May 13, 2008 10:11 pm US/Pacific
Police Seeking Leads To Identity Of Murder Victim
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ―
Investigators have crossed several states to try and connect the clues from an unsolved crime: A dirty sweatshirt, a tarnished necklace. Both from a murdered woman.
It's not often that detectives open the evidence of a murder investigation and show us what they have before trial. They're hoping the public might hold the answer they're looking for.
"Before we can go any further at this point, we need to find out who this person is," said Detective Tom McCue of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office.
In March, the skeleton remains of a woman were found in this heavy brush area on Tyler Island Road near Isleton. More than a month later, detectives still can't identify her.
They're opening the evidence and showing us what they've got.
There's a frog necklace which was around her bones. "Something that people would remember rather than just a normal necklace."
There's also a sweatshirt; blue, hooded, with a very distinctive emblem, Delta Fire Crew Number 5 with two fireman axe. A jacket with Grateful Dead emblems was also found.
But it still hasn't brought about any leads. They've searched missing person reports in Sacramento County and in surrounding counties, but still no luck.
"We are estimating that the body has been there since mid-2004 because of vegetation growth and items we found at the scene," said Detective Swisher.
However, anthropologists have determined some attributes: the victim was woman in her 30's, either Caucasian or Hispanic.
She's somewhere between 5'1" and 5'8", but without an ID, the evidence will stay in their bags and out of a courtroom.
"We really have no idea and no leads on who she is, and my personal opinion is a family whoever this person belongs to needs some type of closure," said Det. McCue. "That's what we need to do."
Investigators have not yet determined a cause of death. Detectives have visited different states trying to track her down, and they're asking the public to report any leads or information to the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department at (916) 874-5115.
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