Author Topic: BEAUFORT COUNTY JANE DOE: F, 30-35, found in a Yemassee, SC ditch - 24 May 1995 *Maria Telles-Gonzalez*  (Read 382 times)

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The victim was discovered on May 24, 1995 in Yemassee, Beaufort County, South Carolina. She was a victim of homicide, strangulation. Her estimated time of death is 12 to 24 hours prior to discovery.

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https://identifyus.org/en/cases/12887

Case Information
Status Unidentified
Case number 9511788 SO case#
Date found May 24, 1995 00:00
Date created September 02, 2014 13:31
Date last modified March 10, 2017 16:26
Investigating agency
date QA reviewed September 02, 2014 15:01

Local Contact (ME/C or Other)
Agency Beaufort Cnty Coroners Ofc
Phone 843-255-5150
Case Manager
Name Bob Bromage
Phone 843-255-3402

Exclusions
The following people have been ruled out as being this decedent:
First Name Last Name Year of Birth State LKA
Kathleen Dennis 1967 Michigan

Akoya

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https://identifyus.org/en/cases/12887

NamUs UP # 12887

ME/C Case Number: 9511788 SO case#
Beaufort County, South Carolina
28 to 35 year old Female

Case Report - NamUs UP # 12887
Case Information
Status Unidentified
Case number 9511788 SO case#
Date found May 24, 1995 00:00
Date created September 02, 2014 13:31
Date last modified March 10, 2017 16:26
Investigating agency
date QA reviewed September 02, 2014 15:01

Local Contact (ME/C or Other)
Agency Beaufort Cnty Coroners Ofc
Phone 843-255-5150
Case Manager
Name Bob Bromage
Phone 843-255-3402

Demographics
Estimated age Adult - Pre 40
Minimum age 28 years
Maximum age 35 years
Race Unsure
Ethnicity
Sex Female
Weight (pounds) 118, Measured
Height (inches) 63, Measured
Body Parts Inventory (Check all that apply)
All parts recovered
Body conditions
Recognizable face
Probable year of death 1995 to 1995
Estimated postmortem interval Days

Circumstances
Location Found
GPS coordinates
Address 1 Cotton Hall Road
Address 2
City Yemassee
State South Carolina
Zip code
County Beaufort
Circumstances
On May 24, 1995, an unidentified female was discovered murdered in a ditch off Cotton Hall Road in Yemassee, SC. It is believed that the unknown suspect murdered the victim at another location. Efforts to indentify the woman continue. She may be of Hispanic origins and in her early 30s at the time of death. Evidence gathered at the autopsy indicates she had thyroid surgery as well as a hysterectomy.

Physical
Hair color Brown
Head hair
Reddish Brown, dyed.

Left eye color Brown
Right eye color Brown
Eye description
Eye color is brown at time of autopsy, post mortem eye color change should be considered and not used as a basis for exclusion.

Scars and marks
3" scar on her lower neck (thyroid surgery) and a 5" hysterectomy scar on her abdomen

Piercings
Ears are double pierced

Medical

Organ absent
Uterus and ovaries
Prior surgery
3" scar on her lower neck (thyroid surgery) and a 5" hysterectomy scar on her abdomen

Dental
Status: Dental information / charting is currently not available

DNA

Status: Sample submitted - Tests complete

Akoya

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http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/347ufsc.html

The Doe Network:
Case File 347UFSC




Left & Center: Reconstructions of Victim by Bethany Crooks
Right: Likeness in mid 20's Far Right: Likeness at time of death

Unidentified Female
The victim was discovered on May 24, 1995 in Yemassee, Beaufort County, South Carolina.
She was a victim of homicide, strangulation
Estimated time of death is 12 to 24 hours prior to discovery.
Vital Statistics
Estimated age: 30 - 35 years old
Approximate Height and Weight: 5'4"; 120 lbs.
Distinguishing Characteristics: Possibly Hispanic or Biracial. Curly dark Brown hair colored red; brown eyes. No tattoos. She had manicured nails and was well-groomed. She had pierced ears. There were no additional identifiers present.
Scars/Marks: She had thyroid, full hysterectomy surgery and Cesarean birth delivery.
Clothing: a pair of underwear
Dentals: Not Available
DNA: Available in CODIS.



Location of marks/scars

Case History
The victim was located in a ditch, on Cotton Hall Road near the Yemassee line. She was found by a state transportation department employee who was mowing grass along Cotton Hall Road, off Old Sheldon Road.
It is believed that the unknown suspect murdered the victim in another location and successfully identifying the victim may bring quick focus on a suspect. It is believed she was killed in a location that is about 12 hours driving time from Beaufort County. She laid on her back for at least the first 12 hours after her death. The body was found lying face down.
There was no evidence of sexual assault.

