It's Howard County Police's oldest open homicide investigation.
And they're missing some very vital information.
"Step one is definitely to find out who she is."
Cold case investigator and tech corporal Wade Zufall got this case five years ago.
This Jane Doe was discovered by two young men back on July 17, 1971, at the corner of Rt. 99 and Woodstock Rd.
Police recently worked with law enforcement partners at NAMUS to create a new artificial intelligence rendering of the woman.
When the two men found her lying in a field on that Saturday, she was still alive, but unconscious.
"Immediately they called for medical services to have her transported to the hospital," says Zufall.
"When she got to the hospital she couldn't communicate at all."
She was semi-conscious for some of her hospital stay but she was never able to communicate.
She died from complications from a stroke at the hospital a couple of months later, on September 17, 1971.
Her death was ruled a homicide by the medical examiner, who determined that the stroke was a result of abdominal trauma that she'd received before her discovery in the field.
"Something happened very traumatically to her abdomen."
"Whether someone hit her, whether someone used force with an object, whether someone stomped on her or hit her with hands, we don't know that at all at this point," Zufall explained.
The location where she was found has been developed into housing, but in 1971, it was very remote and rural.
"When Jane Doe was found on July 17 of 1971 the medical examiner and the hospital officials stated they thought that she was there for well over 12 hours before she was recovered," Zufall says.
She had severe burns on her body from being out in the sun and suffered a stroke before she'd been found. Doctors performed surgery on her at the hospital, which is part of the reason police have used sketches, and now AI, to put her face out there to try to get her identified.
Zufall included some additional identifying features that might help to give Jane Doe her name:
- She'd given birth at least once
- She was probably between 42 and 50 years old at the time of her death
- She had no upper teeth, and only had seven or eight bottom teeth
- It's possible she had some prior brain injury or intellectual disability that kept her from communicating prior to the assault
And Zufall wants to find her name and her family.
"I think the important part of it is someone has a family member out there that passed away on September 7 in 1971 and they don't know what happened to her."
"Regardless if you're a Jane Doe or someone that does have a name, you still should try to find justice for people that have been attacked in this manner and try to identify her," Zufall says, "To at least speak to her family and let her family know."
Police have tried identifying her through her fingerprints, sending them across the country to all 50 states, with negative results.
Forensic genealogy is another potential avenue the department is exploring, though the DNA sample is very old and there might not be a good enough sample to use in this case.
"If you are missing a relative," he adds, "and there is any DNA that could be recovered from the victim, that they could be cross-referenced through those public databases.. that would help any law enforcement agency identify any Jane Does or any victims that they may have."
"I encourage everyone, if you are willing to do that, and volunteer your DNA, to put in those public databases."
Howard County has a reward of up to $30,000 for information on any cold case.
HOW YOU CAN HELP:
If you have any information about the identity of this Jane Doe, or that might help police identify her, please call 410-313-STOP or email hcpdcrimetips@howardcountymd.gov.
