In the late summer of 1990, Jackie Foster, a 29-year-old White woman from the Abilene, Texas, area, was trying to make her way to Los Angeles, California, to see a family member. Her journey, however, was cut tragically short, leaving behind a mystery that has haunted investigators and her loved ones for more than three decades.
On September 6, 1990, Jackie was reported missing. The last time she was seen alive, she was at a truck stop in Cisco, Texas, about 45 miles east of Abilene, attempting to hitch a ride west. It was a common way for people to travel long distances at the time, a hopeful and trusting act that put her on a path to an unknown destination with an unknown person. What happened after she left the truck stop remains the central question in her unsolved murder.
Two days later, on Saturday, September 8, 1990, her journey ended hundreds of miles away in the opposite direction.
A pair of fishermen in a rural part of Jefferson County, near Port Arthur, Texas, made a grim discovery. Near a drainage canal along Farm to Market Road 365, they found a body. It was Jackie Foster. She had been wrapped in a heavy canvas tarpaulin, a crude and deliberate effort to conceal her. She was found clothed in a shirt and a pair of pink sweatpants, but she had no shoes. The discovery on the Gulf Coast, so far from where she was last seen, only deepened the mystery of her final hours.
The investigation into Jackie’s homicide was launched immediately, but the circumstances presented significant challenges. The vast distance between her last known location in Cisco and where her body was found in Port Arthur—a drive of more than 450 miles—created a massive geographic area for police to cover. It suggested that her killer was likely transient, possibly a long-haul truck driver, who was able to transport her across the state undetected. The Texas Rangers Unsolved Crimes Investigation Program took on the case, working to piece together a timeline and identify potential suspects.
For years, the case grew cold as leads dried up. There has been no public information released about persons of interest or what, if any, evidence was recovered from the scene or the tarpaulin she was wrapped in. Investigators are left with a series of unanswered questions: Who did Jackie meet at that truck stop in Cisco? Where was she taken? And why was she killed and left in a remote canal so far from home?
Despite the passage of time, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Texas Rangers have not given up on finding justice for Jackie Foster. Her case is one of more than 140 unsolved homicides being actively highlighted through a public awareness program designed to generate new investigative leads. Investigators hope that someone, somewhere, has information that could finally break the case open—a memory of a friend or family member acting strangely in September 1990, or a detail about someone who drove that route and used a heavy canvas tarp.
As of March 2025, the case remains an active and open investigation. In an effort to bring renewed attention to Jackie's murder, the Texas Crime Stoppers program, funded by the Governor’s Public Safety Office, has increased the reward for information. A cash reward of up to $6,000 is being offered for any tip that leads to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for her death. To be eligible for the increased reward, tips must be submitted before the next featured cold case is announced. Anyone with information is urged to call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-252-TIPS (8477) or submit a tip online.
