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The MSM reports I recall were the words "not intact". That can mean a lot of things. I thought because of the delay in identification maybe teeth pulled ( dental records), hands missing ( dna from fingernails) and uggh ( I can't even type it, inability to determine sex). That being said, I wonder about the sudden information requested regarding the cross. We don't know for sure where that cross was found. I think it is a possibility the unique markings were perhaps left on the body and LE was looking for some meaning to them while also a link to the person who owned this cross. Just my thoughts.
I believe that there was a delay of 1.5 days before the public was notified that the body found was Jessica, but that does not mean that investigators did not know that it was Jessica. Positive DNA identification would have been needed because the body was not intact ... but I'm pretty sure that police knew that it was Jessica. It has since been reported that Jessica's torso was found near the culvert. Human remains were also in the crawl space of the suspect's mothers' home.
Police released a report stating that they were not interested in the interpretation, or meaning, of the markings, or the cross. They were interested in connecting the cross and markings with a 5'6" - 5'8" light skinned, brown haired, 18-30 year old male that wore small frame sunglasses and a baseball cap.
Police also connected the DNA on the backpack with DNA in the attack at Ketner Lake in May, 2012. In that case, Austin attempted to put a cloth over the face of a 22 year old woman. She thought that it was chloroform.
Maybe he thought he could get away with each crime, not anticipating that he would leave DNA and that police would conclude that he lived in the area if they connected more than one crime with the unknown DNA.