After nearly 40 years, Nashville Police identified one of two women found dead in shallow graves in the dirt basement of a Charlotte Avenue home.
Police say Sheila Cummings, 23, was found in 1987. She was from Elgin, Illinois.
The identity of the second woman found with Cummings remains unknown.
Police said the two women were killed by James Shaffer, who confessed to killing them. Their bodies were found years later.
In January, both women were disinterred for a contemporary forensic analysis after investigators collected DNA samples.
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Police said a woman called the cold case unit after seeing information reported online and said her mother had been missing since 1984.
DNA from Cummings’ daughter confirmed the match.
Nashville police are continuing the investigation of the remains of the second woman found in the Charlotte Avenue home.
Known as “Lil Bit,” police released a forensic rendering of the woman in April.
She is described as a Black female, 5’7″ with an open-faced gold overlay on her right lateral incisor.
Police said the woman was wearing a copper Grim Reaper ring at the time she was found.
Anyone with information on “Lil Bit” is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463, the MNPD cold case unit at 615-862-7329, or the Medical Examiner’s office at 615-743-1800.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Police: One of two women from shallow graves in 1987 ID’d