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Artist Recreates Face Based On Skull Found In Key Biscayne Park

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KEY BISCAYNE (CBSMiami) - Another clue in the mystery of a human skull found in a popular South Florida park.

Miami-Dade police officers and the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner's office hope a rendering of a woman could help close a 6-year-old death investigation.

"We have no real way of knowing what the person looked like in real life. Hopefully, this will trigger someone's memory and give us a clue we can further pursue," Darren Caprara said.

Caprara is the director of operations for the medical examiner's office.

An artist created this picture of a woman in her 60's just from having her skull and a DNA test. Her remains were found in April of 2012 on Key Biscayne at Bill Baggs State Park when a park biologist was removing plants.

"The name of the game is to get as much information as we possibly can and hopefully one day compare that information and have a match with our missing person's database,"Caprara said.

The medical examiner's office says the remains were found with a shirt the "Express" clothing store stopped making in 2005. However, it's still unclear when or how she died.

The skull was sent to the University of Florida's Anthropology Department for further evaluation. They were able to determine the remains was of a female who was most likely over the age of 60 at the time of death. They also noted that no evidence of trauma was present.

The Forensic Investigative Genetics Department at the University of North Texas tested the skull and found the DNA was consistent with a female contributor.

"We've already pursued a lot of other avenues and no matches have panned out at this point." Caprara said.

In the past, the medical examiner's office had success with facial reconstruction technology at University of Florida along with sketches done from forensics investigators here at home. This wall shows some of the unidentified people whose remains or bodies were found dating back to the 60's. In total, they have not been able to name 300 people. There's one full-time investigator assigned to helping solve years and decades-old cases.

"Resubmitting information like fingerprints or send some of the bones off to various scientists," Caprara said.

Even with the help of this facial reconstruction technology that's almost out of a crime television show, Caprara knows the unfortunate reality that these cases are never solved in sixty minutes.

"Usually it's just a lot of hard work," Caprara said.

Police ask that if you recognize her, please contact Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477).

For more information on unidentified people, click here.

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