0:00

Due to the graphic nature of this

0:02

murder case listener discretion is

0:04

advised. This episode includes

0:06

dramatizations and discussions of

0:08

murder and assault that some people may

0:10

find offensive. We advise extreme

0:13

caution for children under thirteen.

0:17

At the end of nineteen sixty nine,

0:19

the so called summer of love had

0:21

just come to a close in horrendous fashion.

0:25

The aura of peace and freedom was shattered

0:27

by the brutal rampage of Charles Manson

0:29

and his family. Los Angeles

0:32

was on edge. Who knew what

0:34

horrors could come next? White

0:36

wing dove, seven

0:38

fifteen AM. Mohan

0:41

and Beaumont.

0:43

Whoa. Slow down. There's people on the road.

0:46

That could have been really bad. These

0:49

trees are tough.

0:52

Oh my god. Lady, are you

0:54

okay? Are you climbing in

0:57

that tree? Oh my god.

0:59

You've been brutalized. In

1:01

Los Angeles, on November sixteenth

1:04

nineteen sixty nine, A bird

1:06

watcher found the body of a young

1:08

woman entangled in the trees and

1:10

brush off of the side of Mohal

1:12

and Drive. It was becoming

1:14

more and more common for murdered young

1:17

women to be found in LA. However,

1:20

a key detail makes this case stand

1:22

out from the rest The victim

1:24

had no identifying markers

1:26

at all. No wallet, no

1:28

ID, nothing. The mystery

1:31

of this young woman, referred to as

1:33

Jane Doe, number fifty nine, would

1:36

stretch out for decades. And

1:38

become one of the most infamous cold

1:40

cases in the world. This

1:50

is unsolved murders, true crime

1:52

stories, a podcast original. I'm your

1:54

host, Carter Roy. And I'm your host,

1:56

Wendy McKenzie. Every Tuesday,

1:58

we dive into the world of a real unsolved

2:01

murder and try to solve the case.

2:03

This is our episode on Jane Doe,

2:05

number fifty nine, the victim of

2:07

a particularly bloody murder from

2:09

nineteen sixty nine. You can

2:11

listen to previous episodes of

2:13

unsolved murders as well as all

2:15

of podcast other shows on

2:17

Spotify.

2:23

Jane Doe, number fifty nine's murder,

2:25

was immediately a hot topic for

2:27

the LAPD. Just three

2:30

months earlier in August nineteen

2:32

sixty nine, victims of an

2:34

attack carried out by the Manson family

2:36

had been discovered only six miles

2:38

away. Among the victims was

2:40

actress Sharon Tate. Most

2:42

of the Manson victims had a severe

2:45

number of stab wounds and

2:47

the investigation indicated that Jane

2:49

Doe number fifty nine had suffered

2:51

a similar fate. She'd

2:53

been stabbed over one hundred and

2:55

fifty times Based on

2:57

the cuts, the murder weapon was

2:59

most likely an ordinary pen

3:01

knife. Naturally, The

3:03

investigators had their suspicions that

3:05

these murders were connected.

3:08

Don't say it. Don't even think about saying

3:10

it. It fits their MO. Pretty

3:13

young girl, looks like a crime of

3:15

passion, just down the road

3:17

from don't say it. There's no

3:19

way, man. He

3:21

and his freaks are in jail. I'll call

3:23

in right now and make sure he hasn't moved.

3:26

Not all of them. He could be slipping

3:28

messages out or maybe shut up

3:30

Let's go off evidence. That thing

3:32

we're paid to find and think about, go

3:34

freak out about what the papers say on your own

3:37

time. Alright. But

3:39

I bet it's him. The

3:42

evidence the investigators turned up

3:44

was slim. Beyond her clothes,

3:47

Chengdu fifty nine wasn't carrying

3:49

anything on her at all. A

3:51

week later, on November twenty

3:53

first, A pair of glasses belonging

3:55

to someone nearsighted was found

3:58

fifty yards away from the scene. However,

4:00

the police were unable to connect the glasses

4:03

with the victim. They may have been entirely

4:05

unrelated.

4:06

DNA evidence wouldn't be used

4:08

in the US for another fifteen years.

4:11

Which meant the cops had to do most of their

4:13

investigating purely

4:15

gum shoe methods. Unfortunately,

4:18

the lack of identifying markers

4:20

or information about the victim left

4:22

them with nobody to question. They

4:24

had a few puzzle pieces, but nothing to

4:26

put a complete picture together. Gained

4:30

o fifty nine. Approximately

4:32

twenty years old, five foot

4:34

nine, one hundred twelve pounds,

4:37

green eyes, distinguishing

4:39

marks, a birthmark on right

4:41

buttock, scar on left

4:43

breast, fillings on both upper and

4:45

lower jaw, 59 wounds

4:48

on hands,

4:49

cause of death, blood loss, most

4:51

likely from a severed carotid artery.

4:54

So We know she was stabbed

4:56

until she died, and

4:58

that's it. No drugs, no sign

5:00

of sexual assault. Now

5:02

she's clean in every way. She

5:04

probably had a meal a couple of hours before.

5:07

From

5:07

some of the bruising, she may have been thrown out

5:09

of a car after she died. Kirk

5:11

was hoping she'd roll all the way down the canyon.

5:14

Well, I'd say we're back to square

5:17

one, but it's not like we ever left.

