RACINE COUNTY, WI — After 20 years, authorities in Racine County say they've learned the identity of a 23-year-old woman who was found dead along the side of a road in rural Racine County, and have also tracked down her killer.

Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling, in a press briefing on Friday, Nov. 8, said authorities have identified the woman known to them as "Jane Doe" as Peggy Lynn Johnson of McHenry, Illinois. Schmaling said Linda Laroche, 64, is accused in Johnson's "barbaric" murder. Laroche is currently being held in the Lee County, Florida jail and is awaiting extradition to Wisconsin to face charges.

Want more free news and information from Patch? Here's what to do. According to investigators, on July 21, 1999, a woman walking along 92nd Street between 6 Mile Road and 7 Mile Road in the Town of Raymond in rural Racine County discovered a young woman's body lying in a corn field several feet from the road.

Authorities said the woman suffered from significant injuries, and had been brutalized by many means over a long period of time. "The utter barbaric brutality inflicted upon this young woman is something none of us will ever forget," Schmaling said Friday.

Schmaling said investigators searched more than 1,000 missing persons cases, conducted investigations in several states, tested her DNA and cross-referenced it in several unidentified victims' databases, and had her body exhumed for chemical isotope testing by the Smithsonian.

"Year after year after year we plugged away, never giving up on this case. A number of weeks ago, our investigative team developed information that led to her identification," Schmaling said.

Schmaling said Johnson was born on March 4, 1976, in McHenry, Illinois, and was 23 years old when she was murdered. Her mother, father and brother are all deceased. She has a sister she has never met, he said. Schmaling said Johnson's mother died when she was about 18 years old. "After her mother died, Peggy, who was approximately 18 years old, cognitively impaired and on her own, went searching for help at a medical clinic in McHenry, Illinois," Schmaling said. "There, she met a registered nurse named Linda Laroche, who recognized Peggy's disability and took her into her home."