Identified! KY - Nancy, WhtFem Skeletal 39UFKY, 24-45, synovial joint pathology, Jul'95. Christie Witcher

[Al Ka]

It seems tip was sent in in February of last year by someone who is running below website
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**2/26/2019** I’ve emailed NamUs asking for a DNA comparison to be completed between Pulaski Jane and a missing woman named Christie Witcher. I’ll advise later if I ever hear anything.

This has come after multiple attempts between myself and Christie Witcher’s daughter to try and get a comparison done by both the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Ofc and the Allen County Sheriff’s Ofc with no response.

Pulaski County Jane Doe – UNSOLVED APPALACHIA

PS: to add - I have just noticed this was mentioned also a year ago here. Sorry, reading thread backwords...

 

[GJKJR]

(click to enlarge)

I don't have official link to this press release but will double check police fb page.

Woah, she was identified! Here's Christie Witcher's NamUs profile: The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs).

I see that earlier in the thread, Christie Witcher was suggested as a potential match by Unsolved Appalachia and Christie Witcher's daughter.

R.I.P. Christie Denise York Witcher. For some reason, this case really caught my attention when I first looked at it not too long ago. Happy that she's been identified, after almost 25 years.

 

[Al Ka]

Here is Christie's WS thread:

KY - KY - Christie Witcher, 24, Bowling Green, 30 July 1993

 

[MadMcGoo]

I’m so speechless. Thank you everyone for updating the thread!

REST PEACEFULLY CHRISTIE!

 

[Murkywaters]

I'm surprised, Christie has been in the NamUs system since 2013. I wonder why there was never a connection?

 

[GJKJR]

I'm surprised, Christie has been in the NamUs system since 2013. I wonder why there was never a connection?

Maybe the case file was hidden for a while before being made public or Unsolved Appalachia and Witcher's daughter had been contacting them about the potential match for several years prior to the 2019 notice posted above?

Honestly, the description of Jane Doe was nearly spot on (with the exception of the height, but it wasn't that much off at all, and the synovial joint pathology, which the family may not have even known Christie had) with Christie Witcher, and the reconstruction bared a decent resemblance to her. So if neither of the possibilities I stated above were the case, I'd too be surprised.

 

[Murkywaters]

Maybe the case file was hidden for a while before being made public or Unsolved Appalachia and Witcher's daughter had been contacting them about the potential match for several years prior to the 2019 notice posted above?

Honestly, the description of Jane Doe was nearly spot on (with the exception of the height, but it wasn't that much off at all, and the synovial joint pathology, which the family may not have even known Christie had) with Christie Witcher, and the reconstruction bared a decent resemblance to her. So if neither of the possibilities I stated above were the case, I'd too be surprised.

Christie's NamUs profile was always visible, it just didn't have a photograph of her until 2018. I do know that there are several forms of DNA and they can't be compared to one another. NamUs used to show you want type of DNA was available whether it was nuclear or mitochondrial but know they don't.

 

[MadMcGoo]

Reading that press release, I noticed it said the UID DNA had been in NamUs and CODIS, but it sounds like they needed to be manually compared, which was what Unsolved Appalachia and Christie’s daughter were pushing to have done by law enforcement. And until recently, it hadn’t been done. I’m not sure how long DNA of Christie’s has been available. I’m not sure what I’m talking about at all, to be honest!

I’m just really glad Christie got her name back and they pushed long and hard enough to get that done! Now, I hope her family will continue to get answers until the mystery of her disappearance and death is solved! They are all in my thoughts. <3

 

[FunkyQ]

Just an FYI- Allen County to Pulaski County is a direct shot connected by the Cumberland Parkway. They are about 1.5 hours apart. It would have been very easy for someone to hop on this road and drive straight to the end of it. (It dead ends one exit past Nancy where she was found). I can imagine someone driving until they got towards the end of the parkway and leaving her there and heading straight back to Allen Co.

 

[Cubby]

Human remains found in 1995 identified

Human remains found in western Pulaski County in 1995 have now been identified.

The FBI assisted in the identification process.

On February 21, the sheriff's office was notified DNA matched Christie York Witcher of Allen County, Kentucky

The Pulaski County Sheriff's Office says in July of 1995, two people were hunting off of Piney Grove Road in Nancy, Kentucky when they found the skeletal remains of a woman in a wooded area.

With no identification information found near the area the case was placed into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

Witcher was reported missing to the Allen County Sheriff's Office in July of 1993.

The investigation into Witcher's disappearance and death are still ongoing.

Human remains found in 1995 identified

@CarlK90245 identified!

 

[Keane]

Rest in peace, Christie.

 

[Awsi Dooger]

Just an FYI- Allen County to Pulaski County is a direct shot connected by the Cumberland Parkway. They are about 1.5 hours apart. It would have been very easy for someone to hop on this road and drive straight to the end of it. (It dead ends one exit past Nancy where she was found). I can imagine someone driving until they got towards the end of the parkway and leaving her there and heading straight back to Allen Co.

Thanks. I always appreciate that type of situatonal info.

A report from a local television station includes interviews with Christie's son and also her sister. The sister says that the fair was in town and Christie left one night because she wanted to work for the fair. That could explain why the family might have believed she relocated elsewhere and left them behind. It could also point to the fair as place to look toward her killer. Who knows if records like that are available, including where that specific hair headed after it left town? List of employees who might know something.

Remains identified of woman missing from Scottsville for more than 25 years - WNKY 40 News

 

[FunkyQ]

Wow thanks for that info. It immediately reminded me of missing person Sandra Flynn Fisher Sandra Flynn Fisher – The Charley Project , who disappeared from Russell Springs, KY (one exit before Nancy) in 1978. She was also working for a traveling carnival. Of course this is 15 years prior to Christie’s disappearance but it makes me wonder about a possible carnival worker connection.

 

[carbuff]

Rest in peace, Ms. Witcher.

 

[Tabirey]

It could also point to the fair as place to look toward her killer. Who knows if records like that are available, including where that specific hair headed after it left town? List of employees who might know something.

Remains identified of woman missing from Scottsville for more than 25 years - WNKY 40 News

I'm a few years younger than Ms. Witcher, but I worked for a fair around the same time she went missing.
They probably do things way differently now, but the company I worked for at that time never verified my identity and we were paid cash. Many of the permanent long term employees only used nicknames too. JMO

 

[dorothyland]

I'm surprised, Christie has been in the NamUs system since 2013. I wonder why there was never a connection?

One of the reasons NamUs stopped showing whether or not DNA was available is because the system wasn't comparing all the DNAs automatically on the various levels in their system. This is why it's so important to never assume automatic comparisons and ALWAYS ask for a comparison until that person is on the rule-outs list.

 

[carbuff]

While that's a mostly true statement (there are fewer issues than there used to be), it's also true that unless you have some compelling evidence for why someone should be checked in more detail, all you'll get from Namus is a polite form email.

 

[Murkywaters]

Is there a reason why NamUs' comparison system isn't automatic like CODIS?

 

[dorothyland]

While that's a mostly true statement (there are fewer issues than there used to be), it's also true that unless you have some compelling evidence for why someone should be checked in more detail, all you'll get from Namus is a polite form email.

Thank you for fact-checking me. I haven't looked into the system in well over a year.

 

[carbuff]

Thank you for fact-checking me. I haven't looked into the system in well over a year.

You're welcome.

And I don't mean to imply that we shouldn't keep pushing for definitive answers, either. Just that we need to be extra prepared to advocate for our match if we're convinced it's good.