Her Aunt, Darke County Resident Phyllis Nichols said, "We're all very happy that we at least know where she's at. I think the Good Lord is taking care of her."
On October 11, 1970, the body of a nude female was found in a corn field in the 1200 block of Frazers Road in rural southern Darke County. The manner of death was ruled a homicide by the Darke County Coroner’s Office.
In late October of 1970, the victim was laid to rest in an unmarked grave in the Darke County Cemetery. The Darke County Sheriff’s Office and the Darke County Coroner’s Office investigated the case for several months but the victim remained unidentified and the case grew cold.
In 1999, investigators from the Darke County Sheriff’s Office and the Darke County Coroner’s Office reopened the case. Since that time, the body of “Jane Doe” has been exhumed and forensically re-examined and DNA was extracted. In addition, a forensic artist created a facial reconstruction using the skull of the victim.
On October 9, 2008, the unidentified victim was laid to rest a second time and a press conference was held. The facts of the case were reintroduced to the public and photos of the facial reconstruction were publicized. A plea for assistance from the public was made to help identify this homicide victim.
On October 14, 2008, Phyllis Nichols of Wayne Lakes in Darke County contacted the Darke County Sheriff’s Office requesting to speak with investigators. Mrs. Nichols had observed the photo of the facial reconstruction and story in the local newspaper and believed that it resembled her niece that had gone missing in 1970.
Nichols said, "I laid them side by side and I couldn't help but think those cheek bones and nose have similarity."
Mrs. Nichols reported that, in late summer of 1970, her eighteen-year-old niece, Jeanne Marie Melville of Green Bay, WI, was traveling to Darke County, OH to visit her. Mrs. Nichols and her daughter went to the bus station in Richmond, IN to pick Jeanne Melville up, but she never showed. Jeanne Melville was not seen or heard from again.
Mrs. Nichols reported that she and the Melville family had reported Jeanne missing to various local police agencies but, because she was age 18, there was little they could do and Jeanne’s disappearance went uninvestigated. Based on this report, the Green Bay, WI Police Department was notified and their assistance was requested.
The Green Bay Police Department agreed to open a missing person cold case and assist in this investigation. Investigators from both agencies submitted DNA standards from relatives in Darke County and Green Bay, WI. The DNA was forwarded to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification for comparison.
On July 10, 2009, the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification notified investigators that the 1970 Darke County unidentified homicide victim is positively identified as Jeanne Marie Melville of Green Bay, WI. The identification was the result of conducting DNA analysis and comparison with Jeanne Melville’s only living sibling and two aunts.
The Darke County Sheriff’s Office and the Darke County Coroner’s Office have reached one of its primary objectives in this cold case investigation. Identifying the victim has permitted investigators to learn more about the circumstances and events prior to Jeanne Melville’s death that were previously unknown. This has created new leads in the investigation and investigators are now able to focus on solving the murder of this young girl.
Chief Deputy Mark Whittaker said, "Now that we know who Jeanne Marie is, that's going to open up new leads and we're going to follow all of them. I'm going to continue to follow until I can continue no further."
Now, Darke County Sheriff's detectives look to find her killer.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Chief Deputy Mark Whittaker at the Darke County Sheriff's Office at 937-548-3399.
Timeline: CASE SUMMARY/ INVESTIGATIVE TIME LINE by Chief Deputy Mark Whittaker.
On October 11, 1970 two teenagers discovered the nude body of a female in a corn field near the 1200 block of Frazers Road in southern Darke County, Ohio. The Darke County Sheriff’s Office and Darke County Coroner’s Office began an investigation. The body was in a state of advanced decomposition which made visual identification impossible. The Montgomery County Coroner’s Office conducted an autopsy and the body was held at that office pending identification. The “dumping” of the nude body was evidence of foul play; therefore however, exact cause of death could not be determined. The cause of death was suspected to be strangulation, asphyxiation or drowning.
The original 1970 investigation focused on matching missing person reports with the unidentified female. The case file documents several random calls from witnesses responding to media reports. These witnesses were alleging to have seen a female matching the victim’s description at businesses around Dayton. The information in the case file was not detailed and does not indicate that any leads developed. Some of the missing person reports appeared to have been investigated more thoroughly than others but none of them were positively connected to the victim in this case.
As the month of October 1970 passed investigators received no significant leads and the female body was never identified. On October 29, 1970 the body of “Jane Doe” was buried in an unmarked grave in the county cemetery located at State Route 49 and US Route 127. The last known entry in the 1970 case file was dated December 5, 1970. The case was filed away and no further action was taken.
