Identified! GA - Cauca/Female, 18-25, Dixie, Brooks Co, 31 Oct 1981 - Shirlene "Cheryl" Ann Hammack

[carbuff]

Rest in peace, Ms. Hammack.

 

[sonz82]

Shouldn't this thread be marked as identified?

 

[Al Ka]

Shouldn't this thread be marked as identified?

I have sent PM to mods.

 

[Mrs. Badcrumble]

Body of missing Thomaston woman returns home after nearly 40 years in unidentified grave

Sheryl's body will be brought back home to Thomaston on Monday.

The family said the reality is now setting in.

"Now it's kind of just like a gut punch. Reality is, she's coming home, but it's not the way we really wanted," Hays said.

It wasn't the ending they were hoping for, but they hope their story will give others faith.

"If there's anybody out there that has a missing person, don't give up. Keep praying," Johnson said.

According to the GBI, a man named George Newsome admitted killing Sheryl Hammock.

He was sentenced to life in prison, but died in 1988.

Sheryl was initially buried at the Oak Hill Cemetery in Quitman, Georgia. A family buried her in their family plot because they did not want her to be buried in a pauper's grave.

Sheryl's funeral will be held on July 18.

A memorial fund has been established at United Bank to help with funeral expenses. Donations can be made to the Shirlene Hammack Memorial Fund at any United Bank.

(Shirlene with her baby sister on her lap)

 

[dixiegirl1035]

I have found 2 threads at WS for this young lady... posting this on each .. the other one at WS is at Found Deceased - GA - Shirlene Ann Hammack, 18, Quitman, October 1, 1981

Sheryl Hammack identified, returned home 38 years later | 11alive.com Published: 9:38 PM EDT August 14, 2020

Sheryl’s family lived in limbo for 37 years. Then, they saw a Facebook post from a woman they’d never met. Kelly Sage lives in Wyoming. But she grew up in Quitman, Georgia, just outside of Valdosta. A few years back, she visited the grave of a famous Jane Doe. “That’s one of my main interests, is the John and Jane Doe cases," Sage told 11Alive. “Somebody had etched her likeness in her gravestone.” In Quitman, the story is lore. In the fall of 1981, a body was found near the highway, stabbed and strangled. Investigators arrested a man named George Newsom, who eventually admitted to the murder. The body went unclaimed and was buried with the words, “Known Only to God.” “I was like, ‘You deserve better than that'," Sage said. "She’s a person, and she had her dreams, and her hopes. And this terrible person took that away from her.”

They learned the grisly details of her death. The GBI announced its discovery to the public days later. That was in January 2020. Six months later, Sheryl was still two weeks from coming home. “I get real sad," said her mother, Kathleen Hammack. "I can’t sleep now hardly. I might sleep one good night, and then there’ll be three or four nights where I won’t sleep none, thinking about it." Finally, the moment arrived. At the Hammacks' church in Zebulon, Georgia, the child “Known Only to God” returned to those who knew her best.


Today Sheryl Hammack sits in an unfinished plot in Thomaston. That word - "unfinished" - is fitting.....

Sheryl’s family went to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. They waited one more year for tests to confirm what they both hoped and feared.


The Jane Doe was, indeed, Sheryl.