5:19

Time for us to do our job. Wear

5:21

her clothes.

5:22

Jane Doe fifty nine was a bit of a

5:25

fashionista. By checking

5:27

the tags on her clothes, they found

5:29

that she was wearing boots made in Spain.

5:31

Cut off shorts from Boston and a

5:33

jacket from Canada. Not

5:36

high end pieces, but nice, and

5:38

certainly widely varied in origin.

5:40

She also had two distinct pieces

5:43

of jewelry, a yellow ring

5:45

with a red stone and a white

5:47

ring made in Mexico The

5:49

investigators considered what this could

5:51

mean.

5:51

So she could be from Mexico,

5:54

Spain, Boston, or Canada.

5:56

I

5:56

think

5:57

the designs on the ring are cherokee,

5:59

and we can throw that in there too. Are you

6:01

done helping? Use your eyes.

6:03

The jacket and boots are older, she's

6:05

had them for a while. Canada

6:07

or Spain seem most likely, so

6:09

we either had three thousand miles northeast

6:12

or hop on a plane and start asking

6:14

around clothing stores? Be

6:16

realistic. I know you

6:18

don't wanna hear it, but we

6:20

should talk to

6:21

him. Fine. Yeah.

6:24

Let's talk to Manson. Given

6:26

the nature of the murder, investigators had

6:29

practically no leads to follow-up on.

6:31

They were grasping at straws. The

6:33

closest thing they had to a clue was the fact

6:35

that the Manson murders had occurred near

6:38

where Jane Doe was found and that the

6:40

Manson murders involved a copious amount

6:42

of stabbing. Charles Manson

6:44

was then the only connection that they could think

6:46

to follow-up on. In November of

6:48

nineteen sixty nine, Charles

6:50

Manson was already in custody

6:52

for stealing Volkswagen's and turning

6:54

them into dune buggy. Although

6:56

his reputation had preceded him

6:58

among the LAPD and the public,

7:01

he was the prime suspect for the

7:03

Tate murders and the subsequent string

7:05

of deaths at the Manson family's hands.

7:08

Most of the members of his family

7:10

were still at large and wouldn't

7:12

be apprehended for another month.

7:15

Manson was no stranger to the interrogation

7:17

room, but at this point he hadn't quite

7:19

gone off the deep end. He

7:21

still had his rock star looks and some

7:23

friends in the community. The investigators

7:26

brought in the forensic drawings of Jane

7:28

Doe to try and jog Charlie's

7:30

memory.

7:33

You do this drawing. It's cool.

7:36

I I know a guy who could probably flip

7:38

this. You want her hanging up in the man's

7:39

59. You wanna make a little cash.

7:42

See why I didn't wanna do this. This

7:44

girl was found on the side of the road, Charlie.

7:47

You

7:47

know about her?

7:48

Found me on the side of the road once.

7:50

Good place to be, better than the middle.

7:53

She's dead, Charlie, stabbed,

7:55

a hundred and fifty times. Why

7:58

did you have your people do

7:59

that? Man, I didn't

8:01

have my people do anything. We're

8:03

all operating on a higher power.

8:06

You ever feel the power flow through

8:08

you, then into him, then into me.

8:11

Let's try again. Do you know who

8:13

this is? Look close. Maybe.

8:17

I think I know her. For real, you

8:19

draw this. Who is she?

8:21

Charlie? Where have you

8:23

seen her? Ask me again later.

8:26

Like the eight ball, results hazy.

8:28

Ask me again later. Give me

8:30

a name, Charlie. Alright.

8:33

Alright. We

8:37

can call her Tabitha. What

8:39

do you know about Tabitha? She

8:41

was cool, man. She had these crazy

8:43

clothes. She upped out the

8:44

59, then she died, you know.

8:47

You

8:47

know all that? Yeah.

8:50

It's in the book. She died and

8:52

everyone got sad. Then

8:54

Peter showed up my disciple Peter.

8:56

And he clapped his hands. As

9:01

she stood back up, Watch

9:04

this.

9:07

Should be up and kicking now. Go and

9:10

check for me.

9:12

Son of a He's talking about the bible.

9:15

Alright. Screw it. Get him out of here. See

9:17

you again, guys. See you

9:19

down the road. Oh, let me know what you

9:21

call that drawing.

9:23

So what do we got? Nothing.

9:25

We've got nothing. With

9:28

Manson not shedding any light on

9:30

Jane Doe number fifty nine's identity,

9:33

the investigators had exhausted their

9:35

last avenue of inquiry. They

9:37

had no solid leads to investigate

9:40

at all. The case had stalled

9:42

completely, so they

9:44

decided to look into old case files

9:46

to see if they could find any other

9:48

murders with a similar MO.

9:49

Eleven months prior on January

9:52

first nineteen sixty nine, a

9:54

victim remarkably similar to Jane

9:56

Doe number fifty nine was discovered.

9:58

Marina Haba, a student at the University

10:01

of Hawaii who had been home visiting her

10:03

mother over Christmas break.

10:05

On December thirtieth, nineteen

10:07

sixty eight, Marina had

10:09

gone on a double day with her friend.

