PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Bucks County authorities have identified the skeletal remains of a young woman found on the grounds of the abandoned Publicker Distillery in Bensalem in the 1980s.
Investigators say the girl, known as Publicker Jane Doe, is really 17-year-old Lisa Todd from Philadelphia — who was also pregnant, which investigators have known since the bones were found.
KYW Newsradio’s original podcast Gone Cold profiled the case in November in an episode called "What Happened to Publicker Jane Doe?"
In January 1988, a couple walking with their dog through the abandoned grounds of the distillery discovered the bones.
Bensalem Detective Chris McMullin, who took over the case in 2004, described the state of the body.
"She didn't have any major signs of trauma — no broken bones, no fractures to her skull, nothing that appeared to be a bullet wound or stab wound," he said. "Obviously, as far as sexual assault, it couldn't be determined. She was dressed, but there was no signs of that that could be determined."
Sculptor Frank Bender used the young woman's skull to recreate her face — which drew many tips from the public on various identities — but the name Lisa Todd was not one of them.
On Tuesday afternoon, authorities said they were finally able to identify Todd through genealogical tracing.
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