After 52 years, the Mohave County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona has identified the murdered woman as Colleen Audrey Rice after a successful crowdfunded DNA genealogy test.
Mohave County Sheriff ’s OfficeColleen Audrey Rice ’s high-pitched school exposure .
In January 1971 , a mathematical group of hunters in the remote desert orbit of Mohave County , Arizona , hit upon a canvas tent sackful . In it , they find out the body of a woman that would go unidentified for over 50 year . Now , after a residential area crowdfunding crusade , she lastly has a name .
According to the Mohave County Sheriff ’s Office , the victim was found enclose in a canvass sackful that had been tied at the top by a white cotton plant Mexican valium . The sack was broadly speaking - woven , with the words “ Deer - Pak Ames Harris Neville Co. , ” print on it in green . While exactly how she give-up the ghost remains a closed book , investigator are certain she was polish off .
Mohave County Sheriff’s OfficeColleen Audrey Rice’s high school photo.
detective were able to surmise that the consistency was female , approximately 35 - 40 age of years , rough five feet four inches grandiloquent , weighing approximately 125 - 140 Ezra Pound , with curly brown hair . According toThe Crime Wire , she also had a long scar on her stomach , possibly from a Cesarean section . A osseous tissue indenture found on her ring finger meant that she likely wore a nuptials ring regularly . Her nails were manicured , and she was not a smoker .
She was dress in a multi - colored foresighted - arm blouse , a black long - sleeve cardigan jumper , and burnt orange stretchability pant . She was also wearing a couple of black leather , mortise joint high boot and bobby sox .
Mohave County Sheriff ’s OfficeImages of the clothing “ Mohave Jane Doe ” was wearing at the time of her find .
Mohave County Sheriff’s OfficeImages of the clothing “Mohave Jane Doe” was wearing at the time of her discovery.
Hoping that a dentist might acknowledge his or her workplace , details about the Jane Doe ’s dental procedures were included in major dental magazine throughout the country , but nothing ever came of them .
Detectives eventually used the strong-arm description of the body and the apparel set up at the scene to commission a vignette of the victim from an artist at the nearby Museum of Northern Arizona .
Mohave County Sheriff ’s OfficeA side - by - side comparison of Coleen Audrey Rice ’s mellow school photo and the police force outline .
Mohave County Sheriff’s OfficeA side-by-side comparison of Coleen Audrey Rice’s high school photo and the police sketch.
consort toCBS News , the vignette was release to the public , but no one came look for for the char . No further developments would come until the sheriff ’s part create the Special Investigations Unit ( SIU ) in 1999 to investigate unsolved cases with novel proficiency . In 2001 , Lori Miller , an investigator for the SIU was assigned the “ Mohave Desert Jane Doe ” case .
In an consultation withCBS , Miller recollect the painstaking process of retrospect case selective information . They reviewed the same leads , start with dental record and fingerprint . Miller even attempted to give chase down the make of the dupe ’s clothes , but so much time had hap and all paths seemingly led to dead ends .
In aFacebookpost by the Mohave County Sheriff ’s Office , Othram Inc. , a forensic genealogy troupe based in Texas , reached out to the sheriff ’s office in October 2022 with an offer to see if ripe DNA testing and Forensic - Grade Genome Sequencing could potentially uncover the victim ’s identity .
The sheriff ’s bureau agree to the partnership , and donate $ 1,000 for testing . Despite this share , it was not enough to cover the full cost of examination , and the sheriff ’s office quick count to the populace for assistant .
“ We ’re a large county with a small universe and a little budget , ” explain Miller .
Othram helped the sheriff ’s office by creating a contribution internet site for the remaining amount of money that was required . Within five days , the community had donated $ 6,500 and examination was able to begin now .
On Jan. 23 , 2023 , Miller meet a call . Testing had finally concluded , and her Jane Doe finally had a name : Colleen Audrey Rice .
“ We afford her a name , showed she was a person and that she mattered , ” tell Miller .
Born in 1931 , Colleen Audrey Rice mature up in Portsmouth , Ohio . Married in 1946 to a adult male key out William Davis , Colleen Audrey Rice somehow made her means to Arizona . She would have been rough 39 twelvemonth honest-to-god when she died . It is unknown if she had nipper .
The sheriff ’s bureau was capable to get in touch with Rice ’s kinsfolk , but scant details were let out after address to them . agree to the family , Rice was estranged from them , and they knew very little about her grownup life .
The sheriff ’s business office is presently seeking help from the public regarding Colleen Rice ’s whereabouts in Arizona , as well as the names of anyone that may have known her . Regarding Rice ’s wrong death , Miller stated : “ We are still on the hunt for those responsible for her end . ”
After study about the designation of Colleen Audrey Rice , discover another chronicle about how deoxyribonucleic acid testing spread out a40 - year - old threefold murdercase widely open . Or , read about how DNA led to the recognition of America ’s most well - acknowledge unidentified child , dubbed“The Boy in the Box . ”
