Cold case solved: Skull found in Illinois home's wall ID'd as grave robbery victim who died in 1800s

KANE COUNTY, Illinois -- Kane County coroners in Illinois solved a four-decade-old cold case, with a victim that dates back more than 100 years before that.

A skull was discovered in the wall of a home in Batavia during a renovation project in 1978. The owner discovered a skull that dates back to the mid-1800s hidden behind the drywall.

Testing done at the time determined the skull belonged to a woman in her 20s. Tests also found it had been in the wall for decades.

After the initial testing was completed the skull was donated to the Batavia Historical Society, where it remained until 2021. That year, authorities decided to reopen the cold case and Kane County Coroner Rob Russell started digging for some answers.

"We had the means to do it, so why not do it?" Russell said. "No reason not to."

Earlier this year, the coroner was able to send out DNA to Othram Labs, a Texas corporation that specializes in forensic genetic genealogy. Within two weeks of sending out the DNA, the lab had found a match.

"You gotta be careful with DNA," said Michael Vogan with Othram Labs. "You only get one shot sometimes."

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Kane County coroners were able to reach out to the victim's second great-grandson and confirm the DNA family match to her great-great grandson, 69-year-old Wayne Svilar, who lives in Portland.

The skull was found to be that of Esther Granger. She was in born 1848, and died at the age of 17, shortly after giving birth to her first daughter.

"There's this sense of closure," Svilar said. "I wish my mom was still here so I could tell her. She'd love it."

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Granger was buried in Merrillville, Indiana by her husband and her daughter.

While authorities now have some answers, there are still many questions.

"We don't have any names of anybody in town that knew her," Batavia Mayor Jeffrey Schielke said. "She's kind of a mystery to us."

While authorities know Granger died in Indiana and believe she was a victim of a grave robbing, they are unclear on how her remains got to the Batavia house, and they say they may never know. Regardless, Batavia is her final resting place.

Grange's remains are now at the West Batavia Cemetery in a columbarium niche donated by the City of Batavia. Her second great-grandchild attended the ceremony.

In the 1800s physicians were desperate to learn more about human anatomy so they would sometimes pay for fresh corpses, according to documents at the St. Charles History Museum.