Envelope Used to Identify Hudson Valley Mother in N.C. Cold Case

A body linked to a 1995 cold case from North Carolina has been identified as a missing Hudson Valley mother of three, a former marine.

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On Dec. 6, 1995, skeletal remains were found in a wooded area near a highway in Jacksonville, NC. Because of the condition of the body, investigators were unable to determine how long the body had been exposed to the elements and no cause of death could be determined.

The case became part of the Jacksonville Police Department’s Cold Case Investigations for the last 23 years.

For over two decades, police continued to seek the identity of the woman. Thanks to advances in science and technology, her identity has been determined through a national DNA database for missing persons’ cases.

She has been positively identified through DNA as Stacey Boothe-Wilson of Westchester, police say.

On Nov. 4, 1994, after not hearing anything from her for a week, her family received a letter, believed to have been mailed by Wilson which was turned over to police.

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The letter and new technology allowed police to identify the Jane Doe has Wilson, police say. Wilson moved back to the Hudson Valley in 1994 with her three children after being discharged from the military.

Her cause of death remains a mystery.

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