DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — It's been 30 years since the body of a woman in DeKalb County was found. The DeKalb County District Attorney announced the identity of the woman at a Wednesday news conference.
The woman has been identified as Rebecca "Becky" Burke. Officials said she was 52 at the time of her death and might have been from the Cobb County area at the time.
The DA's office said a crew found her remains just off Northlake Parkway to the west of I-285 on Sept.17 in 1993. It was found behind an electrical unit in pine straw. Her body was extremely decomposed and there was no identification found near Burke's body.
Burke was described as white with long, curly light brown hair. Officials also believe her to be 5 feet, 5 inches and close to 130 pounds.
When Police found her body, they recovered a black T-shirt with a multi-colored monogram on the front that reads “WAIKOLOA" with black jeans from the skeletal remains of the woman.
Medical examiners were also able to recover a fixed gold bridge, two full gold crowns and two porcelain upper front teeth fused to metal crowns. Since the Burke, had extensive dental work done, it made it more difficult to identify her.
The medical examiner's office determined she died at least two weeks to three months before being found, the district attorney said. They determined she died from blunt force trauma.
They were able to identify available family members of Burke through technology that helped matched DNA.
"It's like a needle in a haystack to find family sometimes because they can be from anywhere," said DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston.
Officials said they spoke with family members to help identify the woman. They said they are still seeking justice to understand what happened to their loved one.
Officials said she was identified by a technological service that helped in finding the Golden Gate Bridge killer.
Authorities said they were able to identify the woman thanks to a $500,000 grant. The county is now trying to use the technology to identify family members of nearly 27 unidentified remains in the county.
"The idea that you can use DNA to find out who you are related to is interesting. We are going to be able to lend closure and justice to families. They assumed that family members were deceased and now they will have closure," said Boston.
Her office is holding a missing persons event and DNA drive on May 20. The event will encourage families of missing people to open new reports and donate DNA for databases.
It will held at the DeKalb County Public Library on Covington Highway starting at 10 a.m.
The DeKalb County District Attorney's Office is asking the public to reach out if they have any details about Burke or her death. They are also looking for people who worked at the Fairfield Inn, now known as the Quality Inn of Northlake, at the time of her death.
Officials are still trying to find Burke's killer.
You can re-watch the press conference below.
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