She Goes by Jane: A True Crime Podcast

In 1980, a worker at Westfield High School in Thousand Oaks, California, is annoyed when he sees a mannequin on a slope near one of the school’s parking lots. The school had been experiencing vandalism in the recent months and this was yet another example of things being left at the school. But as he drew closer, he realized that what he was seeing was a pregnant woman. She’d been brutally stabbed...

Michelle Doherty should have had a lifetime to come into herself. Instead, the 17-year-old mother was pressured into becoming a narcotics informant to help police bust a drug ring. That one decision likely got her killed. Michelle Doherty is one of the missing women of the Texas Killing Fields, but her story is often overlooked.  This week we’re joined by Award-winning actress Christine Solomon wh...

In 1976, Iris Brown returns to her apartment and learns that her boyfriend is about to be released from Federal Prison the next day. The man who tells her this had been in prison with her boyfriend and he’s received a telegram informing him of this news. He suggests the two of them leave immediately and drive the nearly 300 miles there so they can welcome Iris’s boyfriend as he’s released. But the...

In August 1949, friends of Mimi Boomhower arrive at Mimi’s home to find that despite the lights on inside and outside her Bel Air mansion and her car in her garage, the wealthy widow is nowhere to be found. Seven days later her purse is found inside a grocery store telephone booth with a cryptic message written in pen on its side sending police into a flurry as they work to find her. This week our...

In 1950, a mushroom hunter discovered the body of an unidentified woman along a remote road in Morgan County, West Virginia. She had been murdered and left alone in the woods. Within the first year of the investigation, authorities believed they had identified her at least seven different times. Every lead proved wrong. Nearly 75 years later, the Morgan County Jane Doe still has no name—and her ki...

Summary “If it’s a kidnapping, I’d have a ransom note by now,” says private investigator Ernest Rizzo about the 1977 disappearance of candy heiress Helen Voorhees Brach. But despite his confidence that Helen Brach is still alive, no one has seen her. And as the days turn into months turn into years, it becomes more and more clear just how wrong Ernest Rizzo is about what happened to Helen. Join us...

In 1994, the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office enters a property in Loxahatchee, Florida and finds a chilling sight. Hundreds of exotic birds including parrots and macaws are dead or dying inside their enclosures. While they work frantically to save the remaining birds, their focus shifts to how they got in this state. Where is their caretaker, 36 year old Lilawattie Buerettan and her 31 year old nephew...

In 1998, Suzanne Renee Richerson, a Texas A&M student at their Galveston campus, headed to work as a night clerk at a hotel and condo complex. She expects to study overnight and leave at 7am. At 6am, the security guard checks on her before he leaves, but by 6:15am, as a couple goes to check out, Suzanne is no longer at her desk.  This week we’re joined by born performer and one of Canada’s voi...

“Did you find the body?” a killer asks law enforcement 38 years after his wife went missing. When Gloria Kidder met her future husband at work, little did she know she was also meeting the man who would force her to experience an escalating pattern of violence ending only in her death. This week we’re joined by Patrisha McLean who started on her journey of activism for women’s rights upon the dome...

In 1937, college student Ruth Baumgardner said good night to her friends and walked toward her dorm room. She was never seen again. The next morning, her car key was found on the dormitory staircase—but Ruth was gone. In this episode of She Goes by Jane , we examine the disappearance of Ruth Baumgardner, a case that has remained unsolved for decades. What happened between that final walk down the...

In 2000, model Lourdes Gruart disappears. Her brother says that she told him she was leaving for Europe for a modeling job and left their shared apartment. But Lourdes doesn’t have an active passport, nor has she told anyone else of her travel plans. In the 24 years since, Lourdes’s disappearance has remained a mystery. Join us on Patreon ! Your support helps us continue to shine light on America’...

In 1928, Bessie and Glen Hyde take a scow down the Colorado River in their attempt to have Bessie become the first woman documented to have gone down the river through the canyon. Their plan is to leverage their experience into a career on the lecture and vaudeville circuit. They are last seen heading down the river in mid November. This week we are joined by Musetta Vander. A native South African...

