'SW pollen' linked to 1979 NY cold case

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Authorities say they may have new clues about an unidentified murdered female found in 1979 on an upstate New York farm — her pants had traces of pollen found only in the American Southwest.

Now authorities with the Livingston County Sheriff's Office in Geneseo, N.Y. are enlisting Albuquerque police in trying to identify the unknown female, who also was found with American Indian jewelry typically sold in New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona.

Police say the female, who was between 13 to 19 years-old, had been shot, pulled into the cornfield, shot again, and stripped of identification.

Livingston County Sheriff's investigator Tom Dougherty said the body was recently exhumed to pull DNA evidence. That's when the pollen was found through new forensic technology.