3-D Sculpture Could Solve Napa Jane Doe Mystery
Woman's remains found near Lake Berryessa
By JESSICA GREENE
Updated 3:15 PM PST, Tue, Jun 23, 2009
Somebody is bound to recognize her.
That's what Napa County sheriff's investigators are hoping after they unveiled a 3-D bust that recreates the face of a murder victim found in pieces near Lake Berryessa.
A sheriff's department patrol officer found the victim's leg bone off state Highway 128 in Napa County near the Monticello Dam on May 10, Detective Todd Hancock said.
"He didn't identify it immediately but he was very suspicious. An expert identified it as a leg bone," Hancock said. The rest of the woman's remains were found above ground nearby.
All they know about their Jane Doe is that she had a black hair weave, acrylic fingernails and a stud in her nose or lip and was wearing an olive green polo shirt when her body was discovered near Lake Berryessa on Mother's Day. They think she had been dead at least a year.
A pelvic exam indicated she had given birth to at least one child, and degeneration of her lower spine suggests she may have had lower back problems, authorities said.
The sheriff's department is not disclosing how the woman was killed. The woman has not been matched to any missing persons cases in the western United States, Hancock said.
The victim is a black woman between 35 and 50 years old. She was 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 6 inches with an average build, according to the sheriff's office.
Contact the Napa County Sheriff's Tip Line at 877-426-4847 if you have any information about the Lake Berryessa Jane Doe.
Bay City News contributed to this report.
Copyright Associated Press / NBC Bay Area
First Published: Jun 23, 2009 3:10 PM PST
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