Jane Doe Lake Erie 1982

Jane Doe from Lake Erie exhumed for ID tests
Cops seek link to cold case from '82
BY ZLATI MEYER • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • March 3, 2009

Investigators have exhumed the body of a Jane Doe that washed ashore 27 years ago on Lake Erie and are trying to identify her using facial reconstruction and DNA analyses.



The apparent homicide victim, believed to be in her 20s, was disinterred Tuesday from an unmarked grave in Roselawn Memorial Park in Monroe County’s LaSalle Township, State Police Trooper Sarah Krebs said. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and Canton Township detectives were on the scene.

Canton’s director of public safety, John Santomauro, confirmed Tuesday that his department was investigating a cold case: the disappearance of a woman in her 20s in 1982.

Krebs is recreating what the woman’s face looked like, which could take up to two months. In addition, DNA samples from the body found in 1982 near the Detroit Edison Co. power plant in Frenchtown Township are being sent to a national database of DNA from relatives of missing people.

The body is believed to be of a 20- to 28-year-old Caucasian woman, 5-foot-4, 110 pounds with brown shoulder-length hair, pierced ears and exceptional dental work, according to Krebs. She was found mostly nude and had no scars or tattoos. She has not been reburied. “If she does get identified, she’ll have a family, who’ll want to relocate her,” Krebs explained.

Contact ZLATI MEYER at meyer@freepress.com.