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a facial reconstruction of Darling Doe, made by Caraline Hansen at NCMEC Discovered February 14th, 1980
SOLVED
Darling Doe is a formerly unidentified body.
On February 14th, 1980, Millie and Klaus Edison stepped outside their home in Bourbon County, Kentucky, and, instead of dancing outside like they said they would, they were greeted with the deceased body of a little girl. Her throat was slit, there were multiple stab wounds in her chest, her teeth were missing, her fingers on both hands were missing, One of her eyes was missing and her skull had been severely beaten and had caved in. She was blonde, had blue eyes, was wearing a white short-sleeved nightgown, and had a pink bow tying her hair back.
She was determined to have been dead for no less than a week and was believed to be around four years old. She was nicknamed Darling Doe by the coroner, Karen Julien, who did her autopsy.
They were unable to identify the girl and, on November 2nd, 1980, she was buried in Paris Cemetery. It said, quote;
DARLING DOE BELOVED LITTLE GIRL DISCOVERED FEBRUARY 14, 1980
Millie and Klaus were briefly imprisoned, but there was no evidence that they'd killed her, so they went home. For a while, people in the area believed Darling Doe to be Katelyn Jones, who had gone missing in the area back in December of 1979. After DNA testing from Katelyn's mother, Sharon, Katelyn was ruled out. Katelyn would be found in 2001.
Darling Doe would be exhumed in 1999 and 2015, and several facial reconstructions were made and put out in an effort to identify her.
On November 2nd, 2022, forty-two years, eight months, and eighteen days after her discovery, Darling Doe was identified through genealogy testing as Hazel Delphine Belle Anna. Hazel was born on September 27th, 1974 in Nashville, Tennessee. Her mother, Jeanie Kay Anna, was a prostitute and had one other child, Carlos Victor Ethan Anna, who was six at the time of Hazel's birth. Both Hazel and Carlos' fathers are unknown. In December of 1979, Jeanie married Harold Reeseline. On the night of February 10th, 1980, Hazel inexplicably went missing, and shortly thereafter, Harold became more abusive towards Jeanie and Carlos. Jeanie committed suicide on New Year's Eve in 1999. Harold had died three months before Hazel's identification.
In January of 2023, Carlos went to police saying that he was just about certain that Harold killed Hazel. After describing the abuse his mother endured, he also stated that, when he was kicked out the night before his eighteenth birthday, Harold said;
"I fuckin' hate dealin' with you damn kids, I'll be glad to get rid of you, and I'm glad I got rid of your sister. Shame she'll never be found alive."
Carlos had been contacted when the genealogy tests were being preformed and his DNA was then matched to Hazel's, thoroughly identifying her. He says that when he got the phone call, he remembers feeling;
"Feeling more than shocked. I gave up on the notion of her being found alive a long time ago. I had heard about Jane and John Does, and I did think that's what could be going on here, but there are a lot of Jane and John Does, I didn't know where to start. I wasn't sure if she'd died as a child or some time as an adult, I had no idea what Harold did to her. I'm just happy to have closure. As long as I know what happened to her, I'm okay. I don't like the news, but it's better than knowing nothing."
Hazel's headstone was updated, by Carlos, to say;
HAZEL DELPHINE BELLE ANNA THE DARLING DOE BELOVED LITTLE GIRL September 27, 1974 - February 10, 1980
She is still buried in Bourbon County, also per Carlos' request.
May Hazel Delphine Belle Anna rest in peace.
a photo of Hazel, taken shortly before her death
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