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In a DNA breakthrough, a murder victim found strangled in a Florida canal in 1984 has finally been identified. And the 4-decades-old mystery is tied to a notorious Boston crime family. 

Lori Jane Kearsey, whose body was discovered face down in the waters of Davie, South Florida, on February 18, 1984, has been identified through DNA analysis.

Law enforcement had no idea whose body was found. They publicized descriptions highlighting her as a blonde woman with hazel eyes, standing at 5'4" and weighing 120 pounds.

Kearsey was 23 years old at the time of her disappearance. 

The case had long gone cold until a DNA analysis of Kearsey's bone fragments led investigators to a match with her daughter, Maehgan Smith, who currently resides in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

 Kearsey was divorced from her daughter’s father. And had recently married into a well-known Boston crime family.

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Boston Crime Family ties

Lori Kearsey had given birth to Maeghan at the age of 17, and her sudden disappearance occurred when her daughter was just 6 years old. 

'She had dropped me off on the weekend and just didn't go back,' Smith explained.. 'I think, 'What was she doing down here,' like she didn't feel like, call anybody, and I just can't even imagine what that feeling was like for her and it's heartbreaking.'

 "I was so overwhelmed because I resigned myself to the fact that I thought I'd probably never know what happened to her," Smith confessed to local news outlet WSVN. 

'She re-married into a pretty infamous crime family in Boston,' Smith explained.

Lori Kearsey's husband at the time of her murder is still alive, but the detective would not comment on who he is or his potential involvement or whereabouts. 

Daughter gets some closure

Smith traveled to Florida to receive her mother's remains, a moment fraught with surreal emotions. "I think the feeling of even picking up her remains, thinking I probably haven't touched any part of her in 41 years, is just a little surreal feeling."

Now, after four decades, Lori Kearsey's daughter can finally provide her mother with a proper farewell and lay her to rest. 

Smith, now a mother herself to two daughters aged 18 and 21, is struck by the fact that her mother was close to the age of her daughters when she was murdered.

'She was a kid. She could have grown up … She never got a chance.'

 "My whole life I knew something happened to her, but now I have the closure," Smith said.

The case is far from closed for law enforcement.

 Davie Police Sergeant Kevin Urbaez expressed the force's commitment to bring Kearsey's killers to justice. "That's our goal in this case, bring additional closure, but to also bring those who were involved in this criminal case to justice," Urbaez emphasized.

Detective Eddy Velazquez revealed that they have identified individuals of interest who are still alive, though he refrained from disclosing specific details. The investigation is active in both Massachusetts and Florida, as authorities follow leads and await additional DNA test results.

Lori Kearsey's husband at the time of her murder is still alive, but the detective would not comment on his potential involvement or whereabouts. 

The investigation continues and the identification makes it a lot more likely that there may finally be some answers in this long-standing cold case.