“The lady in the Barrel” has been identified by DNA. Forensic scientists used DNA that was collected during the autopsy. The woman was killed in 1990. DNA from her sister was used to identify her as Stacie Lee Ann Lutz Anderson.
“There were no dental records or X-ray files that anthropologists could consult to identify the woman in the barrel. Her bones were in bad shape and in some places had eroded through completely. Stacie had no biological family members closely enough related to provide a mouth swab for DNA comparisons. That’s when authorities decided to use the DNA of the victim’s deceased twin sister, Tracie De Ann Lutz.”
Stacie’s skeletal remains were found stuffed inside a barrel at her husband’s home in 2010. Her husband, Dennis Anderson, later committed suicide after being hunted by police. In a suicide note he confessed that he had killed his wife.
Stacie Anderson had not been seen since 1999. Dennis Anderson never reported her missing. “Stacie’s family thought she had returned to California, where sometimes she liked to visit. No one ever reported her missing to law enforcement officials, according to detective Shawn Carrizal of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office homicide division.”