Murder of Alisha Heinrich

Although the underwater search unit failed to locate the body of the adult woman, this search unit did locate the largely skeletal remains of a young African-American male on December 8. His body was located beneath the eastbound I-10 bridge approximately 60 yards from the scene of the earlier discovery of the child's body. Investigators determined this individual had also been thrown over the I-10 bridge, although this victim had lain undiscovered for a minimum of six months, and had been shot to death, thus making his death extremely unlikely to be connected to the case. This man was given the name of Moss Point John Doe by investigators prior to his 2022 identification.

On December 4, 2020, investigators announced that Heinrich had been identified via genetic genealogy research. Heinrich and her mother, 23-year-old Gwendolyn Mae Clemons, had been missing since approximately November 24, 1982, from Kansas City, Missouri. Clemons is believed to have been a distressed woman seen carrying an infant on December 3, 1982, close to the location where Heinrich's body was discovered. Although a witness reported seeing an adult female's body in the same river, no further remains were ever recovered; Clemons is still considered a missing person.

On December 4, 2020, Jackson County Sheriff's Office announced the identification of Delta Dawn as 18-month-old Alisha Ann Heinrich of Joplin, Missouri. Her identity was confirmed via DNA sequencing and genetic genealogy, with the child's DNA linked to family members in Missouri, where her mother, Gwendolyn Mae Clemons, had previously lived. The process of generating a profile suitable for uploading into a public genealogy database was performed by a lab operated by Othram Inc.; the research was conducted by forensic genealogists under Redgrave Research Forensic Services.

The circumstances surrounding Alisha's death, and the simultaneous disappearance of her mother, remain under active investigation by the Jackson County Sheriff's department. Investigators remain uncertain as to Clemons' ultimate fate. At a press conference held on December 4, 2020, Sheriff Mike Ezell informed reporters: "We do not know if she is dead or alive at this point. We're assuming the worst, but we don't know that for sure."

In 2009, the body of Delta Dawn was exhumed in order that investigators could obtain a DNA sample from her body which could be entered into both the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children databases for comparison with nationwide unsolved murders and missing person reports. Initially, no DNA match with Delta Dawn or the individual believed to have been her mother was obtained.

Alisha Ann Heinrich, previously known as "Baby Jane" and "Delta Dawn", was a formerly unidentified American child murder victim whose body was found in Moss Point, Mississippi, in December 1982. The child — aged approximately 18 months — was partially smothered before she was thrown alive from the eastbound Interstate 10 bridge into the Escatawpa River, where she ultimately drowned. Her body was recovered between 36 and 48 hours after her death.

According to numerous eyewitnesses, in the early hours of December 3, 1982 a female toddler was seen in the area of Moss Point, Mississippi, in the company of a young adult female presumed to have been her mother and who had been carrying this toddler in her arms. These sightings had occurred on both Mississippi State Highway 63 and, later, the National Interstate 10, close to the state border of Alabama. The woman carrying this child had been wearing a blue plaid shirt and blue jeans, and was last seen walking west along Interstate 10, close to the truck scales at the Alabama-Mississippi border sometime between midnight and one o'clock in the morning of December 3. Reportedly, this woman had been in an acute state of distress, but had ardently refused any offers of help from passing vehicles. These eyewitness reports subsequently given to investigators would further be corroborated by accounts from a woman who had been monitoring CB radio conversations between truck drivers early in the morning of December 3, and who stated to investigators numerous truck drivers had been raising what she termed a "boatload of hell" regarding an obviously distressed woman walking along Interstate 10 with a barefoot, coatless female toddler in her arms and who had repeatedly refused any offers of assistance from passing vehicles. It is believed that the toddler in this woman's company may have been the victim subsequently recovered from the river.

Gwendolyn Clemons had recently divorced from the father of her daughter. She, her daughter, and an unnamed boyfriend had reportedly disappeared "on or around" November 24, 1982, from the family's residence in Kansas City, Missouri. The intent of their departure was to relocate to the state of Florida, with Clemons informing her relatives of her intentions to start life anew in this state. The boyfriend later returned to Missouri alone. This man, now deceased, has been described as both a "person of interest" and a suspect in various media reports.

On the 25th anniversary of the funeral of Delta Dawn, a memorial service in her honor was held at the Bethel Assembly Church. This memorial service was organized by two Alabama women named Marjorie Brinker and Lynn Reuss, who have both stated they could not comprehend "why someone would throw a baby into the river like that."