SEATTLE The body of a woman found murdered 42 years ago has been exhumed as detectives try to find out who she was and who killed her.
The remains were exhumed, under a court order, last Friday from Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Seattle. Detectives hope to use DNA to find out her identity.
The victim s heavily decomposed body was found June 5, 1969, one mile west of the Tolt River Bridge near Carnation. She was dubbed Told Hill Jane Doe.
The woman was described by the Medical Examiner s office as white, 23 to 25 years old, about 5-feet 2-inches tall and 105 to 115 pounds with dark hair.
It s believed she died as much as six months before she was found.
The DNA from Tolt Hill Jane Doe will be entered into the DNA database at
the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification, and then into the FBI's database.
The center allows families with missing people to submit reference samples for DNA testing that could be matched with samples on file or that may come into the center at a later date. Family members are asked to contact the police agency that conducted the original investigation. That agency will determine if DNA collection is appropriate in a particular case.
In 2006, a portion of a skull from what was likely another young female was found about three blocks from the Tolt Hill Jane Doe. That person has never been identified either and detectives wonder if the two cases are linked.
The exhumation of the body happens to coincide with the decision to add the DNA of serial killer Ted Bundy to the FBI database. Bundy confessed to 30 murders across the country including 11 in Washington state. But King County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. JohnUrquhart said the exhumation of this body has been in the works for several years and that it has nothing to do with Bundy.
