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Cold-case sketch draws out tipster

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Authorities believe they may have started to crack the identity of a 1968 cold-case victim after posting a composite drawing of the woman on Facebook.

The Huntington Beach Police Department has received a tip that the woman, found abandoned in Huntington Beach with her throat slashed, body beaten and sexually assaulted, could be named Rosie and have come to the West Coast from New York, police reported.

The department posted the drawing of the woman Jan. 4 asking for the public’s help identifying her.

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Several boys found the woman’s body while playing in a field at Newland Street and Yorktown Avenue at 4:05 p.m. March 14, 1968. The body lay facedown in a drainage ditch, police reported.

Police are working with the New York Police Department’s Missing Person squad to further identify the woman, police reported.

Officials were contacted by a person who believed they were friends of the the victim at the time she went missing. The informant said she believes the woman’s name was Rosie and had an Italian last name that they couldn’t recall, police reported.

The caller was shown actual photographs of the victim.

The caller said they only knew the woman for a couple months, and when she didn’t show up for work, they couldn’t recall the woman’s address in Long Beach to contact her, police reported.

Detectives believe the woman had been living in Long Beach and working as a waitress at a now-defunct downtown bar, The Circus Room, police reported.

No employee records from the bar survived, police reported.

Police believe Rosie came to Long Beach in 1967 from New York, most likely from Brooklyn or the Bronx.

It is believed Rosie left behind a husband and 2-year-old child, possibly named John-John, as well as two older brothers, in New York, police reported.

Police said the current lead is promising but aren’t ruling out any new information that could take the investigation in a different direction.

The woman was white or Latina, 20 to 25 years old, 5 feet 3 to 5 feet 4, weighing 140 pounds with a medium build and dark shoulder-length hair and brown eyes.

She was wearing a multicolored flower-print blouse, purple capri pants, a black imitation leather three-quarter length coat and flat loafer-type shoes. She was wearing a silver metal ring with a light blue, square stone.

Police also reported that the victim was missing several back teeth and had slightly crooked front teeth.

Detectives believed the woman was dropped off at the location and found several tire tracks near the body.

Anyone with information about the identify of the victim is asked to call Det. Mike Reilly at (714) 536-5940.

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