Woman found dead by farmer in Illinois cornfield 33 years ago identified with posthumous DNA sample
A person found dead in an Illinois cornfield in 1991 has been identified as a Chicago-area woman more than a decade after authorities began re-examining the cold case.
An investigation relying on a posthumous DNA sample led to the identification of Paula Ann Lundgren last week. Now authorities hope they can piece together more details about her life and the circumstances of her death.
Over the decades, the case was investigated by three sheriffs and four coroners, according to the LaSalle County Coroner's Office.
"All have worked tirelessly on this case for over three decades. As well as their many staff members. Hundreds of leads had been vetted out, flyers and communications were sent across the U.S. and Canada hoping to identify the unknown 'Jane Doe,' the office said.
Her body was exhumed in 2013 to obtain DNA and employ investigative methods not in use in the early 1990s. And in 2019, a professor at Illinois Valley Community College used investigative genetic genealogy to produce a list of the woman's possible living relatives.
The LaSalle County coroner's office said it went through the list for years trying to find a match before involving the FBI in February. In July there was a break in the case.
"We have limited resources, so the FBI agreed to provide further assistance with the case that eventually led to a living relative," Coroner Rich Ploch said Monday. "That person's DNA was confirmed as a match to Paula."
Lundgren, who had lived primarily in the Chicago area, would have been 29 when a farmer found her body in September 1991 in a cornfield in northern Illinois' LaSalle County, authorities said.
According to the county coroner, she had a significant amount of dental work, breast implants and two tattoos — one of a cross with a red flower on it and one of a star-shaped flower and a multicolored flower growing from a stem.
The coroner's office determined at the time that the woman had died from cocaine intoxication. Her unidentified body was eventually buried in an Ottawa cemetery with a headstone reading, "Somebody's Daughter, Somebody's Friend."
The LaSalle County sheriff's office said now that Lundgren's identity is known the agency hopes "new leads can be developed as to how she came to be in the cornfield."