RALEIGH -- It was a copy of a 2002 CAT scan that finally put a name, a face to the bones and mummified remains found eight months ago among the decaying leaves in a thicket of woods north of Rocky Mount, where six women have been murdered.
Elizabeth Jane Smallwood, 33, of Rocky Mount was no longer a lost person, thanks to a world renowned expert and a program at N.C. State University that is pioneering the use of forensic science in crime scene investigations. Using specialized computer software, forensic anthropologist Ann Ross was able to match the unique features of the weathered skull to Smallwood's old CAT scan - a three-dimensional X-ray.
Smallwood's body was one of six found since 2005 in the rural, swampy corner of Edgecombe County about 60 miles northeast of Raleigh. The first five already had been identified as poor African-American women. Flummoxed by the lack of clues and suspecting a possible serial killer, Rocky Mount police requested a task force to be formed in June to assist in investigating the deaths.
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