10:11

She had dropped her friend off at

10:13

his home at three thirty AM,

10:15

and proceeded to drive twenty minutes

10:17

back to her mother's home in West

10:19

Hollywood. Around four AM,

10:22

Marina's mother, Eloise, woke up

10:24

to a loud muffler in her

10:26

driveway. She looked out the window to see

10:28

Marina standing by her car

10:30

with a second sports car pulled into

10:32

the driveway beside her. The

10:34

second car's door was open, and

10:36

LOEs could see that Marina was

10:38

talking to a man in the vehicle. Eloise

10:41

looked away from the window to walk

10:43

to the front door when she

10:45

heard a man yell go,

10:47

then heard the sound of the vehicle

10:49

driving away. When Eloise went

10:51

out to the driveway, the second car

10:53

was gone, and Marina was

10:55

gone with it. Eloise quickly

10:57

reported Marina missing, Then

11:00

two days later, her body was

11:02

found. Marina had been

11:04

stabbed multiple times,

11:06

and she had been pushed down the same

11:08

ravine that Jane Doe number fifty nine

11:10

was found in later that year.

11:12

Haba had also not been

11:14

sexually assaulted nor did she

11:16

have any drugs or alcohol in her

11:18

system when she died. Marina

11:20

and Jane Doe's murders were

11:22

strikingly similar, but while the

11:24

similarities were strange, There has

11:26

never been proof that the murders were

11:28

connected. Upon Manson's arrest,

11:30

he was also questioned about Marina

11:32

Harbour, and he plead ignorance.

11:35

Marina was a well known figure in Los

11:37

Angeles, the daughter of

11:39

newspaper publisher Hans Hobba

11:41

and actress LOE's Heart.

11:43

And there were more obvious motives at work

11:45

in Marina's case due to her fame.

11:48

However, according to Han's Haba,

11:51

no ransom call ever came.

11:53

In both cases, no suspect

11:55

was ever identified. The

11:58

world moved on with Jane Doe,

12:00

number fifty nine, and Marina

12:02

Harbour's murders, two

12:04

permanent question marks on the LAPD's

12:06

track record. While Marina's

12:08

family mourned her and ensured her

12:10

legacy would live on, Jingdou

12:13

number fifty nine wasn't so

12:15

lucky. She was cremated and

12:17

buried in a mass grave in nineteen

12:19

seventy. That was the end of

12:21

things for a long, long time.

12:23

However, as time went by and the

12:25

world shifted with it, the case

12:27

would have a drastic development.

12:29

Decades after it had been forgotten.

12:33

We'll

12:34

learn what became of Jane Doe

12:37

59 fifty nine after this.

12:39

And now, back to our

12:41

story. In nineteen

12:44

sixty nine, Jane Doe

12:46

59 fifty nine was discovered stabbed

12:48

to death entangled in tree branches.

12:50

With no leads to follow and

12:53

no way to verify her identity,

12:55

her case was slowly

12:57

forgotten. A tragic mystery that

12:59

looked like it would never be solved. However,

13:02

as time went by, the world

13:04

slowly 59. Technology

13:06

allowed for DNA evidence to be

13:08

collected and analyzed. Crude

13:10

forensic art gave way to sophisticated

13:12

computer recreations. And in

13:14

two thousand two, the LAPD

13:16

robbery homicide division formed

13:18

the cold case unit, and detective

13:21

Cliff 59 undertook a

13:23

monumental task. Detective

13:25

Sheppard began logging every

13:27

single cold case in Los Angeles and

13:29

trying to find new evidence in

13:31

long dormant files. Los

13:33

Angeles County has logged twenty

13:35

two thousand unsolved murders

13:37

in the last two decades alone.

13:39

And while we don't have the exact number

13:41

of cases, the cold case unit had to

13:43

sift 59, we can estimate there

13:45

were over one hundred thousand.

13:48

Now the magnitude of the CCU's

13:50

work was unimaginable. Part

13:52

of Shepherd's job was to walk into a

13:54

warehouse every day and go through old

13:56

case boxes looking for

13:59

something. He had several

14:01

great successes putting away three

14:03

separate serial killers based

14:05

on cold case evidence. Rodney

14:07

Alkala Chester Turner,

14:09

and 59 Franklin junior,

14:11

aka the Grim sleeper. Then

14:13

59 eight years of working on the cold case

14:16

unit, he came across something else that was

14:18

worthwhile.

14:20

Okay. Now I got Hey.

14:24

Hey, what's this? A

14:26

a bra. It's evidence.

14:29

Why is evidence inside this

14:31

box? This has been sitting here

14:33

for thirty three

14:34

years. There's blood on it.

14:36

Okay. You should probably take

14:39

it out then. Great.

14:40

Jane

14:41

Doe, number fifty nine. Can

14:44

you pull the homicide report on this?

14:46

That's probably in the homicide

14:48

files. They need to be requisitioned. It's

14:50

a real pain to find those old cases.

14:52

You're not gonna do that. Are you?

14:54

Sorry. Not really my job.

14:57

I can refile that box for you if

14:59

you just want the bra. I've got

15:01

it. Thanks. Help like that. I'm

15:03

sure detective Shepard will find the black dollya

15:05

by lunch. After

15:09

a blood stained bra was

15:11

discovered that had been in the case box for

15:13

decades, sheppard got to work.

