It's a mystery that seemingly started in 1978, but one that goes back more than 150 years.
Kane County officials announced Thursday that a skull discovered during the remodeling of a Batavia home more than four decades ago has been identified as belonging to Esther Granger, an 18-year-old Indiana woman who died after giving birth to a child in 1866.
Coroner Bob Russell unveiled a forensic sketch of Granger and described how she was identified through the use of DNA and Forensic Investigative Genealogy done by a Texas company called Othram Laboratories.
But this kind of testing can be expensive, so Russell turned to crowdfunding site DNASolves.com to raise the necessary $7,500.
"Othram said if we would like to do this procedure, the funding required could be attained through a crowdfunding site as a means of obtaining the required fees needed," he said.
Three weeks after submitting the sample, the company not only provided an ancestral match, but it also turned up living members of her family tree including great-great-grandson Wayne Svilar. At first, the retired police officer was skeptical when asked to provide a confirmatory DNA sample.
"What convinced me that this was not some well-organized scam was their passion for their work," Svilar said.
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Only a day earlier, North Aurora announced it had solved a murder dating back to the 1970s using DNA testing paid for, in part, by a non-profit called Season of Justice. The total cost for the first test was about $10,000.
"When we applied for the grant, we received just under $6,700," said North Aurora Police Chief Joe DeLeo. "So it cost the village just under $3,000 to solve a cold case."
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Esther Granger's family told police she had been buried in her native Indiana. If that was true, how did her skull wind up in a wall in Batavia? Coroner Russell has a theory.
"We believe Esther was a victim of grave robbing," Russell said. "Grave robbing was quite common in that era as it was quite profitable." He believes the skull was purchased illegally by a medical student who needed it for their studies.
Now Granger's final resting place is in the West Batavia Cemetery, in a stone tower where her name is already engraved in the stone marker. Her great-great-grandson, who had started a cold case unit when he was a cop, traveled to Batavia for her interment.
"There is this sense of closure," he said. "I wish my mom were here. I wish I could have told her the story. She would have loved it."
