Remains found in southern Missouri in 1981 identified
WAYNESVILLE, Mo. (AP) — Authorities say remains found in 1981 in Pulaski County have been identified.
The sheriff's office announced Tuesday the remains were those of Karen Kay Knippers.
Her death is being investigated as a homicide.
Sheriff's deputies found the body at a low water crossing near Dixon on May 25, 1981.
Officials were not able to identify her and she was buried as a Jane Doe in the Waynesville Cemetery.
Her remains were exhumed in 2015 and forensic analysis was done the next year.
The remains were submitted to the DNA Doe Project, in Sebastopol, California, in 2019, which found a brother living in Virginia, whose DNA matched Knippers.
