Written In Blood

Mother Jane and Daughter Doe

(hi I recently got my laptop so I'll be copy and pasting a lot of false crime stories from my google docs okay)

t/w child death, brutal death, domestic abuse mention

a facial reconstruction of Mother Jane, made by Catalina Jones

a facial reconstruction of Daughter Doe, made by Catalina Jones

Discovered December 6th, 1969

SOLVED

Mother Jane and Daughter Doe are two formerly unidentified bodies.

On the night of December 6th, 1969, Jacqueline and Wayne Meyers were walking through the New Orleans City Park in New Orleans, Louisiana, when they stumbled across the deceased bodies of a woman and little girl by a tree.

The woman had been beheaded and her skull had been crushed. The little girl had been bludgeoned beyond recognition. Both had their hands missing and both had most of their teeth missing. The woman was determined to be in her late twenties to early thirties and the little girl was determined to be between seven and twelve years old. They had been dead for nearly three weeks. When police were unable to identify them, they earned the nicknames Mother Jane and Daughter Doe.

After several months of police being unable to identify them, they were buried on March 10th, 1970, in Cypress Grove Garden, with a joint tomb, reading;

MOTHER JANE
AND
DAUGHTER DOE
DISCOVERED DECEMBER 6, 1969

Over the years, there were several theories presented as to who they were.

A month earlier, a mother and daughter had disappeared in New Orleans, Susan and Roseanne McDonald, and many believed them to be Mother Jane and Daughter Doe, but when they nearly held a press conference identifying the two as Susan and Roseanne in 1977, Susan's sister, Lucy, went to New Orleans police and said that the two were living with her in Baton Rouge, due to the domestic abuse they faced from Susan's husband/Roseanne's father, Jonas McDonald. Police were sent to the residence and saw that, yep, Susan and a now eighteen year old Roseanne were alive and well, so that theory was tossed out, though a few believed they were impostors.

Some believed the two weren't even related or were possibly sisters.

There were also many theories as to who killed them.

Some say Jonas McDonald mistook them for his wife and daughter and killed them, but McDonald denied this, before dying in prison in 1984.

Another theory said that they could've been killed by British serial killer, Harrison Malachi, who lived in New Orleans under the name Kyle Hanson between 1962 and 1972.

A popular theory for quite some time was that they could have been family to the Doe Twins, now known to be Darlene Anastasia and Daniel Alexander Barnes. For information on them, go check out Gone But Not Forgotten. It is also worth noting that there was no real backing for this theory, other than they were both unidentified decedents found together who were believed to be family. Nonetheless, their DNA was compared in 2005, and it was determined they were not related.

In 1998, a tip came in from an anonymous woman. She says, in early November of 1969, she'd seen a mother and daughter a store, the mother looking panicked. She said the mother and daughter fit the description given of Mother Jane and Daughter Doe. This mother and daughter were believed to be Eunice and Rosie Millson, who had gone missing from Gulfport, Mississippi, in October of that year, though a missing person's report was not filed until 1972. DNA testing from Eunice's sister, Catherine, ruled them out as possible identities. Eunice and Rosie were located alive in Bentonville, Arkansas, the following year, having escaped Eunice's abusive husband, Edward.

Finally, on December 6th, 2022, the fifty-third anniversary of their discovery, they were officially identified as twenty-seven year old Shannon Elizabeth Jordan Wallace, and her daughter, seven year old Rita Shannon Wallace. They had gone missing from their home in Long Beach, California, on November 9th, 1969, though their case was closed in 1985.

Shannon Elizabeth Jordan Wallace was born on February 21st, 1942, in Long Beach, California, the seventh of twelve children and had been raised in a very Catholic family. She got married at age eighteen on June 21st, 1960 to thirty-three year old Ernest Wallace. Two years later, on June 17th, 1962, they had their first child, Rita Shannon Wallace. Shannon and Ernest had two more children after Rita. Clinton Ernest, born 1964, and Maryann Jacqueline, born 1966. On November 9th, 1969, Shannon and Rita inexplicably went missing from the home. Ernest then traveled the country, claiming he was trying to find them. He returned on December 10th, 1969, saying he couldn't find them anywhere.

In 1985, the case was closed. Shannon's father, Donald Jordan, was on his deathbed and said that he just wanted to know what happened to Shannon and Rita. Ernest then broke down in tears, confessing that he had killed them, but couldn't remember what he did with the bodies. Ernest shot himself that night, never telling anyone why he did it.

"I was sitting right there as he confessed," Clint said to me. "He was never abusive towards me or Maryann, he always talked so highly of my mother and Rita, and I always hoped they were alive. I barely remember either of them."

"I don't remember my mother or Rita at all," Maryann said. "I can't even begin to describe the shock I felt when my father confessed. As Clint said, he never talked bad of them, not once did he hit either of us. I will never know why he killed them, he never said."

A funeral was held for Shannon and Rita on July 1st, 1985, where the Wallace and Jordan family buried two empty caskets. The grave read;

SHANNON ELIZABETH JORDAN WALLACE
February 21, 1942 - November 9, 1969
AND
RITA SHANNON WALLACE
June 17, 1962 - November 9, 1969
BELOVED MOTHER AND DAUGHTER

They were properly buried in Long Beach, California February 21st, 2023, what would have been Shannon's eighty-first birthday.

When prompted on how they felt about this whole situation, both Clint and Maryann gave similar statements but both said that they were happy for true closure.

May Shannon Elizabeth Jordan Wallace and Rita Shannon Wallace rest in peace.

a photo of Shannon and Rita, taken the summer before their deaths
{colorized and enhanced}