From grave to lab, she throws science, passion at cold cases
TAMPA, Fla. — Dr. Erin Kimmerle stands at the head of an open, watery grave and peers down.
It’s a sweltering fall day in Tampa, and here’s what she knows about what’s below: It’s the grave of a murder victim.
The woman’s body was found in a patch of scrub brush used as an unauthorized trash dump in 1985 just outside downtown Tampa. Detectives never discovered her name. DNA wasn’t analyzed at the time. They weren’t sure how she was slain, when, or why.
Back then, there was little hope of solving the case. Heavy caseloads, a lack of money and no relatives coming forward all meant that police moved on to the next corpse. The woman lay in this pauper’s grave in a city cemetery for more than 30 years.