Detectives are offering a large reward for information that will allow them to find some answers.
www.timesonline.com
Garret Roberts
Beaver County Times
December 8, 2022
ECONOMY − As the eighth anniversary of one of Beaver County's strangest cold cases arrives once again, detectives are offering a large reward for information that will allow them to find some answers.
Crime Stoppers of Pennsylvania and the Beaver County Crime Solvers are working together to temporarily offer an increased reward for information on the unidentified embalmed head that was found in Economy in 2014. This increased reward period will begin on Dec. 11, allowing those with information to earn $10,000 for information on the case for one week.
"I've said from the very start of this, any tip, lead or information that anybody provides us, we're gonna we're gonna follow it up," said Mike O'Brien, Economy police chief. "No matter where it comes from or how bizarre the information may be, we're gonna follow it up, because we haven't been able to match her yet. We still don't know what happened and how she got there, so we're not dismissing any idea or theory until we are absolutely sure."
Reports indicate a "school-aged boy" from Economy found the unidentified head while he was walking near a wooded area off Mason Road around 12:30 p.m. Dec. 12, 2014. The head was located about 31 feet from the road, where investigators determined it had been sitting for about a week to a month. While this location is a fairly rural location of the borough, it can easily be accessed from Interstate 79, the Pennsylvania Turnpike and state Route 65.
Police indicated the head was cleanly cut across the arteries and spinal cord, but a crude and jagged cut was made along the skin on the neck. No animal bite marks were found on the head, with no evidence that the body part had been carried to the area by a wild animal. An embalming process had also taken place, but detectives are unable to determine how long before discovering the head that the process had been conducted.
When detectives began their autopsy, they discovered the victim's eyes had been removed and replaced with red, rubber ball toys. When talking to The Times in 2015, detectives said the balls were the same style as those you can buy out of a vending machine.
While the toys were not professional devices, investigators determined whoever had done the removal of the victim's eyes had some knowledge of anatomy. Initial investigations also revealed the practice of replacing eyeballs with rubber balls is not a common practice for preparing bodies for viewing in funeral homes, but the toys were covered with tan-colored eye caps, which are often used by funeral directors and embalmers.
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