![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/mugshot-blur-2.jpeg\")
article <\/p>\n article <\/p>\n
Betty Jo Norris (Texas Rangers)<\/p>\n
AUSTIN, Texas – A woman killed in a rural Texas county over 40 years ago has been identified thanks to advanced DNA testing.<\/p>\n
44-year-old Betty Jo Norris was killed and left along a highway for several months before her body was found in Sept. 1983.<\/p>\n
The backstory:<\/p>\n
On Sept. 1, 1983, ranchers found a human skeleton with clothing while working cattle along Highway 36 in rural Hamilton County, which sits west of Waco.<\/p>\n
Investigators determined the skeleton had been left there several months before and the victim had suffered a single gunshot wound to the head.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Investigators found several pieces of clothing and jewelry, including:<\/p>\n
A pair of brown knee-length bootsA blue-and-white polka dot blouseA pair of stretch blue jeansA Timex watch with a brown leather wristbandBobby pins and two barrettes with orange roses on them\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Timeline:<\/p>\n
The Texas Rangers say that several attempts were made over the years to identify Norris, including statewide announcements, forensic reconstruction images, and available DNA testing.<\/p>\n
In January 2024, evidence from the case was reprocessed and submitted to the Texas DPS Crime Laboratory in Waco for updated testing.<\/p>\n
That testing extracted an unknown male DNA sample from the victim’s clothing in early 2025, but it was too degraded to obtain a profile. Further attempts to develop a profile from the sample also did not pan out.<\/p>\n
DPS then submitted the victim’s remains for testing and comparison through its Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) program, which helped fund advanced DNA testing and genealogy research by BODE Technologies.<\/p>\n
In July 2026, a breakthrough happened, leading investigators to relatives of the victim in Brazos and Bell counties. Those relatives pointed the Rangers to a man living in Belton whose mother had disappeared in the early 1980s.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The man, now in his 60s, provided a DNA sample for testing, and on Aug. 20, the testing confirmed the victim was in fact his mother, Betty Jo Norris.<\/p>\n
What you can do:<\/p>\n
Anyone with any information on Norris’s case or death is encouraged to contact the Hamilton County Communications Office at 254-386-3300.<\/p>\n
The Texas Rangers and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office are still actively investigating her death.<\/p>\n
The Source: Information in this report comes from a release from the Texas DPS.<\/p>\n
Crime and Public Safety<\/a>Texas<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article Betty Jo Norris (Texas Rangers) AUSTIN, Texas – A woman killed in a rural Texas county over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,1046,223,216,393],"class_list":["post-457433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-news","tag-tx","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}