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Sue Ann Huskey in 7th grade at Sulphur Springs Middle School taken from the 1986 yearbook. Staff photo -
An updated police sketch created of the Corona Girl, now known to be Sue Ann Huskey. Courtesy/Doe Network -
Sue Ann Huskey’s sisters Michelle Benard, Jackie Delaney and Tasha Webb Huskey speak at a press conference about their sister. Courtesy/Williamson County Sheriff’s Office
Family still searches for answers
On Wednesday morning Sulphur Springs resident Tasha Webb Huskey found herself racing to Georgetown to attend the press conference the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office was holding about the murder of her sister, Sue Ann Huskey.
According to the Doe Network, the woman now known as Sue Ann Huskey was found in the brush along Interstate-35 in Georgetown on Sept. 25, 1989. She was wearing black knit pants and a white t-shirt with "Cinco De Corona" imprinted on the front. For this, she became known as the “Corona Girl” because police were unable to establish her identity. She died by gunshot wound, the Doe Network says.
According to Kevin Lord of the DNA Doe Project, Sue Ann was born in 1972 in Michigan, and subsequently moved to Arkansas. Sue Ann moved with her family to Sulphur Springs in approximately 1984, and attended Sulphur Springs junior high school, her sister said. In her father's obituary in 2002, she is listed as surviving, but in her brother's obituary in 2004, she is listed as deceased. Although scientists who examined her body estimated the Corona Girl to be 18 to 24 years old, her sister says Sue Ann was only 17 when she was killed.
“She was a very sweet girl, likable, outgoing. Never met a stranger,” Tasha told the News-Telegram. “She was very spoiled, because she was our baby sister out of seven.”
They called her Sissy, sister Michelle said at a press conference on Wednesday.
They now know when she was found, but they still aren’t sure when she went missing.
“We’ve narrowed it down to three months prior to her death when she left Sulphur Springs,” Tasha said. “And we’re not even sure how she got down there.”
The Williamson County Sheriff's Office verified Sue Ann's identity after more than three rounds of DNA extraction which sent Sue Ann's bones and teeth as far away as the Netherlands, Williamson County Sheriff Robert Chody said at the press conference.
But what ultimately brought her home was a Hopkins County passion: genealogy. After having tested DNA through a testing service, Sue Ann's family members decided to "opt in" to let law enforcement use this information to solve crimes, Lord said.
"It's like piecing together a puzzle piece," Lord said, stating that law enforcement worked to combine the data-- which showed their Jane Doe was a caucasian woman with roots in the south-- with census records that tracked the family's history as early as 1910.
Williamson County cold case detectives and the Doe Project finally narrowed it down to the town of Sulphur Springs and the Huskey family, they stated.
"It takes your breath away," sister Jackie Delaney said during the press conference. "They wanted to meet with us the day after Christmas, and if it turned out to be true, that was our Christmas."
According to Chody, the family only found out the identity of their sister three weeks ago, after over 30 years of waiting.
"After 30 years of not knowing where she was or how she was, it's always in your mind," Delaney said. "We're very grateful we still have our mother with us to find our baby girl and bring her home. We have closure. Our little sister was amazing... she was a typical 17 year old girl living life and being happy."
"We advise you if you have any family members missing, report missing and do the genealogy," Delaney said. "Don't just assume. Double check and report."
"The emptiness is gone," Michelle added. "She's not ever going to come back, but we know."
Delaney urged any with information about her sister's murder to contact the Williamson County Sheriff's Office.