DNA experts identify a Jane Doe found shot to death in an Illinois ditch in 1976

MORRIS, Ill. (AP) — DNA experts have identified the remains of a woman found shot to death in an Illinois ditch almost 50 years ago. The DNA Doe Project said in a news release Thursday that their investigators had identified the woman as JoAnn “Vickie” Smith of Ohio. Smith was found in a ditch near Seneca, Illinois, in 1976. She had been shot in the head. But police couldn’t identify her and closed her case after two months. She was buried in an unmarked grave but officials had her exhumed in 2018 in hopes modern forensics could identify her. DNA Doe Project genealogists spent 4 1/2 years trying to establish her family tree before finally identifying her birth mother and then adoption records.