A New York teenager murdered in the late 1960s has been identified after the case went unsolved for more than a decade, and police say her DNA is linked to the mother of a 9/11 victim. announced.
Patricia Kathleen McGlone, once known as “Midtown Jane Doe,” was 16 years old and living in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, when she was murdered in 1969, New York City said. Police Detective Ryan Glass told USA TODAY.
Glass said McGlone’s body was discovered by construction workers on February 10, 2003, in the basement of a building being prepared for demolition in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.
According to a detective in charge of the case in November 2022, “When we broke through the concrete floor, we found a skeletal body wrapped in carpet.When we broke through the slab, a skull rolled out.”
A ring written “PMcG” was found on Patricia McGlone’s finger.
According to CBS News, the girl was found tied up with electrical cords in the fetal position. The New York City medical examiner ruled that the girl died from strangulation, the paper said.
Glass said the girl was wearing a ring with the initials “PMcG” on it, which would eventually match the girl’s name if police were able to identify her. Detectives said police also found a 1969 dime, a 1960s Bulova watch and a green plastic toy soldier with her.
“The ring and the dime were very specific to the initial investigation,” Glass said. “That dime in 1969 set the moment and time for when this started or when she was put there.”
Glass said the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office also determined in 2003 that the girl was 5 feet 2 inches tall and was between 17 and 19 years old when she died. The case was closed in 2003 because the detectives who originally worked on the case were unable to find a missing person matching the girl’s description.
New York detectives uncover more about Patricia McGlone
The case remained unsolved until New York City police detectives reinvestigated it in 2017, but this time they had advanced forensic technology on their side, Glass said. Detectives tried to identify the girl’s remains, which they said were “very deteriorated.”
It took until March 2023, but detectives were finally able to create a DNA profile of the girl, large enough to upload to a public database and create a genetic genealogy for research, Glass said. It is now available. Detectives said the girl’s profile matched a family member who uploaded DNA to her ancestry database, and that individual’s last name was “McGlone.”
Glass said detectives concluded that Patricia Kathleen McGlone was born April 20, 1953, to Bernard McGlone and Patricia Gilligan.
Glass said she learned from school records that McGlone dropped out of school, married at 16 and may have had a child with her husband before her death. He obtained McGlone’s marriage certificate and cited a toy soldier found with her in 2003 as further evidence.
It is unclear what happened to McGlone’s children and husband.
Patricia McGlone related to mother of 9/11 victim
When Glass spoke with a Florida woman last month, McGlone’s DNA was linked to the mother of a 9/11 victim. While speaking with a woman who is a member of Ms. McGlone’s maternal family, she told detectives to speak to her nephew. Glass said his nephew told him that after her sister died on 9/11, her mother submitted a DNA swab to the New York City coroner.
Relatives of those missing after the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center submitted DNA to help identify unidentified victims. Glass said she received genetic information about her nephew’s mother from the medical examiner’s office, confirming that she and McGlone are cousins.
