https://www.ky3.com/2021/05/26/womans-remains-found-in-dixon-identified-40-years-later/Woman’s remains found in Dixon identified 40 years laterSPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - A big development in a decades old homicide cold case in Pulaski County, Missouri.
On May 25, 1981 a female’s body was found near a creek in Dixon, Missouri.
Forty years ago to the day her body was discovered, that Jane Doe now has a name, Karen Knippers.
She was strangled to death.
For lead investigator on this case, Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office Detective Doug Renno, this case is personal.
“I don’t know what I would do if my sister, my daughter, my brother, my mother or father was missing and I had no idea what happened to them,” he said.
It’s why investigators took a fresh look at the, then, Pulaski Jane Doe case in 2012.
“When I first started I didn’t think it would be that difficult,” said Renno.
In 2015 detectives got permission to exhume the woman’s body.
“After being buried for over 30 years, we thought, if we get DNA we’re going to be lucky,” explained Renno.
The following year, in 2016, scientists at the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification in Fort Worth for DNA and Forensic Anthropology testing did get lucky. The school released a report claiming the extraction and development of DNA was successful.
However, investigators say they needed more information to identify her.
“We went to the university of South Florida for isotope testing for the tooth enamel and the bone,” said Renno.
In April 2019, detectives submitted Jane Doe’s remains to the DNA Doe Project, in Sebastopol, California. The DNA Doe Project is a volunteer organization using genetic genealogy to identify relatives through DNA research.
In December 2019, The DNA Doe Project provided a possible name of Jane Doe and the name of a possible relative. Investigators contacted Knippers’ family in Virginia. Knippers’ brother mentioned he had lost contact with his sister in the early 1980s.
“You don’t expect a phone call in the middle of the afternoon to say hey I think I have found your sister,” explained Renno.
After submitting a sample, the two became a match. This confirmed her identity. The process was also able to tell investigators that Knippers was 33 when she was killed.
She was born in Florida on December 5, 1948. She lived a short time in the St. Louis Area before her body was discovered.
The case is still considered active.
“We’ll see where the investigation goes. Now that we have a name we can, you don’t know. Somebody out there may remember her,” says Renno.
Authorities are asking anyone with information about this case to call 573-855-1069.
Knippers’ remains will be returned to the local cemetery.
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