On September 12, 1976, maintenance workers behind the Forest Haven mental health cemetery on Dogwood Road in Woodlawn, Baltimore County, Maryland, discovered the body of a young woman wrapped in a white bedsheet. Her hands were bound behind her back with white rope, and she had suffered violent blunt force head trauma and asphyxiation. For forty-five years, "Woodlawn Jane Doe" stood as one of the Mid-Atlantic's most famous unidentified murder victims.
Autopsy Findings, Sheet Evidence & The Seed Bag Mystery
Pathologists determined the victim was a Caucasian female between 15 and 30 years old, 5 feet 8 inches tall, with dark brown hair. She had died from manual strangulation and massive blunt force cranial trauma.
Investigators preserved crucial physical evidence: a distinctive white sheet with printed yellow and orange flowers, and a large burlap seed bag manufactured by the "Farm Bureau" in Pennsylvania that had been used to conceal her upper torso. For four decades, Baltimore County Police detectives tracked seed bag distribution networks and generated numerous forensic sketches, but every lead failed to establish her identity.
| Date / Period | Jurisdiction / Entity | Forensic Event & Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| Summer 1976 | Baltimore, Maryland | Sixteen-year-old Marguerite Cooper vanishes from her home in Northwest Baltimore. |
| Sept 12, 1976 | Woodlawn, Baltimore Co. | Body discovered wrapped in floral sheet off Dogwood Road; NamUs UP1894. |
| 2006 | NCMEC | Forensic artists produce age progression and digital reconstructions of Woodlawn Doe. |
| 2020 | Baltimore Co. PD / Othram | Detectives partner with Othram Inc. for ultra-low-template whole genome sequencing. |
| Sept 2021 | Othram Lab | Genealogists identify Cooper family in Baltimore; kinship sample confirms Marguerite. |
| Oct 2021 | Baltimore County Police | Police Chief Melissa Hyatt formally announces Woodlawn Doe is 16-year-old Marguerite Cooper. |