Bay County, FL (WMBB) – In 1980, forest hunters in Fountain, FL encountered what appeared to be a shallow grave with human remains. Authorities collected the bodies.
Originally they believed it was the body of Joanne Benner, a local woman who had been missing since 1976. However, the test ruled out her.
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Then last year, the Sheriff’s Office cold case unit picked up the incident. This week, 45 years after the body was found, authorities were able to identify the victim Carol Skidmore, a Texas woman who has been missing since 1977.
“No matter how long it is, I can’t imagine how unbearable it is to not know where my loved one was at this time,” Sheriff Tommy Ford said.
According to the sheriff, Skidmore, her husband, and her five-year-old son left home to Texas in March 1977 and headed to Georgia to visit her husband’s family.
Her family last heard from her in April 1977. She told them she didn’t know when she would come back.
The following month, investigators found the body of their five-year-old son in a Tennessee lake.
Then, in June, Arkansas officials discovered that Skidmore’s husband had died in a hotel room from an obvious suicide.
However, Skidmore remained missing.
“We have established a cold case unit consisting of retired investigators and command staff from both the sheriff’s office and the other agencies we meet here every week. “Most of them are from the 70s, 80s and 90s, working to identify suspects and working with the crime scene unit to bring in new technology based on evidence.”
Due to the lack of physical evidence, they had to make a handful of parts.
“This was one of the first things we started almost from scratch in the ’80s. So unlike these other case files I work and see, I already had a lot of documents. There were documents we were trying to set up for other people’s work, what tests were done, what tests were done in the future, this was something we had. Aaron said.
The break came when they entered DNA from the teeth into the database. Within a month they had two hits from the family’s DNA. This ultimately confirmed that the wreckage was Skidmore.
They said that types of technology are used regularly in cold cases.
The suspect was injured in a deputy shooting in Polk County.
“It’s very extensive. It’s amazing, you know, thoroughly and constantly changing this because you were able to create a family tree based on DNA years ago and not be able to identify anyone.
Skidmore had one surviving brother. Investigators notified Texas authorities and he told him he had actively identified his sister.
The Cold Case Unit is working on several other cold cases, including the Joan Benner case. It was handed over to the State Attorney’s Office for further examination.
