FL DAVIE JANE DOE: WF, 21-35, found in canal near 2600 Southwest 130th Avenue in Davie, FL - 18 Feb 1984 *LORI KEARSEY*

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554UFFL - Unidentified Female​

Artistic renderings of the victim


Date of Discovery: February 18, 1984
Location of Discovery: Davie, Broward County, Florida
Estimated Date of Death: 2 days prior
State of Remains: Recognizable face
Cause of Death: Homicide by strangulation

Physical Description​

Estimated Age: 21-35 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 120 lbs.
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Hazel
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Unknown

Identifiers​

Dentals: Available. She had a gap between her two front teeth.
Fingerprints: Available.
DNA: Available.

Clothing & Personal Items​

Clothing: Shorts.
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Discovery​

The victim was located face down in a canal in the vicinity of 2600 Southwest 130th Avenue.

It's possible that she was a victim of suspected serial killer Christopher Wilder. Wilder lived in Boynton Beach and was linked to a string of disappearances through Florida from the late 1970s to early 1980s.

Investigating Agency(s)​

Agency Name: District 17 Medical Examiner's Office - Broward County
Agency Contact Person: Wendy Crane
Agency Phone Number: 954-357-5200
Agency Email: wcrane@broward.org
Agency Case Number: 1984-0253

Agency Name: Davie Police Department Criminal Investigations Bureau
Agency Contact Person: Detective Eddy Velazquez
Agency Phone Number: 954-693-8291
Agency Email: evelazquez@davie-fl.gov
Agency Case Number: 84-02-3929

NCIC Case Number: U570018944
NamUs Case Number: UP #1258

Information Source(s)​

NamUs
Davie Police Department
The Sun Sentinel News Archive

554UFFL

#IDENTIFIED IN 2023 #JaneDoe was found in Davie, #FLORIDA 1984

#IDENTIFIED IN 2023 #JaneDoe was found in Davie, #FLORIDA 1984

www.crimewatchers.net

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[SheWhoMustNotBeNamed]

Woman who married into Boston crime family revealed as Florida canal murder victim after vanishing: daughter

Maehgan Smith got closure after Florida detectives approached her for a DNA sample. Her mother, Lori Kearsey, who disappeared in 1984, was finally identified.

www.foxnews.com

Woman who married into Boston crime family revealed as Florida canal murder victim after vanishing: daughter​

Lori Jane Kearsey's family in Gloucester, Massachusetts, always knew something terrible must have happened to her when she never returned from a Florida vacation with her new husband, leaving her 5-year-old daughter at home with no answers.

Thirty-nine years later, Kearsey's daughter Maehgan Smith got a call from detectives in Davie, Florida, asking if any of her immediate female family members had disappeared in 1984.

Despite releasing the unidentified woman's description – blonde with hazel eyes and gapped front teeth, standing at 5 feet, 4 inches and weighing 120 pounds – the Davie Police Department was unable to identify Smith's mother for nearly 40 years.

DNA extracted from the bone fragments of the Jane Doe found strangled and floating face-down in a canal in West Davie in February 1984 was finally linked to Smith after the long-cold case was reopened in 2021.

"Investigators used several resources to assist with forensic digital imagining, DNA extraction and identification of a potential family tree," Davie Police Sgt. Kevin Urbaez told local outlet WSVN. "Using all those resources, investigators were able to locate the victim’s daughter."

Smith told Fox News Digital she had "resigned [herself] to the fact that [she'd] never know" what happened to her mother."

"I always knew that she was [married to] someone in a crime family and it was in the early '80s," Smith said. "They were married for just eight months before she was murdered. It's so painfully obvious but it's so hard to prove cases."

Before she gave a DNA sample to confirm genetic genealogists' findings, Smith said her family "knew it was [Kearsey] based on pictures and sketches [police] had, even without the DNA."

Smith said her mother, who was 23 years old when she was last seen by her family, had married into a "pretty infamous Boston crime family" – but neither Smith nor Davie Police Department detectives would divulge his name to Fox News Digital.

"[Police] don't have enough for an arrest right now, [but] they do have people of interest," Smith told Fox News Digital. "They're hoping they'll get a little bit more leads now that the public knows. Unfortunately, I cannot disclose the name of her husband – I really wish I could."

"He's still alive," Smith continued.

Because Kearsey was still technically married, Smith said, it took a "bit of legal maneuvering" on detectives' part to contact her blood family first as next of kin.

Smith said her late mother was never reported missing – Kearsey's family, she said, assumed she was in the witness protection program.

After Kearsey's disappearance, 5-year-old Smith was raised in a "very loving home" by her father and stepmother.



Police are still searching for clues to find Kearsey's killer, with Urbaez telling WSVN that their goal is to "bring those who were involved in this criminal case to justice."

Anyone with pertinent information is asked to call Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS for a potential award of $5,000.

 

[Kimster]

How sad that they thought she was alive in the witness protection program. I’m glad they know the truth now so they can mourn her properly.