In February of 1999 Chief Deputy Mark Whittaker (Detective at the time) of the Darke County Sheriff’s Office and Investigator Joe VanVickle of the Darke County Coroner’s Office reopened this case. The objective was to first identify the body with modern scientific techniques and second to solve the murder. The initial case review and gathering of records and information revealed many problems. When the Darke County Sheriff’s Office case file was reduced to microfilm it appears only a portion of it had been preserved. A check of the Dayton Crime Lab and Montgomery County Coroner’s Office records revealed that this case had been part of a batch of microfilm that had been bad and therefore there were no records documenting the autopsy or the evidence that had been processed. Investigators were further discouraged to find that the county cemetery records were incomplete and there was no way to determine the location of the body since her grave was unmarked.
Investigators conducted interviews of numerous people involved in the burials and the maintenance of the cemetery over the last 30 years. Through these interviews and some vague historic records we came to the conclusion that “Jane Doe” was one of a few people in the cemetery that had been buried in a vault. In August of 2002 the cemetery suffered severely dry conditions and the outlines of these vaults became apparent on the surface. Investigators plotted these locations on a map for later use.
In June of 2006 the Darke County Sheriff’s Office was notified by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office of grant funding available for cold case investigations. The primary focus of the grant was the use of DNA in cold cases. The Darke County Sheriff’s Office, the Darke County Coroner’s Office and the Darke County Prosecutor’s Office joined together to form the Darke County Cold Case Task Force. This task force applied for the grant funding and in August of 2006 was awarded $10,000.00 to use toward furthering the identification and investigation of this 1970 homicide.
On October 6, 2006 after conducting a search, investigators located the body of “Jane Doe” in the Darke County Cemetery. The body was exhumed and transported to the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office. Personnel from the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office and the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab conducted a forensic examination of the remains. Samples of the remains were sent to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification for the purpose of extracting DNA.
On December 13, 2006 the remains of “Jane Doe” were turned over to Dr. Elizabeth Murray, a board certified forensic anthropologist, at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Murray examined the remains and was able to provide more descriptive details about “Jane Doe” that had either been erroneous, not clear or unknown back in 1970.
In December of 2007 the skull of “Jane Doe” was sent to forensic artist Joanna Hughes at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN. Joanna Hughes used the skull to create a clay facial reconstruction of what the victim is believed to have looked like. In June of 2008 Joanna Hughes sent me the completed digital images of the facial reconstruction of “Jane Doe”.
On October 6, 2008 investigators were notified by the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab that the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification in Fort Worth, TX had successfully extracted DNA from the remains of “Jane Doe”. This DNA profile was entered into a national database for missing and unidentified persons.
On October 9, 2008 “Jane Doe” was laid to rest a second time and a memorial service was held in her honor. The Darke County Sheriff’s Office and Darke County Coroner’s Office conducted a news conference and publicized the case and the reconstruction photos in an effort to establish leads on the identity of this victim. The following description of “Jane Doe” was released based on the more recent findings and forensic examinations.
1970 Unidentified Homicide Victim
Caucasian Female 20-40 years (23-34) 5’03” – 5’07” in height 150 lbs +/- Dark Brown Hair medium length (natural) w/ Red Hair Wig longer than natural hair 20 teeth, some w/ dental work (restoration), extractions prior to death Rib Fractures possible (old fractures) Time of Death (estimated) - September 27, 1970-October 9, 1970 Homemade ring on right ring finger, silver in color w/ small studs around it
On October 14, 2008 Phyllis Nichols of Wayne Lakes in Darke County responded to the article in the local newspaper. She believed that the forensic artists depiction in the newspaper resembled her 18 year old niece, Jeanne Marie Melville from Green Bay, WI. Mrs. Nichols reported to investigators that in late summer of 1970 Jeanne Melville had disappeared while traveling on bus from Green Bay, WI to Darke County. Jeanne was supposed to arrive at the Greyhound Bus Station in Richmond, IN. When Mrs. Nichols and her daughter went to pick Jeanne up she was no where to be found. Jeanne Melville was never seen or heard from again.
Based on Phyllis Nichols’ report this lead was followed and the Green Bay Police Department was notified. The Green Bay Police Department agreed to open a missing person cold case. Investigators from the Darke County Sheriff’s Office and the Green Bay Police Department spoke regularly on the case and conducted follow up interviews and research in their respective jurisdictions. In addition both agencies obtained DNA standards from relatives to be submitted for comparison with the DNA extracted from “Jane Doe”. Investigators obtained DNA from Jeanne’s only living sibling, a sister in Green Bay, a maternal aunt in Green Bay and a maternal aunt, Phyllis Nichols in Darke County.
On July 10, 2009 the Green Bay Police Department notified the Darke County Sheriff’s Office and Coroner’s Office that they had received a report from the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification that the 1970 unidentified “Jane Doe” in Darke County was positively identified as Jeanne Marie Melville, age 18 (at time of death) of Green Bay, WI.