The McDonald County Sheriff's Office, along with the Coroners Office, has confidently identified the deceased female recently found off a steep embankment along Highway 59 to be that of Jessica McCormack.
According to several of her friends, McCormack had not been seen since the middle of July but, a missing person report was never filed. Authorities then discovered that McCormack's three young children, ranging in age from 4-years-old to 7-months-old, had not been seen since her disappearance either.
Hours after issuing an alert about the missing children, they were safely located in Iowa and taken into custody.
McCormack was tentatively identified last month, but dental records needed to be compared and DNA samples needed to be confirmed before a formal identification was made.
As the investigation continued, authorities were able to determine which dentist offices McCormack had visited in the past several years. Investigators secured a release for McCormack's medical records and sent the records to the forensic dentist that took X-rays of the deceased's teeth following the initial autopsy. The forensic dentist was unable to confirm an outright match due to dental decay and the amount of time that had passed since McCormack last saw a dentist.
Investigators spoke with McCormack's friends and family and learned that she had a tattoo that could assist with identification. After a re-examination of the body, a tattoo was discovered on the left wrist that matched the description of McCormack's tattoo.
"With those facts, we are confident in our identification that the female was that of Jessica McCormack," said Sheriff Michael Hall.
The investigation is still underway as investigators follow up on leads regarding the whereabouts of the person of interest in this case, Mahamud "Tito" Mahamed.
"We believe that he has fled the area and we are continuing our search for him," Hall said. "We ask that if anyone does have information as to where he might be staying, call and talk with investigators."
Mahamed was living in Noel after immigrating from Somalia. He was McCormack's boyfriend and the father to her 7-month-old child.
Sheriff Hall said Mahamed is the person of interest due to previous domestic violence calls between the couple. Mahamed was also responsible for transporting McCormack's children north, to Iowa, following her disappearance.
The autopsy reports her cause of death as undetermined.
General News on 09/12/2019