UPDATE @ 1:59 p.m. (May 9)
Major Steve Lord, Miami County Sheriff’s Office, said the department is moving forward on isotope testing on the woman’s hair and nails.
“The isotope testing may give us a better idea of where she’s spent time as opposed to the pollen results,” Lord said. “We are going to follow where the evidence takes us. This case has never left a detectives desk since 1981, it has never been up in a drawer, we have been working it.”
Lord said the department has also gotten tips about some females that had been previously excluded as possibilities.
“We’ve received a lot of general information tips that cannot be verified due to the vagueness of the information,” Lord said.
EARLIER REPORT (April 27)
Pollen samples are revealing some clues about Jane Doe of Miami County, found 35 years ago in a ditch west of Troy, and Miami County sheriff’s investigators are hoping these new avenues in the cold case homicide lead to the discovery of the victim’s name and how she ended up in Ohio.
Sheriff’s investigators are sharing what the office has learned. They’re also sharing new photographs of Jane Doe, reconstructed using new technology and additional lab testing on her clothes.
Monday, the sheriff’s office received lab results from pollen samples taken from her clothing. The analysis was performed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Southwest Regional Science Center in Houston, Texas.
Pollen analysis of the clothing suggests 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, according to the findings released this week, that suggest she spent a significant amount of time in an urban area within the Northeastern region or possibly from hitchhiking.
Some pollen grains found to be 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 she traveled to an arid region in the western U.S. or northern Mexico shortly before she was killed.
Jane Doe was found April 24, 1981, in a ditch along Greenlee Road west of Troy. She had been deceased less than two days before she was found.
Here are some details about her, according to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children:
* She was in her late teens to early 20s, about 5 foot 6, 125 pounds
* She had reddish-brown hair parted down the middle, styled in two side braids
* She appeared to be Caucasian, had a ruddy complexion with facial freckles
* She had several scars: beneath her chin, one on her left arm, two on her left wrist, right hand, right ankle and right foot.
* She had been treated by a dentist. Her top right central incisor had a porcelain-metal crown
* She was dressed in bell bottom blue jeans, 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.
Additional testing will performed soon in an attempt to narrow the region or location of the country Jane Doe may have been from. For now, she’ll remain in Riverside Cemetery in Troy, under the name Jane Doe.
If you recognize Jane Doe or have any information as to her identity, please contact sheriff’s Detective Steve Hickey, 937-440-3965 (ext. 6629) or the Miami County Communication Center at 937-440-9911.
