Answers, Closure for Daughter After Mother Identified as Victim in 1984 Cold Case Murder

A Massachusetts woman said she finally has answers and will be able to put her mother to rest nearly 40 years after her body was found face down in a canal in Florida, according to reports.

Maeghan Smith, who lives in Gloucester, Mass., received a call from police in Davie, Fla., informing her that using DNA from bone fragments investigators were able to match her to her mother, Lori Jane Kearsey, after the cold case was reopened in 2021, WSVN reported.

“I was so overwhelmed because I resigned myself to the fact that I thought I’d probably never know what happened to her,” Smith told the station.

Smith was 5 years old when her mother, then 23, left her behind as she took off for Florida with her new husband — the last time she ever saw her mom.

“She had dropped me off on the weekend and just didn’t go back,” Smith said. “I think, ‘What was she doing down here,’ like she didn’t feel like, call anybody, and I just can’t even imagine what that feeling was like for her and it’s heartbreaking.” 

Smith traveled to Florida to view her mother's remains this week. 

“And I think the feeling of even picking up her remains, thinking I probably haven’t touched any part of her in 41 years, is just a little surreal feeling,” Smith said.

In an interview with Fox News, Smith said her mother had married "into a pretty infamous Boston crime family."

"I always knew that she was [married to] someone in a crime family and it was in the early '80s," Smith said. "They were married for just eight months before she was murdered. It's so painfully obvious but it's so hard to prove cases." 

Police, she said, don't have enough evidence to make an arrest but they are looking at several people of interest.

"They're hoping they'll get a little bit more leads now that the public knows. Unfortunately, I cannot disclose the name of her husband — I really wish I could," Smith told Fox News, adding "He's still alive." 

She said that even before she gave investigators a DNA sample her family "knew" Kearsey was the missing woman "based on pictures and sketches [police] had, even without the DNA."

Police were unable to identify the body of a 5-foot-4 blonde woman found face down in a canal in Davie on Feb. 1984. 

Then the cold case was reopened in 2021. 

“Investigators used several resources to assist with forensic digital imaging, DNA extraction and identification of a potential family tree,” Davie Police Sgt. Kevin Urbaez told WSVN. “Using all those resources, investigators were able to locate the victim’s daughter.”

He said police are still looking for clues in Kearsey's death.

“And so that’s our goal in this case, bring additional closure, but to also bring those who were involved in this criminal case to justice,” Urbaez said.

Smith was philosophical about police finding the person responsible for her mother's murder. 

"This man probably has children and grandchildren who adore him," Smith told Fox News. "Him going to jail doesn't do anything to my life. But he probably won't sleep very well for the rest of his life. Whoever did this can always be wondering — there are so many new answers in testing evidence, they'll be scared that the one thing they thought would never come up came up. That's good enough for me."

Anyone with information should reach out to Broward County Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS. There's an award of up to $5,000.