The information and photograph below provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety.
AUSTIN, TX – After more than 42 years, using modern forensic DNA technology and extensive police work, investigators have finally identified the victim of a brutal murder in Hamilton Co. as 44-year-old Betty Jo Norris.
Betty Jo Norris is pictured above.
On the morning of Sept. 1, 1983, ranchers discovered a human skeleton with female clothing while working cattle along Highway 36 in rural Hamilton Co. Investigators determined that the female victim had been left at the location several months before, after suffering a single gunshot wound to the head. Clothing and jewelry at the scene included a pair of brown knee-length boots, a blue and white polka dot blouse, stretch blue jeans, a Timex watch with a brown leather wristband, bobby pins and two barrettes with orange roses on them. In the years that followed, the Hamilton Co. Sheriff’s Office and Texas Rangers made several attempts to identity the victim using statewide announcements and forensic reconstruction images – but no leads developed and DNA testing available even as recent as 2005 did not yield any results. The case went cold.
Then, in January 2024, in coordination with the Hamilton Co. Communications Office and the Hamilton Co. Sheriff’s Office, the Texas Rangers began reprocessing evidence from this case and submitted it to DPS’ Crime Laboratory in Waco for updated testing. This led to the extraction of an unknown male DNA sample from the victim’s clothing in early 2025 – but it was too degraded to obtain a profile. Over the next year, the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification (UNTCHI) also attempted to develop a profile with the degraded sample, but it did not qualify for a database search.
Determined to identify the female victim, DPS submitted her remains for testing and comparison through DPS’ Sexual Assault Kit Initiative (SAKI) program. The program is funded by the Department of Justice/Bureau of Justice Assistance (DOJ/BJA), which provides investigative funding for agencies across the United States to further unsolved sexual assaults and sexually related homicides, aiming to bring justice to the victims and their families.
Using SAKI grant funds, the sample was sent to BODE Technologies for advanced DNA testing and genealogy research – and a breakthrough in the decades-old case was made. In July 2026, advanced DNA testing and research by BODE ultimately led investigators to relatives of the female victim living in Brazos and Bell counties. After conducting several interviews, relatives pointed the Rangers to a male family member living in Belton whose mother – identified as Betty Jo Norris – had disappeared in the early 1980s. The Texas Rangers traveled to Belton, where the son, now in his 60s, provided a DNA sample for testing. On Aug. 20, 2026, that testing confirmed that the unidentified female victim was in fact the man’s mother – Betty Jo Norris.
The Texas Rangers and Hamilton Co. Sheriff’s Office continue to actively investigate Norris’ case and are determined to identify who is responsible for her death.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Hamilton Co. Communications Office at (254) 386-3300.
The Texas Rangers would also like to thank our partners, including the Hamilton Co. Sheriff’s Office, Hamilton Co. Communications Office, DPS’ Crime Laboratory Division, UNT CHI, DOJ/BJA and BODE Technologies for their years of commitment and dedication to identify Norris and help to push law enforcement one step closer to solving this cold case.