The Trail Went Cold - Episode 337 - Carolyn Eaton

The Trail Went Cold

Robin Warder

Tv & Film, True Crime

4.5 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 July 2023

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

February 14, 1982. Coconino County, Arizona. The decomposing body of a young woman is found in a remote area alongside Interstate 40 and while her exact cause of death cannot be determined, she is believed to be the victim of a homicide. Since all attempts to identify her are unsuccessful, she becomes a Jane Doe and earns the nickname “Valentine Sally”. 39 years later, Valentine Sally is identified as 17-year old Carolyn Eaton, who had run away from her home in Missouri over one month earlier. Shortly before her death, Carolyn was seen at a truck stop with an older man and while he is suspected of being her killer, the man is never identified. On this week’s episode of “The Trail Went Cold”, we explore the tragic story of a Jane Doe who got her name back after four decades, but whose murder remains unsolved. If you have any information about this case, please contact the Coconino County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Squad at (928) 226-5033. Additional Reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Carolyn_Eaton https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Carolyn_Eaton https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/585ufaz.html https://www.abc15.com/news/region-northern-az/flagstaff/dna-match-helps-identify-body-known-as-valentine-sally-found-near-flagstaff-in-1982 https://www.abc15.com/news/region-northern-az/flagstaff/dna-match-helps-identify-body-known-as-valentine-sally-found-near-flagstaff-in-1982 https://www.12news.com/article/news/crime/true-crime/we-can-finally-put-her-to-rest-valentine-sally-identified-as-st-louis-runaway/75-eacd087c-2d78-41a3-a9eb-ba627af2b466 https://www.newspapers.com/image/321077118/ https://www.newspapers.com/image/632666989/ https://charleyproject.org/case/sharon-baldeagle https://charleyproject.org/case/charlotte-june-kinsey “The Trail Went Cold” is on Patreon. Visit www.patreon.com/thetrailwentcold to become a patron and gain access to our exclusive bonus content. “The Trail Went Cold” is doing a weekly livestream show on Vokl every Thursday from 7:00-8:00 PM ET as part of their “True Crime Thursday” line-up. For more information, please visit their website. “The Trail Went Cold” is going to be appearing on podcast row at “Crimecon” at the World Center Marriott in Orlando, Florida on September 22-24, 2023. To get a 10 % discount on the purchase of tickets to the event, please use our specialized promo code, “COLD23”, by visiting https://www.crimecon.com. “The Trail Went Cold” will be appearing at the True Crime Podcast Festival, taking place at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel in Austin, Texas on August 25-27, 2023. To get a 15 % discount on the purchase of tickets, please our specialized promo code, “TRAIL”, by visiting https://truecrimepodcastfestival.com. The Trail Went Cold is produced and edited by Magill Foote. All music is composed by Vince Nitro.

Transcript

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0:00.0	February 14, 1982, Cocanino County, Arizona. The decomposing body of a young woman is found
0:08.4	in a remote area alongside Interstate 40 and she is believed to be the victim of a homicide.
0:14.4	Since all attempts to identify are unsuccessful, she becomes a Jane Doe and earns the neck name
0:20.0	Valentine Sally. 39 years later, the victim is identified as 17-year-old Carolyn Eaton,
0:26.8	who had right away from her home in Missouri. Shortly before her death,
0:31.0	Carolyn was seen with an older man at a truck stop and while his man is suspected of being
0:35.5	or killer, he is never identified and Carolyn's murder remains unsolved. After that, the trail
0:42.7	went cold.
1:13.6	Hello everyone and welcome to our latest episode of the trail went cold. I'm your host Robin
1:24.6	Warter and this week we're going to be exploring a crime in which the victim remained a Jane Doe
1:29.8	for nearly 40 years, the 1982 murder of Carolyn Eaton. As I'm sure you know, DNA testing and genetic
1:37.7	genealogy have led to the identification of a number of John and Jane Doe's these past few
1:43.1	years. In fact, we're currently at the point where it almost seems like a daily occurrence
1:48.3	when an announcement is made that one of these deceitants has gotten their name back.
1:52.7	However, since many of these deceitants were homicide victims, identifying them is sometimes
1:57.2	only half the battle since we still don't know who is responsible for killing them.
2:02.2	One example of this is the story of a Jane Doe who was found dead in Arizona
2:06.5	on February the 14th, 1982 and wound up becoming known by her nickname Valentine Sally.
2:13.3	In 2021, right after the 39-year anniversary of her discovery, it was announced that genetic genealogy
2:20.3	had led to Valentine's Sally being positively identified as a 17-year-old runaway named Carolyn
2:26.2	Eaton who somehow made a 1,400-mile trip to Arizona from her home in Missouri before she was murdered.
2:33.2	What sets this story apart from other cases like this is that Valentine's Sally had been identified
	...

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