Racine County Sheriff’s officials have scheduled a news conference for Friday morning during which they plan to announce the names of the victim and her suspected murderer in a “Jane Doe” case that dates to 1999.
The media briefing is scheduled for 11 a.m. at the Patrol Station in Ives Grove.
Sheriff Christopher Schmaling plans to announce the identity of Jane Doe, a young woman whose brutally beaten body was found in a cornfield in Raymond in 1999. Officials believed she had been tortured before being killed. Investigators exhumed her grave in 2013 in hopes that new investigative techniques based on DNA – that weren’t available in 1999 – would help solve the crime.
Officials said they have a suspect in custody. Both the suspect and victim have ties to a northwest Chicago suburb.
The pending announcement has echoes of the announcement last month in Ozaukee County solving the 35-year-old murder of Traci Hammerberg, 18, of Saukville. The murderer in that case, Phillip Cross, died of a drug overdose in 2012. Investigators in Ozaukee County used DNA evidence and genealogy databases in the same manner that was employed to solve the infamous Golden State killer case in California, according to reports.
Here are links to prior published stories regarding the Racine County Jane Doe case:
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