The mystery of the small girl nicknamed "Miranda Eve," found strangely well preserved inside an expensive glass and metal coffin buried beneath a home on Lone Mountain last spring and believed to have been there about 150 years, has finally been solved. After a full year of digging by amateur investigators and other researchers, burial records from what was formerly the Yerba Buena section of the Odd Fellows Cemetery were located, as well as funeral records for a young girl buried in a family plot there, and these were finally matched up via DNA from a direct descendent living in the Bay Area. The girl, as ABC 7 reports, we now know was Edith Howard Cook, who died on October 13, 1876, just shy of her third birthday. The cause was listed at the time as "marasmus," a term that was used for severe undernourishment and, according to researchers, was mostly likely brought on by an infectious disease.

Bay City News notes that the final confirmation of the girl's identity came after Marin County resident Peter Cook, who is Edith's grand-nephew and a direct descendant of her older brother, Milton H. Cook, provided a DNA sample.

The non-profit Garden of Innocence project, which assists with the burials of unidentified children, led the investigation ever since the small, tightly sealed casket was unearthed during the excavation last May beneath a garage at the home of John and Ericka Karner on Lone Mountain. It was quickly determined that the home site was on top of what had been the Odd Fellows cemetery, one of four cemeteries in this part of town, all of which were closed and dug up for development purposes in the early part of the 20th century, at the behest of the Board of Supervisors and development interests in the city — with all the coffins exhumed and relocated to Colma, many of them to mass graves. (See some maps and photos here.)

The discovery captured the attention of the Bay Area particularly because of the details of the girl's burial — embalming and the tight seal on the casket had left her skin intact, her blond hair still with flowers woven into it, and her hands clutching what was said to be a rose. Per the Mercury-News:

A mortician who assisted with her reburial last year found she was clothed in a white christening dress embellished with elaborate lace work, according to the nonprofit. She wore ankle high shoes similar to “baby booties,” and tiny purple “false indigo” flowers were woven into her hair and on a long necklace, similar to a rosary, according to the report.

The mortician also clarified that what was believed to be a single red rose in the girl’s right hand was actually a purple Nightshade flower. Roses, eucalyptus leaves and baby’s breath were also placed along her body.

"It was a light at the end of the tunnel finding out who she is,” project spokesperson Erica Hernandez tells the Chronicle

Edith Howard Cook was born to Horatio Nelson Cook and Edith Scooffy Cook in 1873, and the Garden of Innocence constructed a family tree you can see below. Horatio Cook was in the leather tanning and belt-making business, and served as Consul to Greece, and her mother was part of a pioneer family, with her father, Peter Scooffy, being an original member of the Society of California Pioneers, according to the Merc.

Two years after Edith's death, the Cooks gave birth to another daughter, Ethel, who would later be called the most beautiful woman in America by a Russian nobleman.

The team that helped solved the mystery of Edith's true identity involved researchers at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Davis, and ultimately it was a cemetery map unearthed in UC Berkeley's archives, cross-referenced with funeral notices from newspapers, that led them to Edith.

Now, the same team says they will tackle the identification of three other bodies that have been found in the area, left behind by the same disorganized exhumation process of the Odd Fellows Cemetery, including another child found by construction workers 17 years ago.

And after being reburied last June in Colma, Edith Howard Cook will receive a new memorial service this June 10 acknowledging her true identity.

Score one for research and libraries and mysteries you can't solve on the internet, ladies and gentlemen.

Previously: 'Coffin Girl' May Have Positive ID Within Days