Pocono News Section

Cold case opens more than 30 years after murder.

Cold case opens more than 30 years after murder. - Tuesday, October 30, 2007 at 6:15PM EST

Tuesday, Oct 30, 2007 @06:15pm EST

She's been buried for decades the secret of her death buried with her.

But today, some thirty years later State Police dig up her remains, hoping to crack a cold case.

State police use a bulldozer and shovels at the grave of unidentified murder victim Beth Doe.

They're digging up her remains, hoping new forensics technology can identify her.

Corporal Thomas McAndrew of the Pennsylvania state police says, "we've been trying to chip away at this case, little by little. And it finally culminated. We knew this was one of the things we wanted to try to do, to apply today's technology toward this."

Doe's murder case has been cold for decades.

The pregnant mother was killed back in 1976.

Doe's remains were found, next to the Lehigh River, underneath interstate 80 in White Haven.

Police say her body parts were chopped up, and split up into 3 suitcases.

And that's about all police know.

Leads led nowhere, and doe was buried in the county owned Laurytown Road cemetary here in Lehigh Township.

This computerized image is what investigators believe she looked like.

On Tuesday, her body was taken to a forensic pathologist in New Jersey where DNA tests will be taken, and a better picture can be drawn.

Carbon county district attorney Gary Dobias says, "the important first step is to identify the victim, find out who the victim is, and that may lead to some other things that may hopefully will eventually solve the crime."

Dobias says there is no statute of limitations on a murder case.

Investigators hope this exhumation will lead to new information.

Corporal Shawn Williams of the Pennsylvania State Police says,

"what we would hope would be happening right now is some other police agency out there working just as hard on a missing person case and that will assist us in identifying."

In hopes someday, Beth Doe's family can notified.

And the person who killed her is found, and brought to justice.