Police identify body of murder victim found in Dade County in 1988
The body of a woman found more than 30 years ago in Dade County, Ga., has been identified as a Michigan woman.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation:
She has been identified as Stacey Lyn Chahorski of Norton Shores, Mich., who was reported missing in January 1989. She would be 52 today.
BACKGROUND ON CASE
On Friday, Dec. 16, 1988, at around 2 p.m., the Dade County (Ga.) Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation responded to the scene of a body located about five miles from the Alabama state line on I-59 northbound lane in Dade County. The body was of
an unidentified woman that had been killed.
For years, GBI agents and Dade County investigators worked diligently to identify
the victim. A GBI forensic artist made clay renderings and drew composites to recreate what the victim would look like in hopes of
identifying her.
In the mid-2000s, the case was reassigned, and investigators found additional evidence that could possibly identify the victim. Investigators sent the evidence to the FBI lab in Washington, D.C., for further testing. Analysts developed a DNA profile of the victim and entered the profile in the missing persons DNA database.
In 2015, the case was reassigned again, and a GBI forensic artist did new clay renderings and composites of the victim for an age progression. The GBI contacted the FBI about the possibility
of using a new type of genealogy investigation that had been credited with assisting in solving other cold cases, particularly homicide investigations. With this technology, Chahorski was identified.
She was buried in a Dade County cemetery. Her body
will be reunited with her family.
Now, investigators turn to the search for her killer.
The combined efforts of the partner agencies, the Dade County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI, and the GBI, along with Othram Lab, made this investigative result possible.