Identified! FL - Sumter Co, 'Little Miss Panasoffkee', WhtFem 17-24, 470UFFL, Feb 1971 (Maureen L. Minor Rowan)

[Lebowski]

One thing I've learned over the last decade plus here at Websleuths is that the general public overestimates how many people are actually reported missing and how many victims serial killers have. My knee jerk reaction to every Doe from the pre-Internet era is that they were someone unreported that was murdered by a family member.

RIP Maureen.

i think that's a common heuristic. murdered doe turns out to have been married and never reported missing? look at the spouse. (edit: hell, married person murdered? look at the spouse.)

same for a murdered child or elderly dependent and the caregiver(s)

 

[chaddylex]

and finding out she didn't leave them after all, and was murdered, but finding out at the same time that their late father is a person of interest

I can't imagine how they are feeling.

 

[Susikatze]

Actually, the old pencil drawing recons were the most accurate because they were not influenced by the idea that she was Greek.

It is sort of crazy that she finally was identified via FINGERPRINTS! That could have happened decades ago already.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

And she is now traceable on Ancestry as well. It looks like both her parents died in the 70s. moo

And so is the POI, her husband....grrr moo moo

Somehow he got a divorce from Maureen recorded in August 1971. moo

So much family betrayed...

 

[citizen_sleuth]

Her estranged husband filed for divorce in November 1970 and the divorce was granted in August 1971, six months after Maureen's body was found.

 

[lonewanderer]

I am shocked she was not Mary Cooke, but glad she’s been identified!

Between this case and the Pennsylvania case, I don’t have a lot of faith in testing DNA regionally anymore. I was not surprised about this.

 

[Diavola]

Victim of the same old story. Rest in peace, Maureen.
I hope her children at least find comfort in knowing that she did not abandon them.

 

[The4TierBridge]

I am shocked she was not Mary Cooke, but glad she’s been identified!

Between this case and the Pennsylvania case, I don’t have a lot of faith in testing DNA regionally anymore. I was not surprised about this.

I think you mean stable isotope analysis from teeth/hair/bones to find possible locations lived in/born? There’s no DNA testing involved in that process.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

Sincere condolences to her loved-ones. What a sad case.

 

[annoulzz]

As someone who has been following and researching this case since 2012, wow! I am glad she finally got her name back, but I guess she was not Greek after all.

 

[lonewanderer]

As someone who has been following and researching this case since 2012, wow! I am glad she finally got her name back, but I guess she was not Greek after all.

Same thing with Evelyn Colon.

Went unidentified for decades with speculation she was European.

 

[Susikatze]

Same thing with Evelyn Colon.

Went unidentified for decades with speculation she was European.

Yes they thought she was Eastern European from Croatia via her isotopes but she really was a fully Puerto-Rican girl from New Jersey…who had never left New Jersey.
Countless other examples for isotopes gone completely off. Theyre more often off than being correct. Id toss them in the bin of science history

 

[victoriarobinson642]

Like Patricia Otto and Patricia McGlone. Very young women married to men at least 10 years older, had young children. Separated from the husbands and were killed. Daddy said “the little floozy your mom is ran away with another guy and left you”. Noone ever questioned that.

Even in this case, he was 8 years older than her, and they married when she was 17.

 

[The4TierBridge]

Even in this case, he was 8 years older than her, and they married when she was 17.

What records have you been able to find on their marriage; I suck at using FamilySearch type websites and located nothing at all.

 

[annoulzz]

What was her ethnicity? I am curious

 

[summergirl1]

'Little Miss Panasoffkee' identified over half a century later in Sumter County cold case

The unidentified woman was found on Feb. 19, 1971, under the Lake Panasoffkee bridge.

www.wesh.com

 

[summergirl1]

When was the last time a long term doe was identified by fingerprints? Crazy

There have been some other more long term Doe cases and maybe cold case murder cases where this has happened in recent years. I can't recall them off the top of my head, but it's not unheard of. Many cases don't get this level of attention though. Fingerprint technology as well as DNA technology is improving.

 

[summergirl1]

Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee homicide victim identified after almost 55 years - Villages-News.com

The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office announced the identity of the female victim involved in an unsolved homicide case from 1971 on Wednesday morning.

www.villages-news.com

 

[summergirl1]

‘Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee’ identified as Tampa woman nearly 55 years after murder

Deputies in Sumter County announced Wednesday that “Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee” has been identified as a Tampa woman nearly 55 years after her murder.

www-wfla-com.cdn.ampproject.org

 

[Spindlebrook]

When was the last time a long term doe was identified by fingerprints? Crazy

Mary Silvani (Sheep’s Flat Jane Doe) was a fingerprint match in addition to a DNA match.