Michigan police asking for help identifying body of woman found in 1988

BERRIEN COUNTY, Mich. - Michigan State Police are asking for the public's help in identifying the body of a woman who washed ashore near New Buffalo in April of 1988.

The woman washed up on the New Buffalo breakwater of Lake Michigan on April 8, 1988.

She is described as being black, between 40 to 60 years old, around 5 feet 5 inches tall, 175 pounds and with brown hair and brown eyes.

Investigators believe she was wearing a wig or braided extensions that had been pulled from her scalp.

When she was found, the woman was wearing a pair of men's size 38 denim jeans with a wide, double-ring type, striped cloth belt. Underneath the jeans, the woman had on red, white and blue shorts with full-length panty hose and black, zippered ankle boots.

She was not wearing a top but had on a sand-colored, front-clasped, heavy-duty brassiere.

Police did not say if she was wearing socks or underwear.

During an autopsy, investigators discovered the woman had a hysterectomy, which removed her uterus, bilateral tubes and ovaries. She had a single scar stretching from her pelvis to her belly button.

Other than that, she had no other scars, marks or tattoos.

The woman's teeth showed no signs of smoking or heavy drinking.

Police believe the woman could have come from an upper socioeconomic group based on a porcelain bridge that replaced one of her front teeth.

The work on her teeth was likely done in the five years before her death.

If you have any information on who this woman could be, please call the MSP Niles Post at 269-683-4411 or the New Buffalo Police Department at 269-469-1500.