"I never knew my mother, because she was murdered when I was six months old. I knew stories of what memories other people had with her but I never had my own. I never had that closeness to someone and was never able to build bonds with people because someone took her from me. When I was 8 and was told the tragic story of how she left the earth and that no one was held responsible, I vowed I would one day find that person. I'm turning 35 years old this year and still have not found that person or persons responsible for her murder. I just want justice, I want this void in my life closed, I want to know why and who decided I didn't need my mother. And I want them to pay." - Lareina Hurley, daughter of Sharon Hurley whose murder is still unsolved.
THE CASE
The 1981 murder of Sharon Hurley, police agree, was one of the most brutal in St. Louis history. She was 24 years old then, an attractive unwed mother from Malden, Mass., who waitressed and, sadly, sometimes prostituted herself to make ends meet.
She was murdered on the night of Feb. 24, 1981 - found strangled and beaten, her body covered in large gashes and her pubic hair burned. Medical examinations revealed she had been tortured and raped before being killed and ultimately dumped off the Poplar Street Bridge, which connects St. Louis, Mo., and East St. Louis, Ill. An anonymous call to 911 led police to her body. Her identity was later confirmed using dental records.
"I was told she was a 'woman of the night,' " her daughter Lareina says. "But that doesn't mean she deserved to die... in this way."
Lareina was only 6 months old when her mother was killed. She would never get to know her. It wasn't until she was 8 years old that relatives told her what truly became of her mom.
"My mother's sister who adopted me sat me down with my grandfather and his sisters and told me," Lareina tells HNGN. "I cried and cried."
THE INVESTIGATION
What puzzled cops from the start were those gash marks that covered Hurley's body from head to toe. Police had assumed her killer was a man or several men but the gashes were likely inflicted with long fingernails. Could a woman have been involved? And the hair in her pubic area had been burned - but why?
"The way she was killed was absolutely horrible," her daughter says. "When I was old enough to know what it all meant, I knew I could never give up without finding the person who killed my mother."
Cops started their investigation focused on the man that Hurley was living with and then moved to questioning her circle of friends. It didn't take them long to find out she had sometimes prostituted herself. That fact led them to strip clubs located not far from where her body was found. But every lead quickly turned cold and the people they questioned simply wouldn't talk.
"It's impossible to tell at this point in the investigation how many people were involved," noted a police officer at the time, and that's still the situation.
These days, police say they still get leads from time to time, but nothing has ever panned out. But they are not giving up hope that a break will come. Even three decades later, they're still searching for specific people, including the person who made the call to 911 about Hurley's body. And they want to hear from anyone who lived in the area at the time - even those who frequented local prostitutes.
"She deserves justice. She doesn't deserve to simply be forgotten about," Lareina says of the mother she never knew but loves as if she did.
"Someone knows who killed this woman," a police source adds. "We just haven't found that someone yet."
If you have any information, please contact St Louis Crimestoppers at 1-866-371-TIPS.
Jon Leiberman is an Emmy award-winning investigative correspondent, host, producer, victim advocate and author. He recently wrote the book "Whitey On Trial," about the mob. In addition to contributing to HNGN, he is a contributor to "Snapped" on Oxygen and various other television shows. Leiberman is a former correspondent for "America's Most Wanted." Follow him on Twitter @reporterjon.
