Teenage girl skull from 1800 found before about 45 years while renovating a house in the suburbs of Chicago, and now thanks to advances in DNA technology, we finally know her name.

OR Esther Granger was identified by the Kane County medical examiner’s office Thursday as the woman whose skull was found in 1978 but died more than 150 years earlier.

Who is the woman behind the skull?

Esther Granger was born on October 1848 in Indiana and was just 17 years old at the time of her death in 1866. Officials believe she died of complications during childbirth, Kane County Coroner Robert Russell said at a news conference Thursday.

Her body was buried in Merrillville, Indiana, but years later, her skull was found in a house about 129 kilometers northwest in Batavia, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago.

In 1978, a Batavia resident was renovating his home when he discovered her skull in the walls, Russell explained.

The resident contacted the police and an official investigation into the case began.

Officials did their best with DNA testing at the time, but all they could learn was that the skull belonged to a young woman, probably in her 20s, who lived before 1900.

The case was finally “put on ice”.

The skull was stored in Batavia Depot museum and employees found it again in March 2021 while cleaning it, Russell said.

The skull was returned to police, and officials linked that skull to the 1978 exhibit.

Advances in forensic science technology and the use of forensic genetic genealogy, which combines DNA analysis with traditional genealogical research, have enabled more discoveries by collecting DNA evidence.

In 2023, Kane County officials contacted Othram, a Texas company that works to address colds across the country, to help with further DNA testing.

Othram created a DNA profile for the woman, which included her family tree and traced her living relatives.

Officials contacted Granger’s great-grandson, Wayne Svilar, and he submitted his DNA for testing, which was a match, he said during Thursday’s news conference.

Svilar, 69, said he couldn’t believe the news when he was first contacted by county officials in April about his great-great-grandmother.

“To be perfectly honest, we didn’t believe a word of it“, he said. “It took two or three phone calls for me to believe it».

Wayne Svilar, who is a retired police sergeant from Portland, Oregon, says the family was in shock and it was kind of an end to the story after news of the identification.

He added that he has been retired for some time, but after participating in the identification process, he recently took a job with the Multnomah County Prosecutor’s Office working with cold cases.

How her skull was found 120 km away from her grave

As for how Esther Granger’s skull ended up 129 km from her burial site, officials aren’t exactly sure, but they believe she was the victim of a grave robbery.

“There is no definite answer as to how Esther Granger ended up on this wall or where the rest of her body is, but being the victim of a grave robbery is the most likelyRussell said.

Officials also believe it is possible her grave robbers sold her remains to be used as a specimen in medical schools.

Granger’s remains were reinterred in West Batavia Cemetery.