Jennifer Bailey enjoyed running, and twice a week she would go to Pine Mountain State Resort Park in Pineville, Kentucky, to go for a run. On the morning of Thursday, August 16, 1990, the 21-year-old drove her mother’s Mercury Cougar to Pine Mountain and parked near one of the park’s popular running trails around 11:00 am. As she usually did, she placed her wallet and car keys under the front seat of the Cougar and left the car unlocked when she set off on her run. She never made it back to the parking lot.
When Jennifer failed to return to her home in Greasy Creek, Kentucky, her parents, Elbert and Janice Bailey, knew that something was wrong. Jennifer had last spoken to her mother earlier that morning; she had some errands to run and told her mother that she was going to stop by the park and go for a run before she returned home. Janice was recovering from surgery at the time, and Jennifer planned to pick up a prescription for her at a local pharmacy; she was also going to stop and get her mother a couple of cases of soda.
Jennifer always let her parents know where she was going to be before she went anywhere, and she always called when she was going to be even a few minutes late getting home. Because she was normally so reliable, when she wasn’t home by noon they started to get worried. After waiting a few more hours, Janice called the police and reported Jennifer missing. She later told reporters that she had immediately sensed that something horrible had happened, noting, “It was like a sledgehammer hit me in the chest.”
Troopers with the Kentucky State Police found the Mercury Cougar parked on the street where Jennifer left it; there was no sign of a struggle in or around the car. Her wallet and keys were found under the seat, and there was a bag from a local pharmacy containing medication and money on the passenger seat.
Investigators found no sign of Jennifer along the jogging trail and they were puzzled as to how she could have disappeared from there. The road where Jennifer had parked was heavily traveled, and around 75 people used the jogging trail — which followed an old railroad bed — each day. Detectives determined that a vehicle passed the trail every 10 seconds; it seemed impossible that Jennifer could have been abducted without someone seeing something.
Around 100 people, along with eight canine units, searched the area throughout the weekend but didn’t find any clues to Jennifer’s whereabouts. On Sunday, officials with the Kentucky State Police decided to halt the search pending additional information.
Witnesses recalled seeing Jennifer in the park around 11:00 am; they said she was wearing a white T-shirt with the sleeves cut off and gray or white shorts with “Kentucky” written down the sides. They hadn’t noticed her talking to anyone; it seemed clear that she was just at the park to go for a run.
Detective Walter Cashen said it was unlikely that someone had been watching the trail, waiting for the right moment to strike. There had been many joggers on the trail that morning and none of them reported seeing anyone loitering around. Yet investigators were at a loss to explain what could have happened to Jennifer. Detective Cashen noted, “She either flew the coop with some guy or it was just one of those chance things, like some freak driving by. But it doesn’t fit anybody in the area that we can think of.”
Janice Bailey was certain that her daughter hadn’t run off voluntarily. Jennifer enjoyed her job at Wal-Mart, where she was the manager of the shoe department. Joe Harris, the assistant store manager, told reporters that Jennifer never missed a shift; she came in at 8:00 am each day and was always on time. “She’s always in good spirits, never acted depressed…she was very conscientious and ran a perfect department for us…definitely a leader in our store.”
Investigators noted that Jennifer had a paycheck waiting for her at Wal-Mart; they thought it was unlikely she would have left it behind, not to mention her wallet, cash, and credit cards, if she were going to disappear. Detective Cashen hoped that she had just wanted to go away for the weekend and would show up on Monday morning like nothing happened. “Hopefully at 8:00 am she’ll knock on that damn Wal-Mart door and go to work.”
Although no one who knew Jennifer believed she had left voluntarily, they still hoped that she would show up in time for work Monday morning with a good explanation about where she had been. Monday came and went without any word from the missing woman, however, and investigators admitted that they didn’t have any idea what had happened to her.
There was little progress made on the case until Monday, August 26, 1990, when a trio of people searching for arrowheads stumbled upon a body in Pine Mountain State Resort Park. Initially, the Kentucky State Police released little information about the body; they confirmed that it was found at 6:48 pm but wouldn’t say if it was male or female.
Although police were silent on the matter, Janice told reporters that the body was that of her daughter. “We found Jennifer last night. [Police] came last night and told us. They wouldn’t have told us if they hadn’t been sure.” She would later tell reporters, “Some of the people here say they could hear me screaming forever. I don’t remember a whole lot about that part of it. I guess I blocked that out.”
A representative for the state medical examiner’s office stated that the body had been naked except for sneakers and a pair of gold necklaces matching those normally worn by Jennifer. This allowed them to make a tentative identification which was then confirmed by dental records. An autopsy determined that Jennifer died from asphyxiation; she had been strangled to death. There was also evidence she had been sexually assaulted.
Jennifer’s body had been found nearly two miles away from the jogging trail, in an area known as the “Gravel Pit.” It was an area that had been searched with canine units during the initial search effort, leading investigators to believe Jennifer was killed somewhere else and then dumped there later. The medical examiner determined that her body had been laying there for seven or eight days before it was discovered, but she had likely died on the same day that she went missing.
The brutal crime horrified the residents of Bell County, who worried that the killer might strike again if not caught. A spokesperson for the Kentucky State Police noted, “This is the first time anything like this has happened in the area. It’s an impact that is going to be felt for a very long time.”
