It’s been more than 40 years since authorities found the remains of a young woman on the side of a Texas highway, they were finally identified.the Bastrop County Sheriff’s Office reported at a press conference.
The victim was found in Elgin, Texas, as police were driving by.. She was wearing a white shirt with a red collar and dark blue jeans, according to DNA Solves, which helps crowdfunding identification investigations.
She was identified as Kathy Ann Smith.. She was 22, about to turn 23, at the time of his slaying, the sheriff’s office said. Detectives had no clues at the time as to who she might be or who had taken her life.
In the year 1984, the serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, confessed to having killed a hundred people, although only three were confirmed, including the death of Smith. But the local authorities still did not know the identity of the woman they had discovered.
Subsequently, Lucas recanted some of his confessions, but he did not regret this particular case.the sheriff said. “I know that Henry Lee was capable of committing murder,” Bastrop County Sheriff Maurice Cook said, but he could not say that he was responsible for this specific crime. However, Lucas was listed in the investigation files and remains the only suspect, he added.
Smith’s grave was exhumed in 2019 for DNA collection after Sergeant James Miller began looking into the case.the sheriff’s office said.
There was not enough information to produce his DNA profile at the time. In the year 2022, another exhumation was carried out and there was enough DNA for a laboratory to identify the remains through forensic genealogy.
The lab created a forensic profile and provided law enforcement with a name in April 2023. “The problem was that she was adopted,” Cook said at the press conference.
Officials were able to get permission from the court to have access to the adoptive family’s information so they could notify the two families about what happened to Smith.before revealing it to the public.
The sheriff’s office worked on the case “to bring closure to the family,” they said.
Keep reading:
