COLUMBUS, Ohio – Police in Columbus are working with their counterparts in Salt Lake City in an effort to track down any remaining relatives of a woman who was strangled and dumped near Hoover Reservoir more than 30 years ago.
Sharon Rae Bowen was 28 when she was reported missing in the Salt Lake City area on Dec. 16, 1982, police said. Two fishermen found the partially decomposed body near Hoover Dam, north of Oxbow Road, on July 2, 1983. Bowen had been strangled.
Bowen’s body remained at the Franklin County morgue for 14 months in hopes that she would be identified police agencies contacted homicide detectives in Columbus, comparing their cases of missing women to the one here.
Her remains went unidentified, and she was buried in October 1984 through donations by a funeral home and a cemetery. Catholic high school students later raised funds for a grave marker referring to her as “Mary Rose Doe,” which was dedicated in 1998.
A statement from police didn’t explain how they identified Bowen. A message was left for the detective taking calls on the case.