Missing person report leads to identification of 1976 homicide victim

Police announced Thursday they’ve identified the victim in a cold case homicide that occurred more than four decades ago in San Francisco.

In 1976, San Francisco officers found the body of a female, who they determined was the victim of a homicide. Investigators, however, were unable to identify the victim and dubbed her as Jane Doe #40.

Then, 41 years later, in 2017, someone made a missing person report for a woman named Judy Gifford, who was believed to have gone missing around the time of the 1976 homicide.

Earlier this year, after discovering the missing person report, a San Francisco police investigator was able to track down Gifford’s family with help from the New Jersey State Police and the Anne Arundel County Police Department.

Using the DNA of Gifford’s family members, investigators were then able to connect it to that of Jane Doe, positively confirming her as Gifford.

Although the victim’s identity has now been confirmed, the homicide case remains open, police said.

Anyone with information about the case is being asked to contact the police department’s anonymous 24-hour tip line at (415) 575-4444 or to text TIP411 with “SFPD” in the message.