The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children are hoping the public can help solve a 35-year-old mystery.
Jane Doe was found deceased in Miami County, Ohio, in April 1981. New testing was just completed on the pollen that was found on the clothing Jane Doe was wearing and it indicates that she may have been from Maine.
She was found in a ditch along Greenlee Road located west of Troy, Ohio. She had been deceased less than two days before she was found.
The woman is estimated to be in her late teens to early 20s. She was approximately 5 feet 6 inches and 125 pounds. She had long reddish-brown hair that was styled in two side braids and a part down the middle.
The woman appears to be Caucasian. She had a ruddy complexion with freckles on her face. The woman had several scars; one beneath her chin, one on her left arm, two on her left wrist, right hand, right ankle and right foot.
The woman had also been treated by a dentist in life, as her top right central incisor had a porcelain-metal crown. The woman 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, Miami County Sheriff’s detectives working with the National Center for Missing and 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 to test pollen collected from the clothing.
On Sunday, the Miami County Sheriff’s Office received lab results from the pollen testing on the clothing. Pollen analysis of the clothing recovered on the woman 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, Maine 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 woman traveled to an arid region in the western U.S. or northern Mexico shortly before she was killed.
No one listed on the Maine State Police website of missing persons disappeared around the time Jane Doe’s body was found.
If anyone recognizes or has any information in regards to Jane Doe’s identity, 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.