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Unresolved

The Shaw Creek Killer

Unresolved

Unresolved Productions

True Crime, Society & Culture, History

4.52.6K Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2018

⏱️ 50 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On the morning of November 16th, 1987, a pair of hunters discovered the skeletonized remains of a young woman just a stone's throw away from Shaw Creek - in the woods just south of Eureka, South Carolina. These remains have never been identified, and serve as the jumping-off point for an investigation that now spans over three decades.

In 1991, the remains of a local woman - Jackie Council - would be found roughly half-a-mile away. Then, in 1993, another unidentified Jane Doe was found just off Shaw Creek. As if that wasn't enough, the body of a Georgia woman that went missing in 1989 - named Risteen Durden - was found just a few miles away in 1992.

The state these women were found in point to a single suspect: a killer that terrorized young black women in Aiken County. However, until now, this killer hasn't even had a name... and while there are many of suspects to look at, none of them completely fit the bill...



Written, hosted, and produced by Micheal Whelan

Learn more about the podcast at unresolved.me

Use the link thecrimemag.com/unresolved to subscribe to True Crime Magazine and save over $100



Music Credits

Robert Farmer - "We Will Not Be Shipwrecked On A Vain Reality"

Andrew Reddy - "A Breath"

Kai Engel - "Wake Up!"

Kay - "Call Of The Void"

Koen Daigaku - "EPV_174 Trailer"

Parvus Decree - "The Unborn"

Magna Ingress - "Running Away"

Graham Bole - "We Are One"

Breath Before The Plunge - "End Of All Things"

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

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0:23.0

So when will you take your next trip? Find out more at nationalrail.co.uk for what's last greener?

0:30.0

November 16, 1987. A Monday morning. A pair of hunters were making their way through the woods south of Eureka, South Carolina.

0:44.0

They were roughly a mile and a half south of the intersection where highways 191 and 208 meet. The roads called Johnston Highway and Mount Calvary Road respectively.

0:54.0

If you are familiar with this area of South Carolina, you can find a lot of information about the road.

1:05.0

These two hunters were coming across a patch of forest not more than a stone's throw away from this creek when they stumbled upon an unmistakable object, a find unlike any other.

1:32.0

The white skeletal remains barely even covered up by the soil around them were lying face down with their legs crossed and their arms outstretched.

1:42.0

Whoever the victim had been, she had been left there in the preceding years without any articles of clothing or any belongings.

1:50.0

The police officer who had responded roughly half an hour later that morning would note that the remains looked posed in a way.

1:57.0

The remains were discovered to have been there for some time, with roots growing over the bones of the fingers.

2:03.0

No insects were found near the body, which implied that it had decomposed at least a year beforehand.

2:09.0

Police would theorize that they had been there between one and five years. In addition, several of the bones from the foot could not be found, as well as the segment of the neck known as the hyoid.

2:21.0

Authorities responded that morning, taking away the remains for further examination. The South Carolina law enforcement division, also known as Sled, was there to help conduct a search of the area and would help in the coming weeks and months in trying to identify the remains.

2:37.0

A metal detector was run over the crime scene in the hopes of locating any clues. They would find just one, a brass shell casing, which had been fired by a shotgun.

2:48.0

It was found in the soil underneath the body and contained none of the plastic or paper casing found in other, more modern, shotgun shells.

2:58.0

Over the coming weeks and months, several things would become known. Led by Aiken County Coroner Sue Townsend, authorities would learn that the victim had high cheekbones, indicating a heritage that was predominantly black, but may have included European, Indian, or even Caribbean influence.

3:16.0

Whoever she was, she stood between 5 feet 8 inches tall and 5 foot 10, and she weighed approximately 150 to 160 pounds.

3:26.0

The scar tissue from her remains showed that she had also led an active life to say the least. The left side of her nose had likely been fractured at some point, and then given time to heal.

3:37.0

There was some kind of healed injury to her right knee. The first molar on the lower right side of her mouth had been removed early in her life.

3:45.0

She was missing at least 4 other teeth at the time of her death, and she had a pronounced overbite.

...

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