Death of Barbara Precht

Barbara Precht
Precht prior to her 1983 departure from Ohio to California
Born	Barbara Rose Hess c. 1937
Died	c. 27 November 2006 (aged 69)[1]
Cause of death	Drowning (circumstances unknown)
Body discovered	29 November 2006 North Bend, Ohio[2]
Other names	"Pearl Lady"
Known for	Former unidentified decedent

Barbara Rose Precht^[3] (previously known as Pearl Lady) was a woman who was found dead in the Ohio River in 2006; she was unidentified until 2014.^[4] The cause of her death is unknown; it may have been an accident, suicide, or homicide.^[5] Her husband, James, was located and arrested after she was identified.^[6] He was charged with lying to police about his identity.^[7]

Circumstances

Barbara Precht was originally from the wealthy Hess family in Cincinnati; her father was the head of the local bar association and her uncle was a judge.^[6] She married her husband, James Precht, who was employed as a school supervisor, and had two daughters while living in Indian Hill, Ohio.^[8][9] One of her daughters recalled hearing individuals, presumably intruders, arguing with her parents one night and believed that they possibly were armed.^[6] This was later confirmed by James after his arrest.^[3] The pair decided to flee Ohio in 1983 to California, where they lived under aliases.^[3] They eventually put their children up for adoption, likely for their protection and so that they would have "better lives".^[5][7]

Discovery

Barbara Precht's body was pulled from the Ohio River on 29 November 2006. She was found wearing makeup and jewelry, including two necklaces of pearl-like beads that led to her nickname.^[10][6] She wore a black blouse and skirt, white socks, gray shoes, and nylon stockings.^[10] After an autopsy, it was concluded that she had been deceased for approximately two days; no suspicious signs were noted.^[10] The then-unidentified woman had suffered from arthritis in various parts of her body and had a fair complexion with hazel eyes. Examiners also discovered that she had very well-maintained teeth, as she had only one dental filling.^[10][5]

One of many forensic facial reconstructions of Precht created in effort to identify her

Although there were no obvious indications of foul play, she had suffered broken bones, including her ribs, when she had entered the river, indicating that she fell from some sort of height.^[5] Investigators published reports and various online databases detailed the case but never uncovered solid leads, which resulted in her identity remaining a mystery, along with many others in the United States.^[7] Many amateur sleuths on the Internet had expressed possible matches for the decedent, which has generally been a successful way toward identifying the unknown, but did not lead to finding Precht's identity.^[11] Other websites, such as The Doe Network, also attempted to assist with the identification of Precht.^[10][12]

Identification and arrest of James Precht

Precht was identified after fingerprints from her body were compared to those taken years earlier after she had been arrested in Covina, California, due to shoplifting in 1986, while her family were living under assumed names.^[5][13] Her husband, James, aged 79,^[14] was arrested when he misinformed police of who he was when they approached him at his home, and had a bond set for $15,000.^[15] Although he never reported his wife missing, police say they do not plan to charge him in her death unless more evidence surfaces, as his whereabouts at the time of his wife's death are currently unknown.^[8] However, he has been described as a "person of interest".^[3] He and his wife had moved back to Ohio shortly before Barbara's death for unknown reasons.^[3][7]

James Precht's hearing took place on 2 December 2014 and his trial, lacking a jury, began on 4 December, two days later.^[9][16][17] During the trial, Precht pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct, which reduced consequences to twenty-five days in jail, the majority of which he had spent incarcerated.^[18] Prosecutors did, however, request that he be placed on probation, since he remains a person of interest in the case. During sentencing, Precht was sentenced to an additional four days in jail on top of the twenty-five days in jail.^[1]

See also

• List of unsolved deaths

References