A genetic genealogy breakthrough has revived a decades-old cold case involving an unidentified woman whose skull was discovered at the bottom of a Wisconsin river.
The skull of “Wolf River Joanne Doe” was found in roughly eight feet of water in Winneconne, Wisconsin, by two teenage boys who were snorkeling on July 26, 1985.
Investigators with the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office now believe Mary Jane Connor may have been the unidentified woman’s grandmother. The development could help authorities determine both Joanne’s identity and who killed her.
“It’s statistically probable that she’s the grandmother, but we don’t know what sex her child was who would be the parent of our victim,” Lieutenant Chris Braman told The Post-Crescent.
Authorities are examining Connor’s family history for clues. Records show she was born on October 14, 1883, in Northern Ireland to Owen and Mary Connor. She had three siblings: Ellen, Bernard and Therese.
The 1901 Ireland census lists the Connor family as Roman Catholic.
Connor left Londonderry, Ireland, for the United States aboard the transatlantic steamship Caledonia. The vessel arrived in New York on August 24, 1907.
Investigators found obituaries for Connor’s parents, sibling, nieces and nephews, but none referred to Connor.
The skull of “Wolf River Joanne Doe,” an unidentified woman, was discovered in about eight feet of water in Winneconne, Wisconsin, by two teenage boys snorkeling in July 1985
Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office investigators used genetic genealogy testing to determine that Mary Jane Connor could have been “Joanne’s” grandmother as they work to identify the woman and her killer
Connor’s name appears on line seven of the passenger list for the Caledonia, which traveled from Londonderry, Ireland, to the United States in August 1907
“We can speculate as to why that was — whether she was a black sheep, or they didn’t want her to leave and she left — but it definitely appears that she wasn’t recognized in the family after she was gone,” Braman told the outlet.
According to the outlet, investigators have consulted the Manchester Historical Society, professional genealogists and Connor family relatives in an effort to learn more about her life.
The investigation took a major step forward after Braman obtained a DNA sample from a 91-year-old Northern Irish man who lived in Connor’s hometown.
The testing revealed a strong genetic connection to Joanne, and officials determined that the man was Connor’s nephew.
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Authorities also found that Joanne’s genetic profile was 99 percent Irish or Northern English, the outlet reported.
Using that DNA reference, investigators linked Joanne to the direct descendants of Bernard Connor, one of Mary Jane Connor’s three siblings, and his wife, Alice O’Hagan.
“We were very lucky that someone who was basically a generation above [the victim] was still alive and willing to help,” Braman told the outlet.
Braman said he has worked to identify Joanne since 2011, while other experts have studied her skeletal remains.
A key breakthrough in the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office investigation came after Lieutenant Chris Braman obtained DNA testing from a 91-year-old Northern Irish man who lived in Connor’s hometown. Source: Facebook/Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office
James Provinzano, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, examined Joanne’s cranium in 1985. Source: Facebook/University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh
More than 40 years later, Jordan Karsten, a UW-Oshkosh biological anthropologist, worked with law enforcement to search for additional clues in the cold case
On the day the skull was discovered, a Sheriff’s Office dive team searched the riverbed for the rest of the woman’s body. Nothing else was recovered.
James Provinzano, then an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, examined the cranium in 1985. He concluded that it likely belonged to a woman who was about 30 years old and had been dead for between 15 and 40 years.
More than four decades later, Jordan Karsten, a biological anthropologist at UW-Oshkosh, began working with investigators to uncover new information.
“I was asked by Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office… and my goal was to try and figure out, is it male or female? There are methods we have where we can study a cranium both visually and by taking measurements,” Karsten said in a video shared with the outlet.
After examining the cranium, Karsten determined that Joanne was a Caucasian woman from the modern era who was between 30 and 50 years old. He estimated that the skull had been submerged for no more than 20 years.
The Sheriff’s Office publicized the latest developments in the hope that a Connor relative will provide DNA for further testing and help resolve the long-running cold case.
“We’re like one record away right now. If we could figure out who Mary Jane married, I think we would be in really good shape,” Braman told the outlet.
Our News Outlet has contacted Lieutenant Chris Braman and Jordan Karsten for comment.
