Flagler County deputies ask for help identifying 1993 cold case victim

FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. — More than 30 years after two young boys searching for their basketball in a wooded area near their Flagler County cul-de-sac found skeletal remains, deputies are still asking for help identifying the body.

Flagler County deputies said the boys found the woman’s remains in January of 1993. Despite help from advanced DNA technology, she has yet to be identified.

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Deputies said through investigative genetic genealogy research, they were able to link that she is a descendant of George Washington Coleman and Clarissa Minnick from the Edgefield/Aiken, South Carolina area. Despite identifying and contacting at least 30 relatives from their extended family tree, deputies said no one knows who the woman was.

According to estimates created after her body was found, she had been deceased for approximately two to three years and would have been born between 1955 and 1965. She was about 5-foot, 3-inches tall and had a previous fracture to the right side of her nose.

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Originally in 1993, deputies said she was believed to be caucasian or possibly Indian. But in July 2021 a new DNA profile discovered she was African American, possibly mixed with caucasian.

Deputies said on Jan. 10, on the 30th anniversary of her discovery, Det. Sarah Scalia hand-delivered the woman’s skull to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Forensic Imaging Unit.

After a review of the skull and the ancestry information, PBSO forensic artists reconstructed the woman’s skull and create a new facial approximation. Deputies said the facial reconstructions aim to achieve a likeness of the unidentified individual and should not be viewed as a portrait of the individual.

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“We hope that someone may be able to identify this woman so we can bring closure to her family who has been waiting for over 30 years to know what happened to her,” said Sheriff Rick Staly. “We know someone out there knows something, so call us.”

If anyone has any information on the identity of this woman or information about her death, please contact the FCSO Cold Case Unit, Detective Scalia at sscalia@flaglersheriff.com, email TIPS@flaglersheriff.com, or call FCSO at 386-313-4911 or call CrimeStoppers of NE Florida at 888-277- TIPS. CrimeStoppers of NE Florida offers a reward of up to $5,000.

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See a map of where the woman’s body was found below:

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Missing from Central Florida These 113 people are missing in Central Florida. According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, their cases date back to the 1960s. (Florida Department of Law Enforcement)

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