ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Cold case detectives with the St. Petersburg Police Department have identified the 1969 victim known as “trunk lady” through a recent DNA profile that matched a genealogy database, according to Assistant Chief Michael Kovascev.

“The detectives in this case went through it again,” he said. “That is one of the things I want to highlight in these cold cases. It takes persistence.”

On Halloween in 1969, two men were seen driving a pickup truck near the area of 4200 34th Street South. They placed a black steamer trunk in the field and took off, according to Kovascev. Police said they found a woman’s body wrapped in a large plastic bag with visible injuries to her head and strangled with a man’s Western-style Bolo tie.  

In an effort to identify the victim, her remains were exhumed in February 2010. Investigators tried using teeth and bone but the samples were too degraded. Earlier this year, detectives found some of the victim’s hair taken during the original autopsy. The hair was sent to a private lab for testing and got a DNA profile, according to Kovascev.

“After 53 years, the ‘trunk lady’ finally has a name,” he said. “Sylvia June Atherton. She was killed when she was 41 years of age. She left behind five children and she was from the Tucson, Arizona area.”

Kovascev said Atherton’s murder had been one of the oldest and most infamous cold cases in St. Petersburg.

Sylvia June Atherton (St. Petersburg Police Department)

“We don’t have the resolution on who killed her yet,” he said. “This is where mature sleuths will come in. This is where we’re asking for assistance.”

Syllen Gates said she was only 5 years old when her mom went missing and she never knew what happened until cold case detectives contacted her in California.

“It was shocking because it had been so many years. We had no idea what happened to her,” she said. “It is a relief, a sad relief, to finally have found her. Of course, it’s a terrible way to die just a few years after she left the state.”

Gates said her mom left Arizona with her husband, Stuart Brown, along with her sisters, Kimberly Brown, 5 and Donna Lindhurst, 20. The sisters have also been missing, according to Gates.

“We have not heard from any of them,” she said. “We’d like the case to be solved. We’d like to find out who did this. Also, to find my sisters. Of course, we’re concerned about what has happened to them? Why haven’t they reached out?”  

Kovascev said Atherton’s husband, Brown, died 24 years ago.

“Her husband at the time passed away in 1999 and never listed her as missing,” he said. “We do know that he never listed her on any bankruptcy records.”

St. Petersburg Police have two full-time detectives assigned to work on the more than 200 open murder cold cases in the department.

Kovescev said the detectives also recently solved the murder of Richard “Juicy” Evans, 18, who was shot in an alley near the 3400 block of 22nd Ave S. on May 28, 1997.

Richard "Juicy" Evans (St. Petersburg Police Department)

Det. Wallace Pavelski reviewed the case and was able to identify a fingerprint from the suspect’s bicycle and got a match, according to Kovscev.

“The suspect at the time was only 15-years-old, and he had passed away in the last year,” he said. “We shared the information on who we felt was responsible. We’re not going to publicly provide that information today.”Juicy’s mom, Catherin Clarkson, thanked the detectives for providing closure to the family.

“I am so grateful,” she said. “I thought, I’m 65, so I was going to leave this world without knowing who took my child’s life.” 

Kovascev said bringing resolution to the victims’ families has always been extremely important to the department.

“We may not always be able to bring an arrest forward,” he said. “But we need to be able to show that we still care.”

Anyone with information on the Atherton murder or the whereabouts of the Brown sisters is asked to contact Detective Wallace Pavelski at (727)-893-4823.