44 years later: Investigators identify woman in 1982 Milwaukee River cold case
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- She was Jane Doe for more than four decades.
But now, she has a name.
Berline Trammel is the woman who was found floating in the Milwaukee River by an off-duty fireman on March 16, 1982.
Berline Trammel
Police believe she had been in the water for up to three months before she was located.
"So, I remember seeing her," said Milwaukee Police Department Officer Jamie Sromalla, who was assigned to missing persons about two and a half years ago. "I just remember being kind of really sad because it's been so long and she didn't have a name to her."
Sromalla told CBS 58's Ellie Nakamoto-White that upon seeing then-unidentified Trammel's face, she immediately called Michael Simley, the medicolegal death investigator manager for the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office.
"It was fantastic," Simley recalled. "You know, having some support from the local police department investigating the case initially with us was great because someone with tenacious attitude, like Officer Sromalla here, was great to have on board because we were hitting roadblocks in our investigation."
Simley said many years ago when Trammel's remains were discovered, there wasn't much to go off of identification-wise.
"There were no photo IDs, anything to give us any tentative name whatsoever. So, we published information in the paper at the time to let people in the public know that there was this missing individual, gave them parameters on what the person looked like, possible age, to see if there were any hits," Simley said. "And there were people that called, but nothing that, you know, landed any real validity to the case here."
It would be several more decades until the National Missing Unidentified Persons System would launch, while investigators also tried using the combined index DNA system that still yielded no results.
But then, Simley said the DNA technology advanced, which ended up being the key to solving who Trammel was.
And finally, on March 16, 2026, 44 years to the day that her body was pulled from the river, investigators had an answer.
"We were in a Zoom meeting, and it just so happened one of the analysts typed in 'Aunt Berline' and the family photo popped up," Sromalla said. "I called the family and we were able to confirm that she was missing... honestly, I got very teary-eyed because I could feel the emotion from the family member on the other side of the phone."
Trammel was identified using investigative genetic genealogy.
Milwaukee Police Department Officer Jamie Sromalla
"With this situation, I felt a lot of relief because it has been so long and they had no idea what happened. She just disappeared," Sromalla said.
When it comes to these kinds of cold cases, officials said any information sharing is key.
"If we were in the position of these families missing a loved one, we don't know where they are, we would want people on that end working tirelessly and keeping these cases active, even though they've gone dormant and to reopen them," Simley said. "For family to do that, to get the missing person reported, and get a DNA sample submitted, that's the ultimate thing. And the only thing you can do is help solve other cases, because it might not help solve yours, but help leapfrog us to maybe a different one."
Officials said Trammel's family is grateful for the long-awaited resolution.
"Having the families appreciate the efforts and things like that, that's honestly what we're doing this for," Simley said. "Just to bring closure to these cases and see them resolved and ultimately give the person their name back."
Berline Trammel
Berline Trammel