Fayetteville police are asking for the public’s help to identify a woman whose body was dropped off at a funeral home in May without paperwork or explanation.
Investigators say they do not suspect foul play but detectives want “to restore this woman’s identity.”
An unknown person dropped off the woman’s body between May 15 and May 19 inside a funeral home along the 3800 block of Raeford Road, police said in a news release. The business was locked at the time, and staff discovered the body.
Detective Holly Vernon, newly assigned to the police department’s homicide unit as the missing persons investigator, is leading the case.
The only funeral home on that stretch of Raeford Road is Cunningham & Sons Mortuary. Staff there told CityView on Thursday morning that no one was available to comment.
Mayor Mitch Colvin, who owns Colvin Funeral Home and Crematory, told CityView that bodies are typically transported to funeral homes by contracted companies with specialized equipment and entry access. “Families do not have the proper equipment to do it by themselves,” Colvin said.
Police say the woman, possibly of American Indian or Hispanic descent, was likely 65 or older. She was about 5 feet tall and weighed 150 pounds, with an olive to pecan complexion. Her graying hair was long enough to be tied into a small ponytail.
She had no teeth, no tattoos, and several distinctive medical characteristics: a missing big toe on her left foot, evidence of a recent abdominal procedure, and a scar suggesting a possible hip replacement. The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner found no identifying implants.
Police released a digital image of the woman in hopes that someone will identify her.
“Our goal is to restore this woman’s identity and provide her family with the information and services she and they deserve,” Capt. Shawn Strepay of the Fayetteville Police Department said in the news release. “This is about ensuring a member of our community is treated with dignity and respect. We are hopeful someone will recognize her so she may be taken to a proper final resting place.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Detective Vernon at 910-758-6700 or submit tips anonymously through Fayetteville/Cumberland County Crimestoppers at 910-483-TIPS (8477), online at fay-nccrimestoppers.org, or via the “P3 Tips” app.
Government reporter Rachel Heimann Mercader can be reached at rheimann@cityviewnc.com.
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