Open caseUnidentified person
The Bones at Toscana
On July 18, 2022, construction workers clearing land near New Leatherwood Drive in Palm Coast's Toscana community found a human bone.
Open caseUnidentified person
Who Was the Woman on Sea Ship Place?
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- Status
- Open case
- Case type
- Unidentified person
- Location
- Palm Coast, FloridaFlagler County
- Date
- Investigating agency
- Flagler County Sheriff's Office
- Case number
- 93-754FCSO cold case
- Last checked
The story
In short: An open unidentified person case from Palm Coast, Florida, January 10, 1993. Flagler County Sheriff's Office is the investigating agency (case no. 93-754). Tips: Flagler County Sheriff's Office, 386-313-4911.
Our summary of the public record. The small numbers show where each fact comes from. Tap one to see the source.
On Jan. 10, 1993, two boys chasing a basketball into the woods at the end of Sea Ship Place in Palm Coast found partial skeletal remains under the brush. Experts estimated the woman had been dead for two to three years, so she likely died around 1990 or 1991. She was believed to be 25 to 35 years old and about 5 feet 3 inches tall, with an old, healed break of the right side of her nose. The Sheriff's Office treats her death as a homicide.
In 1993 she was described as a white woman, possibly Native American, and a facial approximation went out to the media. Several missing-person cases were compared to her over the years, with no match. In July 2021 the DNA lab Othram built a DNA profile and found she was African American, possibly of mixed ancestry. That changed the whole search.
Genetic genealogy traced her family to George Washington Coleman and Clarissa Minnick of the Edgefield and Aiken area of South Carolina. Detectives have contacted at least 30 relatives on that family tree and worked with the Aiken County Sheriff's Office and South Carolina's state police (SLED), but her name is still unknown. On the 30th anniversary of her discovery, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Forensic Imaging Unit made a new facial approximation, which FCSO released in February 2023.
Timeline
What happened, in order.
Two boys find partial skeletal remains in the brush at the end of Sea Ship Place in Palm Coast. FCSO investigates with FDLE.12
University of Florida anthropologists and the Medical Examiner estimate her age, height and time since death. A facial approximation is released to the media.2
Othram develops a DNA profile and finds she was African American, possibly mixed with Caucasian.24
Detective Sarah Scalia is assigned to the Cold Case Unit and takes up the case.2
On the 30th anniversary, the skull is taken to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Forensic Imaging Unit for a new facial approximation.2
FCSO releases the new approximation and the genealogy findings pointing to Edgefield/Aiken, South Carolina.234
Still listed by FCSO as an unsolved homicide; she remains unidentified.17
Key facts
What is known for sure. Each one is checked against a source.
- Estimated 25 to 35 years old, about 5 ft 3 in (64 inches), with an old right nasal fracture.24
- She had been dead about two to three years when found, placing her death around 1990 to 1991.2
- DNA showed she was African American, possibly mixed with Caucasian, not white as assumed in 1993.23
- She descends from George Washington Coleman and Clarissa Minnick of the Edgefield/Aiken, South Carolina area.12
- At least 30 relatives on the family tree have been contacted without identifying her.23
- Her NamUs unidentified-person number is UP3037.6
Still unanswered
What nobody knows yet.
- Who was a woman in her late 20s or early 30s, with family roots in Edgefield or Aiken County, South Carolina, who stopped being heard from around 1990 or 1991?
- How did she come to be in Palm Coast, far from the South Carolina family line DNA points to?
- Was she ever reported missing, and if so, under what name and where?
Photos & video
Official releases, public-domain and openly licensed files, credited. Tap a photo to see it larger.
Outside coverage and documents
Linked, not copied. These open on the publisher's site.
- FCSO news release 2023-28: Cold Case Unit Needs Help Identifying 1993 Cold Case Homicide Victim (Feb. 10, 2023)Document · Flagler County Sheriff's Office
Sources
Everything on this page comes from these 9 public sources. News coverage is linked, never copied.
Official records
- 11993 Unidentified Female (Cold Case #93-754)Flagler County Sheriff's Office, October 7, 2026
- 2News Release 2023-28: FCSO Cold Case Unit Needs Help Identifying 1993 Cold Case Homicide Victim (archived copy)Flagler County Sheriff's Office, February 10, 2023
- 7Cold Case Unit (unsolved cases index)Flagler County Sheriff's Office, October 7, 2026
- 8Submit a Crime TipFlagler County Sheriff's Office, October 7, 2026
- 9Crime Tips (Crime Stoppers of Northeast Florida, 1-888-277-TIPS, westopcrime.com)Volusia Sheriff's Office
News coverage
- 3Cold case 1993: genealogy and new facial approximationFlaglerLive, February 11, 2023
- 4Florida deputies work to ID cold case murder victim found 30 years agoFOX 35 Orlando, February 11, 2023
- 5The Cold Cases of Flagler County: A Look at the Unsolved CrimesAskFlagler, May 7, 2026
- 6Florida Detectives Still Working To Identify Jane Doe In 30-Year-Old Homicide Cold Case (cites NamUs #3037)Oxygen, February 13, 2023
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