On February 14, 1982 a state trooper discovered the body of a young woman beside Interstate 40 near Williams, Arizona. She was long known as Valentine Sally until February 2021, when genetic genealogy identified her as 17-year-old Carolyn Celeste Eaton of Bellefontaine Neighbors, Missouri. She was a white female with blonde or strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes.

Carolyn had run away around Christmas 1981 and is believed to have hitchhiked to Arizona. The last known sighting was February 4, 1982 at the Monte Carlo Truck Stop near Ash Fork, where a waitress remembered her complaining of a toothache; an autopsy later confirmed a molar had recently been prepared for a root canal and a dissolved aspirin was found in the cavity. When found, she lay face down under a cedar tree wearing only blue jeans; torn belt loops suggested she may have been dragged. A white sweater with thin red or maroon stripes, a white bra, and a white handkerchief were nearby. Decomposition prevented a definitive cause of death, though investigators believe suffocation or asphyxiation likely occurred.

After Carolyn’s identification, detectives focused on the unidentified older man seen with her at the truck stop, described as in his 50s and wearing a cowboy hat; he is considered a suspect but has not been identified. Anyone who knew Carolyn, saw her in northern Arizona in early February 1982, or recognizes the man from the truck stop sketch is asked to come forward.