List of formerly unidentified decedents, 2020–2029
In the many unidentified decedent cases in the world, there are several cases where the individual is eventually identified. Most bodies are provisionally identified within a matter of hours, with the formal identification following a few days, weeks, or months later.
This list is for those bodies that were identified from 2020 to 2029.
2020
Article | Image | Year of death | Cause of death | Location | Circumstances |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
"Baby Boy Horry" | 2008 | Murder | US | A male infant whose body was discovered on December 4, 2008, in Horry County, South Carolina. The victim's mother was identified via forensic genealogy in 2020 and is awaiting trial.[1] The name of the infant has not yet been released by the request of the family. | |
"Baby Michael" | 1999 | Murder | US | The body of a newborn male infant was discovered on March 3, 1999, near Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina. The child was murdered; having received extensive blunt trauma to his head and much of his body. After the child's death, he was placed inside of a distinctive large garbage bag, which had become undone and was covering only his legs at the time of discovery. His umbilical cord and several pubic hairs—likely from his mother—were still present on his body. DNA from the child's mother was also found. The boy's body had been disposed of by being accidentally dropped or thrown from a passing vehicle. This method of body disposal did not cause the damage to the child, as his wounds were considered to have been too severe and had evidently occurred before death. His mother may have been white or Native American (possibly from the Lumbee tribe).
The day before the boy's discovery, a pregnant female was observed to have acted unusually after she was informed that she was required to take a test at a hospital. Later that night, a pregnant woman and a man were seen in a truck that was parked close to the area where the body was found.[2] In March 2011, a memorial placed at the location of Baby Michael's discovery was discovered to have been damaged. This desecration may have been caused by one or both of his parents.[3] In February 2020, breakthrough DNA evidence led to the arrest of Deborah Riddle O’Conner, who confessed to being the boy's mother and was charged with first-degree murder. Genetic genealogy was used to identify the suspect.[4] She was sentenced to 12 years in prison in August 2021.[5] | |
Stephen Corrigan | 2010 | Unknown | Ireland | On 9 April 2020 partial skeletal remains were found in a tree-lined common area in the Lissenfield development off the Lower Rathmines Road, Rathmines, Dublin.[6] The remains were finally identified as Stephen Corrigan, a man who had been missing since November 2010.[6] | |
Nicki Elkins | ![]() |
1981 | Murder | US | Nicki Virginia Lee Elkins, age 16, disappeared on February 14, 1981, after visiting relatives in Miami, Florida. On March 9, 1981, she was found face-down in a canal in Moore Haven, Florida. She had been killed by blunt-force trauma to her head.[7] In 2020, police became aware of Elkins’ disappearance, and in September it was announced she had been identified. |
Christy Floyd | 1986 | Murder | US | On August 7, 1986, a young woman's torso and left leg were found at the Shoosmith Landfill in Chester County, Virginia. It was determined that the garbage containing the remains had originated in Richmond, Virginia. There was also evidence that she had been kept in a sealed container for a time, most likely to slow decomposition. Prior to her identification, she was incorrectly estimated to be 20–35 years old, although Floyd was 16 at the time of her murder.[8] She was identified on August 12, 2020, with assistance from Parabon Nanolabs, as 16-year-old Christy Lynn Floyd, last known to reside in the West Grace Street district of Richmond, Virginia.
Chesterfield County Sherriff's Office released an image of Floyd with an unknown, recent boyfriend, shortly before she disappeared. As of August 2020[update], he is a key person of interest in the case.[9] | |
Tebble Garrett | ![]() |
c. 1990 | Murder | US | A skeleton of a female between 16 and 20 years old was found hidden underbrush on August 28, 1993, in the Everglades, near the border between Palm Beach and Broward Counties. She was around five foot one to five foot five inches and weighed approximately 100 pounds.[10] The young woman wore men's shorts and a large boot. No other clothing nor the cause of her death was discovered. She had an abnormality in her spine which may have caused difficulties when walking. The female was dead for up to two years.[11] Currently, three people have been ruled out as a possible identity of the decedent.[12] Her NamUs profile was taken down in October or November 2020.
Her name was released in July 2021 as 17-year-old Tebble Anita Garrett of Easley, South Carolina, who ran away from home in 1988.[13] |
Robin Green | ![]() |
1986 | Murder | US | On January 25, 1986, the remains of a woman was discovered in a river near Interstate 70, 14 miles west of Salina, Kansas. She had been severely beaten and then thrown into the water from the bridge, where she drowned. Investigators nicknamed her "Miss Molly" while unidentified.[14] In 2019, it was speculated that she may have been missing Belgian woman, Anna Neeft after dental records apparently matched. This was later disproven.[15]
In August 2020, she was positively identified as 28-year-old Robin Green of Los Angeles, California. Green had been traveling with her new husband, Michael, from their residence in Los Angeles to Minnesota to visit Robin's children from her previous marriage for Christmas, who were living with her ex-husband. She was last seen on December 28, 1985. She had never been reported missing, but was declared legally deceased by her family.[16] |
Donna Griffin | ![]() |
1987 | Presumed heart attack | US | The body of a female between thirty-five and fifty-five years old was found in brush on the shoulder of route 33 in Bushkill Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, on October 23, 1987. She was of Caucasian descent and had blue eyes and blond hair. The height was estimated to be between five feet and five feet two inches tall and her weight was between 155 and 165 pounds. The decedent wore a red shirt with a decal of a woman's face, a multicolored bracelet, jeans and thermal long underwear with a snowflake design. The woman is believed to have died due to a heart attack, yet her face suffered multiple lacerations from an undisclosed cause. She had died within 24 hours of being discovered.[17] She was identified in June 2020 as 37-year-old Donna Kay Griffin, who had recently moved from Dalton, Georgia to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[18] |
Wayne Griffith | ![]() |
1993 | Murder | US | A white male between 36 and 45 years of age (some sources say as young as 25) was discovered skeletonized on October 25, 1993, near Wellington in Palm Beach County, Florida. He was murdered by a blow to the head.[19][20] He had long brown hair, one of his legs was shorter than the other, and he had previous damage to his nose and spine. The clothing he wore read "Road Kill Cafe, You Kill It, We Grill It."[21] In May 2020, he was identified as 43-year-old Wayne Calvin Griffith, who was originally from Ashtabula County, Ohio.[22] |
James L. Hamm | 1984 | Unknown | US | On November 17, 1984, the skull and various other skeletal remains of a white male were discovered in a wooded area in Giddings, Texas. The man was estimated to be between 29 and 38 years old, stood between 5 feet 8 inches and 6 feet 1 inch. Weight, eye color, and hair color could not be ascertained. The man had been dead for approximately six months, and a cause of death could not be ascertained. The man had a unique frontal bone that made a sharp dip at the bridge of his nose, which would have caused a rightward deviating nose. Police were able to create a reconstructive sketch of what the man may have looked like in 2008. His case was taken on by the DNA Doe Project in June 2019.[23] He was identified in October 2020 as James L. Hamm, who had been missing since 1984.[24] | |
Alisha Heinrich | 1982 | Murder | US | On December 5, 1982, the body of a female toddler was discovered partially submerged in the water in Moss Point, Mississippi. The witness called and reported the body of an adult female floating near a bridge but her body has never been found. Two days earlier, witnesses detailed seeing a woman carrying a female toddler. The woman refused any help from passing vehicles. Alisha was initially given the name "Delta Dawn" because her body was discovered at dawn near the delta of the Escatawpa River. On December 4, 2020, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office announced that they identified the decedent as Alisha Ann Heinrich from Joplin, Missouri. Her mother, Gwendolyn Mae Clemons is believed to be the body that the witness reported but is still considered a missing person. An unnamed boyfriend, who was the father of Alisha, is considered a suspect, though is deceased. Gwendolyn, Alisha, and the unnamed boyfriend left Missouri on November 24, 1982, intending to start a new life in Florida. The case is still under active investigation.[25] | |
Sue Ann Huskey | ![]() |
1989 | Murder | US | On September 25, 1989, the remains of a woman thought to be 18–24 were located in Williamson County, Texas along Interstate 35. She was described as about 5'2" tall and weighing approximately 110 to 120 pounds. Her ears were pierced, but only one earring was recovered. The victim also wore a necklace containing a white bead in the center, surrounded by two gold-colored beads on either side. She wore a white shirt with the words "Cinco De Corona" with the bottom cut into fringe, leading investigators to nickname her "Corona Girl". She was identified on January 14, 2020, as 17-year-old Sue Ann Huskey, originally from Sulphur Springs, Texas. Huskey was identified through genetic genealogy.[26][27] |
Wanda Kirkum | ![]() |
