A farmer found her remains in a field in 1992. She's now been ID'd

A woman whose remains have been at the center of a cold case in Pennsylvania for over 30 years has been identified, officials recently announced.

The remains belong to Nuria Columbina Rodriguez, who went missing from the Bronx in New York City when she was 25 years old, the Berks County Coroner’s Office said in an early June news release.

According to the coroner, her remains were identified over 33 years after they were discovered in June 1992. Due to the condition of the remains, officials said they still have not been able to determine her cause or manner of death.

Police have not publicly confirmed how her remains ended up over 100 miles away from where she lived in the Bronx.

"No longer known only as Jane Doe, she is once again recognized by her name and remembered by those who loved her," the coroner’s office wrote.

Here’s what we know about Rodriguez and how she was found.

Woman was reported missing from the Bronx

A farmer found a woman’s remains on June 3, 1992, while working in a field in Berks County, about 27 miles west of Allentown, the coroner’s office said in the news release. 

The farmer initially found a skull resting atop freshly turned soil. The farmer alerted authorities, who found a shallow grave containing partial skeletal remains. They suspected the remains had been buried there at least a year before the farmer found them.

Officials initially believed the remains belonged to a White woman between the ages of 25 and 40, standing 5-foot, 3-inches tall. 

Per the coroner’s office, investigators generated a forensic facial sketch in efforts to identify the woman. They also used methods such as DNA analysis and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs) to try to learn who she was. When they were unable to identify her, officials called her “Christman Jane Doe.”

Identifying Christman Jane Doe

The coroner’s office said investigators repeatedly tried to identify the woman over the last three decades. In 2024, the coroner’s office worked with Virginia-based lab Parabon NanoLabs, using advanced DNA technology to trace her family connections.

The Pennsylvania State Police also worked with the coroner and the lab to figure out who the woman was, which led them to a family in New York that had been looking for a relative since the early 1990s.

In April, investigators were confident in identifying the woman as Rodriguez, 25. Rodriguez’s family had searched for her since she missed her child’s birthday. She never would’ve missed that day, they recalled.

'She was gone too soon,' Rodriguez's family says

Rodriguez was born in La Ceiba, Honduras, her family wrote in her obituary. She was described as a jokester, a loving person and someone people often felt safe around, according to her family.

“(She was) feisty at times, but never unkind,” they wrote. 

She was intelligent and loved school, her family added. She went to Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School 74 in the Bronx, where she was on the cheerleading squad. She later went to Murry Bergtraum High School in Lower Manhattan.

She gave birth to her son, Herbert “Junior” Matos Jr., at a young age, her family said. Her son recalled holding his mother's hand on Halloween, as she was dressed as a soldier with a helmet and canteen. One year for Christmas, she brought home a real tree. With no stand, she improvised and tied it to a radiator.

“She was gone too soon,” her family wrote. “A life interrupted, a story left unfinished in ways that will always be difficult to accept.”

The coroner said those with information about Rodriguez’s disappearance and death can contact the Pennsylvania State Police Troop L at 610-562-6885.

This story has been updated to add photos.

Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY’s trending team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at [email protected].