Mary Alice Pultz St. Johns County | Homicide | 1985 | Active Investigation

The Discovery

Crescent Beach, April 10, 1985. Construction workers building a new beach walkover discovered human remains buried in a shallow grave. The victim, buried for years, was a white female estimated to have been between 30 and 50 years old at the time of death. Her death was ruled a homicide. For almost 40 years she was just one among many Jane Does.

The Face Without a Name

In 2011, the victim’s skull and mandible were sent to the Florida Institute for Forensic Anthropology and Applied Science at the University of South Florida. There, forensic experts were able to produce a facial reconstruction. While new leads are said to have surfaced, she would not get her name back for another 13 years.

In 2022, SJSO detectives attended training on cold case homicides in which forensic genetic genealogy was presented. They brought their newfound knowledge back to the Major Crimes Unit (MCU) and, after consulting with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), submitted portions of the remains to Othram, a Texas-based laboratory specializing in advanced DNA techniques. The lab was able to successfully extract a viable DNA profile. This sample was then processed against the consumer-facing genealogy databases, the results of which identified potential relatives.