1991 | Murder | US | Originally identified as a fourteen to twenty-five-year-old female, the body of this woman was discovered on Big Coppitt Key, Monroe County, Florida on February 15, 1991, one day after her murder by strangulation. Authorities also suspected she may have been raped before being murdered. Two things remained remarkable about this case: one, the unique clothing she was likely wearing (a striped blue and red sweater, jeans, and moccasins decorated with turquoise beads), and two, the fact that she had been murdered on Valentine's Day, hence the name she was given by investigators as "Valentine Doe". Also remarkable was the lack of any tan lines, indicating she was not from the area, stretch marks on her stomach, cysts present in her Fallopian tubes and ovaries, and two tattoos present on her body, one being a heart on her left arm reading "love" and the other a small cross on the left hand. New DNA technology allowed the unidentified murder victim known as Valentine Doe to be identified as 18-year-old Wanda Deann Kirkum of Hornell, New York; her murderer was also identified as Robert Lynn Bradley, who was murdered in Tarrant County, Texas in April 1992, thus closing out the case.[28] |
Phoenix Netts | 2020 | Murder | UK | On 12 May 2020 police investigating reports of a car driving erratically in the Forest of Dean spoke to a man and woman and found two suitcases with the dismembered remains of a woman in their possession.[29] | |
Anita Louise Piteau | ![]() |
1968 | Murder | US | On March 14, 1968, three young boys playing in a field in Huntington Beach, California discovered the body of a woman. Police officers who responded to the scene preserved evidence, including a cigarette butt found near the victim's body. The victim was described as a "well-developed" young caucasian woman in her 20s, with dark brown hair and brown eyes, missing several teeth and had overall poor dental health, and with the blood type O-. She was wearing a white floral, long-sleeved shirt, a brown faux-fur coat, purple capri pants, and brown shoes. She had pierced ears and wore an inexpensive silver-colored ring with a square, blue stone on the wedding finger. It was later determined by authorities that the victim had been dead just several hours before being discovered. She had been struck in the face and sexually assaulted before being pulled from a vehicle and having her throat slashed.[30]
Despite several early potential leads, the case grew cold over the following decades. In 2001, investigators extracted DNA from the victim's clothing and the sexual assault kit collected in 1968 and developed a profile for an unknown male killer. Nearly ten years later, a partial DNA profile was taken from the cigarette butt and was determined to match the DNA from the assault kit. In 2011, blood from the victim's blouse yielded a partial DNA profile, which was entered into a missing persons database. The victim's fingerprints were also entered into state and FBI databases. However, neither the partial DNA profile or the fingerprints generated any new leads into the victim's identity. In early 2020, forensic genealogist Colleen Fitzpatrick began working on a possible family tree of the victim. Within a week, Fitzpatrick found a relative match in Maine. On July 16, 2020, authorities publicly identified the victim as 26-year old Anita Louise Piteau of Augusta, Maine. Piteau's family had last heard from her in early 1968, after she travelled to California on vacation. Piteau had written several letters and postcards to her family and stated she would be returning to Maine in May 1968. The Orange County District Attorney's Office stated that DNA evidence had also identified a suspect in her killing, a former US Army soldier named Johnny Chrisco, who had been discharged from service in 1963, due to psychological issues. Chrisco died of throat cancer in 2015, aged 71.[30][31] |
Laurie Potter | 2003 | Murder | US | A pair of human legs belonging to an adult female were found in an apartment complex dumpster in Rancho San Diego, in October 2003, but the case remained cold until late 2020 when DNA was used with genealogical records to find relatives of the victim who confirmed her identity as 54-year-old Laurie Diane Potter. Her husband, Jack Potter was arrested May 12, 2021 for Laurie's murder.[32] | |
Rebecca Redecker | ![]() |
1993 | Murder | US | On June 15, 1993, the decomposed remains of a female aged 13–25 were discovered in a makeshift campsite at the Rainbow Falls Campsite in Pike-San Isabel National Forest in Colorado. Her cause of death was officially undetermined but is believed to be beating.[33] She was identified in August 2020 as 20-year-old Rebecca "Becky" Ann Redecker of Colorado Springs. |
Lisa Roberts | ![]() |
1977 | Murder | US | A previously unidentified female aged between 15 and 21 who was picked up hitchhiking in August 1977 in Snohomish County, Washington. She was nicknamed "Precious Doe."[34] The man that accepted her request for a ride eventually strangled and shot the victim seven times in the head after she refused to engage in sexual intercourse after the pair had spent the day together. Her decomposed body was discovered five days afterward, on August 14, 1977, in Everett, Washington.
The decedent was determined to be a white female with un-dyed brown, shoulder-length hair. She was five feet ten inches in height and weighed between 150 and 160 pounds. She had a suntan, restorations on her upper front teeth (that protruded somewhat), and appeared to be a smoker, as she had a packet of Marlboro cigarettes in her possession.[35] In 1979, the man that killed her was convicted of her murder after ballistic testing confirmed that bullets recovered at the scene of her discovery had been fired from his gun. He was released 26 years later.[36] The DNA Doe Project had initially tried to take on the case through DNA taken from her bones, however, her bones had been boiled sometime in the past and the DNA was too degraded to be used. Margaret Press had stated that another agency might try to extract DNA from rootless hair that had been extracted from the victim. This is the first noted case of a doe being identified through DNA taken from rootless hair strands. On June 25, 2020, it was announced that she was identified as Lisa Roberts, 17, of Roseburg, Oregon after advanced testing was used to obtain a usable DNA profile for genetic genealogy research.[37] |
Tamara Lee Tigard | ![]() |
1980 | Murder | US | On April 18, 1980, the body of an unidentified woman was found covered in quicklime near North Canadian River in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma. Police found she was shot three times using a .45 caliber bullet. The presence of the quicklime was seen as an attempt to quicken the decomposition process but instead helped preserve the body which gave her the name "Lime Lady" until her identification. The DNA Doe Project began DNA testing in 2019 and completed the DNA profile by the end of the year. On January 30, 2020, she was identified as 21-year-old Tamara Lee Tigard who was last seen living in Las Vegas in March 1980. Tigard served in the US Army and her dental records from the Army helped confirm her identification. She has no immediate living family.[38] |
Keri Lyn Wyant | 1995 | Murder | US | On May 1, 1995, an agricultural service worker discovered a bone and some clothing while preparing a field for planting in Thomasboro, Illinois. When police responded, they found more remains of a young white female. The cause of death was not determined, but investigators believe that the woman had possibly died of multiple gunshot wounds. She was believed to have been in the field for about 11 months. She was estimated to be between 16 and 25 years old and was between 5 feet 1 inch and 5 feet 9 inches tall. She had straight dark brown hair with a reddish tint. Weight and eye color could not be ascertained, however, it is believed that she had a medium to heavy build. She was found wearing a white-v neck, short sleeve blouse with buttons on the front and back, a pair of sweat pants, and two rings. One ring was a plain gold band while the other was a yellow metal ring with a dark green stone. Isotope analysis indicated that she may have been from southeastern Illinois, Nashville, Tennessee, Springfield, Missouri, or Topeka, Kansas. She is thought to have been in the local area for approximately five years before she died. Investigators used forensic genealogy to try to identify the woman.[39] Their efforts were successful, and it was announced in October 2020 that she was identified as Keri Lyn Wyant, aged 23.[40] |
2021
Article | Image | Year of death |
Cause of death | Location | Circumstances |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Francis Alexander | 1976 | Murder | US | Previously known as "Body 5". Alexander, age 21, was one of thirty-three known victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. He was identified via forensic genealogy in October 2021.[41] He had not been reported missing by his family, who believed he had relocated from Chicago to California shortly after his final contact with his mother in November 1976.[42] | |
Freeman Asher, Jr. | 1979 | Undetermined | US | On September 9, 1979, a group of hikers discovered the skeletal remains of a young African American man on Climber's Descent Trail from Cougar Rocks, about a mile east of Multnomah Falls, Oregon. The man was estimated to be between 20 and 35 years old and was 5 feet 10 inches tall. He had short black hair and fillings/crowns in his teeth. Weight and eye color could not be ascertained. The man was found wearing a light forest-green shirt, denim jeans, a black leather belt, a brown suede leather jacket with a sheepskin collar, an old-style yellow baseball cap with 'NT' printed on the front, light brown high top hiking boots, and gold-rimmed eyeglasses, which were taped together. Cause of death could not be ascertained, even with an examination done by the Smithsonian in 2008. Investigators have not been able to rule out homicide as a cause of death.[43] He was identified in February 2021 by Parabon Nanolabs as Freeman Asher Jr. of Portland, Oregon.[44] | |
Isabel Sanchez Bernal | ![]() |
2003 | Murder | US | On May 26, 2003, the skeletal remains of a middle-aged woman of Zapotec Indian descent was found in a shallow grave near the Shady Rest Campground in The Mammoth Lakes National Forest in Mono County, California. She was estimated to be between 30 and 50 years old, was between 4 feet 6 inches and 5 feet tall, and weighed between 80 and 90 pounds. She had long, black hair and was determined to have had one full-term pregnancy. She was found wearing a black bra, a pair of cropped denim spandex pants, black socks, blue leather "Bass" brand shoes, a "Cold Air Design" coat, a "Jacklyn Smith" brand wristwatch, a single gold earring, and a necklace/bracelet with small multicolored beads. She was believed to have been hastily buried after being killed by unknown, possibly homicidal means. Isotope testing indicated that she most likely grew up in Northern Mexico or the southwestern US. She was found to have originated from the Zapotec Indian community in Oaxaca, Mexico.
