It's been nearly a year since the Los Angeles Police Department began working on the case of an unidentified, decomposed remains of an adult female found dumped at a Downtown recycling facility. Now detectives are releasing information about the Jane Doe corpse's dental work, in the hopes dental professionals may be able to shed a light on this unsolved case.The badly decomposed body was found a the L.A. Recycling center on September 10, 2010. Initially the remains were indistinguishable in regards to the person's gender or age, however an autopsy ultimately determined Jane Doe #52 was a Caucasian female (possibly Native American or Hispanic) between the ages of 50 and 70. Officials ruled the case a homicide, however how, when, or why she was killed remains unknown.
The LAPD say they have sent information about Jane Doe's dental work to the California Dental Association, who will post the details on their website. Specifically, the LAPD are looking for who may have put in Jane Doe's "very high quality" porcelain crown they believe was put in just two weeks before her death.
This latest approach by LAPD detectives is just another perhaps unconventional way of looking for clues in this case. Earlier this year, the LAPD set up a now-defunct Facebook page for The Body Recycler, along with photos of the victim's unique ring and a police sketch of what she may have looked like, in the hopes the public could provide information about her identity and her death.
“Not knowing the cause of death nor the woman’s identity makes this case extremely challenging,” said Lt. Paul Vernon, commanding officer of the Central Detective Division. “But with the clues we’ve provided, we hope Jane Doe’s dentist might recognize her sketch, the ring, or even the quality of dental work. We have no doubt that identifying Jane Doe #52 will lead us to someone who knows how she died.”
Anyone with information on this crime is urged to call LAPD Detectives Thayer Lake or Brian Putnam, Central Homicide Unit, at (213) 972-1254 or 1257.
