Detectives with the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department’s Cold Case Unit have released results of the facial reconstruction of a victim in a nearly 40-year-old homicide.
On April 26, 1984, the decomposed remains of an unidentified female were discovered in a wooded, residential area in the Argentine neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas, near Glenrose and Woodend Lanes, according to a police spokesman.
The coroner estimated the victim to have been deceased approximately one to six months prior to being discovered. That puts the woman’s death and the timeframe in which she likely went missing to have been between the fall of 1983 to the spring of 1984, according to the spokesman.
With no leads, detectives turned to forensic facial reconstruction. Using the remains, forensic anthropologists were able to develop an image and profile of the victim, the spokesman stated. That profile suggests that the victim was approximately 20 to 25 years old with dark brown hair.
The bone structure suggests that she was white or possibly mixed race with Native American, Asian, or Hispanic ancestry, according to the spokesman.
The victim was estimated to be 5-foot-2 to 5-foot-4 in height and 100 to 145 pounds.
“The first step in solving any homicide is identifying the victim,” Detective Jeffrey Irwin of the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department Cold Case Unit, said. “In 1984 the few leads detectives received, even after distributing the reconstruction to law enforcement agencies, led nowhere. Whether it was fear of retribution from the killer or the possibility she was killed in another state and then dumped here; we do not know. We do however know that today our victim would likely be in her late 50s to mid-60s, meaning there is likely someone out there that knew, and can recognize her.”
Police asked anyone who recognizes this victim, are aware of a missing female fitting this profile during the same time or have any other information related to this case, to contact the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department Cold Case Unit at [email protected] or call the TIPS Hotline 816-474-TIPS (8477).