15:15

He pulled everything the original

15:18

investigators had on Jane Doe number

15:20

fifty

15:20

nine. According to Shepherd, they

15:22

had, quote, a black and white

15:24

photograph of

15:25

her. There's some rings that she had been

15:27

wearing, there's a dental chart, there's

15:29

fingerprints, but she's still

15:31

an

15:31

unknown. With the resources of

15:34

modern technology at his disposal, he

15:36

was able to run the ball further down

15:38

the field and hopefully turn

15:40

Jane Doe number fifty nine

15:42

from an unidentified body

15:44

into a named victim.

15:45

Shepard pulled DNA from the bloody

15:48

bra and took the drawings and

15:50

59 photo of Jane Doe. And together

15:52

created something that wasn't possible in

15:54

nineteen sixty nine. A

15:56

full color computer generated

15:58

composite photo something that would make

16:00

her much more recognizable than

16:02

the forensic art created during the

16:04

original investigation. On top

16:07

of that, Sheppard got to work developing

16:09

a forensic profile on the

16:11

DNA from the bra. If

16:13

any family members were looking

16:15

for, They could submit their

16:17

DNA and see if there was a match.

16:19

Compiling all 59 information

16:21

together was the lifeline this case

16:23

needed. Shepherd wanted to make

16:25

it all public as soon as possible.

16:27

However, he ran into an unfortunate reality.

16:31

Nobody wanted to post a postmortem

16:33

photo online. It took

16:35

shepherd years of hustling, cajouling,

16:37

and begging. But finally,

16:39

he was able to convince various missing persons

16:42

databases to post Jane

16:44

Doe number fifty nine's photo

16:46

and info. The profile

16:48

went live in two thousand

16:50

ten. Eight years after

16:52

Shepard pulled the box out from

16:54

the archives. This threw up

16:56

another obstacle in Shepard's investigation.

16:59

Shepard made the information publicly

17:00

accessible, casting the

17:03

widest net he could. But the world

17:05

is a big place. Just

17:06

like Jane Doe number fifty nine had depended

17:08

on him to pull that evidence

17:11

box out, Shepherd now depended

17:13

on someone out there to uncover

17:15

the profile. He'd struggled so hard

17:17

to put together. Someone who had

17:19

been missing Jane Doe for over

17:22

forty years. By

17:24

creating a high quality forensic

17:26

photo and DNA profile, He'd made

17:28

a major stride forward in this

17:30

cold case, but now he

17:32

needed help. He needed someone

17:34

out there to recognize her the

17:36

weeks of waiting turned into

17:39

months, then years. In

17:41

two thousand twelve, after thirty

17:43

seven years on the force, Shepherd

17:45

sat down to give an interview to

17:47

LA

17:47

weekly. Reporters discussed what it

17:50

must have been like for him to

17:52

retire. Clip's record is astounding,

17:54

Rodney Ocala, the grim sleeper, he

17:56

looked into forgotten mysteries and

17:59

discovered answers many had long

18:01

thought loss. You must be proud of

18:03

them. Detective Shepherd just wants

18:05

justice for these people and to

18:07

finish these

18:07

stories. Some of them are horribly tragic

18:10

and they almost started tearing at his heart right

18:12

there. Those

18:13

cases he'd make notes on and say, I've got

18:15

to get back to this one to suddenly

18:18

stop. For a man like detective

18:20

Shepherd, it's a void. He's

18:22

not sure what he's gonna do after this.

18:24

That's the life of any detective.

18:26

But especially one of Shepard's stature.

18:29

For every case he cracked, there

18:31

were ten that would be passed down

18:34

the road. You have to imagine that Jane Doe, number

18:36

fifty nine's

18:36

face, loomed large in his mind.

18:39

For two whole years, the

18:41

profile had been publicly available.

18:43

And nobody had come forward. He'd done

18:46

what he could, but apparently nobody

18:48

was trying to find her. He told a

18:51

reporter, quote, There is a time to

18:53

go and although I would like to

18:55

continue some especially working

18:57

on some of the cases that really

18:59

bothered me At some point, I

19:01

have to give it up and pass it on to

19:03

others. Detective Shepherd felt like

19:05

he had done all he could. And that it

19:07

was time for him to pass the baton

19:09

to someone else. So when

19:11

detective Shepherd retired in two thousand

19:13

twelve, Jane Doe, number

19:15

fifty nine, unidentified on

19:17

the internet with her last champion

19:19

moving on. It seemed the case

19:21

would never develop until two

19:23

thousand and fifteen. Three

19:25

years later when an important pair

19:27

of eyeballs spotted her

19:30

information on the

19:31

web. Hildi,

19:33

I just got your email. Let me open it first.

19:35

Hurry, Elsa. I need to make sure

19:37

I'm not crazy. What these

19:39

drawings? What am I looking for?

19:43

Oh, it

19:43

doesn't look like her right. Two

19:46

old friends in Canada had been

19:48

swapping emails for years. Sending

19:50

forensic drawings of unidentified

19:52

murder victims, hoping to come across

19:54

someone they knew. We'll refer

19:56

to them as Elsa and Hilde,

19:58

for the sake of their privacy. Well,

20:03

actually, where did you find this? Never

20:06

mind. It's it's not her. Sorry

20:08

to bother you.

20:09

Wait. Hang on. I'm on the website this

20:11

drawing was from. I just wanna

20:13

see what else they Oh

20:15

my god. Did you

20:17

see this picture? They say they put it together

20:19

from the drawings and a

20:22

morgue photo. I think

20:24

it's her. Read.

