By Mike Sherrill and Kinea White
The Daily News

August, 2003

They call her Jane Doe in case number 95-7000.

A surveyor found her - only bones, clothes and subway tokens. Eight years ago, the Jacksonville Police Department tried to solve the case of the woman's skeleton found in woods near Courts Plus health club on Marine Boulevard. There were few clues. Now, Jane Doe may still not have a name, but she has a face, which could heat up what officers call a "cold case." "We're hoping this sets off a memory, no matter how small, in someone so we can find out what happened to this woman," Police Chief Ken Bumgarner said.

Authorities sent the skeleton to a Florence County, S.C., sheriff's sergeant who molds a face around the dips and contours of a bare skull to give detectives better clues to solve cases when only a skeleton is found.

Forensic artist Wesley Neville, who volunteers his time through the organization, Everyone Deserves a Name, designed a face for Jane Doe. It was the first time Jacksonville police have used this type of technology, and it will cost them only a couple weeks of wait and $100. The department has not ruled the death a homicide because there was little evidence.

Detectives routinely go through the cold case file, and the department has dusted off four to give them a fresh look.

Police here searched the Internet for a forensic artist and even contacted the Discovery Channel. People from the network pointed detectives to Neville, who had worked for the Discovery Channel, Jacksonville police Capt. Gary Dixon said.

An anthropologist already determined Jane Doe was a white woman about 5 feet 6 inches tall between the ages of 32 and 38 who had extensive dental work. Her body had been in the woods less than two years.

After receiving such information like the victim's race and gender from medical examiners and forensic anthropologists, Neville selected pegs known as "tissue markers" to set the thickness of the victim's face skin. He explained that there are certain tissue markers for different races, which allow forensic artists to determine the width of such facial features noses and lips.

Neville said another feature that helped him design the Jane Doe face was the information he got from the nose. "One of the most accurate features of the skull is the nose," said Neville, who has worked as a forensic artist since 1996. "It's very distinctive feature."

Neville added that this particular Jane Doe had protruding teeth that were a unique characteristic in designing her lips. "Having large teeth protrude a little causes the upper lip to push back a little," he said, "so I knew her upper lip would be above the teeth."

Around her remains, investigators found two New York Transit Authority tokens, two keys with a partially burned key tag, a pair of broken glasses and several coins. The clothing found was a pair of white Nike tennis shoes, black Lee jeans and a red sweatshirt. Near the body was a thin gold necklace, two gold bracelets and two gold hoop earrings. Neville gave Jane Doe brown hair because one was found near the body.

"I'm impressed by the name of the organization - Everyone Deserves a Name," Bumgarner said. "Everyone certainly does."