In the autumn of 1983, a haunting discovery was made by a hunter in the Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge in Shelby, New York. On October 29, the severely decomposed remains of a young woman were found off the shoulder of Route 63. For decades, her identity remained a mystery, a silent testament to a life cut short. The Jane Doe case lingered, with investigators in 1984 commissioning a facial reconstruction in the hopes of jogging someone's memory.
It wasn't until October 2013 that a crucial step was taken: the unidentified body was exhumed for DNA testing. This scientific approach finally gave the young woman her name back in April 2014: Shari Lynne Ball. She was a 20-year-old white female who had been living in Boca Raton, Florida, at the time of her disappearance.
Shari Lynne Ball, who also went by the last name Timmerman, was described as being 5'4' tall, weighing 100 pounds, with hazel eyes and blonde hair. Her story, as it emerged, was one of youthful ambition and devastating betrayal. In June 1983, she had excitedly told her family that she was heading to New York State to chase her dream of a modeling career. She was not alone, mentioning that she would be traveling with an unknown friend. This was the last her family heard from her before she was reported missing to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office in Florida that same month. The vibrant young woman with aspirations of the runway had vanished, only to be found months later in a remote wildlife refuge, her life's journey tragically ended.
While no arrests have been made in the decades following her death, investigators have a strong suspicion about who may be responsible. Cold case investigators with the New York State Police have publicly stated they are looking into the possibility that Shari Lynne Ball was a victim of the notorious serial killer Christopher Wilder. Known as the 'Beauty Queen Killer,' Wilder preyed on attractive young women, often luring them with promises of modeling opportunities before raping and murdering them. An investigator noted that Ball's case 'certainly matches Wilder's method of operations.' Wilder was known to have been in central New York in 1984, and a woman reported meeting him near Buffalo around the time Ball is believed to have been killed. The investigation into Shari Lynne Ball's murder remains open.
