The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says laboratory testing of DNA samples submitted over the last two months could lead to the identity of a young woman whose body was found here in 1985.

"We have received tips out of East Tennessee, Texas and Virginia," TBI spokesman Kristin Helm wrote in response to an inquiry from The Greeneville Sun.

"We have followed those leads and taken some DNA samples to compare with the samples of the remains. That's where the investigation is currently, waiting on the lab to complete the DNA comparison."

The TBI announced on May 15 that it was offering a $1,000 reward and seeking the public's help in identifying a teenage girl whose body was found in Greene County 23 years ago.

A press release issued by the TBI about the Greene County "cold case" said that on April 14, 1985, "the body of a nude female was located by local fishermen at Exit 44, Jearoldstown Road, off of Interstate 81" in northern Greene County.

The body was found approximately 58 feet off the southbound Exit 44 entrance ramp.

"The Medical Examiner reported the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head," the release said.

Decomposition of her body indicated she had been there about three to six weeks when discovered, the press release said.

Capt. John Huffine, now the Greene County Sheriff's Department's chief detective, recalled the discovery during a May interview.

Huffine said he was a patrol sergeant in 1985 and was the first officer to reach the scene after a man and his son, who had been taking a shortcut to a pond to fish, discovered the body in a field a short distance off the interstate ramp.

In May, Huffine recalled that there was "absolutely no physical evidence at the scene" and that decomposition of the body had made the victim unrecognizable.

Leads to the victim's identify were few and quickly exhausted, Huffine recalled. "I'm really surprised that no one ever came forward," Huffine said.

He said he hopes new publicity a $1,000 reward for information about the case may prompt someone to come forward with information about the girl's identity.

The unidentified teenager was a white, between 15 and 17 years old, weighed approximately 140 pounds and was 5 feet 5 inches tall at the time of her death, according to the TBI.

A photo of a reconstruction of the victim's skull completed by the University of Tennessee Forensic Anthropology Center in Knoxville indicates what authorities think the victim may have looked like prior to her death.

The victim had shoulder-length, wavy, light brown to dark blonde hair. Her nails were painted with a frosted silvery pink nail polish. The autopsy revealed that she had recently lost a pregnancy during the first trimester.

More than 300 leads in this case had been processed, the TBI said in May.

DNA has been collected from her remains and is on file. Dental information and fingerprints are also available, the TBI said.