ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- Police say they've identified the victim in a 53-year-old cold case, and the suspect in another case going back 25 years.
In the so-called "Trunk Lady" case, a woman whose body was found in a steamer trunk next to an oyster bar in 1969 has been identified through DNA as 41-year-old Sylvia June Atherton of Tucson, Arizona. Her husband, who died in 1999, never reported her missing.
Atherton's daughter, Syllen Gates, says Atherton remarried and moved away when she was a small child, taking some of Gates' siblings with her. The family had received one phone call from St. Petersburg but otherwise had no idea of her whereabouts. Gates says she was completely unfamiliar with the "Trunk Lady" story until police contacted her. Gates says she had been trying to find her mother and siblings for years. She adds the news was "shocking" and also "a sad relief" to have finally found her and discovering "this terrible way to die."
Police say Atherton died of strangulation and also suffered blunt force trauma. They haven't identified a suspect in the case. Detectives had attempted DNA testing on her remains but they proved too deteriorated to make a match. Another try using hair led them to Gates and her sibling. They're still trying to reach other relatives.
The finding came as a surprise to Paul Drolet, the last surviving detective who originally worked on the "Trunk Lady" case. Drolet, who served on the police force from 1958 to 1978, is now 87 and says he thought the officer who told him was kidding about the Trunk Lady victim being identified. Drolet says their technology at the time was limited to calling and writing other police departments to see whether they had any missing persons cases that matched. According to Drolet, the city only had four homicide detectives available in 1969. Today the city has two police detectives working just the cold cases.
Police have also identified a suspect in the 1997 killing of 18-year-old Richard "Juicy" Evans. They say the shooter was 15 years old at the time and died within the last couple of years. Evans was gunned down near 34th Street and 22nd Avenue South. Detectives had a good description of the shooter but the case fell by the wayside. Evans' relatives say they're grateful the police department stayed on the case.
Photos: SPPD