A witness claimed that they had seen the woman in the Forest with her husband, who was belligerent. She appeared to be fearful of him. He was described as a white, heavyset male, who was 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighed between 175 and 200 pounds with brown hair and a bushy mustache. Investigators have stated that her name may be "Barbara Pacheco Santiago".[45] She was identified in August 2021 with assistance from Parabon Nanolabs as 30-year-old Isabel Sanchez Bernal of Puebla, Mexico. A suspect, Diego Santiago Hernandez-Antonia, was arrested and charged with her murder.[46] |
Clara Birdlong | ![]() |
1977 | Suspected homicide | US | On December 27, 1977, hunters found the body of a Black woman in a construction site near the Interstate 10 in Jackson County, Mississippi. The woman, known as Escatawpa Jane Doe, was short, had a gold front tooth, and was wearing a wig when she was discovered. A post-mortem examination indicated that she had died about three to four months prior to her body being discovered. A DNA sample was extracted and a profile was generated, which in 2012 was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System database, but produced no match.[47]
In January 2021, Othram Inc. managed to generate a family tree of Jane Doe and identified a possible distant relative, a 93-year-old woman living in Texas. Further testing showed a familial relationship between the woman and Jane Doe, and on September 22, 2021, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office announced that Escatawpa Jane Doe had been identified as 44-year-old Clara Birdlong of Leflore County, Mississippi. Her family said that she went missing in the early 70s after leaving for Florida with a Black man. It is believed that Birdlong was one of the victims of Samuel Little, the most prolific serial killer in American history. Before his death in 2020, Little recalled picking up a woman now thought to be Birdlong in a Mississippi bar before strangling her and dumping her body.[48] |
John Brandenburg Jr. | 1983 | Murder | US | On October 18, 1983, mushroom hunters at an abandoned farm off of U.S. Route 41 about a half-mile north of State Road 10 near Lake Village, Indiana discovered two skulls. Investigators called to the scene discovered the bodies of four individuals buried in shallow graves. Investigators determined that all four victims were young males and had been murdered. By December 1983, two of the four victims had been identified via dental records as 22-year-old Michael Bauer and 19-year-old John Bartlett. It was later determined that all four were victims of convicted serial killer Larry Eyler.[49]
After decades of not being able to identify two of the victims, the Newton County, Indiana Coroner's Office teamed with the Prosecuting Attorney's Office and the DNA Doe Project in late 2019 to try again to identify the two remaining unknown victims. Using DNA recovered to from the body of one of the victims called "Brad Doe", the team were able to complete whole genome sequencing that was later uploaded to the genealogical database GEDmatch to try to find a biological relative. Authorities were able to find a close relative that helped them make a positive identification. In April 2021, the victim was publicly identified as 19-year-old John Ingram Brandenburg Jr., known as "Johnny" to family and friends, of Chicago, Illinois. The other victim found at the farm, known as "Adam Doe", remains unidentified.[49] | |
Pamela Buckley | ![]() |
1976 | Murder | US | Buckley was 25 years old when she was murdered in Sumter County, South Carolina, alongside James Freund. Originally speculated to have been dating, it turned out the two individuals had met each other while hitchhiking. She had gone missing from Manitou Springs, Colorado. |
Evelyn Colon | ![]() |
1976 | Murder | US | In 1976, the dismembered body of a young woman was found in three suitcases near a Pennsylvania bridge, along with the body of a nearly full-term fetus. Investigators were unable to identify her and she was buried under the name "Beth Doe".[50] After 44 years, investigators finally got a break in the case in 2020 when they compared her DNA to genealogy databases and identified Luis Colon Jr. as a relative of the deceased. Colon Jr. and his family told investigators that Colon Jr.'s aunt, Evelyn Colon, disappeared from Jersey City, New Jersey at the age of 15 in December 1976 and that she was pregnant and in an abusive relationship at the time she disappeared. On March 31, 2021, investigators publicly announced that Beth Doe had been identified as 15-year-old Evelyn Colon of Jersey City, New Jersey.[51] Luis Sierra, Colon's boyfriend and the father of her child, was arrested for her murder.[52] |
Stevie Crawford | 1963 | Murder | US | On July 11, 1963, the remains of an infant or toddler were discovered near Ashland, Jackson County, Oregon after one of the blankets he was wrapped in was hooked by a fisherman. His remains were concealed in a blue blanket, a patchwork quilt with several red designs. The bundle was bound by telephone wires and weighed down with metal assayer's molds.[53] The child's autopsy indicated he likely died in the autumn of 1962 and he possibly had Down's syndrome or a similar disability. The exact cause of the child's death was never determined, due to decomposition, but the case was classified as a homicide.[54] His clothing included a red and white-striped long-sleeved pullover, gray corduroy trousers which had an elastic waistband and a belt buckle, ankle-length socks, and white shoes. His shoes may have been from a shoe store in Medford, Oregon. His other clothing may have been from a J. C. Penney store. The child was also found wearing a diaper made of cloth that was secured with pins and plastic pants.[55] His blond or light brown hair was somewhat long, his eyes were brown and eight of his teeth had erupted. One of his front bottom teeth was split in two, having two roots and an uncommon groove at its top. In efforts to identify the child, examiners took his footprints and compared them to those taken from other children from a local hospital and none apparently matched.[56]
He was identified as two-year-old Steven Alexander "Stevie" Crawford of New Mexico in 2021. His mother had taken a trip with him and returned without him, telling family they "would not have to worry" about Stevie anymore. She had since died.[57] | |
Carolyn Eaton | ![]() |
1982 | Suspected homicide | US | The body of a white female, aged between 15 and 24, was discovered under a cedar tree in Williams, Coconino County, on February 14, 1982. She was discovered approximately 25 feet from westbound Interstate 40.
Her death had occurred on or around February 1,[58] and the area of her discovery area was a place where trucks were known to have regularly pulled over to cool their brakes. Because her remains were located on Valentine's Day, she was nicknamed "Valentine Sally." Valentine Sally was approximately five feet five inches in height and weighed 120 pounds; she had blue eyes and strawberry blond hair which was straight and approximately ten inches in length. She had distinctive scars on her right thigh and her left foot.[59] Furthermore, the decedent appeared to have incomplete root canal surgery upon one of her molars, which may have been related to a notably discomforting infection. This surgery had been performed approximately one week before her murder. She also wore an earring in her left ear. It is unknown if her right ear was also pierced, as her right ear was not recovered. Due to decomposition and the activity of scavenging animals, her fingerprints could not be obtained (although her DNA and dental charts were).[60][61] The victim had been murdered by either suffocation or strangulation[62] and wore Seasons brand jeans with a handkerchief in one pocket. A distinctive white sweater with thin red stripes and a bra were also found near her remains, which may have also belonged to the victim. It is possible Valentine Sally had been seen by eyewitnesses at a truck stop in Ash Fork, Arizona in early February, as a waitress at a truck stop named Patty Wilkins recalled a young girl matching her description and aged 16 or 17 who had asked her for aspirin because of a toothache. This girl did not want any food. She was in the company of an older male—possibly a father or uncle—who had expressed concern over her teeth. Wilkins believed the girl was with a relative as normally; had a runaway entered the premises, she would call the sheriff. The pair had entered the premises at 3 a.m. and left approximately one hour later. On February 22, 2021, she was identified as 17-year-old Carolyn Eaton of St. Louis, Missouri, who ran away from home in late December 1981.[63] |
Dennis Etheridge | 1979 | Murder | US | On April 8, 1993, a fisherman at Buckhorn Reservoir near the Bailey Road Bridge in Wilson, North Carolina found the skull of, what was later determined, to be a white male, aged between 17 and 22 years of age, with two small caliber bullet holes. After years of being unable to determine the victim's identity, the North Carolina Medical Examiner's Officer reached out to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 2011. The NCMEC consulted with a retired law-enforcement officer to assist the Wilson Police Department to review the case material and provided investigative recommendations. A forensic anthropologist pieced the skull back together and a forensic artist made a facial reconstruction. NCMEC staff facilitated biometric assistance and pursued multiple leads to missing persons but were unable to find a match within the national databases.[64]
