Woman at the center of ‘mom-in-the-box’ in Monterey identified after 9 years
By Josh Copitch
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SEASIDE, California (KSBW) — A cold case investigation that kept bringing up more questions than answers has been put to rest due to a new DNA testing process.
According to the Monterey Police Department, in February 2014, officers responded to a death of a woman at a home on Fourth Street in Monterey. Inside the home, police found Francesca Linda Jacobs. Francesca had died from starvation, and no foul play was suspected.
During their initial investigation, police located the decomposed remains of another person inside a box under the kitchen table. The remains were fully clothed.
The investigation also found a handwritten will in the apartment. The will told police the woman in the box was Francesca’s mother, Florence Jacobs.
For police, the investigation got even weirder. The driver’s license located for Francesca said she was born in 1955, but she appeared to be older, and investigators couldn’t find information about Francesca from before her time living on the Monterey Peninsula.
Eight years later, in 2022, DNA samples from both women were sent to a private forensics lab in Texas.
The woman, who they had identified as Francesca Jacobs, was actually Linda Rae Jacobs. Linda Rae was born in 1942, 12 years before her stated birthday on her license. Her mother was identified as Ida Florence Jacobs. DNA did confirm that the two were mother and daughter.
Investigators were able to contact living relatives who confirmed the pair’s identity.
No foul play is suspected in either death.
“The reasons Linda Rae Jacobs assumed a new name or why she would keep her mother’s body in a box under the kitchen table will likely never be known,” said the sheriff’s office in a press release.
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