Investigators knew that woman was homicide victim, but couldn’t find cause
By Ray Kisonas
The Monroe Evening News
MONROE, Mich. (AP) — To Shelly Hoffman, her Aunt Ruthie was a special person, someone she admired and loved dearly. So when Ruth Sharon Hoffman disappeared almost three decades ago, it left a gaping hole in the lives of many.
Now, after 27 years, part of the mystery has been solved: The remains that were found in a desolate and wooded area in Exeter Township in 1986 have been identified finally as belonging to Hoffman.
She was 44 when she was killed and her body dumped in rural Monroe County.
“She was my world,” Shelly Hoffman told The Monroe Evening News. “I loved her with every ounce of my being. Not a day went by that I didn’t think of her.”
What exactly happened to Hoffman is unknown. Although DNA and a missing persons organization helped identify her recently, there are few clues available to help complete the puzzle.
When she last was seen, Hoffman lived in River Rouge with her daughter. According to several websites dedicated to missing people, she reportedly had been sexually assaulted by two men and disappeared when she went to confront her attackers.
“She was shaking and crying hysterically and told me that she had been raped and beaten,” her daughter, Debbie Hall Smeaton, wrote on those websites. “As Mom left the apartment, she told me, ‘Those ... won’t get away with this!’ I never saw her again.”
She last was seen on June 30, 1986. Six months later, on a cold December morning, hunters came across the skeletal remains in a dumping area off in northern Monroe County.
Hoffman’s remains were recovered 30 miles from her home in the next county over, but it would take 27 years to make the connections.
At the time the body was found, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office initiated an investigation. Detectives only knew that the victim was a middle-aged, white female who probably died in late summer or early fall.
They knew she suffered a broken jaw and arm during an assault. They knew she was a victim of a homicide, but they never could determine how she died, and that was the end of it.
“We spent a lot of hours on that case, but we kept coming to a dead end,” said Michael B. Davison, a retired Monroe County sheriff’s lieutenant who was the lead investigator at the time. “Nobody knew anything.”
Her daughter reported her missing, but she claims the police in their area never filed a report. Local officials confirmed that Hoffman was not placed on the Law Enforcement Information Network as missing. Had that been done, the task of identifying the victim would have been likely, especially considering the geography. But Hoffman being missing was not officially placed on LEIN until 2005, when a Wayne County law enforcement official reopened the case.
Over the years, Monroe County authorities continued to try to identify their victim, who had been labeled Jane Doe Case No. 17903. In 1992, a forensic anthropologist developed a profile of the victim by examining the skull. A clay model was created and the image circulated among the media. Still, no connection was made to Hoffman.
Meanwhile family members never stopped searching. Shelly Hoffman, whose father was Hoffman’s brother, was 10 when her aunt vanished. She said the family never lost hope.
“It’s always been on our minds,” she said. “The whole family never forgot. We tried everything.”
Finally, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System from the University of North Texas made a match. Created 10 years ago, it is a national database that has helped identify many victims, including several from Monroe County.
The website allows anyone to enter data, such as descriptions, photos and dental information, on a missing person. Medical examiners and police officers also can enter data on unidentified bodies, and anyone can search the database for potential matches. DNA also is submitted.
But Hoffman’s identity is only part of the story. What happened to her and who did it are questions that might not be answered. Sheriff’s Detective Joe Hammond said the case is active and he is working with Wayne County authorities on the investigation.
Detective Hammond acknowledges, however, that with so much time elapsed, developing suspects will be difficult.
“Whatever happened to her most likely happened in Wayne County,” he said. “This was her final resting place.”
For Shelly Hoffman, now 37 and living outside of Knoxville, Tenn., just being able to find her aunt was a relief. They once lived together in Allegan north of Kalamazoo. The last time she saw her aunt was when she was a little girl and her aunt took a train to the Detroit area to be with her daughter.
The remains have been cremated and Shelly Hoffman expected her aunt’s ashes to arrive in Tennessee this week. That will provide some closure knowing the woman she described as her second mother — the one who took her camping and swimming — will be with her always.
“I never thought this day would come,” Hoffman said. “It means everything to me to have her home here with me.”
