Illinois remains identified as woman missing from Clarksville since 1992

MOUNT VERNON, Ill. (WSMV) - The remains of a person reported missing in Clarksville in 1992 have been positively identified, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office announced on Friday.

The sheriff’s office and Redgrave Research Forensic Services confirmed the identity of “Ina Jane Doe,” whose remains were discovered 29 years ago, as Sarah Lund, who was last seen by her family on Christmas Eve of 1992 when she reportedly left her family home to walk to a local grocery store. Her husband reported her missing soon after. A multi-agency search was conducted over several months.

On Jan. 27, 1993, near the town of Ina, Illinois, the head of a white female was discovered on the side of a wooded roadway within Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park. The original anthropological analysis estimated the victim was between 30 and 50 years of age, and may have had torticollis, or “wry neck syndrome,” a condition that may have caused her head to have a sideways tilt during life. The original forensic images of the woman illustrated this condition to an extreme degree.

In February 2021, Dr. Amy Michael, an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of New Hampshire, approached the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to offer a reexamination of the case using updated forensic methods.

Simultaneous to the new analysis, samples from Ina Jane Doe’s remains were sent to Astrea Forensics, a laboratory in Santa Cruz, California, for the purpose of creating a DNA profile suitable for utilizing forensic genetic genealogy. A DNA profile was provided to Redgrave Research Forensic Services, a genealogy company in Massachusetts, who then uploaded the data file to GEDmatch on Feb. 3.

“My team was honored to be brought in as part of the collaboration to identify this woman, and had Susan’s family in mind long before we discovered her name,” Anthony Redgrave, co-founder of Redgrave Research, said in a news release.

Redgrave’s genealogy team arrived at a potential match within a day of beginning to research the DNA matches. The potential ID was passed to law enforcement who then followed up with family members of Susan Lund. A confirmatory DNA sample was provided by a sibling for direct comparison to Ina Jane Doe. On March 6, 2022, it was confirmed via one-to-one comparison that the identity of Ina Jane Doe is Lund.

Anyone with information about the actions and/or whereabouts of Lund on or following Dec. 24, 1992 should contact Jefferson County Sheriff Detective Captain Bobby Wallace at 618-244-8004 or email bwallace@jeffil.us.