Case reopened

Meanwhile, in 2014, Warren County Sheriff’s Lt. Matt Schmutz had reopened the torso case.

At some point, investigators in Madison County got information that caused them to contact Warren County about a possible link between Howland’s missing person case and the unidentified torso. It’s not clear what that information was, and authorities declined to discuss specifics.

After sharing information, authorities compared DNA from the torso to samples from some of Howland’s relatives, Warren County Sheriff Kevin Harrison said. His department received test results March 10 confirming the torso was Howland.

The identification resulted from “two investigators getting together, sharing what probably seemed like nothing, and it absolutely was the right information,” Harrison said.

Now, police hope they may finally be able to solve the mystery of how she died and who dumped her remains in Warren County.

“We want to focus on who she is and where she had been,” Maj. Jeff O’Connor of the Major Case Squad said Tuesday as the DNA results were announced. “We are looking for anything. I am sure somebody out there has some information about this.”

Police are asking anyone with information about the case to call CrimeStoppers at 866-371-8477.

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Joel Currier Joel Currier is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter here: @joelcurrier. Follow Joel Currier Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today