They may be referred to as cold cases, but thanks to advancing technology, relentless investigators, forensic specialists—and in this case, the kindness of a complete stranger—these cases are never truly “cold.”
Thirty-eight years ago, on Dec. 5, 1982, the body of a toddler was found in tall weeds near the Escatawpa River bank in Mississippi. It is believed the little girl, found wearing a pink and white dress, was thrown from the bridge into the water below. A subsequent autopsy revealed someone attempted to smother the toddler—believed to be between 18 and 24 months—before she was thrown into the river. However, her official cause of death was ruled a drowning.
Nearly 40 years later, forensic specialists at Othram contributed forensic analysis that confirmed the identity of so-called Delta Dawn, also referred to as Baby Jane Doe, as 18-month-old Alisha Ann Heinrich. Heinrich was born on May 24, 1981 to Gwendolyn Mae Clemons. The mother and daughter were last seen alive by family in Joplin, Missouri on Nov. 24, 1982, before reportedly traveling to Florida with an unidentified man for a new beginning.
But, the beginning quickly turned into an end. On Dec. 3, 1982, multiple witnesses reported a distressed young adult female with a small child walking along the interstate close to the Alabama-Mississippi border. Two days later, a truck driver reported seeing a woman’s body floating in the Escatawpa River.
Police were unable to find the woman’s body, but they did locate the small body of Heinrich near the riverbank. The Jackson County Medical Examiner’s Office determined that the child had died hours earlier, but the case soon went cold as investigators were unable to identify the child or locate her family.
Cold does not mean forgotten, though. Not by the Jackson County sheriff’s deputies who raised money for her funeral and served as pallbearers, not by those who visited her grave, marked by the words “Known only to God,” not by the investigators who kept searching for leads, and certainly not by Catherine Serbousek, a stranger who stepped forward last year with a donation of $2,600 for the genetic testing that ultimately led to Heinrich’s identification.
Serbousek first heard about Delta Dawn when she was 8 years old, noting at the time how close in age they were—or would have been if Heinrich was not murdered. Serbousek, a mother of two, saved money for her upcoming milestone 40th birthday, but she told the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children that something stopped her before she could use the money. After learning that Delta Dawn’s body had been exhumed in 2009 to retrieve DNA, Serbousek called the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department with her offer to pay for genetic testing. She eventually convinced investigators she was sincere, leading them to contract Othram.
Working with less than a nanogram of 40-year-old DNA, Othram’s forensic specialists produced a genetic profile suitable for genealogical research. The results led Othram, Jackson County investigators and the FBI to a woman named Theresa Spencer in Joplin. Spencer first thought investigators had come to tell her they found her missing sister, but additional testing by Othram confirmed the body belongs to Spencer’s niece, baby Alisha Ann Heinrich.
Spencer believes her sister, Heinrich’s mother Gwendolyn Mae Clemons, died the same night as her daughter, and is hopeful her body is found so she can give her a proper burial.
The Jackson County Sherriff’s Office said the man Clemons was dating and ran off with in 1982—who is now deceased—is a suspect. In a press conference, Sherriff Mike Ezell said his office is reaching out to other law enforcement agencies, asking anyone who may have a body matching Clemons’s description to contact them.
Photo: In 2014, a NCMEC forensic artist created a facial reconstruction of what Delta Dawn may have looked like and distributed the image across social media in hopes someone would recognize her. Credit: NCMEC.