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| JoAnn Nichols |
(Scroll down for video) A New York teacher, who was reported missing 28 years ago was found dead behind a fake wall, according to police reports in New York.
New York police said that the remains of a school teacher in New York have been discovered hidden in a false wall of the basement in the house where she lived with her husband.
JoAnn Nichols was 55-years-old when her husband James, who is now dead, reported her missing in 1985, Poughkeepsie police said.
The skeletal remains of the teacher was found behind a false wall after a contractor was hired to clean the wooden house in Poughkeepsie, about 100 miles north of the city of New York.
The skeleton hands were tied and her remains were found inside a large plastic container, inside a plastic bag and wrapped in a sheet, Dr. Kari Reiber, the Dutchess County coroner said in a statement.
Sealing the body in plastic bin behind a false wall could have been sufficient to mask the smell as the body decomposed, Dr. Reiber said.
"The body was skeletonized and the hands were tied with a rope. A large area on the right side of the skull was gone indicating a blow to the head," Dr. Reiber said.
The autopsy revealed that Nichols, who taught first grade, died of blunt head trauma, Dr. Reiber said.
"She was beaten in the head," he said. "It is being ruled a homicide," he added.
The remains were identified as belonging to Nichols, through dental records.
Her husband was found dead in the same home on late last year after concerned neighbors called the police when they had not seen him for several days. He was 82 and died of natural causes, police said.
Officials said they found the house full of personal items, debris and garbage.
Nobody in the family came to claim his body, and an interim manager was appointed to take control of the assets. Nichols remains were found behind the false wall when contractors began to clean the house.
At the time of the disappearance of his wife, Nichols told detectives he last saw his wife when he went to work for IBM in December 1985.
He reported her missing when she did not show up for an appointment at the hairdressers in a beauty salon.
The next day, the couple's vehicle was discovered in the parking lot of a mall.
After Nichols disappeared, her husband was never ruled out as a suspect, Poughkeepsie Police Captain Paul Lecomte said.
"It is now safe to say that James Nichols is a suspect in this case," he said.
The couple had a son, who drowned at age 25, three years before the death of Nichols.