In 2019, a local newspaper, The Wilson Times, wrote an article highlighting the case, which led to a tip that the John Doe could be Dennis Ray Etheridge, who went missing from Wilson County in 1979, aged 21 or 22. DNA samples were collected from family members, and his identity was confirmed in August 2021.[64] | |
Margaret Fetterolf | ![]() |
1976 | Murder | US | At around 10:20 am on September 12, 1976, the body of a white female between 15 and 30 years old was found on Dogwood Road, near the back entrance of Lorraine Park Cemetery in Woodlawn, Maryland. She was found wrapped with a white sheet with her hands tied behind her back and a bag over her head, under which a handkerchief covered her face with holes cut for the eyes and nose. She had been beaten, raped, and strangled to death.[65] It was believed that the murder took place somewhere else, no more than 24 hours prior to the body being discovered.[66]
The woman, known as Woodlawn Jane Doe, was between 5 feet 6 inches and 5 feet 8 inches (168 and 173 cm) tall and weighed around 159 pounds (72 kg). She had olive complexions, brown shoulder-length hair, brown eyes, O positive blood type, and a scar on one of her thighs. She also appeared to have had access to excellent dental care, with four molars extracted and four others having fillings in them. At the time of her discovery, Jane Doe was wearing a white and tan shirt, beige-yellow corduroy pants, a white bra, multi-coloured striped socks, and a pair of light tan leather moccasins with rubber soles. She was also wearing a turquoise blue bead necklace with a rawhide string.[66] Post-mortem examination revealed a large amount of the antipsychotic medication chlorpromazine in her system, which led to the theory that either Jane Doe, her murderer, or both, might have had ties to a mental facility.[67] Based on the items found on or near Jane Doe's body, it was theorized that she might have had links to Massachusetts. There were two brass keys attached to her trousers with a safety pin, one was a house key, and the other was a key to a night latch. The keys were traced to a manufacturer in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. Moreover, the bag found over her head, which was later determined to be a grass seed bag and had the words "Farm Bureau Association Grass Seed, Lexington, Mass." printed on it, was produced in Buffalo, New York, and was exclusively sold in five Massachusetts cities, namely Waltham, Rochdale, Lowell, South Weymouth, and Greenfield. Additionally, a crudely made tattoo was found just under her right shoulder and could have been combinations of the letters J or S, followed by a P, S, D, or B, with "JP" considered as the likeliest combination. Pollen analysis done in 2016 by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection found a mixture of cedar and mountain hemlock pollen, which could have come from Harvard's Arnold Arboretum in Boston. In 2016, authorities investigated a lead that Jane Doe might have been a girl who went by "Jasmine" or "Jassy" who was originally from Puerto Rico or Colombia and emigrated with her family to the Jamaica Plain neighbourhood of Boston, possibly explaining the "JP" tattoo.[66][68] On September 16, 2021, almost 45 years to the day of her discovery, Baltimore County Police announced that Woodlawn Jane Doe had been identified with the help of Othram Inc. as 16-year-old Margaret Fetterrolf of Alexandria, Virginia. Margaret's brother, Edward, said that she had run away from home on multiple occasions from the age of 12. The investigation into her murder is ongoing.[69] |
James Freund | ![]() |
1976 | Murder | US | 29-year-old James Paul "J.P." Freund disappeared from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1975. He would later meet Pamela Buckley while hitchhiking and the two would be murdered in Sumter County, South Carolina, in 1976. |
Kimberly Funk | File:Jackson 1991 Doe.jpg | 1991 | Suspected homicide | US | On February 1, 1991, the skeletal remains of a white woman were found by hunters in Vancleave, Mississippi. The cause of death was not determined but believed to be a homicide. She was between 25 and 60 years old, between 5 feet 2 inches and 5 feet 6 inches tall, and weighed between 105 and 135 pounds. Hair color and eye color could not be ascertained. She was found wearing a bathing suit, and various pieces of jewelry of unknown description were found at the scene. Investigators believe she may have been from out of state.
Her case file was destroyed at some point, making various details about her case unknown, including the recovery location and date.[70] Despite the setbacks, she was identified in June 2021 with assistance from Othram Inc. as Kimberly Ann Funk, who had recently moved to Mississippi from Sharon, Pennsylvania.[71] |
Shawna Garber | 1990 | Murder | US | Nicknamed "Grace Doe", her decomposing body was found on December 2, 1990, in an abandoned house in McDonald County, Missouri, tied with several different types of rope, indicating that she was likely the victim of a sexual assault. Othram Inc. took up her case, and the victim was subsequently identified in March 2021 as 22-year-old Shawna Beth Garber, originally from Kansas.[72] | |
Tena Gattrell | 1987 | Gunshot
(self-defense) |
US | On June 1, 1987, the body of a young woman between twenty and thirty years old was found in Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee. The woman had brown hair and stood five feet five inches tall, weighing 100 to 120 pounds. A shotgun wound to the head was determined to be the cause of death, as she, along with the men who picked her up at a party, attempted a robbery, resulting in the woman being shot by the resident. She had apparently attempted to enter the house by breaking down the front door and then attempted to break through the screen behind it and was then killed.[73][74] Other clues to identification include a tattoo of the letters "BH" on her arm as well as a silver bracelet. She also had a past pelvic surgery and a metal plate as well as a metal pin in her leg, possibly the result of a car accident. Other healed injuries include fractures and damage to her vertebrae. A scar was found on her abdomen, presumably from a cesarean section or a hysterectomy. By studying the teeth, examiners believe she was from either the southeastern United States or the New England area. An autopsy revealed her blood alcohol was 0.13% at the time of her death.[75][76][77][78][79] She was identified in late August 2021 as Tena Marie Gattrell of California after a fingerprint match was made in IAFIS.[80][81] | |
John Gregory | 1847 | Uncertain; possibly exposure to elements, scurvy, and/or disease | Canada | Gregory was an engineer who served aboard HMS Erebus in Franklin's lost expedition. He died in Erebus Bay after the ships became icebound. Two bodies were found and only his has been identified as of 2021.
In May 2021, one of the bodies was positively identified as that of Warrant Officer John Gregory, Erebus' engineer. A genealogy team tracked down Gregory's great-great-great-grandson, Jonathan Gregory, residing in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and confirmed the familial match through DNA testing.[82] | |
Marie Heiser | ![]() |
1997 | Murder | US | A possible victim of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas was found in a field in Townsend, New Castle County, Delaware on June 27, 1977. Examination of the bones concluded that she was a middle-aged woman, the mother of approximately two children, and had various dental problems, as well as a spinal condition, at the age of thirty-three to sixty-three. Her dental problems may have been due to smoking, as a large amount of tar was found in her mouth, which also had a removable plate and many fillings. Despite the various types of dental work, the procedures were of fairly low quality. One of the bones of one of her right fingers was broken, possibly from defending herself from the killer. She may have been native to Michigan, which has led investigators to believe that Lucas had been involved, as he had given statements in prison describing a similar crime scene as well as claiming he had murdered a Michigan woman in the same area.[83] The woman's DNA profile was analyzed by the Parabon NanoLabs in 2018. Traits such as blue eyes, a fair complexion, and Northern European ancestry were suggested by their examination. A computer-generated image was also produced, depicting an approximation of the woman at age 48.[84] She was identified in March 2021 as 50-year-old Marie Petry Heiser of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[85] |
Jolaine Hemmy | 1966 | Drowning | US | On July 5, 1966, a young man and woman checked into the Ropers Motel in Pecos, Texas,[86] using the name "Mr. and Mrs. Russell Battuon" (or "Batuon")". Two hours after checking in, the motel staff heard a scream and checked the pool area, finding the female floating in the pool after she had drowned. There were no signs of foul play and she appeared to be alone when she died. Meanwhile, the man had been sleeping; after helping the staff retrieve his companion's body, he quickly left the hotel without paying his bill, taking nearly all belongings and the registration card that he had used to check-in.
