BY J.J. STAMBAUGH
Knoxville News Sentinal

December 6, 2001

Authorities have turned to an organization that specializes in missing person cases to help identify one of two women found slain off Interstate 75 in Campbell County.

The Doe Network will provide free forensic art - including a facial reconstruction and sketch - to the Campbell County Sheriff's Department, according to organization spokesman Todd Matthews.

Using photos and a clay reconstruction process that uses the victim's skull, the experts hope to have a visual representation within the next few weeks of what the victim probably looked like, Matthews said.

The first victim - dubbed Jane Doe No. 1 by police - was found Jan. 9, 1997, by a motorist who pulled off at the Stinking Creek Road exit.

The body of Jane Doe No. 2 was discovered Oct. 25, 1998, a little more than a mile down the road from Doe No. 1. This time, the discovery was made by a man collecting soda cans.

Authorities know pretty much what Doe No.1 looked like, but Doe No. 2's facial features have remained a mystery because her body had partially decomposed.

"We also need to verify that she (Doe No.2) is a black female, and we will have an anthropologist who can confirm that," Matthews said.

Since the discovery of the second victim's body, Detective Eddie Barton has leaned toward the theory that a serial killer was stalking I-75, picking up women - possibly from truck stops or bars - and then dumping their bodies just off the main thoroughfare.

While most crime scenes leave behind a wealth of information to the trained eye, there was virtually nothing found with either victim to help investigators.

"The case is stale right now," Barton said. "We don't know where these girls came from."

The first victim, who is believed to have been an American Indian or Hispanic between 35 and 45 years old, was stabbed to death. Doe No. 2, apparently a black woman less than 40 years of age, also had stab wounds, but the fatal injury was apparently a single gunshot wound to the head from a .25-caliber pistol, said Barton.

The Doe Network and Sheriff Ron McClellan plan to continue searching for the identities of the two women until the case is finally solved, Barton said.

"They've been great," McClellan said. "I really think that once we get all the information together and have a chance to analyze it, we'll find that there are more cases similar to these. We're very hopeful."