Body found floating in Canadian river in 1975 identified as prominent U.S. businesswoman Jewell "Lalla" Langford
CBSN
Canadian authorities have identified the victim of one of the country's most notorious cold case murders, nearly five decades after the woman's body was found floating in a river in Ottawa. Known previously as the "Nation River Lady," after the name of the river where her body was discovered in 1975, Ontario Provincial Police confirmed Wednesday that the remains belonged to Jewell "Lalla" Langford, a resident of Tennessee who was 48 years old at the time of her death.
Police described Langford in a news release as "a prominent member of the Jackson, Tennessee business community" who had co-owned a health spa with her ex-husband while she was alive.
"In this respect, she truly was a woman ahead of her time," said Janice Mulcock, a retired detective constable with the Ontario Provincial Police, during a videotaped briefing shared on Facebook Wednesday morning by the police department. "In fact so successful she was the chair and president of the Jackson, Tennessee chapter of the American Businesswomen's Association and in 1971 was voted 'woman of the year' by her colleagues."
