Woman found dead on Lake Michigan shoreline identified 25 years later

ST. FRANCIS, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Officials have made an advancement in a 25-year-old cold case.

In October of 1997, a Chicago woman was reported missing. She was last seen in St. Francis, Wisconsin.

Several weeks later, a body was found by Michigan officials on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Until now, authorities have never been able to confirm it was the same person.

But now, Michigan State Police say DNA technology helped them positively identify the body as that of the missing woman, identified as Dorothy Lynn Ricker.

Police say Ricker was last seen on Oct. 2, 1997 by St. Francis police officers. At the time, she was sitting on a Lake Michigan beach park bench. The officers briefly spoke with her and she mentioned she was from Chicago and was "enjoying the lakefront and the sun."

When contacted by officers, she had not yet been reported missing. The next day, an abandoned vehicle was found nearby. 

Officers ran the registration plate, which came back to a missing/endangered person entered by the Chicago Police Department. 

Ricker was 26 years old at the time she went missing.

An autopsy determined the cause of death to be asphyxia due to drowning and the manner of death an accident.