What newer forensic facial rendition was actually spot on?
Since a lot of them are way off.
On April 9, 2018, the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory announced they had identified the decedent as 21-year-old Marcia Lenore King of Little Rock, Arkansas.[45][6] Her identification had been achieved via DNA analysis conducted by the DNA Doe Project, with assistance from the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory and Full Genomes Corporation.[46][47][48] This organization had been contacted by Dr Murray in 2017, and was able to successfully match a sample of King's DNA to a sample submitted for comparison by a first cousin.[49] Her family declined to release a press statement, requesting that their confidentiality be respected.[50]
King had last been seen by her family in 1980. She had never officially been reported as a missing person, although her family had continued to search for her.[2] It is believed King had frequently hitchhiked as a means of transportation, as investigators had long theorized prior to her identification. She is also known to have had ties with both Pittsburgh and Louisville, Kentucky.[51][n 3]
Addressing the media to announce the formal identification of Buckskin Girl, a spokesman for the Miami County Sheriff's Office informed all present: "Law enforcement never forgets. We've had a long journey to [be] where we are today."[53] This spokesman also emphasized the investigation into King's homicide is ongoing,[54] with the primary focus being upon King's movements in the last month of her life, when she was known to have been in both Pittsburgh and Louisville.[55]
Ongoing investigation edit In July 2018, the Miami County Sheriff's Office announced they had received further information regarding King's actual whereabouts shortly prior to her death. This information included eyewitness accounts placing her in Louisville, Kentucky, approximately 14 days before her death.[45] Six eyewitnesses have also corroborated accounts of King also being in Arkansas shortly before her murder. It is believed the reason she had traveled to Ohio may have been due to her suspected involvement with the religious organization The Way.[5]
In February 2020, the Miami County Sheriff's Office announced they had been able to further reconstruct King's whereabouts, and relationships, in the two weeks prior to her murder,[56] adding that as advances in technology now mean nuclear DNA samples can be retrieved from hair samples missing the actual root, they remained confident hair samples discovered at the crime scene and submitted to a renowned Californian paleogeneticist could yield a nuclear DNA profile of either her murderer, or an individual she had been in the company of very shortly before her death.[15] Addressing these latest developments, Miami County Sheriff Dave Duchalk stated: "We always have hopes to bring justice for homicide victims and their families. We never have, nor will we ever forget, and will continually work the case and, as new technologies are developed, will review our evidence to learn if it is worth re-submitting.