DNA experts identify Jane Doe found shot to death in Illinois ditch in 1976

MORRIS, Ill. – DNA experts have identified the remains of a woman found shot to death in an Illinois ditch nearly 50 years ago.

The DNA Doe Project said in a news release Thursday that its investigators identified the woman as JoAnn “Vickie” Smith of Ohio.

Smith was found in a ditch near Seneca, Illinois, in 1976. She had been shot in the head. But the police were unable to identify him and closed his case after two months.

She was buried in an unmarked grave, but the Grundy County Coroner's Office reopened her case in 2017 and had her remains exhumed in 2018 in hopes that modern forensics could identify her.

The coroner's office contacted the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit organization that works to identify unknown subjects.

The group's genealogists spent 4 1/2 years trying to establish his family tree. The work was complicated because Smith was adopted and although investigators were able to match her DNA profile to that of her biological parents, most of them did not know she existed.

Investigators eventually built a branch of Smith's family tree that led to three sisters. One of them was his biological mother. Final confirmation of his identity came through adoption records filed in Cincinnati Probate Court, DNA Doe Project officials said.

The press release did not specify where Smith was from in Ohio.