That is the question that has been driving Warren County Coroner Roger Mauzy ever since the headless body of a young woman was discovered more than three years ago near the picnic area of an Interstate 70 rest stop.
The light-skinned woman with brown hair was in her early to mid-20s and wearing only a black bra when she was found.
Investigators said she'd once had an appendectomy and a Caesarean section and had been physically fit in life. Her head and limbs were cut from her body and never discovered.
And no one has come forward to claim her.
She was someone's daughter, and, it would seem, someone's mother.
I live by the theory that everybody's got somebody, Mauzy said. But despite his best efforts to determine the woman's identity, to locate her family or friends, he's been unable to.
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]By virtue of state law, I am her next of kin, and that's not right.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Mauzy was called to the rest area about 50 miles northwest of St. Louis on June 28, 2004. Highway workers trimming trees had discovered the torso dumped down a small incline.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]The woman was killed elsewhere, perhaps just hours before her body was found. Her head, arms and lower legs had been removed, presumably to make it harder to identify her. I'm speculating she probably had tattoos on both shoulders and both ankles, he said.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]A 12-inch, serrated knife with a drop of blood was found down a water drain that was empty of water at the time, just steps from where the body was, Mauzy said. That knife, I think, was a tease. He knew we'd search down that drain, Mauzy speculated.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]He said whoever dumped the woman made no attempt to cover her from view. This took a real, cold, callous animal to do this, he said, then rethinks it.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica]Even animals, he said, wouldn't do this.[/FONT]
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