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

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 police were unable to identify her and closed her 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 four and a half 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 those of her biological relatives, most of them were unaware of her existence.

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

The press release does not indicate where Smith is from Ohio.