More than 45 years later, victim in Grundy County cold case identified

Images of unidentified woman found dead in Seneca, Illinois in 1976.
Images of unidentified woman found dead in Seneca, Illinois in 1976. Photo credit FBI

(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The Grundy County Coroner is finally revealing the identity of the victim in a 1976 cold case homicide.

On Oct. 2, 1976, a local farmer discovered the body of an African American woman or girl alongside rural U.S. Route 6 in unincorporated Seneca, Illinois.

The Grundy County Coroner's office says she died from a gunshot wound in the head. The victim was buried in an unmarked grave at the Braceville-Gardner Cemetery on Thanksgiving Day of 1976.

poster for unidentified woman
Photo credit FBI

The case remained cold for years and was reopened in late 2017, when investigators started using modern-day Forensic Science and DNA techniques to identify the victim.

The Coroner's Office will release the victim's identity Thursday at a press conference in Morris, Illinois.

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Featured Image Photo Credit: FBI