This week on Still A Mystery, the team investigates the senseless murders of two young women. Alicia Hummel had gone fishing near Vermillion, South Dakota, but was found dead floating in the Missouri River.
Jenna Nielsen was delivering newspapers in Raleigh, North Carolina, when an individual stabbed her and her unborn baby to death, in what seems to be a completely random attack.
The Murder of Alicia Hummels
Alicia Hummel’s remains were found on June 1, 2015, by a state Game, Fish and Parks employee, who was clearing up the area at Myron Grove, about seven miles from Vermillion. Her body was floating in the waters of the Missouri River.
An autopsy revealed the cause of death as drowning; however, she had also suffered a blunt force head trauma and an incision on her neck, which had been factors contributing to her death.
Police have found it quite easy to document Alicia’s movements on the day as she took multiple photographs, which were then posted to Snapchat. Unfortunately, the pics failed to show up any clues.
It is thought that Alicia had been fishing by herself, which was not unusual. However, what is surprising is that not one eyewitness has come forward with any information despite the Myron Grove area being a relatively busy place.
The standard procedure in these types of cases is to look at the victim’s friends and family. However, her ex-husband had a rock-solid alibi, and interviews with her friends don’t seem to bring up any new leads.
Watch the Latest on our YouTube ChannelThe police say that this is still an active investigation, and for that reason, they may be withholding some information from the public.
Anyone with any information is urged to call the Clay County Sheriff’s Office at 605-677-7100.
The murder of Jenna Nielsen
Jenna Nielsen was delivering newspapers to a food mart in Raleigh, North Carolina, on the morning of June 14, 2007, when somebody stabbed her in the neck and dumped her body behind the store.
The 22-year-old was just weeks away from giving birth to her third son, who was going to be named Ethan.
Early on in the investigation, the police released a description of a man spotted in the area a few hours before the murder. It described a young man in either his teens or early 20s with black hair tied into a ponytail. He was wearing a dark-colored sleeveless shirt and baggy denim shorts, and his ethnicity is not known.
There was DNA found at the scene, but investigators were unable to get a match.
Jenna’s murder prompted North Carolina lawmakers to pass the Unborn Victims of Violence Act in 2011, also known as Ethan’s Law, which allows the law to prosecute individuals for the murder of a fetus.
Jenna’s family has promised an award of $15,000 for information that leads to an arrest and conviction. Raleigh police have urged anyone with information to telephone Crime Stoppers at 919-834-4357.
More from Still A Mystery
Follow the links to read about more unsolved murders profiled on Still A Mystery.
Previously the show looked into the deaths of two 26-year-olds who died under suspicious circumstances. Trisha Haynes’s dead body was found stuffed into a washing machine in New Hampshire. The number one suspect remains on the run for an unrelated crime.
Adam Campbell had struggled with drug addiction but was turning his life around and hoped to be a lawyer. His dead body was discovered in a burnt-out car in a back alley in Escanaba, Michigan.
Trevor Baldwin and Bryanna Gentry were two seemingly innocent victims who were both gunned down. Baldwin was found shot to death at the wheel of his car in Chesapeake, Virginia, in 2014, and Bryanna Gentry was shot dead in her boyfriend’s home in the Detroit suburb of River Rouge in Michigan in 2019.
Still A Mystery airs at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.