20:28

Oh my god. 59. We

20:31

found 59. In two

20:33

thousand fifteen, the two

20:35

friends came across the profile that 59 had

20:37

struggled to get online. The

20:40

profile closely resembled a

20:42

mutual friend who had gone

20:44

missing decades earlier, and they

20:46

had been searching online for

20:48

profiles like this ever since the Internet

20:50

became mainstream. They called

20:52

another old 59, Anne

20:54

Jervison and showed her

20:56

the information where she could submit

20:58

her DNA. And sent

21:00

in a sample of her DNA, and

21:02

it came back as a strong match

21:04

to Jane Doe number fifty nine.

21:07

After forty six years,

21:09

decades of hopeless searching,

21:11

dead end after dead end,

21:13

and one final hail Mary

21:16

move that required five years of waiting in

21:18

pure random

21:18

chance, Jane Doe number fifty

21:21

nine had been found.

21:25

Her true name was Rita

21:28

Jervison. She was a Canadian who had

21:30

been survived by her older sister

21:32

Anne who lived in Quebec.

21:34

Now that her name was known, the

21:37

LAPD had just received their

21:39

biggest break in the case in forty

21:41

six years. Anne was happy to help

21:43

push for another big break as

21:45

well. Anne spoke to the

21:47

press saying, quote,

21:49

Forty six years have passed since REIT's

21:51

death, and I am the last living member

21:53

of her immediate family. I

21:55

have written this statement and

21:57

making it available to the public in the hopes that it

22:00

might prompt someone to provide leads

22:02

to the police. This,

22:04

in turn, may help the solve

22:06

the mystery surrounding this horrible

22:09

crime. Anne had taken it upon

22:11

herself to maintain REIT's legacy.

22:14

Most of what we know about REIT we learned from

22:16

her. REIT was the youngest of the

22:18

Jorberson family. They were Estonian

22:21

who fled from the Nazis in

22:23

the early nineteen

22:24

forties. In nineteen fifty

22:27

one, they settled in Quebec, Canada,

22:29

shortly after REIT was born.

22:30

And said of her sister, quote,

22:33

REIT was a lovely free 59

22:35

and and happy girl. She

22:37

was very artistic, drew well, and

22:39

like to sew her own clothes. She

22:41

was involved in girl guides and saying in

22:43

a youth choir. She was

22:45

deeply loved by both family and friends.

22:48

As children, REIT and Anne, were

22:50

very close, even raising

22:52

budgies together for 59, Eventually,

22:54

Reed grew into an adventurous young

22:57

woman and longed to see the world.

22:59

She started her adventure by moving in

23:01

with her grandmother in Toronto

23:04

way across the continent from her home

23:06

city of Vancouver when she was

23:08

only seventeen years old. Of

23:10

course, some of her wanderlust may have

23:12

been driven by average teenage

23:14

lust. In REIT's

23:16

case, she seemed to be pursuing a handsome

23:18

young man, most likely in his

23:20

lower twenties, she met when she was

23:22

eighteen in nineteen sixty eight at the

23:24

image 59, a hangout for

23:26

hippies in Montreal.

23:30

Hildy, he might as well be Jim

23:33

Morrison. He looks just like

23:35

him. The hair looks like him.

23:37

And he said he loved you. He

23:40

did. We were two tables away right

23:42

over

23:42

there, and he said, well, he

23:44

didn't say it. But

23:46

You just hummed a few bars of

23:48

touch me. You're an easy

23:50

mark. Well, it's

23:53

about time you had your first tragic

23:55

love. Why tragic? You said

23:57

he's moving to California? Well

24:00

well, REIT. No.

24:03

You're going all the way over

24:04

there. 59 your fake Jim Morrison,

24:06

you should go after the real Jim

24:08

Morrison if you're in Los Angeles. It's

24:11

just for a visit. I've got the money

24:13

Maybe not real Jim Morrison

24:14

money, but enough to see him, you're

24:16

really serious. And your

24:19

parents are okay with this.

24:21

They're thrilled. Okay.

24:23

No. They're fine with

24:25

it. Really? I'm a grown up, and

24:27

they know that. And it's just for a

24:30

little while. Who knows? I might even find my

24:32

place there. I can't work for

24:34

Canada post until I'm an old

24:35

maid. Right? Please?

24:37

As soon as I can.

24:40

REIT did write after she left.

24:42

In September nineteen sixty nine, when

24:44

she was only nineteen years old,

24:47

REIT flew to Los Angeles, California to

24:49

visit her lover Jean. After

24:51

weeks without contact from 59, she

24:53

sent a postcard to Hilli

24:55

and one doer family of a pretty

24:58

beach side stretch of houses. It

25:00

was postmarked October thirty

25:02

first nineteen sixty nine, It

25:04

was written in

25:04

Estonian, but translated,

25:07

it

25:07

read. The weather

25:08

is nice and the people are kind. I have a

25:10

nice little apartment. I go

25:12

frequently to the beach. Please write to

25:14

me hugs REIT. While

25:18

REIT's trip to Los Angeles was

25:20

originally meant to be a short vacation, The

25:23

postcard heavily implied that REIT intended

25:25

to stay in Los Angeles indefinitely.

