Kidnapping of Mary Agnes Moroney

Mary Agnes Moroney (May 10, 1928 – October 20, 2003)

In 2023, it was announced that DNA tests conducted with the participation of Mary Agnes' surviving family had determined that the girl had been given the name Jeanette Burchard. She later moved to Florida, where she had died in 2003 at the age of 75. Though the results are conclusive, since Burchard's body itself has not been tested, and the perpetrator(s) have not been identified, the case is still officially unsolved.

Disappearance Mary Agnes Moroney was born in Chicago, Illinois, on May 10, 1928, the first of two daughters to Michael and Catherine Moroney; she had a younger sister named Anastasia, who was eleven months old at the time of the kidnapping. The Moroney family lived in poverty, as Michael only made US$15 per week (about $300 in 2026) passing out handbills. A relative of Catherine's wrote to a welfare agency and a paragraph on their plight was printed. The service did not normally disclose addresses but, through a slip, the family's address5200 Wentworth Avenue

Mary McClelland In 1952, a 24-year-old housewife called Mary McClelland (née Beck) came forward, claiming that, by looking at photos of Mary Agnes' siblings (six more were born after her kidnapping Further DNA testing proved she was not Mary Agnes. She died in 2005.