Kings County Sheriff seeks public's help again in identifying unidentified deceased woman

Kings County Sheriff’s said that to this date, they have been unable to identify the remains through a variety of sources and are again seeking the public’s assistance in identifying the woman – with the help of a newly reconstructed three-dimensional image completed by the FBI at its laboratory in Quantico, Virginia by Visual Information Specialist Lisa Bailey.

It was on May 13, 2015, that deputies received a report of human remains located along near Corcoran.  Kings County Sheriff's detectives took over the investigation and verified the presence of human remains. 

The remains were in an advanced stage of decomposition, and it appeared the body had been deceased for several months.  Due to the advanced stages of decomposition, detectives were unable to recover any fingerprints or any other identifying characteristics. 

The victim was wearing a light colored, horizontally stripped t-shirt, black loose-fitting yoga type pants, and Depends type underwear.

At the time detectives reviewed missing person’s cases throughout the state in an attempt to determine the identity of the victim, but were unsuccessful in positively identifying her. 

The victim's DNA was uploaded into the California Department of Justice database for missing persons but there weren’t any matches. 

A forensic anthropologist conducted an examination of the remains and determined the victim is an older-adult female, of European decent, well over 45 years and most likely well over 60 years old.  The victim may have been between 5-foot to 5-foot 6 inches tall and likely had gray or graying blond hair. 

The victim had no teeth and it appeared she was prepped for a full set of upper and lower dentures; however, no dentures were located.   

The anthropologist also determined the victim had severe osteoporosis and believes if the victim was mobile, she would have likely been hunched over.  However, there's a good chance the victim was bed-ridden.  The anthropologist also noted an old fracture of the nose which resulted in a slight skewing of the nose to the left. 

Additionally, an old fracture of the pelvic area was noted possibly due to an impact to the pelvis, possibly indicative of significant trauma earlier in life. 

Based on the condition of the remains at the time of the anthropologist’s examination, the anthropologist believes the time of death to be somewhere between six weeks to one year.  The estimated time of death is somewhere between May 2014 and April 2015.              

Up to this point in the investigation, Detectives have been unable to identify the victim.  Subsequently, Detectives reached out to a non-profit organization, “Can You Identify Me?” to have a facial reconstruction completed.  Jane Billingham, the forensic art program manager completed the reconstruction during a live forensic art exhibit at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Anyone with any information regarding this case, is urged to contact the Kings County Sheriff’s Department at 559-852-4554 or email detectives@countyofkings.com.