Police sketch, DNA match help Henrico ID murder victim

A police sketch and a DNA hit have combined to reveal the identity of a 1991 murder victim.

Henrico County police say they now need the public's help in tracking down Cynthia Gilliam's killer. Her body was discovered in 1991 along Evergreen Road, a little-used roadway connecting the Nine Mile Road area of eastern Henrico with Fulton Bottom in the city. It took 18 years to determine her identity.

A breakthrough came when family members recognized a sketch and reconstruction of the woman's features from her skeletal remains. The likeness was made public in September this year, and family members came forward. A DNA sample proved Gilliam's identity.

She had been missing since 1989, according to her family.

Henrico police are asking anyone with information about the woman or her possible attacker to call Investigator J.M. Berger at (804) 501-5000 or call Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000.

-- Bill McKelway