Network Gives Hope In Discovering Identity Of Woman Killed In 1983

NBCI News
June 20, 2006

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Cold case detectives have new hope that they can learn the identity of a woman whose body was found more than 20 years ago.

Two fishermen found the woman's body along Hoover's Oxbow Road on July 2, 1983. The petite young woman with dark hair was in her late teens or 20s.

The woman had lots of dental work, so she was certainly not homeless, yet she could not be connected to any report of any missing woman, NBC 4's Holly Hollingsworth reported.

Because her identity could never be determined, the woman, who authorities said was apparently strangled, was buried under an assumed name.

The woman ultimately became known as Mary Rose Doe, a name given to her in 1998, the last time the case was in the news. At that time, some local high school students raised the money to pay for a marker at the victim's gravesite at Saint Joseph Cemetery.

Now, authorities are trying a new approach.

"Recently, we learned of a network for missing, unidentified individuals -- murdered individuals," said Detective Larry Reese of the Columbus Police Department Cold Case Squad.

The Doe Network has added a valuable new piece to the puzzle: a sketch by a forensic artist who attempted to determine what the victim looked like.

Detectives said the woman's family might never come forward.

"But what this does is makes the possibility of somebody that saw her earlier that evening or the week before at some point, with some other people (Someone) may recognize her from the drawing," Reese said.