LAWRENCE COUNTY, Ohio — A woman born in West Virginia has been identified the victim of a decades-old murder case in Chesapeake, Ohio.
Louise Virginia Peterson Flesher, born June 16, 1915, in Fairview, was revealed as the victim during a press conference in Lawrence County, Ohio on Monday on the case known as the “Belle in the Well.”
On April 22, 1981, Flesher’s body was found in a covered well in Chesapeake. Investigators said she could have been in the well for up to two years. Flesher was found strangled.
Investigators said on Monday that technology improvements in forensic genealogy and DNA samples from family members confirmed the identity. Nonprofit organization DNA Doe Project, helped solve the mystery.
Flesher moved to Ohio after being born in West Virginia while also spending time out West.
Flesher’s husband, Donald Benjamin Flesher, died in 1992. She had three daughters.