Tabetha Murlin: Remains of pregnant Indiana woman identified 30 years after body was found in basement

FORT WAYNE, INDIANA: A pregnant woman whose partially decayed body was found floating in a flooded basement 32 years ago has been identified through forensic genetic genealogy and DNA provided by her father, according to Allen County Coroners Office.

Tabetha Ann Murlin was found dead by a construction worker in 1992 at a Fort Wayne, Indiana, home, according to Christopher A Meihls, chief investigator for the Allen County Coroner’s Office.

What happened to Tabetha Murlin? 

In 1992, a construction worker, who was doing some renovations in the basement of a house on Reynolds Street, discovered a dead individual who was wrapped in a blanket in 8 to 12 inches of water. The body was decomposed very badly at that time, Allen County Coroner John Brandenberger said at a news conference on Thursday, February 15, 2024, according to CNN.

According to Brandenberger, the degree of decomposition found on the 23-year-old's body led authorities to initially conclude that Murlin had died in 1991 or the early months of 1992.

At the time, Murlin's body underwent a partial examination by the Allen County coroner, who was unable to ascertain the cause of death. Murlin, who was then known as "Mary Jane Doe," was interred at Lindenwood Cemetery on May 21, 1992, according to Brandenberger.

After following up on leads and conducting an investigation, the Fort Wayne Police Department's case eventually went cold. The coroner stated that the inquiry was revived in 2016 due to technological breakthroughs in forensic analysis. 

A year later, investigators decided to exhume Murlin’s body to conduct a complete autopsy by doing x-rays of her teeth for forensic odontology and “to complete an anthropology study” to submit DNA of the remains to appropriate facilities, Brandenberger said.

Murlin's left femur was sampled by Krista Latham, a forensic anthropologist from the University of Indianapolis, and forwarded to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification for DNA analysis.

"Seven months later, the University of Texas announced that they had developed a DNA profile, which was uploaded into DNA databases,” which Brandenberger said unfortunately did not result in any DNA matches.

Tabetha Murlin was identified through her father's DNA

Degraded samples of Murlin's extracted DNA were shelved by the coroner until more advanced technology became accessible. The DNA was sequenced in 2023 by the forensic genealogical businesses Intermountain Forensics and Ignite DNA, who subsequently discovered a match between Murlin, her father and mother, and her two aunts, according to Bradenberger.

Case files state that DNA from a cheek swab established Robert Bowers' (Murlin's father) paternity for Murlin.

Angelina Privitt, Murlin’s aunt, identified Murlin with her maiden name Tabetha Slain, and said she had been adopted by her other aunt, Norma Slain, according to the coroner’s office.

Privitt claimed that the victim married her husband Jerry Murlin in 1987, according to case documents.

Authorities claim that although Murlin and his wife split in 1988, he never filed for divorce or reported his wife missing. Authorities are still unsure of the specifics of the woman's death, although Bowers stated that he last saw his daughter in 1988, while Meihls claims that Jerry Murlin last saw his wife in 1989.