OSWEGO - On July 14, 1984, an Oswego County Sheriff's Office marine patrol recovered the torso of a female on the waters of Lake Ontario several miles north east of Oswego Harbor.  The recovery was made after a local fisherman discovered the body floating in the water.

The Onondaga County Medical Examiner's Office conducted an autopsy and determined that the body was that of a murder victim. Despite investigative efforts, the body remained unidentified.  Over the years the victim had been compared with numerous missing women from throughout the US. and Canada .. None of these leads resulted in a match

Several years ago Oswego County Sheriff's Investigators asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to attempt to recover DNA from the remains of the victim and compare them to DNA from missing persons and/or their family members on file in the Combined DNA Index System (C.O.D.I.S.)

Late last year the Onondaga County Medical Examiner's Office called sheriff's investigators to ask that the victim's DNA be compared with Nancy Jo Scamurra, a teen reported missing from Amherst, New York on July 2, 1984 Oswego County Sheriff's Investigators and Amherst Police Detectives subsequently communicated and detectives sought and obtained DNA samples from family members of Nancy Scamurra for comparison with the DNA from the recovered victim The testing has now confirmed that the body recovered on Lake Ontario on July 14, 1984 is that of Nancy Jo Scamurra

Oswego County Sheriff Reuel todd states, "This positive identification and newly developed information has furthered this murder investigation We know there are people out there with information concerning Nancy's disappearance and murder. It may be something as simple as overhearing a conversation regarding Nancy They may not even know the importance of the information" He asks those people to contact the Oswego County Sheriff's Office at 1-888-349-3411 or at helpnancv@swegocounty.com.   

Sheriff Todd asks that people remember that Nancy was a 14-year-old girl with a lot of life ahead of her.

"Her life, with all of her potential, was cut short”, Todd said.  “It is OUI intent to solve this case and bring justice for Nancy"