The body of Dorothy Lynn Ricker washed ashore on the banks of Lake Michigan in 1997, but her remains could not be identified for 25 years.
A nude body that washed ashore on the banks of Lake Michigan 25 years ago now has a name.
Forensic experts using advanced DNA analyses identified the remains of Dorothy Lynn Ricker last month, the Michigan State Police announced this week.
The 26-year-old woman accidentally drowned in the waters off western Michigan in 1997, authorities said Monday. Her nude body was found on a beach and the only identifying item was a lone earring.
In September 2020, state police detectives and missing persons investigators reopened the case and exhumed the remains for genetic testing not available when the body was found, authorities said. A year later, a possible match was identified to a family in Maine, and officers obtained DNA samples from two relatives living in Chicago, police said.
Last month, investigators determined the remains belonged to Ricker, who was last seen by police in Wisconsin on October 2, 1997, police said.
"At that time, Mrs. Ricker was sitting on a Lake Michigan beach park bench," police said. "The officers briefly talked to her. She mentioned she was from Chicago and was 'enjoying the lakefront and the sun,'" state police said.
"Although DNA testing wasn't possible when Dorothy Ricker died, investigators are grateful that it brings her family some resolution today," the Michigan State Police said in a news release.
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