MYSTERY REMAINS

Slain Georgia Woman Identified 30 Years After Brutal Death

The body of Rebecca “Becky” Burke was found dumped in the woods in 1993, but authorities wouldn’t learn her name until this week.

A Georgia woman believed to have been brutally murdered in 1993 has finally been identified, but mystery remains about her death, Georgia officials say. The body of Rebecca “Becky” Burke was found abandoned three decades ago in a wooded area behind a motel in the Atlanta suburb of Tucker, where she was already in “advanced decomposition” with “blunt-force trauma” to her face with a fractured neck, DeKalb County District Attorney Sherry Boston said on Wednesday morning. The woman’s clothes had no ID and Burke’s identity remained unknown until this month, when detectives were able to identify her using forensic genetic genealogy—the practice of pairing DNA with relatives’ DNA. The technique has been used to solve countless cold cases and murder probes in recent years, like that of the infamous Golden State Killer in 2018. Despite the recent finding, authorities say they’re still unsure who killed Burke and what their motive was, so an investigation is ongoing.