The Body of a Jane Doe Buried in Pennsylvania in 1995 Has Finally Been Identified Using Forensic Science More than 20 Years Later

 

Patrick McGinley

Mr. Ippolito 

Forensics

January 9th 2022

 

“The body of a Jane Doe buried in Pennsylvania in 1995 has finally been identified using forensic science more than 20 years later.” On Sept. 18, 1995, the Bensalem Police Department found the skeletal remains of an adult in a wooded area. The victim was unclothed and wrapped in a plastic tarp. Autopsy information determined that the victim was an adult white female between the ages of 35 to 45 years old and that she had given birth at least once. She was approximately 4’8’ to 5’2” tall and had brown hair. The death was classified as a homicide and it was estimated that the body had been there for 2 to 3 years. Despite considerable media coverage, the decedent was never identified and there were no missing person reports that matched her. She was buried in Telford, PA under the name Jane Doe. In November 2021, Bode labs developed a DNA profile for this Jane Doe and uploaded it into GEDmatch and FamilytreeDNA.com. With additional sibling DNA comparison testing, the Bensalem Twp. Police Dept. is confident that Jane Doe has been identified as Merrybeth Hodgkinson of Warminster, PA. Hodgkinson vanished sometime in September 1992 after visiting with her family in Warminster, PA. She was approximately 31 years old when she died and worked as an exotic dancer in the Lower Bucks County area.

 

            The Hodgkinson family had no idea what had happened to their daughter for so many years. They had last heard from her in 1992. This tragedy had taken a large toll on the Hodgkinson family. When they were finally told what had happened to their daughter they were thankful to finally find out what had happened. 

 

This article did well at getting straight to the point and being very thorough with their evidence. I would have liked to find out more background information about Mrs Hodgkinson. I thought this article could have stated more about what exactly happened to her and give us more information on how she was killed. 

 

Bibliography 

“The Body of a Jane Doe Buried in Pennsylvania in 1995 Has Finally Been Identified Using Forensic Science More than 20 Years Later.” Yahoo! News, Yahoo!, https