Body found by loggers in Alabama woods in 1990 identified as Georgia mom, cops say
More than three decades after a woman’s remains were found by loggers in the woods off an Alabama highway, the body has been identified as a missing Georgia mom, police said.
In 1990, a logging crew was working along a road in Heflin, Alabama, when they stumbled upon human remains, according to an Oct. 25 news release from the Heflin Police Department.
The remains, which at the time were described by The Anniston Star as “badly decomposed,” were found by loggers clearing timber to make pulpwood, AL.com reported.
“It was believed to be the remains of a white female, possibly late twenties to late thirties but due to the time the remains were exposed to the elements, it was difficult to determine,” Police Capt. Scott Bonner said in the release shared on Facebook.
Police said they determined she was killed, but without an identity or clues to explore, her case went cold.
A couple years ago, a retired chief deputy reached out to the police department hoping they would reopen the homicide case.
“(The chief deputy) was involved in this case at the beginning and it never left his mind,” Bonner said. “He wanted justice and some closure for the family. He wanted the lady that was never identified to have a name and a proper burial.”
The case was reopened last year, according to the release.
The Heflin Police Department reached out to Othram Labs, a Texas-based genealogy company that specializes in solving cases with unidentified persons.
The company created a genetic profile for the Jane Doe and used public family trees to track down any living relatives.
Othram found a living relative, a daughter, and police reached out to her, Bonner said.
Using information from the daughter, police identified the woman as her missing mother, Clara Kopp Reynolds, from Georgia.
Reynolds was born in 1947 but went missing in either late 1988 or early 1989 as she was heading with a male friend of hers to Florida, Bonner said.
“The intimate details (cannot)be released at this time but we do have a suspect and evidence,” Bonner said.
In a news conference, Bonner said Reynolds had last been heard from in summer 1989, but she could have been anywhere from Atlanta to Birmingham.
“Unfortunately back then we don’t have cell phone records, we don’t have phone pings, we don’t have video surveillance like we normally have,” Bonner said in the news conference, AL.com reported.
The captain said Reynolds’ daughter was “very appreciative” of the continued dedication to her mother’s case.
“I’m sure it was a mixed emotional time for her, she was glad she could know what happened to her mom, she wouldn’t have to wonder if her mom abandoned her or if she was still alive somewhere,” Bonner said.
Reynolds would have been around the age of 42 at the time of her death.
Heflin is about 75 miles west of Atlanta.
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