A murder victim discovered in a box in an Indiana cornfield in 1976 has been identified 50 years later as Jane Hart, a Chicago resident who was born in 1906. The DNA Doe Project announced the identification this week. Hart had been shot in the back of the head.
Hart, a housekeeper, was the daughter of a Croatian immigrant mother. She later moved to Chicago after being born in Ohio. She disappeared from public records in the 1970s.
The box containing her remains was found by farmer Norman Skoog and his 16-year-old son, Curtis, on Oct. 8, 1976, in a Benton County cornfield. Investigators at the time believed the box had been in the field for about 12 hours. Hart was wearing a double-knit pantsuit, a green jacket, and slacks. A smashed vial of perfume was found near her remains. Authorities suspected she had been killed a week before the discovery. She also had a large scar from a mastectomy.
At the time of the discovery, Benton County Coroner Harold Konzelman stated that there were few clues, and no suspect was ever identified. Theories about her death ranged from a mob hit to a "wrong-place-at-the-wrong-time" scenario. Curtis Skoog speculated that the box may have been dropped from a helicopter, as no suspicious vehicles or individuals were seen in the area. In 1977, then-Sheriff Don Steely suggested she might have "walked right into the middle of something."
More than 40 years after the initial discovery, Benton County coroners collaborated with the DNA Doe Project. A DNA profile indicated Croatian ancestry, which presented a challenge for researchers. However, by examining family records and locating Jane Hart's living arrangements, investigators were able to confirm her identity with the assistance of her surviving relatives. Curtis Skoog expressed relief that the decades-old mystery had been solved, noting that the discovery remains vivid in his memory after 50 years.