Skeletal remains discovered in a heavily wooded lot off South Military Trail in unincorporated Boynton Beach have finally been given a name — more than three years after a landscape nursery employee working next door stumbled onto them. The woman has been identified as Regina Hess, born in 1948, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.
The remains were found on May 11, 2023, in the 8000 block of South Military Trail, near commercial nursery operations where they appear to have rested for an extended period, according to Boca Post. Evidence technicians processing the scene recovered a gray Gildan tank top and black pants alongside the skeletal remains, physical details that investigators hoped might jog someone's memory, as reported by The Boca Raton Tribune. Investigators initially had no leads to identify the woman, according to WPBF.
Forensic anthropologists and students from Florida Gulf Coast University's Human Identity and Trauma Analysis Program assisted with recovery and preliminary analysis, estimating the deceased was a Caucasian female between 40 and 70 years old and 5'0” to 5'4” tall, per the same Tribune account. Those early parameters gave investigators a starting profile, but no name.
DNA Databases Came Up Empty
In April 2024, Bode Technology extracted a partial DNA profile using a federal Bureau of Justice Assistance Missing and Unidentified Human Remains Program grant. Entering that profile into the FBI's CODIS database, which relies on pre-existing offender and victim profiles, produced no matches, the outlet notes. Traditional DNA databases failed to produce a match, WPBF reported.
With the databases exhausted, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Forensic Imaging Unit released a composite facial reconstruction in August 2024, hoping someone would recognize the woman's likely appearance in life. That public outreach produced no immediate breakthroughs, the outlet's report states.
Genetic Genealogy Traces the Family Tree Back to the 1890s
Cold case investigators turned to forensic biotechnology company Othram in April 2025, using a Florida state grant to fund advanced genome sequencing. Othram's analysts traced ancestral lineages back to the 1890s, generating familial leads by April 2026 that pointed toward Hess, according to the Tribune's account.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office has partnered with Othram on other cold cases as well, including the identifications of 1976 homicide victim Douglas Streeter and 1978 homicide victim Patricia Ann Ritchie, according to DNA Solves. Final confirmation came in July 2026, when Bode Technology conducted kinship testing comparing the remains' DNA with a sample from an individual believed to be Hess's deceased sister. That comparison led to official validation of the identification on August 18, 2026, the Tribune reported.
The genealogy work that cracked the case was made possible in part by a 2024 state law. Florida's Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy Grant Program, created under CS/SB 678, set aside $500,000 in state funding to help law enforcement agencies and medical examiners pay for advanced DNA testing on unsolved violent crimes and unidentified remains, according to The Florida Senate.
Who Was Regina Hess?
Hess had been separated from her family for many years before her death, according to WPBF. Beyond her birth year and the circumstances of her estrangement, detectives have not disclosed further biographical details, and the cause of her death remains undetermined.
Detectives are now seeking information about how Hess's remains ended up at the wooded location off South Military Trail, as well as details about her life in the years before she died. Crime Stoppers of Palm Beach County is offering a reward of up to $3,000 for anonymous tips, Boca Post reported. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-458-TIPS.
A Pattern of Cold Cases Cracked by DNA
Hess's identification adds to a growing list of Palm Beach County cold cases resolved through forensic genetic genealogy, a trend Hoodline has tracked in other local cases. Just months before Hess was named, unidentified remains found in another overgrown patch of Boynton Beach brush turned a waterfront park into a homicide scene, underscoring how often unincorporated pockets of the county have yielded unresolved cases. And earlier this week, similarly unidentified human remains were found in a wooded area off West Elkhorn Drive in Homosassa and turned over to medical examiners and forensic anthropologists, a reminder that Hess's case is far from unique in Florida.
For now, the science has restored Regina Hess's name, but not the story of how she died or how she came to rest in that Boynton Beach lot for years before anyone found her. Investigators say that piece of the puzzle depends on tips from the public and anyone who might remember her from the years before her death.