Known to the courts as a glamor girl, 26 year old Jean Spangler was trying to make her way in Hollywood as an actress and dancer while raising her young daughter as a single mom. And then the unthinkable happens, on the night of October 7, 1949, Jean Spangler left her home telling her family she would be doing a bit part at one of the studios. She was never seen again. This week our guest reader i...

Summary Known to the courts as a glamor girl, 26 year old Jean Spangler was trying to make her way in Hollywood as an actress and dancer while raising her young daughter as a single mom. And then the unthinkable happens, on the night of October 7, 1949, Jean Spangler left her home telling her family she would be doing a bit part at one of the studios. She was never seen again. This week our guest...

In 1998, an unidentified woman’s remains are found near a highway truck stop in Weatherford, Texas. It is believed that she died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but in the past 26 years no one has come forward to claim her. Today, little has been publicized about her case, making her one of the many unidentified women whose stories aren’t told. This week our guest reader is Kate Roman, a teenag...

When Evelyn Throsby married her fifth husband, friends and family worried something was wrong. What they didn’t know was that he was a conman skilled at manipulation, isolation, and deception. Over time, Evelyn became increasingly cut off from the people who loved her. Her money disappeared. Eventually, she did too. Months passed before those closest to Evelyn realized something far more sinister...

It’s 1946. Twenty-four year old Lola Celli is visiting her parents in Grandview Heights, Ohio when she decides to take a bus into Columbus to buy some nylons. But her neighbors don’t report seeing her on the morning bus nor is there any record of her making a purchase at the store she planned to visit. Is it possible that something happened to Lola in the two blocks between her parents’ home and t...

On July 2, 1966, three young friends—Ann Miller, 21, Patricia Blough, 19, and Renee Bruhl, 19—drove from Chicago to Indiana Dunes State Park for a day at the beach. Amid a holiday crowd of over 8,600 people, the three women went into Lake Michigan to swim. They were never seen again. Their belongings were found untouched on their blanket: purses, car keys, cash, identification. Witnesses would lat...

A serial killer sends investigators a series of notes, detailing his crimes. In them, he mentions a married woman who drove a white grand am. He claims he murdered her and that investigators should be able to use his clues to identify her. There’s one problem though, investigators can’t find any missing person or murder cases that match these clues. This week our guest reader is Tonya Todd. Tonya...

In 1990, burned skeletal remains were discovered in rural Benton County, Arkansas. For decades, she was known only as “Bone Woman,” or Benton County Jane Doe. The condition of her remains made identification nearly impossible—and for over 30 years, her name was lost. In 2022, investigators used investigative genetic genealogy to identify her. Her name was Donna Nelton. In this episode of She Goes...

It’s June 1989 and Kansas is rocked by a series of attacks on young women. Twenty-four year old Terri Maness was found murdered in her townhouse and eleven days later 24 year old Joan Butler goes missing from her apartment. Just days after that, two roommates, Theresa Brown and Christine Rusch are abducted as well. These abductions spur a manhunt across several states and investigators search for...

Summary In June 1989, Terri Maness is found murdered in her townhouse in Wichita Kansas. Over a week later and 200 miles away, Joan Butler doesn’t show up for work worrying her family and co-workers, but when they go to her apartment, she’s nowhere to be found. Initially, there’s nothing to connect these two cases, but within a week, investigators realize that they could be dealing with a serial k...

In 1979 the body of a woman was found on or under a porch in North Camden, New Jersey. Years later, her skull is found in another residence. Despite this shocking find, little information is known about her. This week we try to shine light on her story and the factors that have worked against her identification.  This week our guest reader is Shay Mack, an actress, director, and acting coach based...

Though Dr. Sneha Philip, who lived just blocks from the World Trade Center, is last seen on September 10th, she is added to the list of 9/11 victims. That is until the NYPD starts investigating her personal history and this investigation leads to her removal. Over the years her family fights for her to be recognized as one of the victims and, in 2008, she finally is. Despite this, what one judge c...

New York City, September 10th, 2001. The day before the attacks on the World Trade Center is a day when most New York City residents are going about their regular business. The same was true for Dr. Sneha Philip who left her Battery Park apartment that evening to run some errands. It wasn’t unusual for her to spend the night out in the city, but when she doesn’t return home by the next day, her fa...