The last time Doris Girtz was seen was at her sister’s wedding in 1979, according to her relatives. Her age was 23.
She never got back to them.
She had always been an independent woman who occasionally avoided their hometown of Ravenna, Ohio, for years at a time. However, this was not like the others.
Decades went by. Her parents passed away. A few of her siblings passed away. And Doris is still nowhere to be found.
They were unaware that Doris Girtz had been discovered dead five months after that 1979 wedding, but Pennsylvania State Police told them this year.
As they had hoped, she wasn’t away living her best life. Rather, authorities think she was murdered shortly after the wedding and disposed of off a Perry County roadway, where her corpse deteriorated over months until only a skeleton was left.
“They said they think she was murdered,” Karen Girtz, Doris’ sister, told PennLive. We were unaware of it.
The 11th cold case in Pennsylvania to be advanced using the most recent DNA technology and genetic genealogy was revealed by the police last week.
On June 20, 1979, a stone worker discovered her bones on an embankment near Watts Township, between the eastbound lanes of Routes 22/322 and the Juniata River.
According to the authorities, there is no reason for anyone to be at the spot. Instead, state police Cpl. Kyle Tobin, the case’s main investigator, said it screamed dump job.
Police said they think foul play was involved in her death because of the scene, her age, a broken rib that had healed, and other information that Tobin said he could not discuss.
Her final ensemble was chosen during a colder month, as evidenced by the blue wool twill knit leggings and jacket.
Her jewelry was very striking. She had been wearing a similar necklace pendant with teardrop earrings and an Indian-style rectangular ring made of sterling silver with a turquoise and onyx stone.
Since she didn’t have a name, authorities called her the girl wearing the turquoise necklace, and for decades, law enforcement agencies shared her case.
Technology was unable to identify her name at the time of her discovery. Her fingerprints were no longer there. She had not been reported missing by her family. As a Jane Doe, she was buried.
As DNA technology advanced, investigators unearthed her body almost 20 years later in an attempt to get samples that would help identify her.
A forensic artist sketched her possible appearance the following year, in 2009. Isotope testing, which examines the ratio of specific isotopes like carbon, nitrogen, and lead found in a person’s body and varies according on geography and geology, was another attempt by police a few years later.
She may have traveled to states in the Southwest in the months prior to her death, according to tests conducted on her hair, which raises intriguing questions about how she might have gotten her turquoise jewelry. According to a study of her teeth, she was raised around the Great Lakes.
Police still lacked a name and a place to begin looking into the death.
That changed earlier this year when Othram Labson’s two molars’ DNA testing showed a profile connected to a distant relative four generations back via multiple databases.
According to Tobin, it provided the foundation for investigators to begin charting a family tree. He started doing a lot of shoe-leather detective work with his team, which included Troopers Jeffrey Vitek and Jeremy Holderbaum as well as Cpl. Jeremy Corrie. Surprising biological discoveries forced them to retrace their steps through a convoluted family tree.
According to Tobin, it became evident that the genes included family secrets. Your parents and grandparents may have misled you about the biological relationships.
There was no straight line in the family tree. However, after months of tracking down leads and posting updates on four enormous whiteboards in Tobin’s office, the team finally concluded that the Girtz family was the culprit.
Earlier this year, the team headed to Ravenna, Ohio, and began knocking on doors.
76-year-old Jim Girtz recalls the visit.
Jim stated that they had discovered some remains but were unsure if they belonged to Doris.
The forensic sketch of the female wearing the turquoise necklace was among the pictures they then showed Jim.
Jim Girtz remarked, “It looked just like Doris.”
In order to get a DNA profile that might be compared to the remains of the girl wearing the turquoise jewelry, Jim consented to let investigators swab the inside of his cheek for cells.
Police informed him it was a match two months later.
He said, “I wasn’t shocked.” I assumed that she would eventually be discovered.
According to Karen Girtz, Doris was raised in a home with two alcoholic parents in Ravenna, which is close to Cleveland, as one of ten siblings.
According to Karen Girtz, Doris had a difficult background and dated the wrong man while she was in her teens.
Doris spent three years in prison when she and the boy were caught for squatting and breaking into a warehouse.
She met James Frye in Akron after leaving, and the two of them had a daughter named Nicole. According to her brothers, Doris wasn’t prepared for parenthood, so their parents reared Nicole instead.
According to her siblings, Doris disappeared for about a year following that, but she later returned to Ravenna while pregnant. She gave the infant the name Sarah and consented to an adoption through the hospital.
Around that time, in January 1979, Audrey, Doris’ sister, got married. Doris left town with a new man she had met after attending the wedding.
Jim clearly recalls his mother saying that to him.
Jim remarked that Mom didn’t seem really concerned about it. All of us assumed she had simply moved on. She simply strolled around.
According to Jim, this is the reason their parents never reported them missing.
When Doris was last seen, Frye was in jail, and he stayed there until the girl wearing the turquoise necklace was discovered.
When he was incarcerated, he wrote letters to their daughter Nicole inquiring how her mother was doing. When he was released, he made an unsuccessful attempt to locate her, according to Tobin. Frye is no longer with us.
One of Doris’s siblings wanted to pay a service throughout the years to see if they might find Doris. She paid the $100 to $200 charge, as far as Jim was aware, but no hints were found.
The Pennsylvania State Police are now investigating. According to Tobin, I am fully focused on the matter.
He stated that anyone who knew Doris or had any contact with her between 1977 and 1979 would be welcome to speak with his team. That individual would probably be aware of the name of the man she was last seen with, giving detectives the next piece of information they need to determine how she passed away.
According to Tobin, each case is a jigsaw puzzle. One thing isn’t very significant on its own. In this instance, it will be the entirety of the situation.
The state police are asking anyone who knows Doris to contact them at 717-567-3110.
Stories by
Christine Vendel
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