The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office announced the identity of the female victim involved in an unsolved homicide case from 1971 on Wednesday morning.
Sheriff Patrick Breeden and Captain Jon Galvin disclosed that after decades of investigation, “Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee” has been identified as Maureen L. Minor Rowan, known by friends and family as “Cookie.” She was 21 at the time of her death and left behind two children, making her a beloved mother, daughter and sister.
“This is a deeply meaningful moment for our agency and our community, but more importantly to the family that has waited almost 55 years for answers,” said Breeden in a statement.
Galvin, whose father was part of the initial investigation, recounted the years of work that have gone into getting justice for Minor Rowan and her family.
On Feb. 19, 1971, she was found dead by two hitchhikers on Interstate 75. Her badly decomposed body had been floating for about a month in Shady Brook Creek at Lake Panasoffkee under the overpass. A size 36 men’s leather belt was wrapped around her neck, leading investigators to believe she had been strangled and dumped off the overpass.
She appeared to be wrapped in carpet and wore plaid green pants, a matching green shirt and a shawl with green and yellow print. Other personal effects included a Baylor wristwatch, a yellow gold ring with a clear stone on her left ring finger and a thin yellow gold necklace.
At the start of the investigation, Minor Rowan underwent a forensic autopsy, which was limited by the technology available at the time. She was buried as a Jane Doe at Oak Grove Cemetery, 2027 CR 232, Wildwood, until being exhumed in 1986 by late Sheriffs James Adams and William “Bill” Farmer.
Investigators ultimately determined she was a white female, about 5’2” to 5’5” and weighed between 110 to 120 pounds with dark hair and brown eyes. They believed she was between the ages of 17 and 24 when she was killed, had given birth at least twice, had previous dental work to include a crown on her front tooth, and had undergone the Watson-Jones procedure on her right ankle.
The SCSO consulted with numerous agencies and laboratories, both public and private, to help identify Minor Rowan through forensic analysis. However, the state of her remains made it difficult to create a viable profile. Multiple people of interest were interviewed, and many missing person cases were compared before being ruled out.
As the years went on, the SCSO continuously worked to generate and follow up on leads to identify Minor Rowan and her killer. They distributed fliers with her reconstructed image to law enforcement agencies throughout the U.S. and sought help through social media platforms. Her case got national media coverage and was also featured on an episode of Unsolved Mysteries in 1992, which a loved one saw but did not call in due to being unsure.
In 2006, Minor Rowan’s fingerprints were sent to the FBI for comparison to the national database. But it was not until 2013 that her fingerprints from an arrest in 1970 for trying to cash a worthless check were uploaded by the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and sent to the FBI.
This was unknown and only discovered after her identification was made this year using IDEMIA’s Storm ABIS, which stands for Automated Biometric Identification System. This is a system owned by IDEMIA to provide enhanced fingerprint identification and analysis to law enforcement agencies.
The sheriff’s office acquired this system in February, and since latent fingerprint analysis had greatly improved, detectives pursued an examination in October. A latent print examiner submitted prints through the IDEMIA Storm System, which resulted in the positive identification of Minor Rowan, born March 21, 1949. She had never been reported to law enforcement as a missing person.
For her family, this helps answer the questions they have lived with since her disappearance.
“We are deeply grateful to the Sumter County detectives and the local community who never gave up on her,” said the family in a statement. “Now that she has been identified, our family can begin to heal.”
Yet the investigation is still ongoing as detectives search for Minor Rowan’s killer. Although not a suspect, her estranged husband, Charles “Emery” Rowan, is a person of interest in the case. He died in 2015, but detectives know the couple had a tumultuous marriage and separated prior to her death. Their last known address was 1206, Windermere Way, Tampa, and they had ties to Jacksonville, Gainesville and Enigma, Georgia.
The SCSO is seeking the public’s assistance in solving this case. Anyone who knew Minor Rowan or Charles is asked to reach out to speak with a detective. Call the SCSO tip line at 352-569-1915 or email at [email protected]. The anonymous Crimeline is 1-800-423-TIPS (8477).
“If you know something, say something, and help us bring justice to Cookie and her family,” said Breeden.