25:27

That was the last any one of her

25:29

friends or family heard from her.

25:32

According to Anne, there wasn't much

25:34

cause for alarm. As REIT had

25:36

moved to Toronto, she

25:38

rarely checked in with her family. Leaving

25:40

the catch up conversation to her grandmother.

25:43

Her family accepted that REIT was an

25:45

adventurous young woman and they

25:47

wished the best for her as she set out on her

25:49

new life. Assuming that they

25:51

would hear from her again at some point

25:53

down the road. Of course,

25:55

as time passed, her

25:57

family failed to receive any word from

25:59

read at all. Despite this lack

26:01

of contact, they never thought to report

26:03

her missing. To hear Anne tell

26:05

the story, her family just didn't know

26:07

that that was what they should do. This

26:10

was pre internet, pre cell

26:12

phone. The Gilbert Suns

26:14

were at the mercy of the postal service.

26:17

Besides, REIT wanted to adventure. She wanted to

26:19

travel. She could be living anywhere.

26:21

And REIT's family wanted to let her

26:23

spread her wings, Besides, they were

26:26

in Quebec and she was in

26:28

California, they didn't believe they had

26:30

many options at their disposal. Over

26:32

time though, they grew concerned

26:34

and then worried. After several

26:36

months without contact, they

26:38

asked a family friend who was visiting LA

26:40

to check-in on the address on the

26:43

postcard. The family friend was told that

26:45

REIT had moved out of her apartment weeks

26:47

earlier and left without a forwarding

26:49

address. The Germansans were left

26:51

without any leads themselves. That

26:54

was when the Germans tried the only

26:56

thing they could think of. After

26:58

several more months of silence,

27:00

the Germans hired a private

27:03

investigator, while a good idea at

27:05

the time the PI's lack of

27:07

progress became a topic of serious

27:09

friction between REIT's 59, Arthur

27:11

and Mother Sylvia.

27:13

Investigators nothing. How

27:16

can that be, Arthur? She has

27:18

to be somewhere. Maybe this man took our

27:20

money and ran. Shouldn't we hunt him

27:22

down?

27:22

Oh, no. He wouldn't have done

27:25

that. Well, maybe he did, but I don't think

27:27

so. He must

27:28

have looked and simply found nothing.

27:31

That's impossible. Give

27:33

me his name or his

27:33

number. I will give him a peace of my

27:36

mind if he thinks nothing is

27:38

acceptable.

27:38

Let him work Sylvia.

27:41

Patience.

27:41

He could still be down there finding her. The

27:43

whole adventure with a private investigator

27:46

is a strange addendum to this tale

27:49

and one that has puzzled Anne as much as

27:51

the rest of the 59. It's

27:53

difficult to figure out what exactly

27:55

the investigator did

27:58

It seemed as if he never even inquired

28:00

at the LAPD about any Jane

28:03

Doe's. Although Anne thinks it's also

28:05

possible that the investigator did

28:07

check the LAPD's Jane Doe

28:09

59, and he was simply unable to

28:11

recognize REIT from the original forensic

28:14

drawings. Nonetheless, the

28:16

Jervison's efforts to find REIT had been

28:18

in vain and caused

28:20

even more heartache. And as all

28:22

their efforts were done in vain,

28:24

only one last clue would help point

28:26

this case to its conclusion.

28:32

Will discuss this clue after

28:35

this.

28:35

And now, back to

28:38

the story. Rita

28:40

Jervison's body had been discovered on

28:42

November sixteenth nineteen sixty nine.

28:45

However, as her body was unidentified,

28:48

Her family searched for for months having no

28:50

idea she had been harmed at

28:51

all. After a family friend and a

28:54

private eye had both run into dead

28:56

Ann's tracking REIT, Only

28:58

one other clue to REIT's whereabouts would

29:00

show itself. This clue came

29:02

from REIT's friend Hilde when she

29:04

encountered REIT's Jim Morrison.

29:07

A man who she believed was named Jean

29:09

in nineteen seventy not long

29:11

after REIT's

29:11

death. Jean,

29:14

you're

29:14

back in Montreal. Where's REIT?

29:17

She

29:17

decided to stay. She's a real California

29:20

girl.

29:20

Uh-huh. But I thought she was, you know,

29:23

with you. Oh,

29:24

yeah. She was with me for a couple of 59, and then she left

29:26

on her own. Everything's fine. She

29:28

was happy. What's

29:29

she doing now? Is she making it big as

29:32

an actress? Not

29:33

sure. It got to run. I've got a

29:35

thing. But wait, where's Reed's

29:38

staying? Can I write her? 59. No.

29:40

Bye. The few recollections people

29:42

had of John were that he was always on the move. He would

29:45

never sit

29:45

still. No wonder he'll be found him so hard

29:48

to pin down. That was the only

29:50

hint he'll be had at reach

29:52

whereabouts until two thousand fifteen.

29:55

Reed's absence haunted the

29:57

Jervisons and her friends and

30:00

said, quote, eventually, REIT's name never passed

30:02

my father's lips. My

30:04

mother, each year, would write REIT a

30:06

birthday card.

30:07

I found them in her drawer. She would

30:10

write REIT's name followed by a

30:12

question

30:12

mark, as if she didn't know where

30:14

to send the letter. Then

30:16

through pure random chance as

30:18

they searched the web in two thousand

30:20

and fifteen, Hildy and

30:23

Elsa found the profile that Shepard had dedicated

30:25

so much time to. Anne

30:27

had found her missing sister, but

30:29

several other questions remained unanswered.

