Sculpture Leads to Breakthrough in 50-Year-Old Cold Case, DNA Not Enough

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Welcome to No Tears for Black
Girls, a true crime series

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created, written and produced by
award-winning writer Jon

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Reedberg and hosted by Samantha
Paul.

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The young woman lay still, her
lifeless eyes staring skyward,

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oblivious now to the well
tailored dress and polished

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fingernails she wore.
Farmhands discovered her bullet

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ridden body in 1973, discarded
in a tranquil Loudoun County

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pasture South of Purcellville,
VA.

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No identification.
No clues to her name.

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Investigators ran into wall
after wall.

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No reports of a missing black
woman in her late 20s or early

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30s.
No witnesses were coming

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forward.
No DNA profiling or national

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fingerprint database to query.
In those days.

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The FBI analyzed evidence but
uncovered no leads.

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Frustration mounted as trails
went cold and the case gathered

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dust for decades. 50 years
later, Loudown's Cold Case unit

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dusted off the files, hoping
modern forensic technology could

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crack the mystery.
But even cutting edge

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genealogical searches of the
woman's remains yielded no quick

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answers.
In a final Hail Mary, detectives

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turned to their last hope, Joe
Mullins.

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A forensic artist and adjunct
professor at George Mason

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University, Mullins studied the
victim's DNA data, skull

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measurements and photos.
His skilled hands shaped clay

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into a lifelike 3D sculpture of
how she likely appeared in 1973.

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A long shot, but if this eerily
realistic bust jogged someone's

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memory, they might finally put a
name to this Jane Doe.

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Mullins declared with
confidence.

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I'm the last hope.
That's how I approach these

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cases.
His dedication was palpable, a

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driving force fueled by a
mission to unfreeze families

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from their uncertainty.
It's grueling, meticulous work,

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but Mullins has seen it pay off
before.

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In 2015, a New York City
relative recognized one of his

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sculptures and identified a
victim long shrouded in

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anonymity.
More than 2000 unidentified

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remains languish with medical
examiner's nationwide.

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Mullins aims to whittle down
that number one sculpture at a

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time.
Loudown County has transformed

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since 1973, but the
unincorporated area of Lincoln

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in the county's northern reaches
is still largely undeveloped

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countryside.
An embankment near the

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intersection of Taylor and
Foundry roads was the scene of a

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grim discovery on May 28th,
1973.

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The bullet riddled body of a
young woman discarded there for

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up to three days, according to
the medical examiner.

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Loudown Cold case detectives
Mark Bush and Jorge Garcia

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cracked open the case file again
last year after unearthing a

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single page 1976 FBI report.
The report, a belated response

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to an earlier Loudown evidence
analysis request, gave the

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detectives a fragile thread to
start tugging.

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They pieced together scattered
documents to assemble a new case

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file on the unidentified woman.
Locating Jane Doe's physical

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remains required dogged
investigation, Garcia recalled.

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Grave markers in Mount Olivet
Cemetery on Cooksville Road near

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the Lincoln crime scene had been
relocated over the decades.

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Investigators recruited George
Mason Professor Stephen

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Burmeister and his ground
penetrating radar to scan the

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cemetery and pinpoint the body.
Current Virginia law bars

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burying unidentified
individuals.

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The woman's remains are in the
custody of the state medical

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examiner while Loudown County
negotiates with the state to

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secure her a dignified burial
and detectives work to attach a

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name to the bones.
We're doing everything we can to

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determine who she is and lay her
to rest properly.

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A firm Sheriff's Office
spokesman Chad Quinn forensic

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genealogy firm Othrum, credited
with breakthroughs in cold cases

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nationwide, including a nearby
Fairfax County, analyzed adna

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sample extracted from the
skeleton.

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Comparing the genetic code
against a database of over 4

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million profiles yielded links
only to distant ancestors of the

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victim generations Removed.
Founder and CEO David Middleman

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acknowledged the tricky
genealogical puzzle this case

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presents, but expressed faith
that combing through family

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trees would eventually lead to a
branch bearing the victim's

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name.
Autram's analysis suggested ties

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between the mystery woman and
possible relatives in Georgia,

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Louisiana, Michigan or
Mississippi with surnames like

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Booker, Shepherd or Loving.
Looking to generate more leads,

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Garcia turned to Joe Mullins, a
top forensic imaging specialist

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at the National Center for
Missing and Exploited Children.

