Burial of head set year after discovery in Beaver County
Her headstone will read, “Jane Doe. Found Dec. 12, 2014.”
She'll be buried in a small, private service in Beaver County, perhaps bringing some measure of peace to the woman whose embalmed, severed head was found along a road and those who have spent the past year trying without success to learn her identity and unravel her mystery.
“It's a rough one,” said Economy police Chief Mike O'Brien. “It's just been … it's rough.”
Her head was found by someone walking near the Economy woods along rural Mason Road in the small borough near where Beaver, Butler and Allegheny counties meet. Since then, Beaver County authorities have tried to find out who she was.
It's the reason investigators held off on a burial — which will include a full casket, burial vault and service, according to county Coroner Teri Tatalovich-Rossi.
“It's such a unique situation that all involved were reluctant until we felt we'd taken any and all samples we needed,” she said.
Investigators received more than two dozen inquiries about the head in the weeks after its discovery, but the volume of inquiries and tips dropped off, O'Brien said, something he hopes will change when authorities release updated information Monday.
The last release was a three-dimensional model of the woman in January. In June, officials said they hoped for an identification through a national DNA database.
“It's not for lack of trying,” said Tatalovich-Rossi.
A two-day search with cadaver dogs turned up no other body parts; no missing-person reports matched her description; cemeteries across the region reported no disturbed graves; medical schools and tissue-recovery agencies proved of no help.
“We've reached out to over 20 different organizations and agencies that have given us a lot of assistance throughout the year in all kinds of fields: forensics, anthropology, odontology,” O'Brien said. “We've gone down a lot of avenues looking for information.”
The woman left some clues: She's white, believed to be about 50 with soft, styled, whitish-gray hair and a full set of teeth. At least part of her eyes were removed for transplantation or medical research.
Michelle Vitali, an art professor and forensic artist at Edinboro University, helped create models and sketches of what the woman may have looked like; Vitali said she expects an age-progression model to be released at Monday's news conference.
“No one deserves to be found that way, so we're all pretty motivated to find a solution for her,” Vitali said.
A minister will preside over Saturday's service out of respect for the woman and any relatives she might have, as well as for those who worked on her case for the past year.
“It will be therapeutic for us, too,” Tatalovich-Rossi said. She stressed that the burial does not signal the end of the investigation.
O'Brien said identifying the woman remains high on his list.
“It's been on my mind 24 hours a day,” he said. “My priority has been to get her identified and put a name to her face so we can move on to further the investigation.”
Megan Guza is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. She can be reached at 412-380-8519 or mguza@tribweb.com.