30:32

With REIT's identity now

30:35

discovered, Luis Rivera of the

30:37

LAPD cold case unit was put

30:39

in charge of the case. To

30:41

this day, Rivera is responsible

30:43

for tracking down REIT's killer.

30:45

While the whereabouts of REIT's, then

30:47

boyfriend, Jean, were still unknown. And

30:49

Reed's sister and her friends had plenty of information to fuel

30:52

Rivera's search. There was

30:54

one person who Rivera felt he

30:56

should check-in on first. 59 eighty

30:58

two years old, Charles Manson had

31:01

kept the public just as enchanted and

31:03

terrified as he did in nineteen

31:05

sixty nine.

31:07

I told you we do this again. You

31:09

ever get a name for that drawing?

31:11

Detective Rivera sent me to tell you her

31:13

name is REIT Jervison. She

31:16

was stabbed one hundred fifty seven times in

31:19

nineteen sixty

31:19

nine. Man, look

31:22

at that. You redid the art and took

31:23

the art out of it. My

31:26

guy won't buy

31:26

this one. You have the old drawing.

31:29

Read Jervitz and Charlie.

31:32

She was nineteen years old. She was

31:34

from Canada. I hung out with a guy. It

31:36

looked like Jim

31:36

Morrison. You think

31:38

I'd chill with Morrison? Sorry,

31:41

man. You can take the doors out

31:43

of here. You know

31:46

what? I

31:48

believe you.

31:48

You should all believe me, man. I

31:51

never lied. Never lied.

31:53

Truth will set you

31:54

free. I'm just waiting for it to turn the key.

31:56

Manson would be freed the next

31:59

year when he died in two thousand

32:01

seventeen. In the meantime, Rivera

32:03

had finally crossed Manson's name off

32:06

the list. He confirmed

32:08

publicly in two thousand sixteen

32:10

that Manson had given them no new

32:13

leads. Now

32:15

it was time to look at the facts.

32:17

The best place to start was REITs

32:20

postcard to her family and her

32:22

friends. There was a return address,

32:24

fifty three eleven Melrose

32:26

Avenue, apartment 306

32:28

If you head to that address now, you'll

32:31

find luxury apartments opposite the

32:33

Raleigh studios. Back in

32:35

nineteen sixty nine, however, it was

32:37

the Paramount Hotel. Next

32:39

to Paramount Studios. The

32:41

hotel at that time was

32:43

converted to apartments and in apartment

32:45

306 lived a man

32:48

named Jean. Well, the obvious move

32:50

would be to search the Paramount Hotel

32:52

and the apartment Jean and Reed would

32:54

have shared, but it was demolished in nineteen

32:56

eighty nine before anyone could have

32:58

even known to check there. Even with

33:00

knowing REIT's identity, having her

33:02

address in Los Angeles, and

33:04

knowing that a man named Jean was a

33:06

person of interest, the

33:08

uncertainties and lack of leads seemed

33:10

insurmountable. But there was one last

33:12

ally to come to REIT's aid,

33:14

the press. After her identity

33:16

was revealed, there was a firestorm

33:18

of press interest in the story.

33:21

Both from the American and Canadian

33:24

media. After weathering hundreds of

33:26

inquiries, Anne Jervison agreed

33:28

to work with

33:29

CBC, A NEWS ORGANIZATION OUT

33:31

OF MONTREAL. THE CBC TEAM

33:33

GOT TO WORK IMMEDIALLY AND

33:35

DISCOVERED THERE WAS ANOTHER PERSON

33:38

Montreal, who knew Jean. An artist

33:40

named Paul Roberts. During the

33:42

late nineteen sixties, Robert was

33:44

a waiter at the image cafe.

33:47

The same cafe that Jean and Reed had

33:49

met him. However, nobody

33:51

had heard from him since at least

33:53

two thousand seven. In

33:56

two thousand sixteen, CBC

33:58

managed to track down Paul Roberts,

34:00

the last thread to tug on

34:02

for Jean's whereabouts He was still an artist

34:04

in Montreal. If Robert's memory

34:07

of Jean was vague, it was

34:09

at least suitably poetic. Robert

34:12

described him as angelic with

34:14

a face that seemed to come out of

34:16

shadows. Robert specifically remembered

34:18

him always wearing a white shirt and

34:20

denim jacket. With Robert's

34:22

help and Hildy's input, a forensic

34:25

drawing of Jean was completed and

34:27

presented to Luis Rivera. The

34:30

LAPD released the sketch of

34:32

Jean, handsome with a truly

34:34

striking resemblance to

34:36

Jim Morrison, on September sixteenth two thousand

34:38

sixteen. And that is the last

34:40

bit of progress that has been made

34:42

on the case of

34:44

Reid Jervison. The

34:46

sad truth of REIT Jervison's

34:48

case is that the odds of finding 59 true

34:50

killer and bringing them to

34:52

justice are slim. Even with

34:54

all the incredible breakthroughs in luck

34:56

that came with discovering her identity.

