COLUMBIA, TN (WSMV) -
New technology is shedding light on a very old murder case. Maury County investigators finally have a rendering of what a young woman might have looked like before she was killed more than 37 years ago.
"We believe the death occurred in the fall of 1974. She's about 5'4" tall," said Det. Jerry Williams.
Modern science and good detective work came together Thursday to put a face on the nearly 40-year-old murder investigation.
In 1975, Patrick Moore stumbled upon human skeletal remains while hunting in a wooded area off Joe Brown Road in Maury County.
Detectives knew the remains were female and that she had been murdered, but other than that, what was left told authorities very little until today.
"We know a lot about her. We just don't know who she is," Williams said.
But now, the Jane Doe has a face after the skull was taken to Maury County Regional Medical Center and put through a rigorous array of forensic analysis.
A CT scan was done, and then digital images from the skull were made three dimensional, resulting in the new image.
It is believed the female victim was between 15 and 25 years old when she was killed. She was black and weighed about 132 pounds.
Investigators hope the new face will help solve a decades-old mystery.
"Just being the eyes and ears of this female, 37 yeas later, that someone is trying to speak for her," said Danny Cupples, with Maury County Regional Medical Center.
Moore, the hunter who stumbled on the remains, died in July. His widow said Thursday hardly a day went by that her husband didn't wonder about the person he found in the woods that day so long ago.
She said he would have been elated to know, today, she has a face.
"It made a real impression on him. He would've been very happy to know they're getting this far with it," widow Betty Moore said.
Researchers from across the country are working the case, including the folks at the University of Tennessee Anthropological Research Facility - better known as "The Body Farm."
DNA results are also expected from Texas soon, and because the victim was so young the National Center For Missing and Exploited Children is also involved.
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