For more than 30 years her name was simply Jane Doe. Very little is known about the woman who was murdered and her body tossed down a well in rural Lawrence County.

She may not have been forgotten, but there hadn’t been any breaks that pointed toward identifying this individual.

Last week a handful of Lawrence County agencies including the coroner’s office and the sheriff’s office exhumed the body of Jane Doe and conducted extensive forensic analysis that could, at the very least, help give this woman a name.

The best case scenario would be that it generates enough evidence needed to catch a murderer more than three decades after the crime occurred.

It will take several weeks before all the data is processed and likely much longer before anything tangible comes from this, if it ever does.

But regardless of the result, the key is that we are trying. These agencies should be commended for taking the initiative and looking to solve this cold case.

Somewhere there is likely a family that still grieves and still wonders what happened to their loved one.

Every person deserves a name and a marked resting place. Every family deserves closure when faced with this type of tragedy.

Hopefully, this could be the first step toward providing both.