LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. — Miles away from their Iowa home, this family stands near the grave of a Jane Doe in a Troy, Missouri, cemetery.
For decades, information was missing.
Until now.
On her 15th birthday, Helen Groomes, from Wapello County, Iowa, went missing.
Her uncle Roger Castle and her brother Kevin Groomes never knew her body was carried down the Mississippi River to Lincoln County and would be buried in a Troy cemetery as 'Jane Doe'.
Human remains were discovered in the Mississippi River near Elsberry, Missouri, in March 1978. At the time, an autopsy revealed the victim was a woman who was believed to be between the ages of 30-40. The cause of death was identified as drowning and the manner of death was classified as ‘undetermined’.
Based on the level of decomposition, it was estimated she had died about four months prior.
The body had a tattoo that appeared to say “Dee” on her left forearm.
Details of the case were entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) in 2009 as UP5295.
Year after year, while her family didn't know where she went, they started to find their own answers and collected clues.
Castle told 5 On Your Side, "I know her stepfather killed her. He was a bad person, beat my sister, beat the kids. On his death bed, he confessed to his daughter that he killed her. Even my sister, she knew, from what I understand from stories. He’d beat her so bad too and the other kids that they were scared to death. Evil walks the planet but no more, not him anyway."
While the family in Iowa learned this, folks in Lincoln County would also discover their own information years down the road.
In recent years, Lincoln County Coroner Dan Heavin said they've been working with the anthropology department of Southeast Missouri State University, or also known as SEMO, to solve missing person cases.
Heavin added, "Whenever I took coroner in 2021, we had three unknown bodies and our goal was to get them all taken care of."
In the fall of 2023, researchers exhumed 'Jane Doe's' body.
SEMO’s osteological and dental analysis revealed the victim was a teen at the time of her death, rather than the initial estimate of 30-40 years old from the 1978 autopsy report.
Heavin said, "We’ve been looking at the wrong age group and wrong classification and search inquiries to find the right person. Autopsies have changed since then the way people look at bones, it’s progressed so much."
Dr. Jennifer Bengtson is a professor of anthropology and donates her time with her undergraduate students to work on these specific cases.
One of her specialties is the analysis for human skeletal remains.
"My students who want to get into law enforcement or forensic investigation, it's one way for my students to get hands on experience," Bengtson added.
Under her supervision, her students have been able to solve seven cases within the last five years.
Bengtson explained funding can be the biggest hindrance.
The Lincoln County Coroner's Office put out a fundraising goal of $7,500 and it was raised. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) donated a good chunk of the money.
"This is the youngest person we've worked on. There is something more personal about learning someone's story. It’s not my story, it’s her story and her family's story but that will stay with us forever and I think it should because that's what keeps us going," she added.
Once the money was raised, a DNA match was found.
Heavin explained, "We looked at this family tree and it went back to the 1800's. A third or fourth cousin did DNA testing and did this whole family tree."
Three names popped up.
Heavin made the call to make a connection and he left a voicemail. Groomes called back.
"The gentleman on the other line said, 'You have my sister,'" Heavin shared. "For 47 years, people didn’t know what happened to their loved one and now we are able to give them that closure."
The last of their missing person cases was solved.
On Monday, Helen's family members arrived to a rainy cemetery.
Her brother told 5 On Your Side, "It won't rain on our parade."
He wrote 'loved, missed and found' on the dirt.
He added, "She is no longer Jane Doe, she's my sister Helen Groomes. It brings up a lot of pain and a lot of joy because she was placed somewhere and people were thinking about her, because I thought about her every day. It's a little bit of serenity, a feeling of joy. I'm taking away some closure."
Her uncle said for years, he always wondered where she was. Now, they'll be taking her ashes with them back to Iowa.
"There have been pretty exciting days of my life, this is one of them. I'm leaving with some peace, I can take her home," Castle said.
While the family believes they know who the suspect was, they still don't know how her death happened.
Right now, there is a an active police investigation for this case through the Wapello County Sheriff's Office.
Anybody with information related to Helen’s case is urged to contact Detective Aaron McConnell with the Wapello County Sheriff’s Department at 641-684-4350.