On Monday, there was a bit of movement on the case. The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office said Monday it has received information of a possible sighting of Christopher Wilder in New York City on Sunday, Dec. 4, 1983, which the department is now following up on to see if there is a connection to Ellery Jane Doe.

“This date is two days before the body of “Ellery Jane Doe” was recovered on State Route 17 in the town of Ellery,” the Sheriff’s Office said in its statement. “Christopher Wilder was suspected of committing a number of homicides in the United States, including the state of New York. On April 13, 1984, Wilder was killed in a gunfight with New Hampshire State Police who had contacted him in a stolen vehicle which Wilder had taken following the murder of Beth Dodge in Victor, N.Y. A New Hampshire State Police Officer was shot during the encounter with Wilder.”

The Sheriff’s Office said that during the contact with a woman in New York City on Dec. 4, 1983, the suspect used a ruse that Christopher Wilder commonly used to lure his victims into his vehicle. The woman did not agree to leave with the subject believed to possibly be Wilder. The suspect was last seen leaving on foot.

“Christopher Wilder was known to frequent Western New York and the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office would like to speak to anyone who believes they may have encountered Wilder in Western New York between Sunday, Dec. 4, 1983, and Tuesday, December 6, 1983.”

Christopher Wilder is pictured in an April 1984 mugshot after he became the 385th person added to the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives List. He was suspected of multiple kidnappings, rapes and murders. He was killed April 13, 1984, after New Hampshire State Police tried to arrest Wilder during a traffic stop and resisted arrest.

Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigation Division at (716) 753-4578 or via email at Tarpley@sheriff.us

ELLERY JANE DOE’S STORY

On Dec. 6, 1983 members of the Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation would set out to begin the usually scheduled early-morning work along the former Route 17, now Interstate 86. The workers would stop about 1.5 miles eastward beyond the Chautauqua Lake Bridge. Snowfall had previously covered the area for about two days, but on this morning a rainfall had mostly eliminated any snow that would remain. With the ground clear, workers noticed something strange in the ditch along the left side of the road at about 8:30 a.m., and approached to investigate. Without realizing it, the workers had just stumbled upon one of the greatest mysteries within Chautauqua County, which 42 years later remains as shrouded in mystery as the day it was discovered.

Upon approaching, the worker’s fears were confirmed, they had just located a deceased body that appeared to have been disposed of along the side of the expressway. The body was lying face up, described as “partially clad”, and appeared to have possibly been the victim of a sexual assault as well. The woman appeared to be in her late 30s according to reports, with estimates putting her age between 30 and 37 years old at the time of death. The woman had two moles, one on her left cheek and a 15 mm raised one behind her left ear, along with a wart located above her left eyebrow. There was a T-shaped scar on the victim’s neck, and her blood type was A+. According to reports, the woman was about 5’4″, and weighed about 128 pounds. The woman was found without any jewelry, identification, or even shoes. The only thing the woman seemed to carry on her was a mysterious note with three unidentified series of numbers and letters. Countless efforts to identify the woman have turned up nothing. No Interpol reports have shown matching descriptions for missing persons, DNA attempts have not yielded any conclusive results yet, no success was had in attempting to identify her through fingerprints, and nothing has come back as a match on her biometric data that numerous international missing person groups have. With so many paths leading to dead ends, the case only continues to get colder and colder with time.

The woman was almost immediately identified as a victim of a homicide. Investigators noted that it appeared she had been shot four times; once in the back, twice in the chest, and once in the mouth. While investigators have stated that the shot inside the victim’s mouth may allude to an execution-style killing, this explanation posed more questions.

Investigators are pictured where Ellery Jane Doe's body was recovered on Route 17 in Ellery.

The victim wore a green, red, and brown checkered trench coat, which was reversible to an olive drab wool. She also wore a homemade plaid wool skirt, and a blue-grey crewneck. Additionally, the victims wore a white V-neck camisole, something that was only available in Capri, Italy at the time. All of the clothing that the victim was wearing was considered to be of value, suggesting that the woman likely came from an upper-middle class background. This further complicates the investigation by making one wonder why the woman had made her way so far.

Despite large amounts of evidence suggesting European heritage, investigators believe that the woman may have arrived in the United States from Canada. A note in the woman’s pocket was found to be from the Blue Boy Motor Hotel, formerly located in Vancouver, Canada. The note contains three lines of text, reading “Sas.k.R.h. 24233, K.R.Ba. 68301, Sarg. 74261”. There have been no successful attempts to decode what the note means, though it is believed to be transportation or contact information of some kind. Additionally, no employees of the Blue Boy Motor Hotel ever recalled seeing the woman at the hotel, according to public reports.