is a photo of "Summerfield Woman," who was identified today as Pholia Mylia Chavez. BELLEVILLE — The theories have been almost as numerous as the years she's been dead. Among other things, she's been labeled by investigators as a hitchhiking prostitute, a disaffected youth running from her past, a groupie following the Grateful Dead and lusting for love. She was found dead in a St. Clair County cornfield more than 21 years ago, and eventually buried in Belleville under a headstone inscribed: "Jane Doe, Known Only to God." Now, investigators have finally learned her name: Pholia Mylia Chavez. This time, they described her as a 28-year-old drifter from California. It was the biggest revelation since her body was found in 1986 near the town of Summerfield. As time went by, she became known simply as "the Summerfield woman" — a mysterious Jane Doe eluding investigators. "We can put a name with her and I can sleep better at night," said Rick Stone, the St. Clair County coroner. Now, the mystery turns to finding the person who killed her. The cold case is in the hands of Capt. Steve Johnson, the Sheriff Department's lead investigator with a reputation of solving tough crimes. He says he's going to try and find her killer. A farmer found her body in September 1986. A piece of cloth was wrapped around her neck. An autopsy revealed she had been strangled. Last June, authorities exhumed her body from Mount Hope Cemetery in Belleville. They hoped that advances in DNA technology would help identify her and her killer. They hoped her DNA or a relative's DNA would match DNA in a nationwide database. Her body was examined by a forensic anthropologist at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. But it was technological advances in another field that led to her identification. The FBI matched her fingerprints to its national database. Neal Wilcomer, Chavez's adopted brother, spent the last two decades hoping for the best. "I thought she might have got her life together and was living a different life, a better life," he said from his home in California, where Chavez used to live. "I didn't expect this to happen to her." In the brief telephone interview, Wilcomer said no one in the family knew why Chavez would have been in Illinois. He said she had struggled with "some problems in her life," but he declined to elaborate. "Look, I'll say this one last thing, and then I'm through: I want the people who did this caught, and I want them put away." Shane Graber of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. npistor@post-dispatch.com | 618-624-2577 http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/illinoisnews/story/C25F11AD98229366862573E500554511?OpenDocument