[5] Carol Cole and her sister Linda "Jeanie" Phelps lived in Kalamazoo, Michigan, primarily under the care of their grandmother after their mother and father divorced.

Later in life, Cole decided to leave Kalamazoo to accompany her mother, Sue, to San Antonio, Texas in 1979 at age 15 but remained in contact with her sister by telephone.

Cole was at a girl's home run by the Palmer Drug Abuse Program, also called PDAP, on West 23rd St. in Austin, Texas, from May to October 1980.

[9][10] Some sources state that Cole may have spent time at a religious institution known as the New Bethany School for Girls, which was located in Arcadia, Louisiana.

[7][13] Some also believe that the explanation for the names written on the victim's shoes as well as the style of clothing may have been due to a dress code set in place by the New Bethany School for Girls.

[2][7] On January 28, 1981, a female victim's body, believed to be between the ages of 15 and 21, was found concealed by trees in Bellevue, Bossier Parish, Louisiana.

[14] The victim was believed to have been white, with possible Native American ancestry, and was murdered by sharp force trauma approximately four to seven weeks before her body was discovered.

[2][17][18] Because of the decomposition of the body, the victim was reconstructed, at first with a three-dimensional clay model, and later with a digital method by the Louisiana State University FACES Lab.

[20] On February 6, a 911 operator named Linda Erickson saw the Facebook page with Bossier Doe's image, then notified detectives when she came across a Craigslist ad with a photo of Carol Ann.

[20][21][22] It was a Craigslist ad that Patty Thorington, a friend of Carol's sister, had placed in an effort to find any information on the missing girl's whereabouts.

[5][29] Aucoin believes that Chesson had decided to go hunting for the first time with his children to establish his innocence by finding the victim's body and reporting it to the police.