On 25 March 1887, the body of an unidentified young woman was discovered near the Rahway River in Rahway, New Jersey. She had been strangled, sexually assaulted, and deliberately placed near the water. Despite widespread newspaper coverage and extensive enquiries at the time, her identity was never established. She became known simply as Rahway Jane Doe.

Clues suggested she had lived a stable life, she was well dressed, healthy, and not obviously transient, yet no one reported her missing. With no name, no witnesses, and limited forensic tools, the investigation stalled within months.

In this episode, we examine the discovery, the medical findings, the theories that failed, and why the Rahway Jane Doe murder remains one of America's earliest and most haunting unsolved cases.

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