34:58

There are three possibilities

35:00

we can latch onto. One, the obvious

35:03

theory, is that Jean killed her. Even

35:05

though Rivera hasn't yet elevated Jean

35:07

beyond a person of

35:10

interest, his theories tell a different story. According

35:12

to Rivera, the fact that REIT was

35:14

stabbed a hundred and fifty seven times

35:16

indicates either a

35:18

maniac, or a love gone

35:22

wrong. We know

35:24

that Reed was at least romantically

35:27

interested in John, although reports vary about the intimacy

35:29

of their relationship. Who knows

35:32

if it was a serious love

35:34

or if reached travels to

35:36

California were merely the impulses of

35:38

a bored

35:38

girl. While Jean's response

35:41

to Hilli was cagey, We

35:43

also know that he was generally a

35:45

hurried person. And from Hilli's

35:48

recollections, she ran into him

35:50

randomly. He may have been in

35:52

a rush already may have been dodging

35:53

her. We could also read the fact that John never reported

35:55

re missing as a

35:57

point against him But we don't

36:00

know if Reed had moved on from his

36:02

apartment before her death. She may

36:04

have just wanted to live somewhere

36:06

else and John didn't pursue her. Either way,

36:08

he's

36:08

the main person of interest to the LAPD

36:10

and the one lead they're

36:12

still chasing down. So he goes to

36:14

the top of our suspect list.

36:16

Another theory one that will probably never die is that

36:19

Manson was lying about his

36:21

involvement with REIT's death.

36:24

There are rumors that REIT spent time in places like

36:26

spawn ranch, the base of operations

36:29

for the Manson family. And

36:31

even that she was a witness to another Manson

36:34

murder. But these are all

36:36

unsubstantiated. On top of that,

36:38

beyond the location and general

36:40

time frame, There's almost

36:42

nothing material to connect REIT's

36:44

death to the MO of the Manson

36:46

family. While Manson ordered his

36:48

family to kill people

36:50

who had slighted him in some way or in order to make a

36:52

statement. The family also

36:54

never made an effort to hide

36:56

the bodies which doesn't

36:58

match with Reed's killer trying to hide her on

37:01

Mulholland Drive. On

37:04

that note, the LAPD hasn't fully ruled out his

37:06

involvement. And with Manson's death

37:08

in two thousand

37:09

seventeen, we may never get a

37:12

full answer. The last

37:14

possibility is that neither John nor

37:16

Manson had anything to do with REIT's

37:18

death. Considering Marina Harbour's

37:20

similar death eleven months before REIT,

37:23

There may have been a serial killer

37:25

involved in both murders. Once

37:27

again, there is no way to firmly

37:29

connect the two crimes Right now, their

37:31

similarities are merely a gruesome

37:33

coincidence. We have so little to go

37:36

on for

37:38

these theories. Other than the postcard she sent to her shortly

37:40

before her death, we don't have

37:42

any information about how REIT spent

37:44

her final days in Los Angeles.

37:48

Nobody has come forward to say they knew her since her identity

37:50

was revealed. She's almost as

37:52

ghostly a presence in this story

37:56

as John. We know she was in

37:57

LA, and we know what fate befell her. The rest is

38:00

lost to time. What

38:02

is left

38:02

over is the constant feeling of

38:06

loss and guilt that REIT's friends and family felt.

38:08

Soon after REIT was identified,

38:10

Anne 59 daughter brought

38:13

her to Budge's similar to the

38:16

ones that Anne and Reed kept his

38:18

children. Anne named

38:20

the budgies Buenus and

38:22

Deus. As she looked at the birds, they reminded her of her long

38:24

lost sister and wondered if there was

38:26

anything else she could have

38:27

done. We may

38:30

never know. With all that

38:32

said, I think the most likely

38:34

suspect is Jean. He

38:36

was REIT's only contact in LA

38:39

And if anybody knew what had happened to her, it

38:41

would have been him. I agree.

38:44

Even if Sean was not directly

38:46

responsible for REIT's death, he would most

38:48

likely have been the person who introduced

38:50

her to her later

38:52

murderer. This case hinges on

38:54

identifying 59. Which may

38:56

never happen at this point.

38:58

The investigation is still open,

39:00

and Anne Jerbertson still

39:02

ten's, reap gerverson

39:04

dot com. The picture of Jean and Luis Rivera's

39:06

contact information are on there

39:08

too. If you or someone

39:10

you know, recognizes

39:12

anything we've told you today, please

39:14

reach out to detective Rivera.

39:21

Thanks again for

39:25

tuning in to

39:28

unsolved murders. We'll be back

39:30

next Tuesday with a new

39:32

episode. You can find more episodes of

39:34

unsolved murders as well as all of

39:36

podcast Southern shows on Spotify.

39:38

And we'll see you next time.

39:40

If we live till next time.

39:42

Unsold murder's true crime

39:44

stories was created by Max Cutler and

39:46

developed by Ron cutler is

39:48

a production of cutler media and is

39:50

part of the podcast network. It

39:52

is produced by Max and

39:54

Ron Cutler was sound designed by Carrie Murphy, production

39:56

assistance by Ron Shapiro,

39:58

Maggie Admire, and Carly

40:00

Madden. Unsolved murders is written by

40:02

Alex Switsky, and

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stars Carter Roy in Wendy Mackenzie. The amazing cast of

40:07

voice actors includes in alphabetical

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order, Terry Courtney Osteen,

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Pinto, and

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