Who was the Arroyo Grande Doe? 1980

On October 5^th 1980 an off duty police officer named John Williams and his companion discovered the naked body of a teenage girl near highway 146 in Henderson, Nevada. She appeared to have met a very violent end.

(image findagrave)

 The unidentified girl had been beaten and punched in the face and sustained blows to the skull and lacerations from a hammer, as well as numerous stab wounds from an ice pick or a similar implement. The murder weapons were never officially found or identified and are usually listed as “some kind of hammer” and “a two pronged instrument”.

The girl had been washed before being discarded on the dirt road- a small piece of shower curtain was also found at the scene. 

The girl was most likely murdered in another location and brought out to the isolated area to be dumped. I imagine she was probably murdered in a house or maybe even a hotel if her killer had the facilities to wash her and drag along pieces of shower curtain. They probably did so to eliminate any forensic evidence she may leave behind while being transported in the perpetrators vehicle (at least that would be my guess).

Reports state that she was posed, however none describe the specific position, only that she was face down on the ground. She had been there for no more than 24 hours before she was found

Apparently this is the location where Jane Doe’s boy was discovered, on what is these days theintersection of highway 215  (around Arroyo Grande Boulevard, hence why she came to be known as Arroyo Grande Doe.)

(Google maps)

There's no specific coordinates, but I believe it's around this area.

Her profiles describe her as between 15 – 25, definitely on the younger side of the estimate, 5”2 in height and around 100lbs in weight. She had Light brown hair that was possibly dyed blonde and had grown out, green/ blue eyes, a gap in the right side of her teeth and pierced ears. The most distinguishing feature is a small DIY “S” tattoo on the underside of her right forearm, however it probably wouldn’t be much use in identifying her as it was very fresh.

(image crimewatchers)

I wonder if she did it herself (was she left handed?) or if someone else tattooed her. 

Did she actually want the tattoo or was it something someone forced on her? 

What did it mean? Was it her name, or the name of a partner or child? 

It seems strange to me that she got it so close to the time of her murder, it makes me wonder if her killer marked her, or if her killer was someone she knew, like a boyfriend or acquaintance who just turned on her. 

(image Doe network)

She had been punched in the face and the fatal wounds were inflicted from the back, so maybe she got into a physical altercation with someone and was then attacked from behind while trying to get away?

The possible hammer / ice pic combo of weapons is something to think about too. If this was premeditated those are unusual weapons as part of a murder kit. (or was that the point?) Usually it’s a straight up knife, gun, wire, rope etc. Could these have been hastily grabbed nearby items from a home? 

Was the two pronged implement a kitchen item? Or possibly garage tools? 

What do you think?

Dreamindemon [X]

Wikipedia [X]

Crime watchers [X] 

Post mortem image below