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Mullins applies his skills
crafting age progressed

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renderings of long lost children
to reconstructing the Loudown

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Jane Doe's likeness.
A proud Loudown County native

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and alum of the local high
school, Mullins blends his Fine

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Arts training with cutting edge
techniques gleaned at NC Mech.

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His expertise inspired him to
develop forensic sculpture

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classes at George Mason,
enabling students to translate

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classroom learning into real
world cold case contributions.

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Solving a mystery in his home
county only deepens his

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motivation.
Mullins poured over a 3D skull

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scan and DNA phenotype data
indicating eye color, hair color

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and stature.
Forensic anthropologists

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estimate the woman stood about
5-7, weighed around 145 lbs.

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She wore an orange blouse,
orange knit slacks and a Plaid

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jacket.
Manicured nails painted purple

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and red, and an 18 karat gold
ring with a square blue

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Swarovski stone on her right
hand hinted at a life cut short.

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Garcia divulged that the timing
of Memorial Day sparked a

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theory.
Perhaps the woman's festive

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attire meant she attended a
holiday weekend gathering that

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Saturday.
An acquaintance from the party

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or a stranger encountered
afterward may have snuffed out

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her life for two weeks.
Mullins hunched over the clay

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bust, aware of his students
intent gaze.

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He recognizes the moment a
sculpture's eyes reflect a

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glimmer of the person's soul
meeting his own gaze.

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The completed bust depicts a
woman in her prime, a medium

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length Afro framing a face with
eyes fixed in the distance.

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Over the years these cases have
not only consumed detectives,

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but they had to identify the
nameless victims, had to ensure

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they weren't forgotten in death
as they may have been in life.

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The cold case team felt the
same.

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Burning Dr. Naming the Jane Doe
was a crucial step, but only the

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first.
They delved back into the files

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and evidence, scouring for any
missed clues or connections,

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clinging to the conviction that
they would crack this decades

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old murder.
Somewhere in the tangle of faded

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memories and dusty reports, the
truth lay hidden, defying all

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who sought to unearth it.
But Mullins and the detectives

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would keep digging, keep hoping
with relentless determination,

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no matter how long it took.
They would drag the truth into

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the searing light of day and
deliver justice at last for her,

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for all the lost souls whose
names had been stolen by

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violence and time.
They wouldn't let the truth stay

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buried forever.
She's no longer an abstract.

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She looks like she's about to
speak.

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Blood stained scraps of fabric
from the 1973 murder

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investigation were used to
recreate the vivid outfit she

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was wearing the day her body was
discovered by farm workers near

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Foundry Road and Taylor Rd. in
Lincoln, VA, not far from

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Percival.
The victim, a Black woman in her

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mid 20s, was found shot to death
on an embankment created during

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the Civil War for a railroad
that was never built.

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She'd been there for about two
days.

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Her shoes were missing, but she
was wearing this bluestone ring.

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News 4 was there as Loudon
County Sheriff Mike Chapman and

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detectives investigating the
cold case saw the sculpture for

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the first time at the George
Mason University classroom of

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forensic artist Professor Joe
Mullins.

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Just the first time, but I've
done work on a case that's from

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my backyard because I grew up at
Loudon County.

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The detectives described a case
that began with the 2021

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discovery of a single document
worn thin, with years, lucky

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breaks and people with long
memories.

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He's helped them locate an
unmarked grave at the Mount

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Olive Cemetery in Lincoln.
In October of 2023.

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They exhumed the victim.
DNA extracted from her remains

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has been tested, but no matches
so far.

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More tests are underway.
So the hopes come down to

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letting Professor Mullins bring
her to three dimensions in the

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hopes someone, somewhere
remembers the face of a young

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woman who just disappeared in
1973.

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But.
This one really struck a chord

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with me, so I couldn't, couldn't
wait to get started and build

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that face up.
And the students here have

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become emotionally invested as
well, because they've seen her

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from bare skull to finished.
Portraits.

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Mullins describes the process as
intense and personal.

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I was asked, you know, how do
you know when you stop?

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And I said I stop when I see
somebody staring back at me.

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Thank you for tuning in to No
Tears for Black Girls, now a

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part of the Alive Podcast
Network, the first Black female

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voices.
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