COOPERSVILLE, Mich. — The victim of a cold case homicide in Coopersville dating back over 27 years has finally been identified by Ottawa County Detectives.
Thanks to the help of DNA technology, family and friends are now a step closer to finding justice for the young woman they lost all those years ago.
"We are now able to identify the person as Shelly Rae Christian, or Shelly Rae Kephart," said Captain Jake Sparks with the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office.
She had only ever been known as "Matilda," a name given to her by investigators when she was first found on Nov. 6, 1994. Rabbit hunters found her skeletal remains in the woods in Wright Township, near Coopersville.
Her cause of death was homicide, but with no identity, no charges were ever filed in relation to her death.
"The biggest challenge with not having a name, is not being able to trace back her steps, find out where she was last known to be, or what her past was from there," said Ottawa County Cold Case Detective Sara Fillman.
The case remained open for years with very little new information until 2007, when a DNA profile of the victim was obtained. However, authorities were unable to match the DNA profile with anyone in the CODIS, a national DNA database. After the DNA results did not confirm the victims identity, the case once again turned cold.
"I'm relieved that we're able to provide this closure to the family," said Capt. Sparks, "and I'm relieved that we don't have to call her Matilda anymore, we can call her by name."
In February 2021, the Ottawa County Cold Case Team began to reexamine the case and began consulting with federal, state and local law enforcement partners. The Cold Case Team also reached out to the DNA Doe Project, an organization that uses genetic genealogy to identify John and Jane Does.
Months later, in September 2021, detectives saw their first break in the case in over a decade when the DNA Doe Project provided genealogy information in regards to the victim.
Cold case detectives Sara Fillman and Allison Anderson had heard about this case for their entire career, and then it was their turn to take the reins.
"We thought how nice it would be to finally be able to give her a real name," said Fillman, "and we've done that."
Through DNA, they learned that the victim might be a missing person, Shelly Rae Kephart, also known as Shelly Rae Christian from Minnesota. The two detectives traveled to Minnesota to meet with family members of the missing person to collect DNA samples to compare to the victim.
The DNA samples collected from family members of Shelly Rae Kephart were compared to the 1994 homicide victim, "Matilda", and on Jan. 18, 2022, the FBI Crime Laboratory confirmed a DNA association after a kinship analysis.
After a consultation with the medical examiner who performed the original autopsy, Dr. Stephen Cohle, "Matilda" was positively identified as Shelly Rae Kephart.
The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office remains hopeful that the positive identification of Shelly will provide closure for her mother, siblings and three children that are still alive.
"When we actually got to meet those people it was very rewarding, and for them it was very emotional," said Fillman. "It answered a lot of questions for them about her whereabouts for the last 27 years."
Everyone involved said these types of cases take a lot of work, but they never give up on any of their victims.
"For us, Shelly has always been a person," said Fillman.
"It's tough work, but we do care," added Capt. Sparks, "and now that we know Shelly's identity, we can truly begin investigating the manner of her death."
Captain Sparks said they have information that Shelly may have been living in the Grand Rapids area in the months before her death, and although it's too early to speculate on a suspect, they aren't ruling anything out.
"There's quite a few other females who had been killed around that time frame, and we're obviously looking into that possibility," he said, "but the case isn't solved, it's really just beginning now."
Anyone with any information about this investigation or who knew Shelly Rae Christian (Kephart) is asked to contact the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office or Silent Observer at 1-877-88 SILENT (745368) or mosotips.com.
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