Cold Case Gets Colder After DNA Results

Posted:

John Doe sketch

Clifford Sharp

COLUMBIA, Tenn. - In Maury County they thought CSI technology had identified a murder victim. DNA testing changed everything in a stunning reversal.

Instead of one case nearly closed detectives in Columbia find themselves working a murder mystery and a missing person case.

"When I first saw the face - he show it to me. I looked at it and said ‘oh my God. That's my brother.' A cold chill came over me, and I know my brother anywhere," said Linda Armstrong in an interview in January of 2008.

Armstrong believed police had found her long, lost brother Clifford Sharp.

Sharp disappeared 20 years ago. Months later police found a decomposed body in the Duck River. The victim became a John Doe.

Last year Maury County sheriff's detective Jerry Williams released a sketch. He had sent the John Doe skull to a forensic artist who created the face based on the contours of the bone.

Armstrong saw the face in a report on NewsChannel 5 and came forward.

"That's my brother. We've got the same nose, the same cheek bones. We're really close," said Armstrong.

Detective Jerry Williams figured he finally had a name to go with the body. A lab compared Armstrong's DNA with DNA from John Doe.

"The search did not retrieve any valid associations between samples," said Williams. "This is not Clifford Sharp."

The news stunned Armstrong who figured police had finally found her brother.

"I was really shocked," said Armstrong. "The picture still looks like him to me."

Williams said the DNA leaves little doubt, and instead of one mystery - he finds himself working two.

"We still don't have the ID of the person that was found September, 1989 identified, and now we have a missing person Clifford Sharp," said Williams.

Detective Williams welcomes any help from the public. Anyone who recognizes the face of the victim is asked to contact the Maury County sheriff's department.

Police said it was very rare to identify bodies after more than two decades. Currently in the U.S., there are some 40,000 unidentified bodies.