Investigators could not find the man after he left, and it was found out that he had told motel staff that he needed the registration card to confirm his stay at the motel for hospital staff since they were not from the area, but had never arrived at the hospital. He was described as being around 25 years old, with a short slender build and blonde hair, and drove a late model 1963 sedan. The only charges he could have faced would have been a result of "defrauding" the motel, which investigators believe he may have done "out of fear".[87] The woman was estimated to be between 17 and 20 years old, was approximately 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) tall and was between 120 and 130 pounds (54–59 kg). She had long brown hair and large brown eyes. She had an olive complexion, which caused investigators to believe she was of Italian or Latin descent. She also had a burn scar on the right side of her rib cage. She was wearing a bright red swimsuit when she died, but she was observed earlier to be wearing dark shorts, a bra, and a flowered blouse, all of which happened to have been the only things left behind in their room by the man when he left. Her fingerprints were taken but did not match anybody in the FBI database. She was later buried in a donated casket in Fairview Cemetery, with a donated headstone. An anonymous mourner occasionally placed flowers on her grave and kept the site well maintained. Many tips were submitted regarding her identity, but none have proved fruitful. She would later undergo forensic DNA sequencing by Othram Inc, a DNA testing company that specializes in DNA testing and forensic genealogy.[88] The decedent was confirmed to be 17-year-old Jolaine Hemmy, formerly of Salina, Kansas in January 2021.[89] | |
Sherri Jarvis | ![]() |
1980 | Ligature strangulation | US | A teenage female whose body was discovered approximately six hours after she died in the early hours of November 1, 1980 in Walker County, Texas. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Prior to her identification, Jarvis was known as "Walker County Jane Doe" in reference to the county in which her body was discovered and where she was later buried in a donated casket. On November 9, 2021, the Walker County Sheriff's Office publicly announced the identity of Walker County Jane Doe as 14-year-old Sherri Ann Jarvis, who had run away from Forest Lake, Minnesota in 1980.[90] |
Kimberly Rena Jones | 2016 | Murder | US | On September 28, 2016, a man and his wife discovered the mummified remains of a young teenage African American female (with possible white/Hispanic admixture) alongside US Route 93 in White Hills, Arizona. The cause of death was undetermined, however, it is being investigated as a homicide. She had been at the location for anywhere between one and two weeks. She was estimated to be between 13 and 17 years old, was between 5 feet 5 inches and 5 feet 7 inches tall, and weighed between 105 and 130 pounds. She had thick black or dark brown hair. She also had pierced ears and manicured fingernails. Investigators believe she may have originated from Las Vegas, Nevada, as US Route 93 is a direct connection between Arizona and Las Vegas. Investigators also believe her body was dumped at the location after she had been killed elsewhere. Isotope testing determined that she was possibly native to the Northern United States or Canada.[91] On August 18, 2021, Mohave County detectives announced that the body had been identified as 18-year-old Kimberly Rena Jones, who was reported missing in San Bernardino, California, in 2017.[92] | |
Laura Jean Jordan | 2017 | Heat exhaustion | US | On July 9, 2017, a middle-aged or elderly white woman was found deceased behind a residence in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. She had only been deceased for a few hours. She was estimated to be between 44 and 70 years old, was 5 feet 4 inches tall, and weighed 124 pounds. She had long brown hair, but her eye color could not be ascertained. She had a multichromatic tattoo on her left-upper chest of a rose with the name "Stuart", as well as an illegible three-letter word. Her lower right leg had a monochromatic tattoo of the words "Laura N Layla". She was found wearing a white shirt with green dots or sequins, a green shirt, a pair of black pants, possibly Dickies brand, a white bra, a pair of polarized white sunglasses, and a pair of gray K-Swiss brand shoes with blue laces. She also had a green hair tie around her left wrist as well as an orange and black hair tie.[93] The DNA Doe Project was asked to assist with her identification in April 2021.[94] On September 1, 2021, she was identified as Laura Jean Jordan.[95] | |
Michael Kirov | 1995 | Suicide | Canada | On July 28, 1995, a man committed suicide at the intersection of 13th Avenue and Courtney Street, outside of Regina, Saskatchewan, by stepping in front of an oncoming eastbound Canadian Pacific Railway train travelling from Moose Jaw to Broadview, Saskatchewan. The man, known as "Regina John Doe", was white, in his 20s or 30s, around 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) tall, and weighed between 140 and 160 pounds (64 and 73 kilograms). At the time of his discovery, John Doe was wearing a black denim shirt with a gold Crown logo on the left breast pocket, a white T-shirt underneath with the words "Boca Authentic" printed on it, blue jeans, white socks, and a pair of white-and-blue coloured Reebok running shoes with size 12.5, although police believed his actual shoe size was closer to 10. His fingerprints did not return a match in any databases in Canada and the US, and he had no marks, tattoos, or any distinguishing features that could help in identifying him.[96]
A few months after John Doe's death, a man named Randy Wakelin came forward, claiming that he had met John Doe on July 22, 1995, while hitchhiking together from Strathmore, Alberta to Swift Current, Saskatchewan, arriving two days later. He recalled that John Doe gave his name as "Dave" and said that he was from Ontario. At one point, Wakelin said that Dave talked about a woman called "Kathy", who used to be his girlfriend before they broke up, and that he had plans to head back "out east," possibly to the Maritimes or New England. Dave was described as having excellent personal hygiene and manners but came across as not being street smart and did not seem to be a transient. He was also in possession of a silver rose brooch, which might have held some personal significance to him, as well as a diary, birth certificate, and a T-shirt from Padova City Resorts in Kamloops, British Columbia, suggesting that he might have spent time there. The diary and birth certificate have never been recovered.[97] On August 5, 2021, The Fifth Estate reported that Regina John Doe has been identified through genetic genealogy, 26 years after his death.[98] On August 12, 2021, the Saskatchewan Coroner Services announced that John Doe has been positively identified with the help of Othram Inc. as Michael Kirov of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Kirov was 30 years old at the time of his death and had changed his name to Michael Lewis before leaving Manitoba.[99] | |
Karen Knippers | ![]() |
1981 | Murder | US | On May 25, 1981, Knippers' battered body was found near a low water crossing on Highway MM outside of Dixon, Missouri. She was identified in 2021 with assistance from the DNA Doe Project. |
William Lewis | 1982 | Murder | US | On October 15, 1983, skeletal remains were discovered by a hunter setting fox traps in a rural area in Jasper County, Indiana near the town of Rensselaer. Authorities determined that the remains belonged to a white male approximately 18 to 26 years of age, with shoulder-length reddish-brown hair. The man was a victim of a homicide. Despite extensive efforts by local and national agencies, the victim's identity remained unsolved. In 1994, convicted serial killer Larry Eyler confessed to his attorney that he had killed the unidentified young man around the weekend of November 20, 1982 along U.S. Route 41 near Vincennes and driven his body several hours north to Jasper County, where it was later discovered. Eyler, however, was unable to provide a name or relevant information about the identity of the victim.[100]
In January 2021, Bryan Worters, a student intern with Redgrave Research Forensic Services approached members of the Jasper County Coroner's Office and offered his assistance in identifying the victim. From January to September 2021, the victim's DNA was processed and then uploaded to GEDmatch. Worters, under the guidance of lead forensic genetic genealogists and instructors Anthony Redgrave and Lee Bingham Redgrave, led the genealogical research. The team of forensic genetic genealogists and student interns found a potential candidate for identification in six days. A DNA sample was collected from a full sibling of the candidate and compared to that of the victim and it was determined that the victim and candidate were siblings. In December 2021, the identity of the victim was announced as being 19-year-old William Joseph "Bill" Lewis of Peru, Indiana. Lewis was last seen by relatives in Houston, Texas in February 1982, where he attended a friend's funeral and left afterward to return home to Indiana. Following his departure, his family never heard from him again.[100][101] | |
Frank Little Jr. | c. 1976 | Murder | US | On February 18, 1982, two employees at a workshop on Cannon Road in Twinsburg, Ohio were discarding wood shavings in a forested area behind their place of employment, when they discovered a skull protruding from the snow. When police were called to the scene, they discovered a plastic bag, some fifty feet away from where the skull was found, which contained more human remains. However, they did not comprise a complete human skeleton. When an examination of the remains was carried out, it was determined that the remains belonged to an African American male, between 5'5" and 5'6" tall, aged between 20 and 35 years old. The victim had signs of having suffered from adolescent kyphosis. Some of the facial bones had been broken either shortly before, or shortly after death. The body had been dismembered, possibly with an axe and there were signs of a gunshot wound and blunt trauma.[102] It was also theorized that the body had been stored in a damp environment before being discarded. Forensic anthropologists determined that the remains had been in the area between two and four years before being discovered. The remains were kept in a pathologists office, where they remained for the next 17 years. When the case was reviewed in 2009 and another pathology report was made, stabbing was determined to be the cause of death. It was also noted that the bones showed signs of charring, suggesting that, at some point, an attempt was made to burn the remains. DNA was extracted from a tooth and a thigh bone and placed within the FBI's Combined DNA Index System.[103] However, no matches were found. In 2016, facial reconstruction artist Samantha Molnar of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation made a clay model reconstruction of the skull and, along with an earlier sketch made by a Kent State University professor, the results were televised in hopes of identifying the victim. In 2018, Twinsburg detective Eric Hendershott officially reopened the case. In 2019, Hendershott contacted the DNA Doe Project and within two years, researchers came back with several possible matches through genetic genealogy testing.[104][102][103]
On December 14, 2021, the Twinsburg Police Department publicly announced the identity of the victim as Frank "Frankie" Little Jr. Little was born in 1943 in Cleveland and was a former guitarist and songwriter of the R&B and soul band The O'Jays. Little had moved with the band from their base in Canton, Ohio to California in the early 1960s, but left after some time to return to Ohio and pursue a romantic relationship with a woman in Cleveland. He had last been in contact with his brother Johnny in 1976. Members of The O'Jays, who had also lost contact with Little, paid their respects to him in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine in 2022. The identity of Little's murderer is unsolved.[104][103] | |
Gerald Lombard | ![]() |
1994 | Murder | US | On February 1, 1994, the decomposed remains of a white or Hispanic male were discovered in Punta Gorda, Florida by a pair of hunters. The man had been killed by homicidal means, as his body had rope marks and his neck and genitals were mutilated, with his genitals being completely removed. The man was estimated to be between 25 and 58 years old, was between 5 feet 4 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall, and weighed between 125 and 170 pounds. He had brown hair and appeared to have been injured about four years before his death. He also had a steel pin surgically inserted into his left leg. Investigators were able to track down the manufacturer of the pin based on the serial number but could not find the hospital where the procedure took place. The man is believed to be a victim of the "Hog Trail Murders" by Daniel Conahan.[105] He was identified in June 2021 as Gerald "Jerry" Lombard of Massachusetts. Lombard's family had not heard from him since 1991 or 1992.[106] |
