To clarify. I am an Orthodox Jew. While we all cover our hair when married, not all of us have the custom to shave. Hasidic communities are very tightly knit and someone just does not get lost without the whole community looking for them. Actually all religious jewish communties are like that. There are few that leave and if, they leave for good. If someone commits suicide and the community knows, they still try every effort to retrieve the body to give them a Jewish burial, regardless if they left the community or not. Severing all ties usually comes from the party that left. And as I said it is really rare (despite media overinflating it).
But i am fairly confident that that lady was not an orthodox Jew (also from her dress, pants of any sorts are a no go).
Rosh chodesh is the beginning of the month and not a real holiday. It has a few little customs (special insertions into prayer and one shouldnt do haircuts and you should eat a nice meal and women shouldnt do housework) but nothing really significant and important. It is not a holiday, really, in the sense of holiday.
I think this lady either sported a buzz cut, that was fairly fashionable in 1990, paired with big earrings. Or wore the hair short to wear a fashion wig, she looks Hispanic, Native or mixed race to me. Maybe very light AA, too.
Or the autopsy shaved her, that is fairly common, especially if blood, debris, dirt mat the hair and make access to the scalp and skull difficult.
