Photo: Clinton County Sheriff's Office
(Clinton County, IA) -- After decades of extensive efforts, investigators have identified the victim in a Clinton County cold case.
The Clinton County Sheriff's Department says officers responded to reports of a body found in the Mississippi River north of Clinton on April 11th of 1975. An autopsy later determined the cause of death to be homicide. More than 50 years after the discovery and a collaborative investigation from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation - Major Crime Unit, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Astrea Forensics, and the DNA Doe Project, the body has been identified as Cheryl Lynn Edwards of Waukegan, Illinois. Investigators say she was 15 years old at the time her body was discovered.
The Clinton County Sheriff's Office says Edwards' family has been notified of her body's identification and that they had been searching for her since her disappearance. The investigation found that Cheryl Edwards was the daughter of the late Bernice and Leonard Edwards. Investigators say prior to her identification, the body of Cheryl Edwards is believed to have been the longest unidentified Jane Doe in Iowa.
Cheryl Edwards' death is still under investigation as a homicide, and investigators are still looking for information regarding her death. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Clinton County Sheriffs' Office by phone at (563)212-9211 or by email at mpicinfo@dps.state.ia.us. Tips can also be submitted to Clinton County (Iowa) Crime Stoppers.