Victim cut in half in "horrifying" Massachusetts murder 26 years ago finally identified

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Updated on: June 3, 2026 / 5:33 PM EDT

/ CBS Boston

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Investigators say they have finally learned the identity of "Chelsea Jane Doe," 26 years after the teenager was found brutally murdered in Massachusetts. Authorities said Wednesday that thanks to DNA testing, the victim can now be identified as 16-year-old Tiffany Bradley of Pennsylvania.Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said that on Nov. 13, 2000, police made a "horrifying" discovery in the parking lot of the Chelsea Soldiers' Home."They found a body of an unknown female," Hayden said. "Tragically she had been cut in half, she was without her head and without any hands."Eugene McCollom is currently serving a lifetime prison sentence for her murder. He told police he had buried her head and other body parts in the sand at Nahant Beach. But detectives were unable to figure out who she was, until the FBI was able to find her brother using investigative generic genealogy.