Janet Lucas | 1985 | Murder | US | On September 9, 1985, the skeleton of a young woman, nicknamed "Christy Crystal Creek," was found with two .32 caliber bullets in her skull. No clothing was located at the crime scene. Investigators believed this individual may have died sometime between 1983 and early in 1985.[107] She stood between 4'10 and 5'2, weighing between 90 and 110 pounds. Examination indicated that she had a history of smoking and had many fillings as well as two root canals. She also had a type of oral surgery which is distinct to Asia's dental techniques, involving the screwing of a dental post into the tooth. Along with other physical characteristics, it was previously thought she was possibly of Asian descent.[108] It is possible that serial killer and rapist Wayne Nance was responsible for her murder. Due to his death in 1986, he was never tried or convicted of any murder.[108][109][110] Two other victims believed to have been killed by Nance are "Debbie Deer Creek" and "Betty Beavertail," later identified as Marcella Bachmann and Devonna Nelson, respectively. He also may have committed the murders of two others prior to the Jane Doe discoveries.[111] In May 2021, authorities announced the identity of the victim as 23-year-old Janet Lucas. She was last seen in Idaho in 1983 and was originally from Spokane, Washington.[112] | |
Albert Nicholson | 1918 | Killed in action during World War I | France | 21-year-old Albert Martin Nicholson of Broken Hill, New South Wales served in the 14th Field Artillery Brigade, 5th Division Artillery of the First Australian Imperial Force during World War I. He was an ammunition driver who was killed by an enemy shell in Villers-Bretonneux, Hauts-de-France, France, on August 3, 1918. He was identified 103 years later.[113] | |
Robin Pelkey | 1982/83 | Murder | US | Victim of serial killer Robert Hansen. Discovered near Horseshoe Lake, midway between Anchorage and Fairbanks along an entryway to Denali National Park in April 1984 and known as "Horseshoe Harriet" until her identification as 19-year-old Robin Pelkey by genealogical DNA in October 2021.[114] | |
Vance Rodriguez | ![]() |
2018 | Malnourishment | US | Rodriguez was a hiker who started his journey on the Appalachian Trail in April 2017, from Harriman State Park near New York City. On the way, he met several people who took pictures of him. Witnesses reported that he had said he came from Baton Rouge, was hiking to Key West, and had a sister living in Sarasota or Saratoga.[115] On July 23, 2018, the hiker was found dead in his tent by two hikers in Big Cypress National Preserve. He had no form of identification with him.[116] The location was near Interstate 75.[117] Rodriguez was identified in December 2020, over two years following his discovery. After viewing photographs of the then-unidentified man, a previous coworker contacted authorities, who obtained DNA samples from living relatives in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana. An official announcement from the Collier County Sheriff's Office was released on January 12, 2021. Othram had confirmed the match between Rodriguez and his family by performing the required testing.[117] |
Christopher Roof | 2010 | Unknown | US | The decomposed remains of a male hiker were found in Stacyville, Maine, by a hunter, on November 4. Christopher Roof was a teacher at Concord-Carlisle High School. The case was solved when several students and friends of Roof called with tips. The decedent was positively identified as Christopher Roof after testing by the Maine State Police and the state Medical Examiner's Office.[118] | |
Gordon Sanderson | 1976/1977 | Murder | Canada | On April 13, 1977, a couple was scavenging an abandoned property when they noticed a leg bobbing in a septic tank in Alberta, Canada. Police slowly drained the septic tank and revealed the badly decomposed body of an unidentified male. Lime had been poured on the body in order to hasten decomposition. The victim's cause of death was gunshot wounds to the head and chest; the victim also was tortured, tied up, and sexually mutilated. Police had little evidence and speculated that multiple people were involved in his death and were familiar with the area. The unidentified decedent was given the name "Septic Tank Sam" until his identification. It was speculated that Sam may have been a transient or a migrant worker from outside Alberta.
On June 29, 2021, 44 years after his body was discovered, it was reported that Septic Tank Sam was identified and more information would be released the following day. On June 30, 2021, Alberta RCMP identified the decedent as Gordon "Gordie" Edwin Sanderson, a 27-year-old Indigenous man from Manitoba who was living in Edmonton, Canada at the time of his death. Just before he disappeared, Sanderson stated to his family that he would be visiting his brother in Calgary. Sanderson is survived by a daughter and an older sister, whose DNA was used to positively identify him. The investigation into his homicide is ongoing, with authorities working under the theory that Sanderson's killer may have been someone he knew, although they concede that the perpetrator may already be deceased.[119] | |
John Lindberg Scott | ![]() |
1977 | Road traffic accident | US | During the early morning hours of September 14, 1977, a Waukesha County, Wisconsin Sheriff's Department Deputy began pursuing a speeding vehicle near Delafield, Wisconsin. The driver of the vehicle ran a stop sign then lost control of the car and crashed, ejecting the driver, who was killed instantly. He was the sole occupant of the vehicle. Investigators discovered the vehicle had been stolen from Gurnee, Illinois. The decedent was described as a white male, 6 feet tall, weighing 155 pounds, with brown hair cut short in a military style, and estimated to be between 20 and 30 years old. A lighter, with the inscription "To John, Love Laura," was found in the vehicle. Investigators were unable to determine the man's identity and he was given the moniker "Delafield John Doe."[120]
On November 18, 2021, Waukesha County Medical Examiner's Office and the DNA Doe Project (DDP) announced that investigative genetic genealogy was used to identify the victim as 27-year-old John Lindberg Scott of Bristol, Tennessee after a DNA sample was sequenced and produced a profile that was uploaded to GEDmatch and Family Tree DNA.[120] |
Greece John Doe | 1976 | Undetermined | US | On March 9, 1976, skeletal remains of a young child with short brown hair were found in the basement storage of an apartment complex on Winston Drive in Greece, New York. The child—estimated to be 3–5 years of age—was found wrapped in a large tarp inside a blue metal footlocker wearing a light blue pajama top and a plastic diaper secured by two stainless steel diaper pins. It is estimated the child had been deceased for anywhere between six months and over one year. The child had a skull abnormality of unknown origin on the back left region of his head. It is believed the abnormality occurred a significant amount of time before the child's death. The abnormality may have been associated with other health problems such as poor nutrition and growth. The child may have had developmental deficiencies and likely couldn't walk.[121] Based on a geochemical analysis, it is believed he was not a native New Yorker and that he grew up in the Pacific Northwest, and likely spent the last days of his life in the South.[122] The child was later identified; his name has yet to be released.[123] | |
Lisa Todd | c. 1985 | Undetermined | US | On January 24, 1988, the skeletal remains of a young white female were discovered by a man walking his dog in a pump house at the old 'Publicker' distillery in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. She was estimated to be between 16 and 30 years old, between 5 feet and 5 feet 3 inches tall, and weighed between 100 and 120 pounds. She also had brown hair and appeared to be about six months pregnant. Eye color could not be ascertained. She was found wearing 'Braxton' designer jeans, a purple lace camisole, open-toed platform shoes, a black bodysuit top, an oval sterling silver ring with five clear stones and five stones missing, and a silver-colored ring with a belt-and-buckle design. Various other clothing items were found with the remains, however, investigators could not determine if they belonged to the victim. When investigators found the body in the pump house, they had to pump 8 inches of water and oil fuel out of the house in order to retrieve the remains. The location had become a well-known place for the illegal dumping of stolen vehicles. Flyers of a reconstruction and dental records were distributed, which generated 50 leads of missing person reports which matched the victim, however, all of these came up negative.[124] On March 9, 2021, it was announced that she had been identified by Othram Inc. and Bode Technology as Lisa Todd of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Todd had last been in contact with her parents in 1985, when she was 17-years-old.[125] | |
Nicole Weis | 2000 | Murder | US | On January 24, 2000, a woman's body was found in a burning cardboard box in the parking lot of College Avenue Baptist Church located at 4747 College Avenue in San Diego, California.[126] She had been bound with rope, stabbed several times, and strangled before being dumped at the location. Her killer had attempted to conceal her identity by severing her hands and removing part of her left calf, where some sort of identifying mark, such as a scar or tattoo, may have been located. Prior to her identification, it was believed that she had originated from Arkansas, although this later turned out not to be true. In 2021, she was identified as 21-year-old Nicole Weis, who had lost contact with the family after leaving Michigan for Los Angeles. Little else is known about her disappearance, and her murder remains unsolved. | |
Veronica Wiederhold | ![]() |
1988 | Murder | US | On February 14, 1988, the "posed" nude body of a woman was found on a street in Mount Vernon, Westchester County, New York. The victim had been dead for approximately six to twelve hours, and was bound at the wrists and ankles, and had died from ligature strangulation as well as suffering a beating.[127] She was aged 18 to 30, with hazel eyes and with bleached, light brown or blonde hair. She was 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighed 105 pounds, and had pierced ears without earrings. She had numerous freckles and moles (including a large and prominent mole on her neck). Her underarms had not been shaved for approximately two weeks, but her pubic area was recently shaved. This detail has led some investigators to presume she could have been a sex worker. The fact that the rest of the body showed an absence of shaving, it has also been suggested she was foreign to the United States and could be of South American descent. Her nails were painted pink prior to her death.[128] No clothing was found at or near the scene.[129] An autopsy found that she had ingested cocaine and broccoli before her murder, which may have been the work of a serial offender.[130] She was identified in late July 2021 as 19-year-old Veronica "Ronnie" Wiederhold, of New York City. |
Dawn Plonsky Wilkerson | 2001 | Murder | US | On October 9, 2001, the skeletal remains of a young white female were found by a survey crew at the bottom of the shoulder of Interstate 65 near the Tennessee state line in rural Simpson County, Kentucky. The cause of death was not ascertained, but the case was deemed a homicide due to the circumstances. She had been deceased for between two weeks and two months. She was estimated to be between 25 and 35 years old, was between 5 feet 4 inches and 5 feet 9 inches tall, and weighed between 90 and 130 pounds. She had long reddish-brown or reddish-blonde hair. She also had a healed fracture on her upper right arm, and a tattoo of the outline of a rose on her left breast. She had a scar on her face and right wrist. She was missing multiple teeth and had very poor dental health. She also had given birth to a child in the past and may have been pregnant when she died. She was found wearing a white/tan shirt, blue cotton shorts, and black sandals. Two rings were also found near the body: a gold wedding-style band, and a sterling silver ring in a guilloche cigar band style, with a painted blue enamel background with flowers and leaves. The silver ring was traced to the Vargas Manufacturing Company in Providence, Rhode Island.[131] The DNA Doe Project began researching the case in May 2019. On July 30, 2021, Kentucky State Police announced the victim was 45-year-old Dawn Clare Plonsky Wilkerson of Nashville, Tennessee.[132] | |
Amy Yeary | ![]() |
2008 | Murder | US | The remains of a young woman were found frozen in a creek by hunters near an abandoned farm in an area near Campbellsport, Wisconsin on November 23, 2008. She was publicly identified on November 23, 2021, exactly 13 years after her discovery, via leads produced by forensic genetic genealogy conducted by Barbara Rae-Venter as 18-year-old Amy Marie Yeary.[133] Prior to her identification, she was referred to as "Fond du Lac County Jane Doe". Authorities believe Yeary may have been the victim of human trafficking.[134][135] |
2022
Article | Image | Year of death | Cause of death | Location | Circumstances |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lori A. Alexander | ![]() |
1998 | Murder | US | On October 25, 1998, the body of a black female was discovered near a creek in Campbell County, Tennessee. She had received a gunshot wound to the head and multiple stab wounds. There was also evidence that the woman had been beaten prior to her death. She was aged between 30 and 40, was 5'6" in height, and weighed 130 pounds. She had died days before her discovery. This Jane Doe had an extra tooth visible on the right side of her mouth and also had several impacted teeth giving her a distinct smile.
