DNA evidence gives new clue to mystery at heart of "Mom-in-the-Box" cold case

02 August 2023 , 23:19

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Police went on to reveal the woman who had named herself Francesca Jacobs was actually Linda Rae Jacobs

New DNA evidence has led police to identity a woman at centre of the bizarre "Mom-in-The-Box" cold case.

The woman was found dead in a Monterey home in California, nearly a decade ago while the body of another woman was discovered inside a box under her kitchen table.

Monterey Police Department responded to the grim case in February 2024 - with the woman now identified by her driver's license as 58-year-old Francesca Linda Jacobs. Cops said Jacobs died from starvation and they did not suspect foul play, but while at her home they found the "decomposed remains of another person inside a box under the kitchen table."

The woman found dead from starvation in a vehicle in Monterey in February 2014 (KION-TV)

A search of the apartment found Francesca Jacobs had left a will naming the woman in the box as her mother, Florence Jacobs. Samples from both women were used to create DNA profiles that were tested by a private forensics lab in Texas, reports CBS News.

Police went on to reveal findings they branded "surprising facts" in the case as the woman who had named herself Francesca Jacobs was actually Linda Rae Jacobs, born in 1942, not 1955. Detectives were able to contact relatives of the women, from the accurate DNA reports.

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In a statement Police said: "The reasons Linda Rae Jacobs assumed a new name or why she would keep her mother's body in a box under the kitchen table will likely never be known."

Abigail O'Leary