Jessica Shane Lankford was born on January 7th, 1969, in southeastern Mississippi. She grew up as the youngest child in her family and was particularly close to her sister Melissa.
Jessica’s parents divorced when she was very young. According to an account later provided by Melissa to Project: Cold Case, the breakup divided the family to some extent, but the two sisters maintained a close relationship throughout their lives.
When Jessica was eighteen, she moved to the Daytona Beach area, and Florida’s Atlantic coast became home. Melissa remembered that her sister loved the ocean, and when the two women lived together, they would sometimes go to the beach to watch the sunrise or sunset and talk about what they wanted from life.
Jessica had once dreamed of becoming a dancer, perhaps even working professionally as a backup dancer. That dream was derailed by serious health problems. As a young woman, she developed a degenerative condition that required hip replacement surgery; eventually, according to her family, both hips were replaced. Melissa later said that losing the possibility of dancing was devastating to Jessica and that she subsequently struggled with drug addiction.
The difficulties in Jessica’s life sometimes strained her relationships with members of her family. Melissa, however, remained close to her. Jessica was also a mother, a homemaker and a member of the Church of Christ.
Sometime during the early morning hours of Tuesday, September 9th, 2008, Jessica was on foot near the intersection of Nova Road and LPGA Boulevard in Holly Hill, just north of Daytona Beach. She was attempting to cross Nova Road and was heading west when a vehicle struck her.
The driver did not stop. Then another vehicle ran over Jessica. That driver did not stop either. Jessica died from her injuries at the age of thirty-nine.
For investigators, the immediate problem was obvious: there were potentially two hit-and-run drivers to identify. Yet the circumstances surrounding why Jessica was walking across Nova Road that morning soon raised additional questions.
One of the most intriguing pieces of information to emerge involved Jessica’s activities before she was struck. For one thing, her own car was not at the scene; it was approximately two blocks away. And not only that, but according to witnesses cited by Project: Cold Case, Jessica had been seen arguing with a man on the day she died.
Exactly who that man was, what they were arguing about and whether the confrontation had anything to do with Jessica ending up on Nova Road have never been publicly established.
There was also an important detail about Jessica’s physical condition. Because she had undergone replacement surgery on both hips, running would have been difficult for her. Witnesses reportedly did not describe Jessica as appearing frightened or as though she were attempting to flee the man.
There is no public evidence establishing that the unidentified man caused Jessica’s death, that he forced her into the roadway or that either vehicle intentionally struck her.
Jessica’s vehicle produced another point of frustration for her family. It was discovered about two blocks from where she was killed. Ordinarily, a vehicle belonging to someone who died under unexplained circumstances might potentially contain useful information: fingerprints, DNA, personal belongings, receipts or other evidence that could help reconstruct where the person had been and whom they had recently encountered.
According to Jessica’s family, however, her car was not processed for evidence. Instead, the family said, the vehicle was cleaned and taken to a dealership, reportedly by an older man Jessica had been close to. Project: Cold Case carefully attributed that account to the family rather than presenting it as an independently established police finding.
Whether processing the vehicle would have produced anything useful can never be known. But for Jessica’s relatives, its handling became one more source of uncertainty surrounding the investigation.
Jessica’s death was investigated by the Holly Hill Police Department, but no driver was publicly identified and no one was charged in connection with the fatal hit-and-run.
Years passed. According to Melissa, Jessica’s personal belongings remained in police custody because the investigation was still open. She was eventually told that the case had become a cold case. Project: Cold Case, an organization that advocates for families of unsolved-homicide victims, featured Jessica’s story in 2019 and continues to include her among its unsolved cases.
As of this writing in August 2026, the death of Jessica Lankford is still a mystery.
Crime Immemorial 