ELKO, Nev. — Eleven years after her nude body was found along a lonely stretch of Interstate 80 in northeast Nevada, an unidentified murder victim has been honored with the placement of a headstone at her grave.

Local law enforcement authorities, residents and members of the Committee Against Domestic Violence attended a ceremony last week at the Elko County Cemetery for the young victim known only as Shafter Jane Doe.

Her body was found Nov. 16, 1993, at I-80’s Shafter exit. She was beaten and died of gunshot wounds to the chest and back.

She still has not been identified, and the case remains unsolved.

Elko Police Chief Clair Morris, who was undersheriff in 1993, said the case took “quite a toll” on investigators.

“It’s not that they didn’t do a good job, because they did. But we didn’t have a lot to go on,” Morris said. “Hopefully one day we’ll have someone come forward … It’s frustrating for law enforcement to have cases like this. It drives you nuts.”

Pastor Dick Wright of the Faith Lutheran Church, who led the closing prayer, said the community has hoped for years that the woman would be identified.

“That hope has all but now disappeared,” Wright said. “With her headstone, we are claiming her as one of our own. Now we will regard her as one of our greater community. We honor her as best we can and bless her as one of our own.”

At the urging of the Committee Against Domestic Violence, the woman was buried and remembered at a funeral service at the cemetery 11 years ago.

The committee was asked to act as her family by Burns Funeral Home of Elko. Burns donated the headstone.

Investigators are hoping the ceremony stirs up new leads in the case.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Dale Lotspeich said there are a couple of theories as to who killed her. She could have been murdered by a serial killer or by an acquaintance who took her clothes so it would be difficult to identify her.

“Until we know who she is, bringing her killer to justice will be difficult to do,” Lotspeich told the Elko Daily Free Press.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D2.

Newsletter