A longtime Dade County cold case murder mystery solved after three decades of intrigue is finding a greater audience with the recent upload of “Bloodline Detectives, Hosted by Nancy Grace.”
The episode focuses on the case of Rising Fawn Jane Doe, found deceased and dumped off I-59 just five miles north of the Alabama state line in December of 1988.
The victim’s identity and that of her killer would be unknown for 33 years until both were determined by the use of investigative genealogy. It’s the first time the science was able to identify both victim and perpetrator in the same case
Agents with the GBI credit the painstaking collection, care and custody of Dade County Sheriff’s investigators who saved the genetic material at a time when DNA scientific identification was in a relative infancy.
The deceased was identified as Stacy Lyn Chahorski of Norton Springs, Michigan.
Investigators confirmed the perpetrator by comparing DNA samples provided by relatives of Wise but soon discovered the suspected killer had died in a 2011 racing accident.
GBI Special Agent in Charge Joe Montgomery says Chahorski’s remains, which had previously been interred in a Dade County unmarked grace, have been returned to Mary Beth Smith, the victim’s surviving mother, for final disposition in her home state.
By Vince Lennon