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Medical Examiner Seeks ID In 15-Year-Old Cold Case

AVALON (KDKA) -- In June of 1997, the body of a petite, black woman in her 80's was found thrown over a hillside along Ohio River Boulevard and her body was mummified.

That case remains open.

The Pennsylvania Missing and Unidentified Persons website recounts the details. She was five-feet tall and weighed about 100 pounds. She had short grey hair.

The way her body was discarded appears to be suspicious, but the woman died of natural causes.

The woman was in a blue sleeping bag, then wrapped in two black plastic bags – one over her head and another over her feet.

She was rolled in a plastic mattress cover and a green blanket.

Allegheny County Medical Examiner Dr. Karl Williams says someone may not have cared enough to pay burial costs.

"You hate to bury somebody without anybody knowing who it was," he said.

Her body was eventually cremated.

Anyone who may know who the woman's identity is asked to contact the Allegheny County Medical Examiner's Office.

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