A body pulled from Lake Michigan nearly four decades ago has finally been identified as 71-year-old Dorothy Glanton, a Chicago woman who disappeared in December 1987. The Michigan State Police, together with the DNA Doe Project, announced the breakthrough on Wednesday.

Glanton’s remains were recovered on April 8, 1988, near the small lakeside city of New Buffalo, Michigan. At the time, investigators were unable to identify her despite extensive efforts. She became known for decades as “New Buffalo Jane Doe,” with authorities believing she was a white woman in her 40s or 50s. Her cause of death could not be determined, News.Az reports, citing ABC News.

The case shifted dramatically in 2023 when investigators partnered with the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit specializing in advanced genetic genealogy. A team of genealogists began reconstructing the unidentified woman’s family tree, eventually determining that early assessments from 1988 were incorrect. The victim was actually African American and in her early 70s.

As the genealogists worked through DNA matches and historical records, they found a potential lead: a missing woman named Dorothy Glanton. She had been born in Alabama and moved to Chicago with her family in the 1920s during the Great Migration. Glanton left her home on Dec. 9, 1987, and never returned.

The breakthrough came when researchers found a newspaper advertisement from August 1988, placed by a relative on behalf of Glanton’s mother. The ad pleaded for Dorothy to come home, saying her mother was “ill, lonely & afraid” and needed her. By that point, Glanton’s body had already been discovered, though still unidentified.

Investigators said the decades-long mystery was resolved through persistent detective work and the genealogical expertise of the DNA Doe Project. Michigan State Police thanked all those involved, noting that the identification brought long-awaited answers to the case.