DADE COUNTY, Ga. – Georgia investigators have named the man they believed killed a Michigan woman nearly 34 years ago.
A woman’s body was found at 2 p.m. on Dec. 16, 1988, in Dade County, Georgia. Her body was about 5 miles from the Alabama Stateline. She remained unidentified for 33 years.
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A Georgia Bureau of Investigators forensic artist made clay renderings and drew composites, hoping to identify her. In the mid-2000s, the case was reassigned and investigators found more evidence. That evidence was sent to an FBI lab in Washington D.C. for further testing. A DNA profile of the woman was created.
In 2015, the case was resigned again and new clay renderings and composites were made for an age progression. Investigators contacted the FBI about using a new type of genealogy investigation to help crack the cold case.
It was through that technology that officials were able to identify the woman as Stacey Lyn Chahorski from Norton Shores, Michigan. She was reported missing in January 1989.
On Tuesday, Georgia investigators named Henry Frederick “Hoss” Weiss as the man who killed Chahorski. Weiss was a truck driver who drove through Georgia on his regular route and had a criminal history.
Weiss was killed in a stunt car accident in 1999, officials said. Investigators found his DNA at the scene but could not link it to a person until the FBI was involved. They matched Weiss to the crime using a family member’s DNA.
Read: Michigan cold case coverage
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