Grundy County Coroner John W. Callahan’s office has identified the victim of a 1976 Cold Case Homicide.

On the afternoon of October 2, 1976, a local farmer discovered the body of an unidentified African American female, alongside rural U.S. Route 6, near Seneca, Illinois. The investigation into the death soon began.

After exhausting all efforts of attempting to identify the female, she was subsequently buried in an unmarked grave at the Braceville-Gardner Cemetery on Thanksgiving Day 1976.

For years the case remained cold and was reopened by the Coroner’s Office in late-2017, hoping to use modern-day forensic science techniques and technology to finally give the victim her name back. The unidentified female was subsequently exhumed on December 18, 2018, and efforts to obtain DNA began.

The victim’s identity will be released at a press conference held by the Coroner’s Office, on Thursday, June 27, 2024, at 1:00 p.m., in the boardroom of the Grundy County Administration Center, 1320 Union Street, Morris, IL 60450.