PA PA - Tank, Black Creek Twp, I-80, BlkFem 17-40, UP8924, clothes, wrapped in blanket, Aug'73

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Coffee56

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Unidentified Black Female
Found August 9, 1973 in Black Creek Twp, Luzerne County

Vital Statistics
Estimated Age: 17-40 years old
Hair Color: Very dark brown or black, pulled back into a short (2") ponytail
Eye Color: Brown
Height: 5'
Weight: 100 lbs
Clothing: blue/green shorts, pink blouse with lace, blue slippers with a blue & pink floral pattern. Sizes of the clothing and slippers are unknown.
Additional Items: a yellow & green blanket. Her body was wrapped with the blanket which was fastened together at the legs with a safety pin.
Dentals: Unavailable. She had a partial upper plate containing 6 teeth.
Fingerprints: Unavailable
DNA: Unavailable
Estimated Time of Death: 24-48 hours prior to being found. Accelerated decomposition due to hot temperatures and insect/animal activity.
Other: she had been doused with sulphuric acid.

Case Details
On August 9, 1973, the body of this unknown woman was found along Westbound I-80, near mile marker 250, in the Village of Tank, Black Creek Township.
All indications were that she was of African-American descent. Unfortunately, a more accurate estimation of age was never established.
She was interred at the Maple Hill Cemetery in Hanover Twp, where she remains today.
She has never been identified.

http://pennsylvaniamissing.com/blackcreekjanedoe.html

https://identifyus.org/en/cases/8924

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The coordinates in her Namus file indicate she was found here, just off I-80 westbound. https://goo.gl/maps/9jUiQX2XFy52

This is not close to much of anything, though there are some travel plazas and such along the highway and small farm and maybe mining towns all around. Google estimates two and a half hours to the general NYC area, less than that from New Jersey. About an hour south of Scranton.
 
Updated NamUs link: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

This lady was one of the nine exhumed in 2016:

...That includes a black woman who was discovered by a motorist on the side of Interstate 80 in 1973. The victim was wrapped in a blanket and doused with sulfuric acid.

“Nobody really knew about the case at our troop headquarters. There was some evidence in storage there,” said McAndrew.


The case was closed after three months with no leads. But McAndrew has been thinking about this woman’s unsolved story for almost as long as he’s been on the force. Back then, investigators didn’t have DNA testing and other methods that could reveal helpful clues about an individual’s identity.


Nameless in death, nine bodies exhumed in Pa. in hopes of unearthing identity - WHYY
 
HANOVER TWP. — Nearly eight years ago, the body of an unidentified black female was exhumed from Maple Hill Cemetery for forensic examination.

With no success at identification, a second attempt is being made.
------------------------------------------------------------
Cost to exhume and perform scientific tests of an unidentified body can exceed $10,000 but Dr. Kimmerle , according to the petition, obtained a federal grant to fund the effort.

 
Jul 11, 2024
Renewed hope in 51-year-old cold case mystery
by: Andy Mehalshick Jul 11, 2024
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''Now, troopers say they are armed with major advancements in DNA technology that wasn’t available just eight years ago.
“So law enforcement authorities are hopeful that this time when the body is exhumed they will be able to get a sufficient DNA sample to enter into a national DNA database and potentially link this person to family members,” said Luzerne County Assistant District Attorney Carl Frank.

“We have the tools those tools have gotten much better. It’s a matter of using them correctly to find answers,” forensic pathologist Dr. Mary Pascucci explained.''
 

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