1996 Woman in the Carpet

On February 9, 1996, the body of an unknown woman was found rolled up in a carpet and abandoned along the side of Central Avenue, outside the city limits of Greenfield. Although heavily decomposed after having been abandoned in the carpet for an unknown amount of time, the case was ruled a homicide. The victim, estimated to be in her 30’s-40’s, 5′-07″, with black hair and weighing approximately 200 pounds, has never been identified. Her case has gone cold. She was wearing several items of jewelry, but no other identifiers were found with her body. No witnesses were located, and no missing person cases could be linked to her case. 

Working in unison with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, in 2023 the DA’s Office Cold Case Task Force began working with a private forensics lab to attempt to identify the victim using SNP DNA technology and Investigative Genetic Genealogy (IGG). To date, IGG has not led to her identity, but her DNA results reveal equal parts Amerindian and Southern European heritage.  

Aside from the ongoing attempts to give this victim her name back, there are still items of physical evidence in this case that could be examined by a private forensics lab. This evidence could potentially lead investigators to the as yet unknown killer(s) of the, “Woman in the Carpet.”