Investigators
If you have any information about this case please contact:
Beaufort County Sheriff's Office
Captain Bob Bromage
843-816-8013
You may remain anonymous when submitting information.

NCIC Number: U-835677205
Please refer to this number when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

Source Information:
Beaufort County Sheriff's Office
The Beaufort Gazette - 1/13/04
Post and Courier, The (Charleston, SC) 5/26 and 28/95

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http://unidentified.wikia.com/wiki/Beaufort_County_Jane_Doe

Beaufort County Jane Doe

Beaufort County Jane Doe was a woman discovered in 1995 in South Carolina. It is believed she was transported from a different location, as she had been lying on her back for at least 12 hours after death and was found face-down.


Age regression to mid 20s.


Beaufort County Jane Doe



Sex Female
Race Unknown
(Possibly Hispanic/White)
Location Yemassee, South Carolina
Found May 24, 1995
Unidentified for 22 years
Postmortem interval 12 - 24 hours
Body condition Recognizable face
Age approximation 28 - 35
Height approximation 5'4
Weight approximation 118 - 120 pounds
Cause of death Strangulation" />" />

Akoya

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http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/south-carolina/unidentified-murder-victims-sc/



A Beaufort County Jane Doe was discovered in Yemassee more than 20 years ago.



Google Maps
On May 24, 1995 the unidentified body of a Jane Doe was found laying face down on the ground near Yemassee, South Carolina.
5. Beaufort County's Jane Doe

doenetwork.org
After some examination it was thought she'd been lying face up immediately after her death and that her body had been moved to where it was found and placed face down.

She was determined to be between 30 and 35 years old and stood 5 feet 3 inches tall. Beaufort County's Jane Doe had a scar from a caesarean birth, and had undergone a hysterectomy. Her hair had been dyed red but was naturally brown. The image above is a digital enhancement. Other sketches can be seen at this link.

If you have any information about the identity of this Jane Doe, or have information regarding the manner in which she may have died or who may have moved her body after she died, then please contact the Beaufort County Sheriffs Department at (843) 255-3200.

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http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/article43619904.html

Unclaimed remains tell a story: The unknown

BY ERIN HEFFERNAN
eheffernan@islandpacket.com

November 07, 2015 05:16 PM

Updated November 08, 2015 12:52 AM

Jane Doe

She was a young woman, left for dead in a Yemassee ditch in 1995.

A few days after her death, a groundskeeper discovered her body, wearing only underwear on a remote, swampy stretch of Cottonhall Road.

Police believe she was killed by asphyxiation by a man in a personal attack.

At first, dozens of tips pored in about who she might be and why she was killed. But the trail soon went cold.

While her body was badly decomposed, investigators were able to determine that she was in her early 30s. They pulled a full set of fingerprints. Her teeth were intact, allowing for a search of dental records.

But no matches were found.

The only clues to her identity were double-pierced ears and two scars, one from a hysterectomy and another from a thyroid surgery.

A DNA analysis suggested that she came to the U.S. from Latin America.

While many of the Hispanics in the county were migrant workers, investigators saw little evidence that the woman was a laborer because her hands and feet were smooth.

There is still an effort to find her attacker -- and her family. Somewhere out there, investigators know a family wonders what happened to this young woman, said Capt. Bob Bromage of the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office.

In 2010 investigators made another push to publicize the case. A new round of tips came in after a Spanish-language news show on the Univision network covered the story.

But again they all led nowhere.

"So many families have relatives that never come back after coming to America," Bromage said. "They may never know what happens to them. But we can see from this woman's surgeries that said she was well cared for, there is probably someone out there wondering where she is."

The woman's remains were cremated and packed in a box marked "Jane Doe." It sits in the stack at the coroner's office.

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Cotton Hall Rd, Yemassee, SC


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https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/unidentified-persons/jane-doe---yemassee-south-carolina



Details:
On May 24, 1995, the body of a deceased female was recovered from a ditch along Cotton Hall Road in Yemassee, South Carolina. She was recovered wearing only a pair of white underwear. The victim had been murdered prior to being transported and dumped along the roadside.

Age 28 to 35 years old
Hair Naturally dark brown, but dyed red
Eyes Brown
Height 5'3"
Weight 118 pounds
Sex Female
Scars and Marks Scar on neck from thyroid surgery; hysterectomy scar on abdomen; double-pierced ears.

