ARLINGTON (WBAP/KLIF News ) – There’s been a major breakthrough in a cold-case out of North Texas that has haunted the Smith County Sheriff’s Office for almost forty years.
A woman’s body was found along 1-20 in Tyler by a highway mowing crew in 1985 and her remains were finally identified as then Sindy Gina Crow of Arlington. She was born on September 12, 1957.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Detective David Turner was on the scene when Crow’s body was found and said investigators only had a few clues to work with at the time which included some jewelry and a t-shirt from Dallas’ now shuttered Top Rail honky-tonk.
“It was always kind of a challenge because she was never reported missing. Her family lived out of state and she wound up back here in Texas. Actually, her family never even knew she was married,” he said. “We would’ve never identified her unless we did this ancestry thing.”
In 2021, the sheriff’s office worked the the DNA Doe Project which used investigative genetic genealogy to find Crow’s relatives in an ancestry database.
In 2023, the Project’s team lead Rhonda Kavorkian said they discovered a possible lead using Crow’s DNA to build a family tree.
DNA was then gathered from possible relatives in the Metroplex and it was discovered that Crow got married to Dwight P. Crow in January 1984 and had a child that July.
Her last known address was in Arlington.
“Our team wishes to express our deepest condolences to Sinday’s family and loved ones. We know this is a bitter sweet resolution to all her grieve her loss,” said Karvorkian.
Detective Turner said this case has weighed heavily on him for years.
“I’ve always said, before I pass through the gates, I want to identify her,” he said.
Investigators aren’t sure how the then 28-year-old died. Crow’s family has been notified about the discovery.
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