The Mystery Of The Cheerleader In The Trunk
Who was this woman found in a footlocker thirty-eight years ago?
The “cheerleader in the trunk”, or the “woman in the trunk” (not to be confused with the “woman in the trunk” Jane Doe case from St. Petersburg, Florida) is one of those mysteries that has persisted for years. Despite being on the more well known and high profile end of the spectrum of Doe cases, she has remained unidentified for almost forty years. I usually try to highlight lesser known Doe cases in my articles but today we’re taking a look at a case that is well known within the true crime community because exposure is this Doe’s only hope of being identified as of right now. This is the story of the cheerleader in the trunk and who she could have been.
Circumstances
On August 24, 1982, a couple of mushroom hunters were hiking through Gambrills State Park in Frederick, Maryland searching for mushrooms. Gambrills Park has over sixteen miles of hiking trails in the Catochin Mountains and is thickly forested. The couple stumbled across an old steamer trunk or footlocker covered by leaves and sticks just off of a gravel road. Curious, they opened it and saw something terrifying. Inside the trunk were skeletonized human remains and long brown hair. The authorities were called out to the scene and the…
