NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Officials have identified a woman who was found buried in the basement of a Nashville home — nearly 40 years after her murder.

According to the Metro Nashville Police Department, two women were killed by James Schaffer in 1985. Schaffer reportedly confessed to the murders two years after the women were discovered in shallow graves within the basement of a home on Charlotte Avenue on Nov. 7, 1987.

This past January, the unidentified women were "disinterred for contemporary forensic analysis," police said. However, two days before authorities collected DNA samples, a woman reportedly called the Cold Case Unit after seeing information online and reported that her mother had been missing since 1984.

Officials said DNA samples were collected from the cold case victim's daughters and were returned on Wednesday, July 2. According to the MNPD, the DNA came back as a confirmed match.

Now, authorities have identified one of the victims 23-year-old Sheila Cummings from Elgin, Illinois.

Meanwhile, the Cold Case Unit is continuing their investigation to identify the other victim, who was also known as "Lil Bit."

In April, News 2 shared a rendering of "Lil Bit." She is believed to have been 20 to 40 years old and stood at approximately 5-feet-7 inches tall.

Investigators added that she was discovered wearing a copper Grim Reaper ring, had an open-faced gold overlay on her right tooth and was found to have her lower spine fused together, which would have given her back problems.

Anyone with information about "Lil Bit" is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 615-742-7463, the MNPD Cold Case Unit at 615-862-7369 or the Davidson County Medical Examiner’s Office at 615-743-1800.

News Source : https://www.wkrn.com/news/local-news/nashville/cold-case-victim-id-38-years-later/