http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-n...f/2014/01/dna_developments_could_help_id.html
DNA developments could help ID Jane Doe killed in 1991 Cowlitz County crash on I-5
Workers at Longview Memorial Park and Cemetery exhume the casket in which an unidentified woman was buried in 1991. Washington State Patrol investigators, with the help of forensic pathologists and experts in facial reconstruction, hope to identify the oldest unidentified person case on their books. (Washington State Patrol)
The Oregonian/OregonLive
By Kimberly A.C. Wilson | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on January 14, 2014 at 3:16 PM, updated January 14, 2014 at 4:13 PM
For more than two decades, the remains of the Jane Doe were buried in a Cowlitz County cemetery.
Now Washington investigators are hoping the latest developments in forensic technology will help put a name on the small-statured, brown-skinned woman who was killed along with Lester Harvel, both of them found in his burning tractor trailer in May 1991.
“DNA technology has come a long way since this tragic collision,” said Detective Sergeant Stacy Moate of the Washington State Patrol. “We hope to be able to finally identify her and return her to the care of her family.”
Last week, the woman’s remains were exhumed from an unmarked grave in the Longview Memorial Park and Cemetery, the first step in a monthslong journey. They were sent to Seattle, where King County forensic pathologist Dr. Kathy Taylor will clean and re-examine the remains for clues.
View full sizeA Washington State Patrol file photo from the May 14, 1991, crash scene shows the damage caused by a fire that burned Lester Harvel's truck along Interstate 5 near Kalama, killing the trucker and his unidentified passenger.Washington State Patrol
When that's completed, the remains will go to the University of Northern Texas for DNA extraction and entry into national DNA databases in the hopes of finding a match or a relative, Moate said. There, facial reconstruction on the skull will begin. Using depth markers and clay, experts will try to give investigators an idea of what the victim looked like.
Finally, the remains will return to the Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office, to be held in anticipation of reuniting the victim with her family.
It’s an ending WSP Det. Greg Wilcoxson has pursued for more than 13 years. The case was 10 years old when it fell to him it. For a decade, Wilcoxson used traditional policing methods to try to uncover the woman’s identity, checking her dental records against missing persons reports and comparing cold cases from throughout the nation.
She is the oldest unidentified person case on the investigators' books.
He even traced the trucker’s route to Washington, using fuel receipts. Harvel, who departed Missouri on May 7, 1991, drove through Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Oregon before arriving in Washington on May 14.
He dropped his load off on time and was heading south to Portland when his truck rear-ended another vehicle after pulling onto Interstate 5 near Kalama. The collision set off a fire that gutted the truck’s cab.
Harvel liked to pick up hitchhikers. But no one knew anyone rode in his semi that day until rescue crews found the unidentified female passenger’s remains. She was not an authorized passenger, Moate said, and the flames destroyed any identification she may have been carrying.
The young woman was slight, standing a little over 5-feet tall. She had high cheek bones, a dark complexion and appeared to be in her early 20s.
And the coroner determined she had been treated for scoliosis, a spinal disease.
“He could have picked her up from anywhere along his route,” Moate said.
After the facial reconstruction is complete, investigators plan to share the woman’s photograph far and wide.
“We were determined to identify this young lady and do everything we could to get her home,” she said. “We are hoping this is the final step toward that goal.”
-- Kimberly A.C. Wilson
