Bone Lady Fights Crime

Marco Demma, a homicide detective from New Orleans, was faced with a dilemma. He was working on a 1986 murder case-- an unidentified woman was murdered and dumped into Louisiana's Lake Pontchatrain. Fishermen had found her body three days later. By that time, there wasn't enough evidence left to ID her body and she was buried in an unmarked grave at Potters Field. But in 2003, Detective Marco got a break. Lisa Sexton, a woman from Ohio, had gone missing around the time of the murder. The two women shared similar characteristics; they were the same age, height and weight. Could they be one and the same person?

Detective Marco wanted answers. Lisa Sexton's mother gave police medical and dental records for her missing daughter. But, in 1986, neither DNA nor dental records were compiled for Jane Doe. So Marco employed the help of the "Bone Lady."

Detective Marco had worked with Mary Manhein, or the "Bone Lady", before to crack what, at first glance, would seem like unsolvable crimes. Mary Manhein is an anthropologist who specializes in the human skeleton. She is founder of the FACES (Forensic Anthropology and Computer Enhancement Services) lab at Louisiana State University. From her assessment of skeletal remains, Mary can create a crime victim profile law enforcement agents can use. She can make out the persons age, gender, and height merely from looking at their bones. Furthermore, "Bone Lady" can recognize whether the victim underwent trauma and the amount of time lapsed since death.

Mary Manhein exhumed the Lake Pontchatrain Jane Doe from her unmarked grave. Upon investigation, Mary's team discovered several pieces of information that differed from the initial autopsy. Mary revealed the Jane Doe seemed to be a bit shorter and older than what was originally suggested. She had all her teeth and they were perfect; no cavities or fillings. Thus, Mary deduced that Jane Doe must have come from a middle to upper-class family who took care of her well.

Based on this new information, the Bone Lady ruled out the possibility that the Louisiana Jane Doe was Ohio's missing Lisa Sexton. Mary spotted metal fillings in Lisa's dental x-rays; Jane Doe had a perfect smile.

But Mary and her team at the FACES lab were not going to stop there. They created a clay bust of what Jane Doe may have looked like. The team then input the image into a computer to get a more life-like picture. With hopes of generating new leads, detectives want to bring the story of Lake Pontchatrain's Jane Doe into the spotlight.

"We want to bring this girl, who's been in St. Tammany, Louisiana for the past 17 years, home," Detective Marco says.