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https://fox28media.com/news/local/beaufort-county-detectives-shed-new-light-on-25-year-old-cold-case

[size=16]Beaufort County detectives shed new light on 25-year-old cold case[/size]

BEAUFORT COUNTY, SC. (WTGS) — The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office cold case detectives are shedding new light on a case that is 25 years old. The Cold Case Unit began in 1999 and Sheriff P.J. Tanner initiated the unit after becoming Beaufort County’s top cop. The unit is currently investigating as many as seven missing persons cold cases and 23 open cold cases.

They have just one unidentified female they say was a homicide victim dating back to 1995. Major Bob Bromage is the lead cold-case detective and has been in the unit since 1999.

“The cause of death was strangulation and the matter of death was homicide,” he said. “It's going to be somebody that’s probably close to her based on the behavior at the crime scene.”

Bromage said the evidence revealed the victim was strangled somewhere other than where the body was discovered off Cotton Hall Road in Yemassee. He said the body was taken down a desolate two-lane road and left on an embankment only to be discovered by a worker in the area. But, he did say breaks have developed in the case.

“We have already employed these biogeographical DNA analysis in this case, we have a good idea where she is from in the world either South America, Central America or the Caribbean,” he said.

Bromage said the victim was found only wearing panties, it revealed yet another clue in the case. “Her underwear where from Columbia South America, that’s a pretty good clue especially in 1995 because this particular brand was seldom sold outside of South America,” he said.

Autopsy results also revealed the victim had both ears double pierced, two scars were evident. One revealing a Thyroid surgery the other a hysterectomy. “By identifying this woman our murder victim from 1995 it's going to open up avenues that may lead us right to the suspect,” he said.

It has been a case that was uncovered by detectives along a desolate two-lane road 25 years ago that still has investigators searching for justice.

“It's important for the families of these victims that we don't forget their loved ones and moving forward as technologies improve they deserve us to do everything we can to solve that case and bring somebody to justice,” he said.

They are new paths this investigation is leading detectives down. “Right now, we are considering submitting additional blood from this victim to genealogy companies in hopes that we may be able to find a family member and identify her,” he said.

If you have any information regarding these Unsolved Cold Cases, you may contact Captain Bob Bromage at (843) 255- 3402, (843) 816-8013 or robertb@bcgov.net or Crimestoppers at

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Beaufort County Jane Doe has been identified as 36-year-old Maria Telles-Gonzalez, of Kissimmee, FL.


Scorpio

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https://yourislandnews.com/sheriffs-office-gets-break-in-cold-case/

Sheriff’s Office gets break in cold case
December 7, 2022

It took more than 27 years, but the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) has caught a break in the case of an unidentified female murder victim found May 24, 1995 off Cotton Hall Road in Yemassee.

Through advanced DNA technology and genealogy research, the woman has been identified as Maria Telles-Gonzalez of Kissimmee, Fla.

About the case

On May 24, 1995, an employee from the South Carolina Highway Department discovered the body of a dead woman in a drainage ditch on Cotton Hall Road in Yemassee. Sheriff’s deputies and investigators began investigating the death.

According to retired BCSO investigator Maj. Bob Bromage, the woman suffered a violent death by strangulation. The woman was killed elsewhere and the body had been moved. When found, she had been dead for 24-36 hours.

An autopsy was performed at the Medical University of South Carolina. Pathologists deemed the woman’s death a homicide.

The woman, clothed only in underwear, was not identified at the onset of this investigation, and there were no personal effects at the scene to help identify her.

Investigators provided information on her death to local media and employed forensic technologies available at the time to try to identify her. Efforts to identify her in 1995 proved unsuccessful and the case grew cold.

The woman’s physical description, including surgical scars, was entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and searched against missing persons nationwide. To date, no matches have been made through the NCIC entry.

Bromage called the case “ extremely frustrating.”

A cold case

In January 1999, Sheriff PJ Tanner directed Sheriff’s Office investigators to examine the agency’s unsolved murders or cold cases.

“We care about these investigations. Great care is put into these investigations,” said Bromage, now the Public Safety Director for the Town of Hilton Head. “Sheriff PJ Tanner, without his leadership, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Cold case initiatives in 1999 were very few.”

Bromage is still a reserve deputy for the BCSO and remains in charge of cold case investigations.

Cold case investigators, along with a team of retired law enforcement professionals, reviewed reports and inventoried evidence of those cases which included the 1995 murder of the unidentified woman found in Yemassee.

With improvements in forensic science, investigators submitted evidence from the unidentified woman’s case to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s Forensic Laboratory for DNA and forensic analyses.

