Questions continue to swirl over unidentified remains

Feb. 8—WADESBORO — The discovery of a Jane Doe found in the Anson woods behind the National Guard Armory has gained the attention of armchair detectives across the country in the form of conversation threads on Reddit, YouTube channels, and Facebook pages, leading to an outpouring of concern, theories, and questions over police transparency.

The Anson Record, attempting to assuage some of these concerns, have made calls to the Anson County Sheriff's Office for three weeks that continue to go unreturned.

A female's skeletal remains were uncovered during a land survey conducted on May 12, 2022, though the media and public were only made aware of the discovery roughly three weeks ago via a posting on www.namus.gov. According to the information provided on the post, the young woman was found wearing a black Secret Treasures bra, size 34C, and leggings. A woman matching the limited description provided on www.namus.gov was seen on a trail camera positioned near the location where the remains would eventually be found on August 22, 2021, wearing similar clothing to that of the skeletal remains. Aside from this information, the only other details provided are of two rabbit hunters coming across a backpack in the woods near the trail camera and the remains in February 2022, which they removed money from, prior to reporting the discovery to law enforcement. According to the Namus post, neither the hunters nor law enforcement were ever able to locate the backpack. No further description of the remains, cause of death, hair color of the deceased, a description of the backpack or its contents has been made public.

Local resident Jane Hamilton Livingston shared her shock at the lack of information, commenting on a Facebook post about the discovery of the remains on the Attempt to Locate page, "Never heard of this in Anson County, (it's) crazy."

Megan Morris echoes Livingston's concern, saying, "I cannot find any news coverage of the remains being found or if a plea for the public for help in identifying them has been made."

Local commenter, Pam Treadaway Carpenter, reports "This happened in 2022 and most of us have not heard about this. We need someone reporting on the crime here."

Many online commenters have voiced concern over the apparent lack of transparency in this case from law enforcement. One local resident, wishing to remain anonymous, has mused, "I sure hope I never go missing in Anson County."

Missy Clayton, another commenter on Attempt to Locate ponders, "How does the girl get caught on camera and no one asks any questions? My thought is not the amount of time that has lapsed but that there is no media attention." Echoing Clayton's concern is Linda Stallings Parker, sharing, "I don't understand why this is just becoming public knowledge over two years later (from the images on the trail camera)."

Expressing her own concern on why the trail camera images have not been made public until recently is Tamm Lynn, remarking, "I find it sad that this guy sent in these pictures (trail camera) awhile back and no one did anything about it."

A local citizen wishing to remain anonymous has questioned, "If the trail camera images had been made public could it have saved the woman's life?" Aliceson Bell—Zurovec wonders, "Why was the area not searched for her after the camera got her picture?" The apprehension shared by all, is best expressed in Facebook commenter Andrea Banuelos, saying, "I wonder why this is not being aired on national TV... she is someone's daughter."

Apprehension continues to linger over how the woman found herself alone in unfamiliar woods, half -naked, in the middle of the night. "Did she escape someone and they found her and killed her? She is clearly injured and needed a walking stick," speculated Rachel McBride. The woman pictured on the trail camera from the night of August 22, 2021, is using a walking stick to navigate in the dark. The female first appears on the trail cam at 1:33 a.m. and 1:34 a.m. In the first image she can just barely be seen on the right side of the picture and in the second she is not visible at all, leading to speculation that she may have been running at the time. The same female is later seen on the trail camera, coming from the opposite way, between 4:30 and 4:31 a.m. In the three images taken during this period, the female is moving slower with what appears to be a noticeable limp. The woman in the images is wearing only a bra and leggings, no shirt or shoes.

Now that revelations of the remains, trail camera images, and backpack have become public, Facebook commenter Shaunda Sade speaks for many when she suggests, "We should back up to the part where the hunters found the backpack and never reported it."

The Anson Record has previously reported on the rampant speculation that the unknown female may be the missing Amber Rae Johnston, who has been missing from Bullhead City, AZ since August 17, 2021. Johnston was traveling by bus to Myrtle Beach, leaving Arizona on August 17, 2021. Johnston's boyfriend, now deceased, was allegedly awaiting her arrival in South Carolina. When the bus Johnston was riding on stopped in Winston Salem, Johnston departed the bus, according to comments made by her mother on the since deleted Facebook page, Justice for Amber Rae Johnston. This information has been confirmed by the detective in charge of her case, Scott Sharpe. There have been no further sightings of Johnston since, leading to comments such as Kasee Woodley's, "I feel the now deceased boyfriend had something to do with this." Others, such as Brandi Vanderhoff, have remarked, "It (has) been nearly two years since the remains were located. They haven't compared DNA? DNA can take awhile but dental shouldn't."

Given Johnston has been missing since 2021 and according to www.namus.gov ,the remains are believed to be those of the woman spotted on the trail camera in August 2021.

Once obtained, DNA results are uploaded by law enforcement into the online database CODIS, an acronym for Combined DNA Index System, usually returning a comparison of DNA very quickly.

Detective Sharpe from Bullhead City, AZ is in charge of Johnston's case and remains the only member of law enforcement to return calls for information made by the Anson Record. Previously commenting on the case, Sharpe states, "What I can tell you is that we cannot confirm or rule out Amber... DNA takes time."

In an interview on the YouTube channel Dutchess, Johnston's mother, Sharon, confirmed that hers and other relatives of the missing woman turned in samples of their DNA when Johnston was first reported missing. The elder Ms. Johnston confirms in the same interview, conducted around September 2023, that she has been assured by Detective Sharpe that their DNA was processed and would be loaded into CODIS. The Dutchess YouTube channel focuses on missing person's cases from across the country, though heavily concentrating on those missing in the Carolinas.

According to online comments, the "Justice for Amber Rae Johnston" Facebook page has been removed.