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The Unidentified Cold Case Archive & Forensic Database
Solved via IGG NAMUS: UP4790 (SOLVED) • DOE NETWORK: 133UFOH • AGENCY CASE: MCSO-81-0422 • JURISDICTION: Miami County, OH / Ohio BCI

Marcia King (Buckskin Girl): Solved 1981 Homicide

The First Triumph of Forensic Genealogy: How the DNA Doe Project solved the 1981 Troy, Ohio cold case of 21-year-old Marcia Lenore King.

Archival Case File Banner: Marcia King (
SECTION 1: THE OFFICIAL CASE RECORD (VERIFIED FACTS)
Official Case Date April 24, 1981 (ID'd April 11, 2018)
Discovery / Last Seen Location Greenlee Road, Newton Township, Troy, OH
Demographic Profile Caucasian Female, 21 Years Old (5'2", 125 lbs)
Anthropological Age Estimate 21 Years Old (DOB: June 9, 1959)
Primary Investigating Agency Miami County Sheriff's Office & Ohio BCI
Forensic Identifiers Available Fringed Buckskin Poncho, Juniperus Ashei Pollen, DNA Doe Project Case #1

On the afternoon of Friday, April 24, 1981, a passerby walking along Greenlee Road in rural Newton Township, near Troy, Miami County, Ohio, noticed a body lying in a roadside drainage ditch. The young woman was dressed in an elaborate, handmade fringed buckskin leather jacket. For thirty-seven years, she was known throughout the Midwest as the "Buckskin Girl."

Discovery, Clothing & Autopsy Findings

The victim was found barefoot, wearing blue Wrangler bell-bottom jeans and a brown woolen pullover underneath a distinctive deerskin poncho. The jacket featured hand-braided leather fringe, hand-stitched purple thread detailing, and customized beadwork. She had suffered severe blunt force facial fractures and strangulation; the coroner determined she had died approximately three to five hours prior to discovery.

She was estimated to be between 18 and 26 years old, standing 5 feet 2 inches tall and weighing 125 pounds, with reddish-brown hair tied into two pigtails. Her teeth were in exceptionally good condition, with no fillings or cavities, indicating good antemortem healthcare.

Chronological Case Timeline

Date / Year Location Event / Investigative Milestone
April 24, 1981 Troy, Miami County, OH Body discovered in ditch on Greenlee Road; nicknamed "Buckskin Girl."
1981 Troy, OH Buried in Riverside Cemetery with a marker reading: "In Memory of Unknown Female."
2008 Ohio BCI Exhumed by Miami County Sheriff's Office to obtain nuclear DNA profile for CODIS.
2016 Tampa, FL / Utah USF Forensic Anthropology and IsoForensics perform pollen and stable isotope testing.
March 2018 DNA Doe Project Case accepted as the very first test case of the newly founded DNA Doe Project.
April 11, 2018 Troy, OH Miami County Sheriff Dave Duchak announces she is 21-year-old Marcia Lenore King of Little Rock, AR.
SECTION 2: PROMINENT COMMUNITY THEORIES & ANALYTICAL HYPOTHESES
Investigative Ethics & E-E-A-T Guarantee: This analytical section examines documented community theories, crowdsourced timeline comparisons from verified cold-case forums (Websleuths, Reddit r/UnresolvedMysteries, Doe Network), and geographic distribution models. In strict accordance with our nonprofit charter, no living unindicted private citizens are named or accused. All hypotheses evaluate physical markers, transportation corridors, and anatomical evidence.

Pollen & Stable Isotope Analysis (SIRA)

In 2016, the Miami County Sheriff's Office sent microscopic botanical washings from her buckskin jacket to forensic palynologists, while bone and hair strands were tested for Stable Isotope Ratios.

The palynological analysis detected pollen grains from the mountain cedar (Juniperus ashei), an indigenous shrub restricted to Central Texas and Northern Mexico. Simultaneously, isotopic analysis of sequential hair growth segments revealed she had moved rapidly across the American Southwest—traveling through Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas—during the three months immediately preceding her murder in Ohio.

The Historic First Victory of Genetic Genealogy

In March 2018, Dr. Colleen Fitzpatrick and Margaret Press of the DNA Doe Project partnered with Miami County detectives to analyze a surviving blood card from the 1981 autopsy. Whole-genome microarray sequencing produced an autosomal SNP profile uploaded to GEDmatch.

In an astonishing display of genealogical triangulation, volunteer researchers resolved her family tree in less than four hours, identifying a first-cousin match that led straight to Little Rock, Arkansas. On April 11, 2018, Miami County authorities announced that Buckskin Girl was 21-year-old Marcia Lenore King. Her identification made international headlines as the very first unidentified decedent in history ever resolved by the DNA Doe Project, opening the modern era of investigative genetic genealogy.

SECTION 3: LAW ENFORCEMENT SUBMISSION & OFFICIAL TIP LINE

Have Information Concerning This Investigation?

Even the smallest detail—a recollection of a vehicle, a seasonal acquaintance, or an old photograph—can provide the missing link to solving a multi-decade cold case. All leads submitted through official channels are cross-referenced with state databases and active forensic profiles.

Miami County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit
(937) 440-3965
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Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI)
1-855-BCI-OHIO (1-855-224-6446)
Call Agency
FBI ViCAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension)
1-800-CALL-FBI
OFFICIAL CASE CODES: NamUs: UP4790 (SOLVED) • Case Docket: MCSO-81-0422. Reference these identifiers when submitting information.
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