The body of a South Georgia woman found murdered in 1981 has been identified 32 years after her convicted murderer died in prison.
Shirlene “Cheryl” Ann Hammack’s body was found concealed by leaves and tree branches near a cornfield in Brooks County, according to a news release from the GBI. She had been strangled and stabbed.
George Newsome was charged with the murder of “Jane Doe” shortly after the body was found when authorities discovered the rope used in the slaying inside his stolen motor home.
Newsome, who was 52 at the time, initially refused to admit to the murder and escaped from the Brooks County jail. When he was recaptured, he confessed to murdering the woman but did not disclose her identity, the GBI said.
Newsome said he met Hammack at a traveling fair in Tallahassee, Florida. He said he argued with her about another man and killed her in Quitman.
He was sentenced to life in prison, but he died in 1988 from natural causes.
Authorities, who knew the woman was between 18 and 24 years old, continued to search for her identity, displaying her body before her funeral and sending inquiries around the state.
They had no luck.
In 2018, the Brooks County Sheriff’s Office received a tip from someone claiming to know her identity. That person was a childhood friend of Hammack who said she went missing in 1981 after traveling with the fair.
The sheriff’s office contacted Hammack’s mother and sister, who were able to confirm her identity because the physical description and circumstances surrounding her disappearance were consistent with the murder investigation.
Hammack’s grave was exhumed and her DNA proved she was the biological child of Kathleen Hammack, the GBI said.
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