The Girl Next Door

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Scott Dudek (0:19)

She was 5'1, 110 pounds. She had a butterfly clip in the back of her hair. She had beautiful gold hoop earrings. No drugs, no alcohol in her system. If you put that all together, it tells you that this is the girl that was living next door.

This girl could be from Louisiana. This girl could be from New York. This girl could be from Rhode Island. We have no idea where to even start.

Unfortunately, we're going to have to dig up her body to find out who she is. I'm Sergeant Scott Tudek. I'm a detective with the Alameda County Sheriff's Office. I can vividly recall pulling in here that night. It was late at night. They found a bag behind the local restaurant here in Castro Valley. And the sad part about it too is outside of being discarded like a piece of trash behind a tree, she had a rag stuff down her throat. She died of asphyxiation. So it's just a horrific, horrific ending. We have to figure out who this little girl is to go forward with the homicide investigation.

One, two, three, up. We're hopeful that the new pathologist that looks at her little body can tell us something that maybe we missed. Get down. Okay, hold on a minute.

Gloria Nussi (2:16)

This was a living, breathing person. She does have a story to tell us, and she's trying very hard tonight to tell us what she can.

Scott Dudek (2:31)

There are a million clues inside a skull. It just takes the right person to bring them out.

Gloria Nussi (2:37)

Facial reconstruction is kind of a last-ditch effort.

Scott Dudek (2:42)

We were desperate to find out who killed this young girl.

I knew we would. I just didn't know how. But it just proves that you really shouldn't give up.

SPEAKER_4 (2:58)

The Girl Next Door, tonight's 48 Hours Mystery.

Scott Dudek (3:07)

I think it haunts me a lot. I think it haunts everybody that's worked on this case.

Harold Dow (3:12)

Like any good homicide detective, Sergeant Scott Dudek can sometimes get a little obsessed with his cases.

But this case troubles him more than any other. What makes this one so different?

Scott Dudek (3:24)

She's just a child, and no one knows who she is. If anybody deserves everything you got, and then 50% more than that, it'd be a child.

Harold Dow (3:38)

A 22-year veteran of the Alameda County Sheriff's Department in Northern California, Dudek has solved his share of gruesome crimes. But murders are rare in the suburban community of Castro Valley.

Scott Dudek (3:52)

It's a beautiful community. It's about 75,000 people. It's middle to upper middle class, most of it. Not a lot of crime, not a lot of violent crime especially, so very nice area.

Harold Dow (4:05)

So what he saw the night of May 1st, 2003 was especially shocking, even to a seasoned detective. The body of a young girl, murdered, stuffed into a trash bag and discarded behind a restaurant.

Can you show us exactly where she was found?

Scott Dudek (4:23)

If you go behind this tree right here, her body was down here by the cyclone fence. She had been dead for about 10 days, so it was fairly well decomposed.

Harold Dow (4:36)

And the way she died with a rag in her throat suggests someone may have wanted to silence her. Do you think she saw something?

Scott Dudek (4:44)

You know, there had to be something very, very terrible, obviously, that went on for her ultimately to be killed. Maybe she was a witness to something.

Harold Dow (4:55)

What usually happens when you find an unidentified murder victim?

Scott Dudek (4:59)

Normally, for us, within the first 24 to 48 hours, we know who they are either by looking at missing persons reports or having a parent contact us.

Harold Dow (5:09)

But sadly, no one seemed to be looking for her. Because her body was so badly decomposed, a local artist did the best she could to give her a face. They also gave her a name, Jane Doe. Police had to rely on her autopsy for other clues.

Scott Dudek (5:26)

We had 10 perfect prints that we got off of both her hands, which is a rarity.

Harold Dow (5:34)

Investigators guessed she was in her early teens. She was in good health with perfect teeth. This Jane had all the appearances of a typical teenage girl next door, from her painted nails to her choice of clothing.

Scott Dudek (5:48)

We had a seamstress redo the exact clothing that she was wearing.