(News Release) -- An unidentified female homicide victim was found 35 years ago on April 24, 1981 in Miami County, Ohio.
She was found in a ditch along Greenlee Road located west of Troy, Ohio and had been deceased less than 2 days before she was found.
The female is estimated to be in her late teens to early twenties. She was approximately 5’6’’ft in height and 125lbs in weight. She had long reddish-brown hair that was styled in two side braids and a part down the middle.
The female appears Caucasian. She had a ruddy complexion with freckles on her face. The female had several scars; one beneath her chin, one on her left arm, two on her left wrist, right hand, right ankle, and right foot. She had also been treated by a dentist in life as her top right central incisor had a porcelain-metal crown.
She was found clothed, wearing bell bottom blue jeans, a brown turtleneck sweater with an orange crisscross design on the front, and a handmade tan buckskin pull-over jacket with leather fringe around the seams with a deep purple lining.
In February of 2016, Miami County Sheriff’s detectives working with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children provided forensic scientists with case information on Jane Doe, who then conducted a facial reconstruction with new technology and additional lab testing on the clothing. Miami County Sheriff’s detectives sent the clothing recovered from Jane Doe to the U.S. Customs and
Border Protection, Southwest Regional Science Center in Houston, TX, to test pollen collected from the clothing.
On April 24th, 2016 the Miami County Sheriff’s Office received lab results from the pollen testing on the clothing. Pollen analysis of the clothing recovered on the female suggest that she was from or spent a significant amount of time in the northeastern dry-oak forest region, which includes areas in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island.
A high level of soot from vehicle traffic and/or industrial activity was also found on her clothing suggesting that she spent a significant amount of time in an urban area within the Northeastern region or possibly from hitchhiking.
Some pollen grains in excellent condition, from a more arid region in the western U.S. or northern Mexico, were found on the outer layers of her clothing, including her jeans and jacket. This suggests that the female traveled to an arid region in the western U.S. or northern Mexico shortly before she was killed.
The images above are a facial reconstruction created by an N.C.M.E.C. forensic artist and depicts what the female may have looked like in life. Additional testing will performed in the near future in an attempt to narrow the region/location of the country the unidentified female may have been from.
If anyone recognizes or has any information in regards to Jane Doe’s identity, please contact Detective Steve Hickey with the Miami County Sheriff’s Office, 937-440-3965 ext. 6629 or the Miami County Communication Center at 937-440-9911.
