SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. (SNN TV) – The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office is still looking for answers 50 years after finding a murder victim.
In a video posted by SCSO, the agency said they found a woman’s body lying in a dirt roadway at the south end of McIntosh Road.
The woman was identified as 19-year-old Mary Jo Shelleby, a student at Manatee Junior College who was known to “hitch-hike.” The autopsy established she was raped and killed.
Evidence was collected, but DNA testing wasn’t introduced in the courts until 1986, 13 years after Shelleby’s murder.
Interviews continued until 2012, but nothing led to probable cause for an arrest.
Evidence was retested in 2006 and 2013, but there wasn’t enough DNA to be analyzed. SCSO sent Shelleby’s clothing for DNA testing this year in hopes of getting a suspect profile.
If you think you have information, call Sarasota County Crime Stoppers at 941-366-TIPS or SCSO at 941-861-4900.
