a facebook post and a craigslist ad worked together to solve the 34 year old cold case murder of a teenage girl from michigan who was found stabbed nine times in the woods in rural louisiana carol cole was 17 years old when she disappeared without a trace after running away from a juvenile detention center in texas in october 1980 in january 1981, police in bossier parish, louisiana, found a teenage girl stabbed nine times in the back and chest stashed under a pile of leaves in the woods out of a dirt road outside shreveport for 34 years, carol's family searched in vain for the troubled teen at the same time, detectives from bossier parish never stopped trying to identity the body they found mutilated in the woods coming together: the picture at left is the image used by carol cole's family on craigslist posts across texas and louisiana the image at right is a rendering of 'bossier doe' created for a facebook page posted by detectives in an attempt to identify a body found in january 1981  carol cole escaped from a texas juvenile jail in october 1980 after moving from michigan with her mother her remains have been found and identified after 34 years  relieved: carol cole's sister, jeanie phelps of kalamazoo, michigan, (center) with bossier sheriff's lt shannon mack and sgt dave faulk  now, social media has brought carol's family and louisiana detectives together in february, dna confirmed that the body in louisiana matched missing carol's dna, the detroit news reports new attention to the case has brought forward a potential suspect, as well john chesson, who is already in prison for an unrelated murder, is named as a person of interest in carol's brutal death  carol's sister jeanie phelps and her friend posted craigslist ads across texas and louisiana with pictures of the teen, hoping someone might recognize her at the same time, bossier parish lieutenant shannon mack crated a facebook post for 'bossier doe' (facebook doesn't allow jane doe page names) it included a digitally rendered drawing of the victim based on her skeletal remains carol's family aznd bossier detectives made a connection six days later when bossier parish 911 dispatcher linda erickson was trolling through craigslist long road: cole, from michigan, was eventually found dead in louisiana she was last heard from in december 1980 and found dad a month later  these are the shoes that carol was wearing when she was found dead police posted pictures of them in the hopes of jogging the memory of anyone who may have known her  person of interest: john chesson has been identified as a possible suspect by his own daughter he's currently in prison for an unrelated murder  she had seen the facebook page posted by detectives in her department when she stumbled across ms phelps' craigslist page, she realized that the rendering of bossier doe and picture of carol looked remarkably similar 'i can't explain it other than this child was meant to have an identity,' ms erikson tells the news perhaps even more remarkable, authorities in bossier and carol's family had crossed each other's paths some 30 years ago in a failed attempt to find the teen and identify the body a coroner in the early 1980s examined the remains to see whether they matched carol's description   but he said they weren't close enough for further investigation ms phelps, carol's sister, also considered the bossier remains in the search for her missing sister   but says she must have glossed over them, wood tv reports all the new attention has also brought forward a potential suspect in carol's murder  convicted murderer john chesson's own daughter told the news that media coverage of carol's case jogged her memories that the teen had been staying at their house in 1980 before she disappeared frances leblanc says that her father was a violent, abusive man and he was also the one who claimed to have found carol's body in the woods and alerted police detectives have not filed charges, but say they are investigating whether chesson murdered the teenager nearly 35 years ago carol's remains have been cremated and brought back to michigan, where her family lives the family is currently raising money to pay for a full funeral and burial
texas october 1970 17 carole cole john chesson carol january 1981 jane doe' this past february facebook louisiana craigslist shreveport
carole cole, 17, disappeared in october 1970 after running away from a juvenile jail in texas  her body was found in january 1981 outside shreveport, louisiana   but remained unidentified until this past february  carol's sister made craigslist posts across louisiana and texas  at the same time, the bossier parish sheriff's department created a facebook page for their 'jane doe' body  a 911 dispatcher saw the craigslist post and made the connection  convicted murderer john chesson has been fingered as a suspect by his own daughter 