TOWN OF PORTER, N.Y. (WKBW) — It has been three years since the remains of two women were discovered off the Chautauqua Rails to Trails path.
One of the women was identified as 50-year-old Marquita Mull of Buffalo. The other woman remains a Jane Doe.
On Friday, the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office announced an intriguing new development in the case.
Lt. Alex Nutt said that DNA analysis on her skeletal remains has yet to identify her name, but lab work he just received appears to indicate that the unidentified woman was Black. The analysis showed her genetic heritage is about 60 percent African.
The bodies were in very different states of decomposition. Mull was reported missing a couple of months before her body was found. The other remains are believed to have been in the location for at least a decade.
The remains were found within 10 yards of each other.
Nutt said investigators can't rule anything out, but they do believe there has to be a connection.
“I think the odds of those two sets of remains being located right next to each other in that location...the idea that that's unrelated to me seems very, very unlikely," Nutt said.
To mark the third year since the discovery of her sister's remains, Wendy Mull traveled to the scene. She was accompanied by members of WNY Missing and Unidentified Persons. The group helped search for Marquita Mull after she was reported missing and have supported Wendy Mull as she seeks justice.
On Friday, they brought flowers and candles and said a prayer for both Marquita and the Jane Doe.
“For somebody to pick her up off the street and take her and kill her.....for anybody to pick somebody off the street and take their life, you wrong," Wendy Mull said, looking at the spot where her sister's body was left.
She believes this is the work of a serial killer.
“Whoever did this is not the 1st, 2nd, 3rd. There are other bodies somewhere," she said.
Wendy is hopeful that someday the police will find the killer.
Anyone with tips about either of the women or anything related to these cases is asked to contact the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office Unsolved Cases Unit at (716) 753-4231 or https://www.sheriff.us/coldcaseshttps://www.sheriff.us/coldcases.
