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Family Awaits DNA Test in Cold Case

Posted at 11:29 PM, Apr 05, 2018
and last updated 2018-04-05 23:29:45-04

LEXINGTON, KY (Lex 18 ) – 33 years later its still unclear who the "Red Headed Jane Doe" is and why someone left her in a refrigerator in rural Knox County. 

Now, all because of a Facebook post, a North Carolina family is anxiously awaiting DNA tests to see if she’s related

"It’s just like she knew, you know?" said Elizabeth Pilgrim. "Of all the pictures and stuff she had seen, it just was a feeling." 

Pilgrim said she believes the "Red Headed Jane Doe" was her mother, the same mother who went missing when she was just a few weeks old. 

Last October her aunt found a post about the case on Facebook and called Kentucky State Police.

Days later they took DNA tests for detectives.  

"It was surreal," Pilgrim said. "I thought it was a joke at first because I had actually screenshotted the message from the officer and sent it to my aunt, you know? is this for real?" 

Pilgrim said the woman looks strikingly similar to her old sister. She also recognized the jewelry the Jane doe was wearing when she was found in 1985. 

"I want it to be her. I don’t want her to be dead, nobody does, but I want it to be her for the closure aspect of it," Pilgrim said. "I don’t have to wonder and question anymore."

33 years is a long time to ask those questions. Pilgrim hopes she won’t have to wait a day more for any answers.