(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- It's been a mystery for 43 years: the identity of a woman found shot in the head, her body dumped in a ditch in Grundy County.
And now the deputy coroner is hopeful she'll be identified this year, despite a new hurdle in the previously publicized cold case.
"We call her Jane Seneca Doe. She was discovered deceased in a ditch along U.S. Route 6 just east of Seneca, Illinois, in unincorporated Grundy County,” explains Brandon Johnson, the county’s deputy chief coroner.
"It was Saturday, Oct. 2, 1976."
Johnson is hopeful that later this month, a group called the DNA Doe Project will enter the woman's DNA into GEDmatch, a database that is somewhat diminished. Last month, organizers changed their terms of service and required people to opt-in to allow sharing of their DNA profile.
This makes it potentially harder to find a matching relative.
Johnson believes people will opt-in.
"I'm feeling confident that we're finally going to be able to close this case this year and give her her name back."
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