It has taken almost half a century to identify it.
A woman found dead in the US state of Massachusetts in 1978 has finally been identified thanks to advances in DNA technology, authorities said.
Patricia Ann Tuckerthen 28, was known for decades only as the “granny girlby the small town where his body was found.
DNA samples from her son, who was 5 when she disappeared, helped identify Tucker.
For decades, she was buried with a tombstone marked “Unknown.”
“Thank you for never giving up on her,” her son, Matthew Dale, said in a statement. “At least now I have some answers after 44 years. There’s a lot to process, but I hope the closure can start now.”
shot to death
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Patricia Tucker’s body was found buried under leaves on a logging road in the town of Granby on November 15, 1978. He had been shot in the temple and his death was ruled a homicide.
The autopsy concluded that she had been dead since June 1978 and that she was between 19 and 27 years old. But her identity remained a mystery.
“It was advances in forensic science, and in particular forensic genetic genealogy, that provided a new source of hope for victim identification,” Northwestern First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne said at a conference. press on Monday.
DNA profile
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About two years ago, authorities obtained Tucker’s DNA profile through a forensic lab and eventually identified a woman in Maryland who was likely related to her.
That relative told police her aunt had disappeared in the 1970s and gave the names of her aunt’s two children, Gagne said.
One of those sons Matthew Daleconfirmed that his mother, Patricia Tucker, disappeared in 1978. Comparison of his DNA with his mother’s DNA resulted in a 100% match.
“While it is satisfying to finally know who the ‘Granby hicca’ really was, the investigation will not stop until we identify her killer,” Gagne said.
Investigators discovered that Tucker was married to Gerald Coleman at the time of her death, but he never reported his wife missing. In 1995, Coleman was convicted of charges including rape and assault, and died in prison in 1996.
Police say Coleman is a “person of interest” in his wife’s murder.
“We still don’t have formal probable cause to charge anyone with Patricia’s murder,” Gagne said. “Our hope is that today’s press conference will generate some additional leads that will help advance this investigation and ultimately identify a killer.”
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-64884390, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-03-08 01:20:06
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