Police in Florida Hope DNA, Digital Imaging Can Help Solve 1975 Killing

Police trying to identify young woman found floating in canal nearly 45 years ago

Davie Police

What to Know

  • Cold case detectives are trying to identify a young woman in Davie who was killed 45 years ago
  • The woman's body was found floating in a canal on Dec. 23, 1975
  • She is believed to be between 15 and 27 years old

Police are hoping new DNA and digital imaging technology can help them solve a nearly 45-year-old killing of a young woman in Davie.

The investigation surrounds the discovery of a woman's body floating in a canal in the area of 2600 Southwest 154th Avenue on Dec. 23, 1975.

The woman was never identified but after meeting with investigators from the Broward County Medical Examiner's Office, Davie Police detectives determined the case to be a homicide.

Last year, the Davie Police Cold Case Unit learned the woman had been buried at Wake Forest Lawn in Davie, Florida, and her body was exhumed on Dec. 17, 2019.

An analysis determined the remains were a woman believed to be between 15 and 27 years old, about 5-foot-5 and 123 pounds with brown hair. She was wearing blue jeans, a midriff flowered blouse, and open toe platform shoes, and she had a silver ring with a blue center stone and six small diamond-like stones on her left ring finger and a pukka necklace, police said.

Once the remains were exhumed, Dr. Ginesse Listi, Director at LSU FACES Laboratory Department of Geography and Anthropology, composed a digital image of the young woman, which was released by police on Tuesday.

In August, DNA was extracted and sent to a lab for whole genome sequencing, police said.

"The Davie Police Department is sharing this information with hopes of identifying this female based on the new composite digital image and learning what happened to her on that fateful day," police said in a statement. "Based on the updates we have received; we hope that the victim's family and friends are still in the South Florida area and can identify her."

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