BERRIEN COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) – Michigan State Police are asking for the public’s help identifying a body that washed ashore in Berrien County 35 years ago.
According to MSP, the body was found on April 8, 1988 on the shoreline in New Buffalo, and at that time, was thought to be of a white woman.
They went onto say the body was exhumed for DNA collection using newer methods with the latest results revealing the body to be that of a middle aged black woman, between 40 and 50 years old. She is described at 5′ 5″ tall, and is believed to have weighed around 175 pounds.
Investigators say she is thought to have been wearing a wig or braided extension, which had been pulled from her scalp. They also say she was wearing a pair of men’s blue jeans with red, white and blue shorts underneath and black ankle boots.
Based on the initial autopsy, the woman is said to have undergone a hysterectomy.
During the exhumation, authorities were assisted by Western Michigan University WMed Anthropology Department, Hannah Friedlander, MSP Human Remains Analyst, and MSP Bomb Squad.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Michigan State Police Niles Post at 269-683-4411 or the New Buffalo Police Department 269-469-1500.
