VAN BUREN COUNTY, Mi – After 31 years, state police have identified the remains of a woman known as “I-196 Jane” whose body was found near the highway in Covert Township, state police said.

She was identified as Marcia Kaylynn Bateman, 28, of Oklahoma City.

Her body was found near I-196 in October 1988. She became known as “I-196 Jane.”

Until recently, efforts to identify the woman failed. Last year, investigators at the Paw Paw Post partnered with BODE Laboratories and used genealogy DNA processing to learn her identity.

In August, state police were provided with a potential identity of the woman. Investigators confirmed leads which led to the identity of Bateman. State police contacted her family to let them know that her body had been found and identified.

They were grateful, police said. They also hoped to find out how she happened to end up dead in Southwest Michigan.

Marcia Bateman

She was last seen in May 1988. She was reported missing to Oklahoma City police that August. She was known to visit family and friends in Dallas and Los Angeles and other areas of California. Police said she might have visited those cities before she went missing.

Police do not yet know how or why she ended up in Michigan.

Police asked anyone who knew her to contact investigators.

They have also asked anyone who stayed in the Covert Campground off CR-378 or the state park campground near South Haven during the summer of 1988 to try to recall anything suspicious happening.

State police credited BODE Laboratories, the DNA Doe Project and Kalamazoo Mortgage, which funded the processing, for identifying the victim.

State police plan to hold a press conference on Monday, Nov. 25 at the Paw Paw post. Police ask anyone with information to call 844-642-8384 or email MSP-51TIPS@michigan.gov