The woman whose body was found on a pile of burning tires has been identified almost 40 years later

WESTPORT, Conn. (WFSB) – The charred remains of a woman whose body was found in Westport in 1985 were recently identified.

The Othram Forensic Genealogy Corporation and the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said Wednesday they had identified her as Barbara Heyward Manners.

She was 33 years old when she was murdered.

Authorities said Manners’ body was found in May 1985 in a pile of burning tires along Interstate 95 in Westport.

Several personal items were found next to the remains.

At the time, all investigators knew she was a murder victim.

She became known as the Jane Doe of Fairfield County.

In July 2012, details of the case were sent to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

The case remained unresolved for almost 40 years.

The chief medical examiner’s office ultimately turned over evidence in the case to Othram’s laboratory in Texas.

Scientists managed to extract DNA.

This led to the identification of manners.

No other details about this case were available.