Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix: 5 chilling details about The Severed Head

Volume 4, Episode 3 of Netflix's Unsolved Mysteries deals with the investigation of the severed head that was found in the bushes in Beaver County, Western Pennsylvania. The severed head was found by a teenage boy who was walking through the woods. Even after multiple investigations, the true identity of the severed head remains a mystery, and so does the true identity of the culprit.

The third episode of its fourth season, The Severed Head, tries to uncover the mystery behind this gruesome activity. As per the appearance, the severed head looked like belonging to a woman of age around sixty to eighty years old.

After months of investigation, testing DNA samples, and then creating a prop sculpture of the head, when the police couldn't find the true identity of the woman, they named it Jane Doe. The official synopsis of the episode on Netflix says,

"After a teen finds an embalmed head in the woods, investigators uncover a possible connection to a black-market organ trade as they try to ID the victim."

Andrew Gall, the chief detective at the Beaver County D.A. Office, was one of the prime investigators of this crime. Gall said that in his 50 years of experience, he had encountered many cases and solved most of them. But the severed head was one of the scariest cases that he ever encountered, which remains a mystery.

The authorities buried the severed head in Beaver County Cemetary, naming her as Jane Doe. All the members of the police attended the funeral. The head was put in a coffin in the hope that when the body was found, it would be reunited with the head. It remains one of the most cryptic mysteries in the history of Pennsylvania

Five chilling details about The Severed Head

1) The severed head didn't show any signs of decomposition

The Severed Head in the Woods (Image via Pexels/Lum3n )

On the morning of December 12. 2014, a fifteen-year-old boy was walking through the woods just near Economy Borough, Western Pennsylvania. This is a place that is known for its expensive houses and beautiful farms.

The boy had already known the road that went beside the woods and had already been there many times. The boy came across something that looked like a gut pile, usually meant for deer. But when he went to look closer, he found that it was the dismembered head of a woman.

When Officer Michael O'Brien arrived at the scene, he thought this must be a prop, that got the kid terrified. But when he went near, he found that it was the head of a woman with grey hair who looked from around sixty to eighty years of age.

Detective Andy Gall, who took up the case, realized that it was the season of fall, but no leaves were on the head. Besides, in the woods, the decomposition process starts very quickly, with flies and maggots attached to it. But the head was untouched. The officers soon packed the head and took it to the county morgue.

2) The severed head had two red rubber balls instead of eyes

There were two rubber balls instead of eyes (Image via Pexels/Karolina Kaboompics)

When the head was taken into autopsy, Dr. James Smith, along with the autopsy technician, found some horrific details. Whoever had cut the severed head was a professional. The Severed Head was combed, the lips were firm, and the head was cut from the body with complete precision, most likely with a scalpel or a very sharp object.

What was more terrifying was that the eyeballs had been removed and replaced with small rubber balls. Andy Gall tried to trace any evidence of who bought the rubber balls but soon learned that most of them came from China and were very common. So that led to another dead end.

3) The sculpture of The Severed Head on the news led to a broken crypt

A head was stolen from a broken crypt (Image via Pexels/Pixabay)

During the autopsy, the police tried to get DNA samples from her hair, skin, and brain to find some matches. A sample of the occipital bone was sent to North Texas University and also to the FBI, but no leads were found.

The police had no other option but to spread the message on the news in the hope of getting some leads. They didn't want to release the actual photo, so they contacted Michelle Vitali, a forensic artist at the Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. She made a sculpture mimicking the severed head, and it was sent to the news in the hope of getting some calls.

Eventually, they got a call from the Connor of Fayette County Oak Grave reporting that someone broke a crypt and the head was missing from the coffin. State trooper James Baranowski got this case from Renze De-Carl Crypt.

It was found that the coffin with a stolen head belonged to Teresa De Carlo, a local lady who passed in the 1950s. Teresa's face shared some similarities with the sculpture of Jane Doe. The head was stolen from Fayette County on August 4, 1988, but it was found on December 12, 2014. The time gap is about 26 years apart.

4) The Severed Head gave leads to a complete body-selling industry

Deeply analyzing the head led to new results (Image via Pexels/Anna Shvets)

Mary Bush, the forensic artist behind Jane Doe's case, checked into the mouth of the skull and found some interesting pieces of evidence. The front large tooth in the mouth didn't even exist back in the 1950s when Teresa De Carlo was alive. Dentistry was done only in the 1980s, and hence, the lead on Teresa being Jane Doe was gone.

David Alvarez from the funeral home said that Teresa's body was kept in the funeral home for some days before reaching the cemetery. Suspicions were raised if this was part of a body trade. Blake Morrison, the investigation reporter of that case, started looking into the act of stealing body parts.

It led him to discover an entire market based on organ trade. Blake also learned about Jay Garbner, a man whose house was right across the street from the scene, who seemed to have many ideas about this trade.

5) The prime suspect behind The Severed Head's investigation killed himself

Jay Garbner took his life (Image via Pexels/Tiana)

A man by the name of Jay Garbner reached the cops, saying he had some evidence that could be very important in solving the case. Jay's house was on the other side of the road, opposite the scene where the severed head was found. According to Jay, the teenage kid who called 911 should be considered the prime suspect.

But the cops found it very hard to believe that a fifteen-year-old kid would cut a head with such precision, bring it to the woods without getting noticed, keep it right at that spot, and call the police. Instead, their suspicion shifted to Jay, of how he could be so sure about his claims.

Upon investigation, the authorities also learned that Jay had once been acquainted with the kid and invited him to teach baseball. But something happened between them, causing the split, after which Jay wouldn't even let the boy enter his premises.

Jay said that he had a pet horse named Ginger. One day, he found it stabbed right near the woods. Ginger lived for a few weeks but eventually passed away. Jay was sure the boy had killed Ginger. He said he could see the spot where the head was found from his window with a telescope.

Blake was investigating Jay at that time, who continued trying to find out what was truly inside of his mind. Rumors had it that Jake had a pet dog named Jacks, and after its death, he put the corpse double bagged, into a standalone freezer down the basement of the house. Blake eventually pursued Jay to take a polygraph test.

The results detected 99% deception. However, this evidence was not enough, and the police searched for more concrete evidence to put him behind bars. They had no idea what was supposed to happen.

On September 30, 2020, the police got a call from the Ohio Highway Patrol. They got to know that Jay had driven his pickup truck to the overpass. Then he came out of the car and jumped from the overpass. Jake was facing some mental issues and took his life by suicide.

After Jay's death, the only lead that the authorities had was gone. The Severed Head of Jane Doe was buried with a funeral by the state police department. The case was left incomplete. It remains a mystery to whom the severed head belonged to and who Jane Doe truly was.

Edited by Gayatri Chivukula