Forty years have passed since a university professor stumbled upon a female skull in a blueberry patch near a Kentucky interstate, and still the mystery continues to deepen despite a breakthrough in identifying the victim, helping to thaw out the once-cold case.
Advances in DNA technology and genetic genealogy confirmed the decaying skull belonged to Patricia Armentrout, a girl believed to be between the ages of 12 and 16 when she died.
Patricia, however, was adopted and renamed by her adoptive parents, adding another layer of complexity to her case. Further digging by Kentucky State Police, a birth certificate and interviews with biological relatives corroborated her identity.
Detectives admitted Tuesday while they've overcome the hurdle of identifying the victim, there are still key pieces of the investigative puzzle missing.
"You look at the other side of it and you realize that you've only completed half of it," Allen Shirley, a detective with Kentucky State Police, said, according to WBKO-TV. "I don't think it takes an investigator to realize that people don't just end up on the side of Interstate 65 in a wooded area on their own and die."
Investigators speculate Patricia, whose remains were found in addition to her blouse, red corduroy pants, underwear, and strands of her brown hair, may have been dead between several months and two years before she was discovered in 1984.
Police believe her body was dumped in the Warren County, Kentucky blueberry field after she died, but don't have the evidence yet to support their working theory, according to the station.
The investigation into her cause of death remains ongoing. Anyone with information on the case is encouraged to contact KSP at (270) 782-2010.
