DNA Identifies New Iberia Woman Found Dead In Mississippi

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi authorities have now identified skeletal remains found in the Stennis Space Center buffer zone more than 10 years ago as those of a woman who had been living in New Iberia, La.

Hancock County sheriff's Detective John Luther tells The Sun Herald 45-year-old Mary Asenath Woodin had been assaulted and set on fire. Luther says her burned skeleton was found May 10, 2003 north of Stennis off Mississippi 607.

The cause of Woodin's death has not been released.

Luther said confirmation of her identity solves only half of a cold-case murder.

He says they still don't know who killed her.

Luther say DNA from her mother, Asenath Jones, of Winter Haven, Fla., confirmed her identity.