Mystery of 'Midtown Jane Doe' solved after 55 years as NYC cops ID teen murder victim

The identity of a New York teenage girl who was murdered in the late 1960s has been identified after the case went cold for over a decade and her DNA was linked to a 9/11 victim's mother, police said.

Patricia Kathleen McGlone, formerly known as "Midtown Jane Doe," was 16 and living Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York when she was murdered in 1969, Detective Ryan Glas of the New York City Police Department told USA TODAY.

McGlone's remains were found by construction workers on Feb. 10, 2003, in the basement of a building they were preparing for demolition in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, Glas said.

"Upon breaking through the concrete floor, they discovered skeletal remains wrapped up in carpeting," according to the detective who took over the case in November 2022. "As they broke through the slab further, a skull rolled out."

Ring with 'PMcG ' found on Patricia McGlone's finger

The young girl was found tied in the fetal position with an electrical cord, according to CBS News. The New York City medical examiner determined the girl died from strangulation, the outlet reported.

The girl was wearing a ring with the initials "PMcG" branded on it, which would eventually match her name once police identified her, Glas said. Police also found a dime from 1969, a 1960s-era Bulova watch and a green plastic toy soldier with her, according to the detective.

"The ring and dime were very specific to the initial investigation," according to Glas. "That 1969 dime set a moment and time of when this could have started or when she could have been placed there."

The New York City Medical Examiner's Office also determined in 2003 that the girl was 5-foot-2 and died anywhere between 17 and 19 years old, Glas said. After the initial detective assigned to the case was unsuccessful in finding any missing persons who fit the girl's description, the case went cold in 2003.

New York detectives uncover more about Patricia McGlone

The case remained cold until 2017 when detectives with the New York City Police Department reopened it for review, but this time they had advanced forensic technology on their side, Glas said. Detectives aimed to ID the girl's skeletal remains, but her bones were "very degraded," according to the detective.

It took until March 2023, but detectives were finally able to create a DNA profile for the girl that was large enough to upload to public databases so they could use investigative genetic genealogy, according to Glas. The girl's profile matched with a family member who uploaded their DNA to an ancestry database, and the surname of the individual was "McGlone," the detective said.

Detectives concluded that Patricia Kathleen McGlone was born April 20, 1953, to Bernard McGlone and Patricia Gilligan, Glas said.

Glas said he used school records to learn that McGlone dropped out, got married at 16 and possibly had a baby with her husband before her death. He obtained McGlone's marriage certificate and pointed to the toy soldier that was found with her in 2003 as further proof.

It is unclear what happened to McGlone's child and husband.

Patricia McGlone related to mother of 9/11 victim

McGlone's DNA was connected to the mother of a 9/11 victim last month when Glas spoke to a woman in Florida. While speaking to the woman, who is on McGlone's mother's side of the family, she told the detective to talk to her nephew. The nephew told Glas that his mother submitted a DNA swab to the New York City medical examiner after his sister died on 9/11, according to Glas.

Relatives of missing people submitted their DNA to help identify unknown victims after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Glas said he received the nephew's mother's genetic information from the medical examiner's office and confirmed she and McGlone were cousins.