Over 40 years after the skeleton of a girl was discovered off a busy New Jersey highway, her case remains unsolved. Now there’s a new push to find the person responsible for her murder, thanks in large part to a woman who wasn’t even born at the time of the girl’s death.
In 1971, the skeleton of a girl believed to be between the ages of 12 and 14, was found by hunters in a wooded area in Galloway Township, NJ along the Garden State Parkway. Authorities believe the girl was strangled but she has still not been identified four decades later.
Her case received new attention in January after the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children posted a photo on Facebook of a brown leather wristband and small watch found with the victim.
“I would love to know what happened to her and hopefully at minimum, identify her,” said Galloway Township Police Lieutenant Donna Higbee.
Higbee told NBC10 investigators are now trying to track down at least two people of interest who were interviewed following the discovery of the girl's remains back in ’71.
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“There were several polygraphs that came back inconclusive so I would like to have them redone now that we have some new technology, maybe some new interview techniques,” Higbee said. “Re-approaching it many years later may help us.”
In 2014, A New Jersey State Police forensic anthropologist was finally able to retrieve DNA from both of the girl’s parents from her bones. So far however there haven’t been any matches in the National DNA Database.
“The good news is it will remain there forever,” Higbee said. “There’s a potential that we’ll be able to link someone to her.”