Detectives began interviewing everyone associated with Jennifer but admitted that they didn’t have any initial suspects. Ten days after her body was found, investigators said that they had interviewed several persons of interest; they had also detained a man from Lee County, Virginia, and questioned him about the murder, but released him without charges.
On September 15, 1990, detectives told reporters that they had a “strong suspect” in the case but declined to identify him. Kentucky State Police spokesman John Collins said only, “We are talking to a suspect today…he’s under arrest for a similar case.” He was being held in Raleigh, North Carolina at the time.
In January 1991, officials released sketches of two men they wanted to question about Jennifer’s murder. Commonwealth’s Attorney William Hayes said both men were from the Middlesboro, Kentucky area and they went by the names Sam and Edward. Investigators also wanted to question a man who was imprisoned on unrelated charges; his name was not made public.
Despite an intense investigation, detectives were unable to connect anyone to Jennifer’s murder. In December 1993, they were still trying to determine who had killed her. Now, more than three years after Jennifer was murdered, they were re-interviewing everyone who had seen her at the park on the day she was killed, hoping to find something that had been missed during the initial investigation.
Detectives found more than a dozen people who recalled seeing Jennifer on the jogging trail, and several of them thought they had seen her arguing with an unidentified male. Police believed that there might have been two men involved in Jennifer’s abduction and murder, and they might have been in a black pickup truck with a lot of chrome.
As 1993 drew to a close, Janice told reporters she was aware that some had criticized police for not solving the case yet, but she thought they were doing everything they could. “I feel like the detectives are doing the best they can do. I can’t say anything against them…I am very satisfied with the way they are handling our case, my husband and I both are.”
As the fifth anniversary of Jennifer’s murder approached, Elbert and Janice were still praying her killer would be brought to justice. Janice still called the Kentucky State Police daily to see if there were any updates to report, but the answer was always no. “It’s been like a living hell, really. It’s like you went to bed and had a bad dream, and you think you’ll wake up and it will be over. But then reality comes back, and you wake up, and it’s still there.”
The only solid lead detectives had was that Jennifer had been seen talking to a man in the parking lot near a black pickup truck. They had never been able to identify the man or the truck, but they believed they likely had something to do with Jennifer’s murder. Detective Cashen noted, “Whoever killed that little girl is going to be tied to a black truck one way or the other. They either own it, or they borrowed it, or their father owned it, or their cousin…”
In the five years since the murder, detectives had extensively investigated more than a dozen potential suspects, almost all of whom were from the local area. None of them could be linked to the murder, but investigators were still vigorously pursuing leads and believed that the case could still be solved.
Jennifer’s parents didn’t believe that she had been killed by a stranger. They thought it was more likely someone had recognized the family car parked at the state park and deliberately targeted their daughter, but they couldn’t imagine who would have wanted to harm her. She didn’t have any serious boyfriends and spent most of her free time with her best friend Connie. The two went to fitness classes together and attended church each week. Jennifer had no problems with any of her co-workers and hadn’t reported any negative customer interactions.
Detectives struggled to come up with any solid leads pointing to Jennifer’s killer, and the case eventually went cold. Jennifer’s parents did everything they could to remind people that their daughter’s killer was still on the loose, but the case faded from the headlines and years went by without any progress.
Jennifer’s father died in 2008 without knowing who killed his daughter, leaving Janice to carry on her fight for justice alone. Elbert had been fighting cancer for a while but assured his wife that he was ready to die; his last words were, “I’m going to Jesus and Jennifer.”
By 2012, Janice admitted that she didn’t think justice would ever be served for her daughter. Still, she prayed that the killer would be found. “I want it solved. I want whoever did it to pay for it. I would want the needle put in their arm. That’s what I want.” Time hadn’t made her loss any easier to deal with. “I just get in bad shape. I don’t want to do anything, I can’t eat…it’s awful. It’s like going to hell and never coming back.”
Janice told reporters in 2014 that there were many rumors about who had killed her daughter. “Everybody thinks they know who did it and because of who he is they won’t do anything about it.” She was pinning her hopes on detectives and wanted them to devote more time to the case. “I would like for them to let somebody work the case, this case only, and be able to dig in deep enough so they can find out who did it before I die.”
In 2020, investigators marked the 30th anniversary of the murder by releasing new information about the case to the public. Kentucky State Police Detective Aaron Frederick noted that a number of Jennifer’s belongings had gone missing the day she was killed and had never been found. The items included her jogging shorts and white sleeveless T-shirt, a black and tan Velcro belt, a Timex watch with a brown band, a GE portable cassette player and headphones, and small yellow gold diamond earrings.
Investigators hoped that someone might recall seeing somebody with Jennifer’s belongings and get in touch with them so the case could finally be solved. Detective Frederick noted, “When Jennifer passed away, the whole community suffered and you can still feel the effects in Bell County.”
Jennifer Bailey was just 21 years old when she was murdered in Bell County, Kentucky on August 16, 1990. She was a friendly and intelligent woman who enjoyed her job and was close with her parents. She was also an avid runner, but one day while she was exercising she ran into someone evil. There have been suspects over the years but detectives have never been able to link anyone to the crime; investigators are still waiting for the tip that will allow them to finally obtain justice for Jennifer. If you have any information about Jennifer’s murder, please contact the Kentucky State Police at 606–573–3131.
