Nearly 30 years later, DeKalb Medical Examiner's Office still trying to identify woman's remains

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. - It’s the goal for Patrick Bailey and his team at the DeKalb Medical Examiner's Office to safely identify and return bodies to their loved ones once they’ve transitioned, but there’s one case still unsolved.

It's been almost three decades since the unidentified skeletal remains of a woman were found near North Lake Mall. Those remains were discovered on Sept. 17, 1993, in a wooded area off Parklake Drive

"You want families to have closure," Bailey said. "You want to make sure you’re exhausting every avenue out there to conduct identification."

The Medical Examiner's Office says the woman had extensive dental work, a fixed fold bridge, two full gold crowns, and had a full left hip replacement. Experts believe she was there several weeks to several months before she was found. Computer renderings show what the woman might have looked like at the time of her death. 

"Hair played a role because it was brown in color or glazed in coloring, and it suggests that the female might have gone out of the way to enhance her appearance," Bailey said.

The woman was wearing a black T-shirt with a multicolored writing, jeans,  and white leather cross trainer tennis shoes.  

Bailey says his team won’t stop until they send this woman back to be with her family.

Computer renderings show what the woman might have looked like at the time of her death. 

"Here in DeKalb, every time a new investigator comes in, or a new person comes in we have them take a look at it just to see if a new set of eyes can see something we may haven’t seen or overlooked," he said.

Anyone who may have information that could help identify the woman is urged to call the DeKalb County Medical Examiner’s Office.