It was a dark and rainy night.
1974 - A woman leaves her work at a truck-stop diner in southern Indiana, and is never seen again.
There were rumors she ran off with another man.
There were rumors she gave a hitchhiker a ride.
There were rumors she was murdered.
She was compared with several Jane Does, but no match.
One man confessed, but he had a reputation for "outlandish stories."
Someone said she and her car were pushed into a stripper pit, east of Elberfeld, Indiana.
The changing landscape of East of Elberfeld, Indiana
This is a private road to active coal strip-mines, the site of the former pond where she was rumored to be hidden.
Strip mines remove the soil above the mineral veins by making long, tall, rows of spoil banks. From the Study of strip and surface mining in Appalachia (1966)
The spoil banks are visible in satellite images.
The first article about her case appeared in 1994.
Ponds appear and disappear as the spoil banks are reclaimed, the sites becoming barren fields.
Butterfly Stripper Pit
Pigeon Creek, East of Elberfeld, Indiana
Coal Mining Run Off
Pigeon Creek, East of Evansville, Indiana
6 month exposure of the Ohio River, looking towards Kentucky from south of Evansville, Indiana
Blue Stripper Pit; Crying Woman Stripper Pit.
Barren Fields with Daffodils
This project is in the process of becoming a book. This is the "dummy" of an early draft.