Jessica Keen

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Jessica Lyn Keen (September 24, 1975- March 17, 1991) was a murder victim killed in Foster Chapel Cemetery in West Jefferson, Ohio. Her case was profiled on the television program Unsolved Mysteries.

1 Before the Murder
2 Body Discovered
3 Unsolved Murder
4 External links

[edit] Before the Murder

Jessica Lyn Keen, a fifteen-year-old girl from Columbus, Ohio was a model student - an honor student and a cheerleader. However, she quit cheerleading and her grades dropped after meeting Shawn Thompson, an eighteen-year-old from Central Ohio. Her parents objected to her seeing Thompson but didn't know what to do. So, they placed her in a home for troubled teens on March 4, 1991.

On March 15, 1991 Jessica had an argument with Shawn over the phone. She left the home on her way to City Center Mall in downtown Columbus. She was last seen alive sitting at a bus stop area near the mall.

[edit] Body Discovered

After being missing for two days, Jessica Keen's body was found at the back of Foster Chapel Cemetery, 20 miles from the teen facility. She had been raped and badly beaten. She was still wearing her ring and watch, but a pendant with the word "taken" was nowhere to be found. Of course her boyfriend was the prime suspect, but DNA tests proved he was not responsible. Police theorized that she had escaped her abductors and ran to the cemetery. Evidence in the cemetery shows she tried to hide behind grave stones - one of her socks was found, and a knee imprint in the mud behind a grave stone was found with or near the sock. She was killed near a fence in the cemetery, presumably by her abductors, who had followed her.

A cross with her name on it was placed where her body was discovered near the fence in the cemetery.

[edit] Unsolved Murder

Jessica Keen's murder remains unsolved to this day. If you have any information about her case, you can contact the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation at (740) 845-2000.