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After more than four years of not knowing what happened to Frances "Franny" Graham, authorities in Illinois have announced a breakthrough in the case: skeletal remains found in November 2005 have finally been identified as hers.

Foul play is suspected in her death.

Graham, a Tellico Plains woman, was 72 at the time she went missing on Sept. 18, 2005. Her longtime companion's son, Arthur William Dockery, reported at the time that Graham and he had been kidnapped.

Dockery allegedly told investigators with the Blount County Sheriff's Office at the time that he and Graham were in Maryville shopping and were kidnapped behind Dubb's Restaurant, located at 1100 Foch Street in Maryville.

Dockery reportedly told deputies that he and Graham were put into separate beige vans by people wearing what appeared to be law enforcement uniforms, according to a Oct. 25, 2005, article in The Daily Times.

He allegedly told detectives that he was driven around for several days in a windowless van, stripped naked and strapped to a hook inside the vehicle before he was able to escape on Sept. 22 -- but not before one of his captors shaved him everywhere on his body, including his eyebrows and genitals, according to law enforcement testimony at Dockery's Oct. 31, 2005, preliminary hearing on a charge of filing a false police report.

Dockery reportedly told investigators that he was able to jump out of the van onto the ground in the parking lot of Adult World near Jellico, but authorities doubted the claim because the parking lot was covered with gravel and dirt and he received no bruises or injuries in the alleged fall.

Graham was not heard from again after the alleged incident.

Illinois identifies body

In a release obtained by The Daily Times Thursday, the Illinois State Police indicated that the remains now positively identified as Graham's were actually discovered in November 2005 in a ditch near Illinois Route 145 in Massac County, Ill.

Harry Foss, 71, of Metropolis, Ill., found the remains while driving a trackhoe along Kraper Road to a neighbor's home Nov. 19, 2005. As he approached Illinois Route 145 near the Massac/Pope county line, he noticed something unusual.

"I was sitting up high enough where I could see down in that ditch," he said. "I first thought it was just some deer bones or some animal bones."

He later went back with the neighbor and saw nylon stockings on a leg bone.

"The longer I looked at it, I could see a skeleton," he said.

No information was available on why it took more than four years to positively identify the remains, or how the identification was made.

The release indicated that foul play was believed to be involved in Graham's death, but there was no information on a possible suspect or how she got from Maryville -- where she was last seen on a Wal-Mart security camera at about 3:24 p.m. Sept. 18, 2005 -- to Illinois.

Investigation into the case is ongoing and the investigators in Illinois are working in conjunction with Blount County authorities, the release said.

Michael de los Reyes, with the Paducah Sun in Paducah, Ky., contributed to this story