Social media post leads to deceased woman’s positive identification

Hayden Dixie Harris killed while trying to cross I-44 by rest stop
 
A woman whose name was a mystery after she was killed while trying to cross I-44 has been identified. Hayden Dixie Harris’s identity was confirmed by her mother on Friday, March 12.
According to a report filed by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Harris, 18, attempted to cross the interstate and was killed in the east-bound lane on Saturday, March 6, when she was struck by a 2012 Honda Civic driven by Richard Samuelson of St. Louis.
The accident took place at the 52-mile marker on the interstate, east of Mt. Vernon, where a rest stop is located. Lt. Chris Berry of the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office said that Harris had asked a motorist at the rest stop for a ride, but the motorist declined to giver her one. Immediately, Harris started to cross I-44.
“He looked down and looked up, and she was hit,” Berry said.
At the time of her death, Berry said, Harris’s identity was unknown because she had no identification on her.
“We (had) no idea (who she was), Berry said. “She had no property to speak of with her at all.”
In an attempt to identify Harris, Berry said, the sheriff’s office began by processing her fingerprints, but to no avail.
“We had her f i n g e r p r i n t s run nationwide,” Berry said. “She had no criminal history.”
Berry said the sheriff’s office also searched for Harris in several nationwide databases, including missing persons, missing and exploited persons and unidentified persons.
Social media help
In an attempt to enlist the public’s help, a meme was made with pictures of a number of tattoos found on Harris, and it was distributed on social media on Wed., March 10.
An artist’s rendering of Harris was also scheduled to be distributed, but that was canceled after her mother was able to identify her, Berry said.
Harris, who was from Deepwater, was an apparent runaway. According to an article posted on the KMZU website, the last known sighting of her was in Marshall on Aug. 24, 2018, when she was seen running into a cornfield behind a Wal-Mart there; she was 16 at the time. Asked if it was known why she ran away, Berry replied, “Troubled youth.”
According to an online obituary, a memorial service will be held for Harris at the Atkinson Funeral Home in Harrisonville on Wed., March 17.