Michelle Busha

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Michelle Busha
Name	Michelle Yvette Busha
Sex	Female
Age	18
Missing from	Bay City, Texas
Disappeared	May 9, 1980
Discovered	May 30, 1980
Location	Blue Earth, Minnesota
Identified	March 2015
Span	34 years
Cause of death	Strangulation

Michelle Yvette Busha (November 2, 1961 - c. May 26, 1980) was a woman who was reported missing on May 9, 1980, from Bay City, Texas. Her body was found in a drainage ditch on May 30, 1980, in Blue Earth, Minnesota. It appeared she had been strangled. She was identified when her body was exhumed in August 2014 to obtain new DNA samples, and the DNA was positively matched to samples submitted by Busha's family members in 2007.

Case

Crime scene

The victim had died about 3-7 days prior, due to strangulation. The victim wore no clothing and her feet were heavily calloused. Her head was shaved, except for a small spot. All ten fingernails had forcibly been removed by her killer.

Nine years later, Robert Leroy Nelson confessed to sexually assaulting and murdering the victim and was charged. She was an apparent hitchhiker.

Gallery

Reconstruction by Wes Neville

Media

• Busha's case was profiled on an episode of Who Killed Jane Doe in 2017.
• Busha's photograph appeared in the final episode of The Confession Killer.

Sources

• Michelle Busha on Wikipedia

• Michelle Busha at the Doe Network