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Authorities release new details, southern ties to potential Shawn Grate victim

Analysis of the victim's remains determined she was likely born in a southern state and likely spent the last five years of her life in Texas, Florida or the Caribbean.

MARION, Ohio -- Authorities have reached across state lines in attempt to identify a woman who may have been another victim to Ashland County killer Shawn Grate.

Last week, a judge agreed with a jury's recommendation to impose the death penalty on Grate, who was convicted for the murders of Stacey Stanley and Elizabeth Griffith.

RELATED | Ashland County killer Shawn Grate receives death penalty

Now, the Ohio Attorney General's Office has issued a bulletin to several southern states, including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, in attempt to identify a woman Grate claims to have killed in Marion County.

The woman's remains were found near Victory Road in Marion in March 2007, but officials say she may have been killed several years prior. Grate told authorities he may have killed the woman, who he believed to be a magazine salesperson, sometime between 2004-05.

Shawn Grate

Analysis of the victim's remains determined she was likely born in a southern state and likely spent the last five years of her life in Texas, Florida or the Caribbean.

Forensic experts created a facial reconstruction of the victim and determined she was between the ages of 15 and 30. She had brown hair, stood between 5-foot-3 and 5-foot-9 and weighed between 100 to 150 pounds. Experts say her teeth had been well-cared for.

Experts also created a mold of the victim's skull, recreating muscle and tissue with clay.

Grate is also a suspect in two Richland County homicides.

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