A DNA profile of the woman was developed and uploaded to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). Nationwide comparisons with missing women having DNA profiles in CODIS were conducted. None matched the unidentified woman’s profile.

Meanwhile, NCIC teletypes of missing women with similarities to the unidentified woman were received. Hundreds of NCIC teletypes of missing persons, having partial matching characteristics with the unidentified woman, were received and eliminated as being her.

False hopes

In 2004, on the Doe Network’s website, investigators observed a listing of a missing person, Sybil Warren, with physical similarities to the unidentified woman. Warren’s mother was contacted and gave cold case investigators a DNA sample. SLED DNA analysts were able to exclude Warren as being the unidentified woman. Warren remains missing.

In 2006, Interpol was contacted and issued a black notice internationally to assist in identifying the woman. No leads on her identity were received.

In 2007, investigators submitted the unidentified woman’s DNA for biogeographical analysis to determine her ethnicity to better target identification efforts. DNA Print Genomics reported that people with similar DNA markers self-identified as South Asian, Hispanic, and Middle Eastern.

This new information coupled with the woman’s Leonisa brand underwear, which was mostly sold in Latin American countries at the time, led investigators to conclude she was most likely of Hispanic descent.

In 2010, investigators with the assistance of the Sheriff’s Office volunteer cold case committee, contacted the international Spanish language television network, Univision, to request publicity on the case of the unidentified woman. Univision agreed and produced a segment that aired in April 2011.

Following Univision’s broadcast, investigators received information from a man who said the unidentified woman resembled his sister, Josefina Nava. The man, who lived in New York, told investigators Nava was originally from the Dominican Republic and disappeared in Italy in the early 1990s.

Investigators reached Nava’s family in the Dominican Republic via telephone and obtained photographs of Josefina. She resembled the unidentified woman. Nava’s biological mother and son agreed to provide DNA samples to compare with the unidentified woman.

The FBI was contacted and sent an agent in the Dominican Republic to collect the samples. DNA analysis and comparison were conducted at the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Forensic Services Laboratory. Nava’s mother and son’s DNA samples showed no biological connection to the unidentified woman. It is believed Nava remains missing.

Subjects were interviewed through the years, one as far as Ohio. Those subjects were eliminated as being involved in the unidentified woman’s death.

A breakthrough

In 2020, following stories of numerous national successes in identifying persons through genealogy research, cold case investigators employed the assistance of Parabon Nanolabs. The unidentified woman’s DNA extract was sent to Parabon, analyzed with its advanced technology, then uploaded to numerous ancestry databases.

A list of potential distant relatives of the unidentified woman was received through Parabon. The Assistant Public Information Officer at the time began research on the woman’s family tree. Sometime later, a volunteer member of the cold case committee was enlisted to assist, and ultimately, took over the task of research.

The volunteer reached hundreds of potential family members through email, many of whom questioned the volunteer’s identity and purpose.

In October 2022, the volunteer received a lead on a possible biological son of the unidentified victim. The volunteer reached the victim’s possible son via email, and he agreed to upload his DNA profile to GEDmatch. Within minutes, Parabon reported a parent-child match between the unidentified victim and the son.

An answer brings questions

The victim was identified as Maria Telles-Gonzalez, who was 36 years old at the time of her death, a wife and mother of three.

Investigators have been in contact with Telles-Gonzalez’ family members who reported to have last seen her in 1995 at their Merrimack Drive home in Kissimmee, Fla. Investigators traveled to Florida to interview Telles-Gonzalez’ family members.

Through the investigation and interviews of various family members, it was learned the day following Telles-Gonzalez’ return from a trip to Puerto Rico in May 1995, she left her Florida home after her three children went to school. She never returned. It was also learned that Telles-Gonzalez’ husband was home alone with her when the children went to school. She left without her vehicle. The suitcase she arrived from Puerto Rico with was also gone.

Telles-Gonzalez has never been reported missing. As expected, identifying Telles-Gonzalez brought quick focus on a possible person of interest.

Investigators are trying to identify two people closely connected to Telles-Gonzalez; her close friend whose name may be “Patricia” and a male friend/suspected boyfriend, who remains unidentified. They are believed to have also lived in the Kissimmee, Fla., area.

The investigation into the murder of Telles-Gonzalez is ongoing and active.

“We’re a long way from where we started,” Tanner said. “We hope we’ll be able to resolve this case in a timely fashion.”

Anyone with information about Maria Telles-Gonzalez’s disappearance or murder is encouraged to call cold case investigator Robert Bromage at 843-816-8013 or via email at robertb@bcgov.net.