CRIME
Human remains found in Canadian well identified as woman born in 1881

By Kerry Breen
Updated on: September 30, 2025 / 11:08 AM EDT / CBS News

Canadian authorities have identified a person known as "The Woman in the Well" nearly two decades after her remains were found. … The woman, Alice Spence, was born in September 1881 and had moved to Canada from Minnesota in 1913, police said.

In June 2006, crews excavating a site in Sutherland, Saskatoon, found an old well and a barrel containing preserved human remains, according to a news release from the Saskatoon Police Service. The area was previously the site of the Shore Hotel, a boarding house that was demolished in 1927, according to a news release from the private genetic genealogy company Othram.

The woman had been partially dismembered, police believed, and was wrapped in a burlap sack and stuffed in the barrel, Othram said. Police found clothes, including a fitted jacket and long skirt, that dated to between 1910 and 1920, Othram said. A broken necklace and men's clothing were also found.

An autopsy determined the woman had died under suspicious circumstances, but authorities were unable to identify her despite years of investigation. Police developed a DNA profile, but found no matches, and facial reconstruction images released to the public turned up no answers, Othram said.

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