SAN ANTONIO — A missing 58-year-old woman from San Antonio has been confirmed dead. She had been missing since December 2017.
The woman has been identified as Sally Ann Hines. In March 2018, the Cameron Sheriff's Office in Cameron, Louisiana found a severed head near Highway 27.
Detective Tammy Gaspard received a tip Thursday, May 20, that the computer-produced photo of the head looked like a missing woman out of San Antonio.
On Wednesday, May 26, the identity was confirmed as Hines by using dental records. Her family has been notified. Cameron Parrish Sherriff Ron Johnson said this a major breakthrough.
'Lo and behold the labs matched up the dental work," he said.
Sheriff Johnson said the break in the case also came from the help of the LSU FACES Lab. He said they created this digital reconstruction of what the unidentified person might look like. Last week, a citizen called investigators saying that image looked like Sally Hines. Now begins another part of the investigation.
"How did she come about to be missing," the sheriff said. "Where did this happen, and when, how, who, why."
Sheriff Johnson said it doesn't seem Hines had any connection to his area. But, he says his county is no stranger to bodies being found.
"One of the confessions we had that people think if they drop off the body or body parts they would be disposed by alligators,: he said. We have a lot of alligators in this area.”
In this case, he said the murder seems personal.
"When someone does something like this they want to make sure the body parts are not identified," he said. "Because, most of the time, it would be some type of connection or relationship to the victim."
KENS 5 reached out to Hines family. Her sister sent us the below statement.
"Yesterday we found out the devastating news that the unidentified remains that were found in Louisiana was that of our Sister Sally Hines. There are no words to express our heartache and emotions that we feel. We can only pray that they find out what happened to her. And who ever did this horrific act pays for what they did to her. We will not rest until we know what happened."
San Antonio police confirmed to KENS 5 in 2017 that she was missing, and they said she “suffered from a medical condition."
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