DNA evidence identifies body found in Missouri in 1978 as missing Iowa girl

TROY, Mo. (AP) — Forty-six years after a Missouri hunter found a body in the Mississippi River, the victim has been identified as a 15-year-old girl from Iowa. Authorities in Lincoln County, Missouri, announced Tuesday that DNA evidence and other scientific investigation were key in determining the body was that of Helen Renee Groomes, who disappeared from Ottumwa, Iowa. Her body was found in the river in March 1978. The Lincoln County coroner had the body exhumed in October and turned to anthropology students and faculty at Southeast Missouri State University. Bone and dental analysis was performed, and samples of DNA were submitted for forensic genome sequencing. Authorities in Iowa have begun a new investigation into the teen’s death.