Over 25 Years Ago, Her Remains Washed Ashore In Michigan, And She Was Only Recently Identified

Sue Smith - stock.adobe.com - pictured above is the lighthouse in Manitee
Sue Smith - stock.adobe.com - pictured above is the lighthouse in Manitee

Over twenty-five years ago, on October 24, 1997, the remains of an unidentified woman washed ashore in Manistee, Michigan.

The woman was five foot eleven, weighed two hundred pounds, and had an appendectomy scar as well as pierced ears.

Aside from these details, though, little was known about her true identity. Autopsy reports revealed that she had died “weeks” before discovery and was between twenty and sixty years old.

But, investigators could not determine her race or any other characteristics that could definitively identify the woman.

Well, that was until just a few weeks ago when advanced DNA technology finally closed the case.

In December, the Michigan State Police partnered with the DNA Doe Project– a “non-profit initiative that uses investigative genetic genealogy”– in hopes of identifying the unknown victim.

Back in 1997, this feat was impossible– since no DNA test revealed any answers and no local missing person’s reports matched.

In turn, the woman’s case ultimately remained cold until two years ago, when forensic investigators decided to exhume the remains and have them tested again.

“There are things we are doing today that we couldn’t do even five years ago,” said Michigan State Police Lieutenant Derrick Carroll.

Sue Smith – stock.adobe.com – pictured above is the lighthouse in Manistee

It took the DNA Doe Project over one year to develop a workable DNA profile before volunteers could actually begin the DNA matching process. Once genetic genealogy was ready to be performed, though, the non-profit’s group of expert volunteers got to work.

Now, authorities are certain that the deceased woman was Dorothy Ricker, who had gone missing in Milwaukee on October 2, 1997.

“The genealogy process of identifying Dorothy was relatively quick. The team was able to narrow in on a family of interest within a day thanks to having solid family matches in GedMatch.com, the site where we did all of the genetic genealogy,” explained Gwen Knapp, the team’s leader.

At the time of Dorothy’s discovery in 1997, her case was ruled an accidental drowning. And today, her cause of death still has not changed.

“We’ve always had a pretty good idea of who the person was that washed up on shore. Just based on the timeline and what we knew, but we were never able to positively identify the person,” Lt. Carroll said.

Nonetheless, the Ricker family has finally been given answers after all of these years. In this case, the DNA Doe Project compared Dorothy’s DNA to genealogy databases and ultimately found her brother in Maine and her daughter in Chicago.

So, Dorothy’s family members now know for sure what exactly happened to her after she disappeared.

“In this case, it brought some closure to a family. We have a daughter here whom we identified in Chicago, and now she can say that was her mother, and she has, in fact, passed. And this is what happened to her,” Lt. Carroll added.

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Katharina Buczek graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Digital Arts. Specializing ... More about Katharina Buczek

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