La Salle County Jane Doe identified as Paula Ann Lundgren after 33 years of mystery

After 33 years, a woman found dead in a cornfield near Norway in La Salle County no longer will be known as Jane Doe but by her name: Paula Ann Lundgren.

The La Salle County Coroner’s Office released Lundgren’s identity in a news release Friday, Sept. 13 – the same day she was discovered.

Lundgren was born in 1962, lived primarily in the Chicago area and was 29 at the time of her death, according to the release.

The case has spanned the timeline of three sheriffs – Anthony Condie, Tom Templeton and current Sheriff Adam Diss – as well as four coroners – Marion Osborne, Jody Bernard, William Wujek and current Coroner Richard Ploch.

Lundgren was discovered Sept. 13, 1991, in a cornfield near Norway. Authorities determined that she was 35 to 45 years old, petite (5 foot 4, 120 pounds) and tattooed. Her cause of death was undetermined, although toxicology suggested she had cocaine in her system.

She was found underneath a curtain with hooks and was clothed in a man’s dress-style shirt with stripes and black spandex pants. There were no shoes or personal effects.

She was buried in Ottawa before Christmas 1991.

“All have worked tirelessly on this case for over three decades, as well as their staff members,” according to a news release. “Hundreds of leads have been vetted out, flyers and communications were sent across the U.S. and Canada.”

The case remained cold. But in 2013, a judge signed the exhumation order allowing authorities to use forensic techniques not available when they found her a dozen years earlier.

Authorities used many investigative techniques with the hope of identifying her; facial reconstruction modeling, age regression, radiocarbon dating and isotopic diet studies were conducted on her remains.

Ploch said that although helpful in providing new information on Lundgren, they were unsuccessful in identifying her.

That is, until 2019, when Matthew Johll, a professor at Illinois Valley Community College, offered his assistance in the case.

“The new technique of investigative genetic genealogy was used by the college in hopes of finding a living relative,” according to the release. “Amazingly, this produced a list of possible matches.”

The college turned the information over to the coroner’s office for further review. Ploch said the list was long and required many more hours of investigative work to narrow down possible matches.

In February, the La Salle County Sheriff’s Office and the coroner’s office were informed that the FBI had agreed to provide investigative assistance to authorities to help identify Lundgren.

In July, a possible living relative was identified and confirmed.

“Now that she has been identified, the sheriff’s office is hopeful that new leads can be developed as to how she came to be in the cornfield on Sept. 13, 1991,” according to the release.