TINTON FALLS — Nearly two weeks later, nobody knows yet who she was or what exactly happened to her.
A gold signet ring, authorities say, may be the most concrete lead they have to identify the young woman who was found buried naked in a shallow grave at a Green Grove Road construction site Nov. 18. The ring bears what appears to be the silver script initial "F."
"The ring is going to be the key," said Tinton Falls police Capt. David Trevena. "It’s our strongest lead. If someone recognizes and positively identifies it, then we’ll have an ID on the body. The circumstances surrounding the death will then become clearer once she is identified."
Besides the ring, the identifying factors remain sparse on this girl no one has yet come forward to identify, though some out-of-the-area people think they may know her and the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office is following those leads.
As of Monday afternoon, First Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Robert A. Honecker said, "Based on the information released to the public, we’ve received some information (calls) that indicates she may have been from New York City or Elizabeth. We’re running down leads in those locations and have sent her fingerprints to New York state and through a federal fingerprint database."
Honecker could not say what clues the calls provided. He did say that they lent more direction to the investigation and that no one who has called has mentioned the ring.
While the young woman’s death is being treated as a homicide investigation, Honecker said that "the medical examiner has not conclusively determined the cause of death."
Toxicology reports are not yet available, so it is not yet known if drugs or alcohol played a part in the death, said Honecker. "It takes about four weeks for toxocology results to come back," Honecker added.
While there is still no identification or real cause of death yet, before last week’s examination by State Police forensic anthropologist Dona Fontanna, the details were even sketchier. The only facts known then by police and the Prosecutor’s Office were that the woman was young and definitely buried. A race had not yet been determined, nor were distinguishing factors revealed.
Now authorities know that she was Hispanic. She had red painted toenails, three piercings in each ear, a slight overbite and short dark brown hair with reddish ends.
"It appeared that the hair had been highlighted or colored and the color had mostly grown out," Trevena said.
Originally thought to be 15-25 years old, medical examiner reports now pin her at 14-18 years of age. She was believed to be small, between 4 feet 11 inches and 5 feet 1 inch tall and weighing about 110-120 pounds.
"We’ve gotten some calls, but no major leads," said Trevena on Monday. "Since it’s pretty definite that she was Hispanic, we’re going to circulate the fliers in Spanish. That may help. The ring is pretty identifiable. It’s our strongest lead."
Though fingerprints and dental information were both successfully gleaned from the body, no matches of anyone reported missing in and out of the state have yielded an ID.
Besides the body itself, the inquiries, the burial and approximate time of death are the only other pieces of the case’s puzzle that offer any picture of what happened.
The body was found buried under 8 to 10 inches of dirt and tree limbs on the southwest corner of the site, on Green Grove and Wayside roads, being developed for 21 single-family homes by Arcon Development LLC, Ocean Township. The land was being cleared by a construction crew when a worker operating a back hoe unearthed the girl. The back hoe did strike the body in the process of excavating the land. Besides the marks from where the back hoe possibly hit it, the body had no wounds to indicate injury was inflicted, said Trevena. However, he added, it was difficult to discern because of the damage to the corpse from the back hoe.
The young woman is estimated to have been deceased for anywhere from 1 1/2 to 4 weeks before she was found.
"We’re trying to circulate these composites as much as we can," said Trevena. "There have been calls, but nothing concrete."
The Tinton Falls Detective Bureau is working in conjunction with the county Prosecutor’s Office Major Crimes Unit. Anyone with information or possible leads is advised to call the Prosecutor’s Office at 1-800-533-7443 or Tinton Falls police at (732) 542-4422.
— Elaine Van Develde