Forensic facial reconstructions of this victim were shown on Good Morning America in 2004, however, they failed to yield any clues about her identity. In 2015, the victim's body was exhumed for DNA extraction. In August 2020, the Knox County Regional Forensic Center was granted permission to submit fingerprints to an FBI database which allowed for comparison with recently digitized fingerprint cards from other jurisdictions across the U.S from prior decades. On May 18, 2022, the Center announced the identification of this Jane Doe as 27-year-old Lori A. Alexander of Toledo, Ohio. Alexander had been reported missing the same month she was murdered.[136] |
Derek and David Bousquet | c. 1947 | Murder | Canada | The remains of two male victims (murdered about 1947) were discovered in Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Wednesday, January 14, 1953. Police determined that a hatchet found at the crime scene, which was of a type commonly used by shingle weavers and lathers, had been used to kill the boys by striking them in the head. Their corpses had been arranged so that they were lying down in a straight line, with each boy's soles facing the other's, and then concealed with a woman's rain cape. The case became known as the "Babes in the Wood murders". The investigation was hampered when the medical examiner concluded that one victim was female. A DNA test conducted in 1998 proved that both victims were male and that they were brothers; they were between the ages of six and ten when they died. The children were identified as David and Derek Bousquet in 2022 by use of genealogical DNA.[137] | |
Kevin Carroll | 1978 | Murder | US | On December 13, 1978, two young boys discovered the body of a man floating in Crum Creek in the Woodlyn area of Ridley Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Investigators determined that the man was the victim of a homicide; he had been shot six times in the neck and back with a .25 caliber pistol and that his death had occurred within hours to days of his discovery. The man was described as young, Caucasian, having wavy dark brown hair and a mustache, freckles, a light brown birthmark on his lower left abdomen and with blood type A.[138] The victim was wearing tan colored pants, brown leather belt, a loose-knit light brown sweater, black socks and brown Oxford-type shoes with rubber soles. He wore a silver necklace with heart and Italian horn charms, a single silver earring with an arrow design in his left ear, a silver windup Seiko brand watch with a gray face that had stopped at 4:45 on December 10, though it is not determined if it had stopped at 4:45 am or 4:45 pm. He also had a pack of Kool menthol cigarettes. Investigators suspected that the decedent may have been a marine or sailor due to his watch being purchased from a military store. After failing to garner many leads into the victim's identity, police released a composite sketch, which yielded few clues and the case eventually grew cold.[138]
In December 2021, Tim Kearney, a Ridley Township detective working on the case, was contacted by Amelia Pearn of the Veteran Doe Network organization; a website of volunteer military family members created to bring attention to missing military veteran and active duty cases and unidentified person cases where there is a possible military connection. Pearn had been researching the disappearance of a military serviceman who had gone missing after leaving his airbase in 1978. Kearney investigated this possible match, which then sparked a multi-agency operation to confirm if the victim was the man Pearn had been searching for. On March 22, 2022, the victim was conclusively identified as 18-year-old Kevin Alvin Jude Carroll of Marion County, Oregon; the same man whose disappearance Pearn had been researching. Carroll, an airman, had been discharged from McGuire Air Force Base in Burlington County, New Jersey and was en route back to his residence in Oregon when he disappeared. He had already shipped his belongings back to Oregon and was reported missing by his family after he failed to arrive.[139] | |
Patricia Cavallaro | 1994 | Murder | US | On October 24, 1994, the partial skeleton of an elderly woman was discovered north of Varner road in Thousand Palms, California. She had been wrapped in a white plastic sheet and buried in a shallow grave.
She was identified in January 2022, as 57-year-old Patricia Cavallaro by a genetic match to one of her children. Her death remains under investigation | |
Stacey Chahorski | 1988 | Murder | US | On December 16, 1988, the body of a young woman was found along the northbound lane of Interstate 59 in Dade County, Georgia, approximately five miles from the Alabama state line near Rising Fawn by two Georgia Department of Transportation workers. An autopsy showed that the woman had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death. Investigators believed that after she was murdered, she was brought to the embankment off the road, and deposited there days, or possibly a week before being found. After failing to identify the victim, she was buried in an unmarked grave in Dade County and given the moniker "Rising Fawn Jane Doe".[140]
Over the years, a number of law enforcement agencies worked to identify the victim. A Georgia Bureau of Investigation forensic artist created clay renderings and drew composites of the victim. In the mid-2000s, investigators found additional evidence that they believed could possibly identify the victim. Analysts at the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington D.C. were able to develop a DNA profile of the victim and entered it into the national missing persons DNA database. Evidence was later sent to Othram, a corporation specializing in forensic genealogy, where a DNA extraction was performed, followed by forensic genome sequencing. After successfully building a comprehensive genealogical profile, scientists at Othram returned the profile to the FBI, where a genealogy team were able to build a family tree that was able to eventually identify the victim.[140] On March 24, 2022, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation publicly identified the victim as 19-year-old Stacey Lyn Chahorski of Michigan. Chahorski had last spoken to her mother by telephone on September 15, 1988, when she told her mother that she was in North Carolina and planned to travel back to Michigan. After never arriving back in Michigan, Chahorski's mother filed a missing person report with the Norton Shores, Michigan Police Department on January 17, 1989, a month after Chahorski's unidentified body was found in Georgia.[141] On September 6, 2022, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation publicly announced Chahorski's murderer as Henry Fredrick "Hoss" Wise, a truck driver and stunt driver with a lengthy criminal record. Wise burned to death in a car accident at Myrtle Beach Speedway in South Carolina in 1999.[142] | |
Shelly Christian | 1994 | Murder | US | On November 6, 1994, the skeletal remains of a woman were found in a wooded area by rabbit hunters in Ottawa County, Michigan. She was most likely dumped at the location sometime the previous summer and may have fallen prey to a serial killer. It was believed that she was in her thirties or early forties and of Hispanic descent. However, both of these estimations turned out to be inaccurate. She was nicknamed "Matilda" while unidentified, and her case was deemed a homicide. Her case was eventually taken on by the DNA Doe Project who determined that she was of European heritage, rather that Hispanic as previously thought. In December 2021, it was announced that she had been tentatively identified, with further confirmation to come. On January 20, 2022, it was confirmed that she was 29-year-old Shelly Rae Christian, who had disappeared from Minneapolis, Minnesota in October 1993. | |
Dean and Tina Clouse | 1981 | Murder | US | On January 12, 1981, the remains of two people, one female and one male, were found in a wooded area along Wallisville Road in Houston, Texas. It was determined that the two were both in their late teen or early twenties and had died anywhere from several weeks to a few months before they were discovered. Both had been murdered, the man by beating and the woman by strangulation. In January 2022, it was announced that the pair had been identified as Dean and Tina Clouse, 21 and 17, respectively. According to Dean's sister, the couple had joined a religious group and left their home in Florida with their daughter, Holly. Holly was found "alive and well" in Oklahoma on June 9, 2022.[143] | |
Peggy Anne Dodd | 1984 | Undetermined | US | On December 22, 1984, the remains of a woman were discovered on a property belonging to the Manford Williams Ranch in Richmond, Texas. Investigators found few clues to the identity of the woman and were left with only minimal information, including her approximate height, age, weight and clothing located with the remains. An autopsy of the decedent's remains revealed that she was a young Caucasian woman with light brown hair, but a cause of death could not be determined.[144]
In 2022, scientists were able to use advanced DNA sequencing technology to extract DNA from rootless hair found on the victim and created a genetic genealogy profile. In June 2022, the decedent was publicly identified as 29-year-old Peggy Anne Dodd. Dodd went missing in early December 1984. Her cause of death is still unknown.[144] | |
