Salina teenager identified as 1966 Texas Jane Doe

A teenager from Salina was identified Tuesday as a Jane Doe who drowned in 1966 in Pecos, Texas.

Jolaine Hemmy, who was 17 at the time of her death, was discovered on July 5, 1966, in the swimming pool of the Roper Motel in Pecos.

During a news conference, Lisa Tarango, the Pecos chief of police, said in research using local newspaper clippings, it appeared Hemmy and an unknown man checked into the motel under the names Mr. and Mrs. Russell Battuon, or Batuon, appearing to be a young, married couple.

According to reports, Hemmy was in the pool area while the unknown man was in the motel room at the time of the incident.

"There were reports in newspaper articles that (witnesses) heard a scream," Tarango said. "One of the workers had run out and found a young female in the swimming pool. She was pulled out of the swimming pool and lifesaving efforts were given."

Tarango said Hemmy was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where she died. The man asked for the motel registration card and told employees he was going to the hospital, but never showed up. It appears he took his belongings from the motel, left and wasn't seen again.

With the records over 50 years old, Tarango said it was difficult to piece together what had happened, but officials eventually were able to speak to a worker at the funeral home when the incident happened.

"They had archives of vintage records that we were allowed to look at," Tarango said.

She said those records were also scarce, but provided some information for the investigation, including about donations from people to allow for a proper burial.

"Our community in Pecos, did not want her to just go unknown, with just a pauper's grave," Tarango said.

After work with several organizations, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the University of North Texas, which was able to do a skeletal reconstruction and DNA testing, which was uploaded to the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database.

"During the time we had that submitted, we were contacted by Othram Labs, out of The Woodlands, (Texas), to offer their service," Tarango said.

Othram offers DNA marking and testing. That evidence was sent to Innovative Forensic, another company that looks at genealogy forensics.

"Once it was submitted to Innovative Forensics, not only was the genealogy work done, but there is also some amazing investigative work done," Tarango said.

Potential candidates for family members were discovered by Innovative Forensics led to a candidate in Florida.

"Some of the stuff was starting to line up a little bit," Tarango said. "This particularly lady in Florida was willing to submit some DNA swabs."

Those swabs were submitted as evidence, and after a few weeks they came back positive. Tarango and the officer assigned to the case traveled to Salina to meet with the family and Hemmy was identified.

"Talking to the family last week was like talking to them 50 years ago," Tarango said.

Dave Divilbiss, who is married to Hemmy's sister, Rosemary, said Hemmy moved to Kansas City and then disappeared in July 1966.

Hemmy rode the bus regularly and the driver noticed she didn't show up to ride home one night and didn't get on the bus to work or show up to work the next morning, a Friday.

"Police, FBI and everybody else tried to locate her," Divilbiss said.

He said the family put flyers and bulletins all over Kansas City.

"Her mom did get a letter in the first part of July, saying she was in Las Vegas," Divilbiss said.

According to Divilbiss, the family didn't think the letter was written by Hemmy, as it didn't look like her handwriting.

"Her mom tore that letter up," Divilbiss said.

One of her sisters received a postcard from Hemmy dated July 3, 1966, saying she'd see her in a week, but it also didn't look like her handwriting.

After talking with law enforcement, Hemmy's family found out more about the case, including the funeral home worker, who knew all about the death.

"He and his wife said she was so pretty that they knew she belonged to someone," Divilbiss said. "They bought the casket for her and one of the local thrift shops furnished clothes for her."

He said she was Catholic, but the community didn't know that so they made accommodations for her funeral.

"They had two services, one with a Protestant minister and (one with) a Catholic priest," Divilbiss said.

Divilbiss said the town treated Hemmy with a lot of respect and care which the family was grateful for.

At this time, Tarango said the case is still an open and active investigation.