For more than five decades, she was known only as the Howard County Jane Doe, the victim of a brutal assault and the subject of the county’s oldest and coldest homicide case. In July 1971, a woman was found unconscious in a field off Route 99, east of Woodstock Road in Woodstock, Maryland. She had been severely beaten and was rushed to a hospital, but she never regained consciousness. She died from her injuries two months later, on September 7, 1971. Without a name or a past, her case fell cold, leaving investigators with a sketch and the few details they could glean from her appearance: she was about 5 feet 1 inch tall, weighed around 100 pounds, had light brown hair that was starting to gray, and a distinctive hump on her nose.
For 54 years, her identity remained a mystery. Then, in September 2025, a breakthrough in forensic science finally gave her a name: Sadie Belle Murray. Born in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, on September 7, 1924, she was 47 years old when she died.
At the time of her death, she had been using the name Sarah Belle Sharkey after her marriage in 1943. The identification was made possible through the tireless work of the Howard County Police Department's cold case unit. In October 2024, detectives submitted biological slides that had been preserved in refrigeration for over 50 years for advanced DNA analysis. A private lab, Othram Inc., successfully developed a DNA profile, and their forensic genetic genealogy team constructed a family tree that led investigators to a man they initially believed was a distant cousin.
That man turned out to be her son, Charles Leroy Sharkey. The DNA was a direct familial match. This discovery not only gave Sadie her name back but also uncovered a hidden family tragedy. Years before her death, Sadie's children had been placed in orphanages. The investigation subsequently located her daughter, Mildred Marie Cantwell. Charles, 79 and living near Cleveland, and Mildred, 81 and living in Springfield, Illinois, had been separated for over 70 years and were unaware of each other's existence or their mother's fate. In July 2025, Howard County detectives brought them together. "I thought I'd never connect again with my family," Charles said. "I tried there for a while, even traveling to Pennsylvania where we were born and Cleveland where we were adopted. I got nowhere."
The reunion brought a profound sense of closure to her children. "Learning about my mother was closure for me," Mildred said. "I always wondered…and I am glad to have that closure. Being reunited with my brother is awesome. He’s the only thing in that family that I remember." Charles, who grew up without knowing his family, described the connection as something he never thought would happen. The siblings now talk almost every day and plan to meet in person. Their mother's identification, as Howard County Executive Calvin Ball stated, meant that "Sadie was a daughter, a mother, a member of our larger Howard County family, and today she is no longer forgotten."
While one mystery has been solved, the central question remains: who killed Sadie Belle Murray? The Howard County Police Department’s investigation into her homicide is active and ongoing as of September 2025. Detectives believe Sadie was last living in Pennsylvania and have not yet determined why she was in Howard County or who she might have been with at the time of the assault. They are now seeking information from the public that could help them piece together the final days of her life and bring her killer to justice after more than half a century.
The Howard County Police Department has had recent success in solving long-dormant cases, closing three since 2021. They hope that renewed public attention on Sadie's case will provide the missing link they need. A reward of up to $30,000 is available for information regarding any cold case in Howard County. Anyone who may have known Sadie Belle Murray, or Sarah Belle Sharkey, in or around 1971, or who has any information about her presence in Woodstock, Maryland, is urged to come forward. Tips can be submitted by calling 410-313-STOP or by emailing [email protected].
