SMITH COUNTY, Texas — Smith County officials have identified skeletal remains found nearly 40 years ago.
According to the Smith County Sheriff's Office, the remains were identified as those of Sindy Gina Crow, a Dallas-Fort Worth-area woman. Her remains were originally located on Oct. 1, 1985 by Texas Department of Transportation crews cutting grass along Interstate 20 East near US Highway 69.
The sheriff's office partnered with a DNA Doe Project for assistance in identifying the remains in 2021. The group uses ancestry DNA searches to help law enforcement agencies identify unknown remains, Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith said during the news conference held Tuesday afternoon.
Smith said the case was determined to be a homicide because her clothes were piled next to her body. Her last contact with family was in 1984.
Astrea Forensics in California gave grant funding to extract DNA from the remains. Data banks found a lead in November 2023. Officials used DNA from her daughter born in 1984 and the woman's mother to help in identifying Crow. Her last known address was in Arlington, Smith said.
She was born on Sept. 12, 1957 and she was likely between the ages of 26 to 28 at the time of her death. Detective David Turner, who has been a part of the investigation since the remains were found, traveled to obtain DNA samples from her daughter, who was found in Alabama, and her mother, Smith said during the conference.
Officials shared photos of a police sketch of what the woman was believed to look like and Crow's high school yearbook photo during the announcement.
Turner said during the press conference said Crow was never reported missing and her family didn't even know she was married or had a child.
The sheriff said it was because of Turner's tenacity that Crow was identified, noting that Turner did most of the investigation on unpaid time.
"I mean I’ve always said before I pass through the gates I want to identify her. So it feels good. Thank goodness for the DNA Doe project, I keep on saying it, but I can’t thank them enough," Turner said.
According to Smith, it will be difficult to determine her cause of death because of the amount of decay. But Crow's family will likely have closure now, Smith said.
"The next step for us to do is we feel it's our obligation to give her proper burial," Smith said. "A lot of answers have gone to the grave."
