Woman found dead in Northern California river over 30 years ago is identified, sheriff says
A “Jane Doe” found in a Northern California river more than 30 years ago has been identified, providing a family member “peace” as they searched for answers, authorities said.
A woman was found Aug. 13, 1991, face down in the Sacramento River, just one mile south of the Meridian Bridge, by a farmer turning on an irrigation pump, the Colusa County Sheriff’s Office said Friday in a social media post. The victim had dark hair, dressed in a light blue tank-top with blue flowers, white jogging shorts with vertical blue and green stripes on the side and white “LA Gear” ankle shoes.
She was identified as Berry Jo, born Oct. 4, 1961. Jo lived in Yuba City when she died and may have been homeless, sheriff’s official said in the post, which called her a drowning victim.
Deputies attempted to identify the woman for years by contacting many agencies across the nationwide but were unsuccessful, deputies said.
“After several years of attempting to identify the victim using different methods, the case went cold,” deputies said.
Colusa County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Jose Ruiz reopened the victim’s case in November 2017. He was helped this year by the FBI Sacramento office’s Violent Crime Task Force investigative genetic genealogy team.
Investigators linked the woman’s DNA to a possible family member and were able to make a positive identification.
“Investigators followed leads in several states including Texas, Oklahoma, and Nevada, ultimately bringing peace to a family member who had been looking for answers for the past 33 years,” deputies said.
