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Remains of 1968 Illinois homicide victim exhumed for DNA analysis
The remains of a woman who was found dead in unincorporated Will County in 1968 were exhumed last week for further analysis.
CHICAGO - The remains of a woman who was found dead in unincorporated Will County in 1968 were exhumed last week for further analysis.
The Will County Coroner's Office said the woman's body was found by a highway department worker on I-55 near Blodgett Road on Sept. 30, 1968.
There was no identification, clothing or jewelry found on or near the body. The woman was 5-foot-5 and weighed 135 pounds. She had straight collar-length hair that was red and brown with some graying roots.
An autopsy showed she had been strangled and suffered a blow to the head. Her fingerprints were taken, but they did not help identify her.
In 1968, DNA analysis was not available, and the case went cold. The woman was buried in an unmarked grave in a local cemetery.
Her remains were first exhumed in 2009 for DNA testing. The victim may have been a Native American, according to preliminary research. The DNA was studied further in 2017 by Dr. Cris Hughes of the University of Illinois. He also found ties to Native American ancestry as well as Asian.
Most recently, a portion of the victim's skeletal remains was sent to Othram, Inc., a Forensic Genetic Genealogy company in Texas. Since 2022, the Will County Coroner's Office has successfully identified four cold case victims using Othram.