SC homicide victim whose remains were found under an old couch 14 years ago ID’ed at last

She was known simply as Miss Startex, a woman whose remains were found by some teenagers searching a wooded area for scrap metal nearly 14 years ago.

Now she has a name — Jolene Lynn White. She had been adopted from her birth family in New York by a South Carolina family when she was a toddler.

Through painstaking science and research with the help of the DNA Doe Project, the Spartanburg County Coroner’s Office was able to publicly identify her this week and to say she had been murdered.

The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s office is leading the investigation into her death. A spokesman could not be reached for comment.

White had been missing for at least six years, possibly eight, when the teens found her behind 7 South Main Street in Startex, Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger said. The remains were found under an old couch, the Sheriff’s Office said at the time.

Family members had reported her missing once before but she was found and did not report again.

Forensic anthropologist Suzanne Able, at the request of the Spartanburg Coroner’s Office, examined the remains and determined they were from a white female, approximately 40-55 years old, and she had been killed.

The Sheriff’s Office at the time also said she had straight hair with slight curls, short, dark reddish brown in color.

Authorities have not released the way she died.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division produced forensic images and a DNA profile was entered for years in a national database.

The case was handled by Coroner’s investigator Rick Ellis, who in 2020 turned to genealogy services from DNA Doe Project for answers.

Rebecca Somerholder, a forensic genetic investigator with the Doe Project, said the initial search turned up thousands of matches but quite distant, some reaching back to the 1700s.

“The genealogy in this case was very complex,” Somerhalder said. “Our team built out family trees for hundreds of Puerto Rican DNA matches, but figuring out how they were connected to Ms. Startex was tricky because they were all very distant relatives.”

Finally, in April a new DNA sample appeared, which Somerholder described as a critical link.

“I think we have it,” Somerholder recalled telling Ellis.

They matched Miss Startex to her parents in Orange, New Jersey. She was adopted by the South Carolina family after her mother died, leaving nine children. Some went to family in Puerto Rico, others to an aunt.

“Numerous interviews took place that narrowed our search to the potential daughter of the decedent,” Clevenger said.

A DNA sample positively matched by the University of North Texas, he said.

She had been living on Rainbow Drive in Cowpens, Clevenger said.

White’s family did not want to be identified.

Ellis said he had mixed feelings about finding White’s identity.

“Her mother hoped her daughter was going to walk in the door,” he said. “I’m happy we have her back her name.”