Jane Doe found in Mississippi River identified more than 50 years later

They used genetic genealogy to look for family members and tracked her to being a granddaughter of a Louisiana couple.

Very sad story of Cheryl Edwards, a 15 year old girl who was approximately 10 weeks pregnant when she was murdered and dumped in Iowa.



LINK

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According to the Clinton County Sheriff's Office, fishermen discovered the body of an unidentified African American girl in the Mississippi River on April 11, 1975. Investigators estimated she was between 12 and 23 years old, and an autopsy determined she had been shot in the head.

She was also approximately 10 weeks pregnant at the time of her death. Her death was ruled a homicide, but despite years of investigation, her identity remained unknown.

After decades of investigative work and the use of forensic genetic genealogy, authorities identified the victim as Cheryl Lynn Edwards, who was born in San Diego in 1959 and was living in Waukegan, Illinois, when she disappeared in 1975. Edwards was 15 years old at the time of her disappearance.

The identification was made through a partnership between the Iowa Department of Public Safety, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the DNA Doe Project.

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