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WEST HAZLETON — For the first time in 48 years, she won’t be called Jane Doe 1970 anymore.

Now, the woman who was found dumped naked off Interstate 81 in Rice Township has a name: she was Lucille Marie Frye.

The announcement came Thursday morning at a press conference by the Luzerne County District Attorney’s Office and Pennsylvania State Police.

Frye’s body was one of three exhumed from the Maple Hill Cemetery in Hanover Township on Sept. 26, 2016, with the hope of identifying the bodies.

Nicknamed “Peanie,” Frye was an African-American woman, a mother of two children, and just 33 when she went missing.

A break in the case came through a relative who watched the exhumations that day.

Mitchell Johnson, 67, of Kingston, was there because he had a hunch that one of the bodies belonged to his long missing aunt, said Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis.

And after a lengthy period of DNA testing, investigators found he was right.

“This is a happy day for me and my family,” Johnson said, beaming.

His joy was echoed by investigators, including State Police Cpl. Shawn Williams.

“It was Mitchell showing up that really sparked this investigation, that rekindled this cold case,” Williams said. “We’re very ecstatic about that.”

According to investigators, Frye’s body was found Sept. 28, 1970, in the woods a few hundred yards from the rest area on the southbound side of the interstate in Rice Township. The body was found naked and in an advanced state of decomposition. Despite State Police working through 1970 and 1971, the body was not identified.

In June 1970, Barbara Johnson — Frye’s sister and Mitchell’s mother — reported Frye missing from her residence in Wilkes-Barre. Investigators say the Wilkes-Barre Police Department worked to find her, but came up with no leads.

Johnson said his mother always harbored a suspicion that her sister was the person found in Rice Township, but proving that was nearly impossible before the advent of DNA testing and forensic technology.

Johnson’s mother died without seeing her sister identified, but Johnson continued the quest to one day bring her home.

“We can finally put a headstone on a grave that I knew all this time was my aunt,” he said. “She was a Jane Doe for 46 years and now she has a name.”

Salavantis explained how Frye was ultimately identified. Investigators were assisted by forensic anthropologists at the University of South Florida who did chemical isotope testing, created facial images, and performed an analysis for trauma.

She said Johnson and other members of his family submitted DNA samples to be compared to Frye’s, but due to the poor quality of the sample from Frye’s body, finding matches were difficult.

It wasn’t until Frye’s only living sibling — a 78-year-old Wilkes-Barre man named Kenneth James Lee — submitted a sample that a match was found, a match that Cpl. Williams described as being a “one-in-400-billion match.” That meant it was a statistical certainty that Jane Doe 1970 was Frye.

Johnson, who had built a close working relationship with Williams, described the moment he got a call from the corporal telling him they had positively identified her.

“My heart dropped, and then raised back up,” he said. “I was so happy.”

Salavantis said Frye’s death is still under investigation. When a reporter asked if there were any leads, Johnson began stating his own theory. But he didn’t make it far into the story before Salavantis took him by the arm, cutting him off and saying that any and all leads are being played close to the vest for now.

Salavantis did ask that anyone with information regarding Frye’s death contact the Pennsylvania State Police in West Hazleton at 570-459-3890.

A proper burial

On May 30, Frye will be buried with the rest of her family during a funeral in the Maple Hill Cemetery.

Cpl. Williams said she had been buried in the same cemetery as her family through a quirk in the system — at the time, all unidentified bodies in Luzerne County were buried in the Maple Hill Cemetery.

Frye’s body wasn’t the only one exhumed in 2016. Investigators are looking into the deaths of two other unidentified individuals exhumed from Maple Hill: a male gunshot victim found in Bear Creek Township in 1979 and a female found doused in sulfuric acid in Black Creek Township in 1973.

A fourth body was also exhumed in Courtdale, an infant boy found dumped in the West Side landfill in 1980.

Williams said while investigators are still working diligently on those cases, no family members have come forward with DNA, which makes progress difficult.

May 31 event

On the day after Frye’s funeral, the county will be holding an event at Wilkes University in the hopes of identifying other missing persons, Salavantis announced.

The event will be in conjunction with State Police and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, otherwise known as NamUs.

Free and open to the public, it’s set for Thursday, May 31, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Wilkes University Student Center.

Those who are suffering the pain of a missing loved one are asked to bring as many of the following things as possible to the event: two biological relatives for DNA testing, police reports, medical and dental records, X-rays, photos of the missing person and any identifying documents.

Salavantis hopes that as many people take advantage of this day as possible, and maybe someone else like Frye can be identified.

Frye
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_IMG_4661-4.jpg.optimal.jpgFrye

Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis and Hazleton State Police Cpl. Shawn Williams stand by photos of Lucille Marie Frye, who has been identified as the woman dumped along Interstate 81 in Rice Township in 1970.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032318Exhumation1-3.jpg.optimal.jpgLuzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis and Hazleton State Police Cpl. Shawn Williams stand by photos of Lucille Marie Frye, who has been identified as the woman dumped along Interstate 81 in Rice Township in 1970. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

Mitchell Johnson points to a photo of his aunt, Lucille Marie Frye, who has now been identified as Jane Doe 1970, a woman dumped along Interstate 81 nearly 50 years ago. Johnson was key in the identification of his aunt, authorities say. She went missing when he was 19.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032318Exhumation2-3.jpg.optimal.jpgMitchell Johnson points to a photo of his aunt, Lucille Marie Frye, who has now been identified as Jane Doe 1970, a woman dumped along Interstate 81 nearly 50 years ago. Johnson was key in the identification of his aunt, authorities say. She went missing when he was 19. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

Mitchell Johnson talks about his aunt, Lucille Marie Frye, who has been identified as the woman dumped along Interstate 81 in Rice Township in 1970.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032318Exhumation3-3.jpg.optimal.jpgMitchell Johnson talks about his aunt, Lucille Marie Frye, who has been identified as the woman dumped along Interstate 81 in Rice Township in 1970. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

From far left, State Police Cpl. Shawn Williams, Captain Robert R. Bartal, Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis and Mitchell Johnson discuss the identification of Lucille Marie Frye’s remains at a press conference at the State Police barracks in West Hazleton on Thursday.
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/web1_TTL032318Exhumation4-3.jpg.optimal.jpgFrom far left, State Police Cpl. Shawn Williams, Captain Robert R. Bartal, Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis and Mitchell Johnson discuss the identification of Lucille Marie Frye’s remains at a press conference at the State Police barracks in West Hazleton on Thursday. Aimee Dilger | Times Leader

By Patrick Kernan

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Reach Patrick Kernan at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @PatKernan