Lori Jane Kearsey, 23, left Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1983 after dropping her young daughter off for the weekend and never returned. She had recently divorced her child’s father and remarried eight months before her disappearance; that marriage connected her to a Boston crime family. She and her new husband traveled to Florida and Lori did not come back.

On February 18, 1984 a woman was found face-down in a canal in a rural area of Davie, Florida; the cause of death was strangulation. The victim was described as a blonde woman, 5 feet 4 inches tall, about 120 pounds, and remained an unidentified Jane Doe for decades. In 2021 investigators reopened the case and used DNA from bone fragments and forensic genealogy to locate Lori’s daughter, Maehgan Smith. A DNA sample from Smith confirmed the Jane Doe was Lori Jane Kearsey in early 2023.

Lori’s killing remains unsolved. No arrests have been announced; investigators have identified persons of interest who are alive, and the man Lori married into the Boston crime family is also living but has not been publicly named. A reward is being offered for information that leads to an arrest.

If anyone knew Lori, her movements in Florida, or has tips about who might have killed her, please share what you know with investigators.