Cold case solved 60 years after Ohio woman's dismembered remains found by fishermen

In June of 1964, a fisherman made a grisly discovery at a gravel pit in western Ohio — a severed human arm. Four days later, another fisherman found a burlap bag in a nearby canal which contained a torso. Eventually, a human head and a leg were discovered in the same waterway.

The remains were identified as those of 43-year old Daisy Shelton of Dayton -- and now, 40 years later, authorities have officially declared the cold case solved. The Miami County Sheriff's Office announced Friday that prosecutors have approved closing the case after a key witness came forward to identify a suspect who died about 18 months ago.

Finding the alleged killer — who authorities did not name — took several decades. After Shelton's remains were identified in 1964, the case went cold until 2017.  That's when a witness — who was also not named by officials — came forward to claim he saw someone kill Shelton with a hammer in a home in Dayton and then dismembered her body, the sheriff's office said. The body parts were then discarded in bodies of water in and around the Dayton suburb of Tipp City, the witness told detectives.