Skeletal remains of a teenager found encased in cement and buried beneath the floor of a building in New York City have been identified, more than 20 years after they were first discovered.
In an interview with WNBC, New York Police Department Detective Ryan Glas said that the woman, who had been known as “Midtown Jane Doe,” had been positively identified as Patricia Kathleen McGlone through genealogical DNA testing that linked the victim to a relative who died in the 9/11 terror attacks.
McGlone’s remains were initially found on Feb. 10, 2003. “When knocking through a concrete floor, a skull rolled out,” Glas told WNBC.
Investigators were able to determine that the victim, who had been found wrapped in a rust-colored carpet and buried under a layer of poured concrete, had been approximately 16 when she was killed. Further examination revealed that McGlone had been strangled to death with an extension cord that bound her hands and feet and remained circled around her neck when she was found.
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In 2004, detectives told America’s Most Wanted that evidence suggested that the teen victim had been a runaway who traveled to New York. Her dental records indicated that she had received good and consistent care through her teenage years, but that signs of decay indicated there had been a change in her environment.
McGlone is believed to have been murdered during the latter half of 1969 or in early 1970, Glas told CBS News. In the late 1960s, the building where her remains were found housed Steve Paul’s The Scene, a popular nightclub. Police told CBS News that they have not been able to find any record that McGlone’s disappearance was reported.
Among the evidence that was found with the victim’s remains was a plastic toy soldier, a ring engraved “P Mc G” and a dime minted in 1969.
In the wake of the terror attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, a relative of McGlone’s was among those who submitted swabs to the New York Medical Examiner’s Office to help identify missing people. It was that swab that eventually led to McGlone’s identity being revealed.
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“Now we can start the next phase of the investigation — finding the killer,” Glas told the New York Post. “Everyone is someone’s child. We have to bring closure.”
Glas told The Post that the investigation has so far revealed that the 16-year-old victim married a man in his early 30s shortly before her disappearance, and that man was linked to the building where her body was later found. “We’re still working on getting information on him, trying to verify what his situation was with her,” Glas said. “At this point in the investigation, what I can say is, he does have a connection to where she was found.”
This story was originally published by Lauren Silver at CourtTV.com.