DNA yields clues on body in box found near dead woman in 2014, California cops say
In 2014, California police discovered a woman dead of starvation in an apartment.Then they found a second woman’s body in a box under the kitchen table, Monterey police said in a July 31 news release.But the true identities of the two women remained a mystery until a new analysis of their DNA in 2023, police said.The first woman, who had lived in the apartment for 12 years, had a driver’s license identifying her as Francesca Linda Jacobs, born in 1955, according to the release. She left a handwritten “will” identifying the woman in the box as her mother, Florence Jacobs, police said.However, the woman identified as Francesca Jacobs looked older than her driver’s license seemed to indicate, police said.Police also could find no records for Francesca Jacobs from before she arrived in Monterey in the 1990s, and few records for Florence Jacobs, leaving their true identities unknown.As a result, “foul play could not be ruled out” for the remains found in the box, which were too decomposed t
In 2014, California police discovered a woman dead of starvation in an apartment.
Then they found a second woman’s body in a box under the kitchen table, Monterey police said in a July 31 news release.
But the true identities of the two women remained a mystery until a new analysis of their DNA in 2023, police said.
The first woman, who had lived in the apartment for 12 years, had a driver’s license identifying her as Francesca Linda Jacobs, born in 1955, according to the release. She left a handwritten “will” identifying the woman in the box as her mother, Florence Jacobs, police said.
However, the woman identified as Francesca Jacobs looked older than her driver’s license seemed to indicate, police said.
Police also could find no records for Francesca Jacobs from before she arrived in Monterey in the 1990s, and few records for Florence Jacobs, leaving their true identities unknown.
As a result, “foul play could not be ruled out” for the remains found in the box, which were too decomposed to reveal a cause of death, police said.
In 2022, a cold case task force took up the case and sent DNA from the two bodies for analysis.
Testing identified the woman found dead in the apartment as Linda Rae Jacobs, born in 1942, and the body in the box as Ida Florence Jacobs, her mother, police said.
Investigators were able to confirm the identifications with people who knew them and determined that no foul play was involved in the death of Ida Florence Jacobs, according to the release.
“The reasons Linda Rae Jacobs assumed a new name or why she would keep her mother’s body in a box under the kitchen table will likely never be known,” police said, adding that the people who could help answer those questions are now also dead.
Police ask that anyone with information on other cold cases in Monterey contact detective Bill Clark at 831-646-3971 or [email protected].
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