By Cecilia Chan
Independent Newsmedia
It was around 11:15 to 11:30 p.m. on a Friday 34 years ago when three teenagers driving along a two-lane, rural Wisconsin roadway came upon the body of a middle-aged woman laying a short distance off the gravel road.
Someone had bashed in the woman’s head, severed both her hands at the wrist and dumped her body in the open, roughly six miles outside the city of Westby, population just over 2,000.
She had been killed 24-48 hours prior, her hands missing and never found.Investigators from multiple agencies worked the May 4, 1984 case, checking into more than 400 leads but to this day she’s remained a Jane Doe, a cold case for the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office.
A recent breakthrough, however, suggests the woman, believed to be between 50 and 63, may have ties to Arizona.
The full story appears in the Daily News-Sun May 26 edition. To read it all, subscribe by calling 623-972-6101 or visit the Daily News-Sun e-edition website.
