Connecticut police exhumed a body Wednesday as part of a decades-old cold case investigation — but the unearthed remains turned out to be the wrong person.
The mishap took place at State Street Cemetery in Hamden by authorities investigating the 1975 case of a Jane Doe who was found dead, wrapped in tarp, in a drainage ditch behind a department store.
Authorities exhumed the body of what they thought was the unidentified woman, only to find a male in that grave, East Haven police told WTNH News 8.
Police believe the homicide victim was buried in the cemetery after receiving a tip.
“The exact coordinates we were originally going off seem to be incorrect,” East Haven police captain Joseph Murgo told News 8. “So we do have more investigative leads to follow.
“They never marked the grave, and that’s part of the challenge as we try and locate her actual burial site.”
Police have compiled several suspects over the nearly 50 years since her death, but to better target the actual perp police need to know who the victim was, according to the television station.
“Generations of detectives have worked extremely hard on this case, but they didn’t have the modern technology that we have today. So we are confident with today’s advancements we can apply it to this case, and, hopefully, identify her,” Murgo told News 8.
When the Jane Doe was initially found, there was nothing to indicate who she was, said former New Haven police officer Tony Griego, who has worked the case since his retirement, News 8 reported.
She was buried a year after she was found.
With Post wires
