40 Years Later, New Jersey Murder Victim ‘Princess Doe’ Has Been Identified

One of New Jersey's most famous cold cases has been cracked, with authorities finally identifying the victim in a 40-year-old murder investigation, as well as charging her alleged killer.

Since 1982, she was known only as "Princess Doe."

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Discovered beaten beyond recognition, her body was found in Blairstown, Warren County back on July 15 of that year.

The death of "Princess Doe" was ruled a homicide, but its investigation generated few leads early on because of the condition of her body.

But, just last Wednesday, on the 40th anniversary of the discovery of "Princess Doe" in Cedar Ridge Cemetery (which is where she was buried, by the way, a memorial established to a nameless woman), police revealed her true identity during a lengthy press conference, according to NJ.com: Dawn Olanick.

Dawn, a native of Long Island, New York, was reportedly just 17 years old at the time of her death.

For the first time, the public got to see the face of "Princess Doe." She was identified through the help of genealogical DNA, NJ.com reports.

Her killer is alleged to be a 68-year-old man named Arthur Kinlaw, who is already serving time for first-degree murder in a New York prison.

Authorities believe Kinlaw tried to turn Dawn Olanick into a prostitute. But, she refused, so he killed her. He's been formally charged with first-degree murder in her death.

The timing of this story is so ironic, both because this unsolved case's resolution came 40 years to the day it first began, and because I literally just finished listening to a podcast about "Princess Doe" (True Crime Garage, ep. 594, if you're interested). I had never heard about this New Jersey cold case until then, and I was so distraught that she had been buried with no name on her grave marker, and that her killer might still be out there.