Despite her identity being discovered recently, the case is still considered cold and authorities are asking anyone to come forward and assist in their investigation and call 1-800-TBI-FIND.
Investigators in Tennessee have said they made a breakthrough in a 38-year-old cold case by naming the victim after all these long years with the help of DNA, according to reports.
The victim, no longer classified as a Jane Doe, is identified as Michelle Inman, according to reports.
Inman's skeletal remains were found in March 1985, near a creek bank by a motorist having vehicle trouble along Interstate 24 West in Cheatham County, according to Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
TBI agents began working alongside the Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office in investigating the death and forensic anthropologists at the University of Tennessee determined that the skeletal remains were those of a white female but she could not be identified, according to authorities.
According to the University of Tennessee Anthropology Department, the woman was estimated to have been deceased for two to five months prior to the discovery of her remains.
After exhausting all leads, investigators could not determine the victim’s identity, and she was classified as a Jane Doe.
However, the TBI announced in December 2022 a new initiative known as the Unidentified Human Remains DNA Initiative, its goal of which is to identify 10 John and Jane Does through $100,000 in grant funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance and additional forensic funding from the state, in hopes of solving several decades-old cases, according to WBIR.
Now, thanks to the initiative, they have successfully been able to name the 38-year-old Jane Doe from Nashville.
Michelle Inman was 24 at the time of her death and would have turned 25 in April 1985, according to TBI.
Despite her identity being discovered recently, the case is still considered cold and authorities are asking anyone to come forward and assist in their investigation and call 1-800-TBI-FIND.