Gerron Gipson | 1999 | Murder | US | On March 4, 1999, authorities found decomposed remains on the east bank of Elk Slough in Clarksburg, California. The cause of death was determined to be homicide by a stab wound to the heart, but because of the state of decomposition, authorities were unable to determine the identity of the remains. The victim was described as a young male, likely of mixed race, but investigators were unable to definitively state if he was of Hispanic, African American or Caucasian ancestry. He had dark hair and possibly had a broken nose that had healed without displacement. The victim had a degenerative disease in his neck and lower back, his coccyx vertebrae were fused to his sacral vertebrae and he had no missing teeth. The victim wore a dark blue short sleeved shirt with a large, green letter "M" type design on the front, which originated from the Mustard Seed Faith designer associated with Black Market Threads clothing brand, sold locally in K Street Mall in Sacramento and shops in Fairfield and Vallejo. The victim also wore green boxer shorts. A blue sleeping bag with white, blue and tan plaid lining was also found with the remains.[145]
After years of being unable to identify the victim, the Yolo County District Attorney's Office began to use genetic genealogy testing on the remains and found a partial DNA sample in 2022. On June 2, 2022, the victim was publicly identified as 29-year-old Gerron Gipson of Sacramento.[145][146] | |
William DaShawn Hamilton | 1998 | Murder | US | On February 26, 1999, the remains of a child were discovered by a gravedigger in a wooded area near Clifton United Methodist Church cemetery in DeKalb County, Georgia. Investigators believed at the time of discovery that the remains had been in the location for about three to six months. The cause of death could not initially be determined. A forensic anthropologist determined that the boy was between five and seven years old when he died. Scientifically accepted skeletal measurements determined that the child was African American. DNA extracted from muscle tissue confirmed the sex of the child as male. The boy wore nearly new, size 11 brown Timberland boots, a long-sleeved hooded shirt of plaid material, and red jeans.[147] The boy's boots were introduced in Atlanta as an experimental market in June 1998 and investigators identified three stores that sold the boots, one of them at the South DeKalb Mall. The shirt and pants the boy was wearing had not been manufactured since 1995 and investigators surmised that the boy could have been wearing hand-me-downs of an older sibling or relative.[148][147]
A three-dimensional reconstruction was made in hopes of identifying the boy, but yielded few clues to his identity. The child's remains were interred at Clifton United Methodist Church cemetery, near were he was found. In 2019, following an updated facial reconstruction by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), a tip was called in by a woman suggesting that the unidentified remains could be those of a six-year-old boy named William DaShawn Hamilton, originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, who she knew went missing while in the company of his mother. The woman stated that the boy's mother had abruptly taken him from Charlotte in December 1998 and relocated to metro Atlanta. The mother returned sometime later and gave conflicting accounts as to the whereabouts of the boy, which made her suspicious and she searched for the boy for two decades.[149] NCMEC used the tipster's information to follow up on the lead and try to locate the woman and boy. On July 13, 2022, the identity of the boy was publicly announced as that of William DaShawn Hamilton. The boy's mother, Teresa Ann Bailey Black, was arrested in Phoenix, Arizona and charged with two counts of felony murder, two counts of cruelty to children, aggravated assault and concealing the death of another. The indictment against Black alleges she caused her son's death by giving him "a substance or substances containing Diphenhydramine and Acetaminophen" and by striking him in the head with an unknown object.[149] | |
Dorothy Harrison | 1984/1985 | Murder | US | On March 10, 1985, the remains of a white female were discovered by hunters in a shallow grave off Interstate 25 near Upham, New Mexico. She was believed to be between the ages of 16 and 19 years old, approximately five feet two inches tall with blonde to light brown hair. The decedent was found wearing a sports jersey with three quarter-length sleeves. "Wilson" was imprinted across with a large "W" on a white background. All leads detectives received turned out to be dead ends. The decedent became known as the "Dona Ana County Jane Doe".
On March 10, 2021, the Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office assigned this case to Detective Melissa Agullo hoping that newer technology and investigative tools would lead to the decedent's identification. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reached out to offer DNA resources for unidentified cases. The sheriff's office and the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator collaborated to send the decedent's left femur bone to Astrea Forensics. DNA was extracted from 155 milligrams of bone powder. On August 9, 2022, the identity of the decedent was publicly announced as 16-year-old Dorothy Harrison of Wichita, Kansas. Dorothy was last seen alive leaving her home around 5 p.m on July 25, 1984. A sibling saw her get into a vehicle that was described as a "big, tan, long car" with a white female and a black female both older than she was. She was reported missing shortly thereafter. In August 1984, Dorothy called her family and said she was in Los Angeles. It was around the time of the 1984 Summer Olympics which was taking place in that city. In late August or early September 1984, Dorothy called her family again this time saying she was in El Paso, Texas and was on her way back home. She was never seen or heard from again. Authorities believe Dorothy was murdered between September 10, 1984 and January 10, 1985. The investigation into her murder is ongoing.[150] | |
Susan Hoppes | 1993 | Suspected homicide | US | On July 7, 1994, a family hiking at Windy Point on Divide Road on the Uncompahgre Plateau in Montrose County, Colorado discovered a human skull and mandible. Investigators and a search team then conducted other searches of the area and recovered several more bones, including portions of the spine, sacrum, tailbone, portions of arm and shoulder bones, and most of the right hip. It appeared to investigators that some of the remains may have been purposely concealed. Hair found near the remains indicated that she was possibly a brunette or redhead. Some assorted items were found near the remains, including a piece of a belt. A forensic examination determined the remains belonged to a woman, approximately 30 to 40 plus-years-old and standing about 5'6" and probably Caucasian. She had suffered from temporomandibular joint syndrome and scoliosis. It was estimated that she had died twelve months of the date of the discovery of her remains. Her cause of death could not be determined. In 1995, a facial reconstruction of the victims was made, which yielded few positive leads into the deceased's identity. The decedant was given the nickname "Windy Point Jane Doe".[151] Later, investigators added the deceased's DNA profile into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), which yielded no results. Bone, dry tissue and hair fragments of the decedent were sent to Computational Biology and Informatics (CBI) in 2008, but without anything to which those samples could be compared to, investigators could not make an identification. A second facial reconstruction was made in 2012, and investigators again asked for public appeals, which yielded no results.[151]
In 2020, Montrose County Sheriff's Office Investigators were granted permission to send a sample of the decedent's DNA to Computational Biology and Informatics for familial DNA testing. One of the commercial databases for which CBI prepared the DNA sample found matches to the decedent's biological sister and brother. On May 11, 2022, the victim was publicly identified as 45-year-old Susan Hoppes of Lakewood, Washington. Hoppes had abruptly left her home on the evening of August 9, 1993, in the company of two others. Her sister reported her missing shortly afterward. Although her cause of death was stated as undetermined, authorities have stated that the case is being investigated as a homicide.[151][152] | |
Carl Isaacs Jr. | ![]() |
1994 | Undetermined | US | On November 26, 1995, hunters in a remote wooded area along Turtle Creek near Clinton, Wisconsin found human skeletal remains and contacted authorities. Investigators stated the remains were 97% decomposed skeleton and the decedent was discovered laying face-down with their arms raised over their head. The decedent was clothed in a lined flannel red and green jacket with a plaid design, a black t-shirt featuring the upside-down star logo of the heavy metal band Venom, gray urban camouflage fatigues of small/medium size pants and size medium/34 boxer underwear with a Bart Simpson design. He was also wearing a chrome pendant of a goat head with horns made from a dinner fork. A black, size 9-1/2 1993 Nike Air Bound basketball shoe was discovered beside the remains. An autopsy of the remains was performed in 1995 by a forensic anthropologist who determined that the deceased was a Caucasian male with straight, collar-length brown hair between the ages of 17 and 20-years-old, who stood approximately 5'4" (1.65 m) and 5'6" (1.70 m) tall and weighed approximately 140 lbs. It was estimated that the young man had been deceased for approximately one year, placing his time of death during the fall or winter of 1994. The official cause and manner of death were undetermined. Investigators theorized that the deceased may have passed out or went to sleep and died of hypothermia.[153]
Although several facial approximations of the decedent were publicly released over the years, authorities made little progress identifying him and he was given the monikers "Rock County John Doe" and "John Clinton Doe". Isotopic analysis of the remains conducted in 2014 with the help of Smithsonian Institution scientists[154] showed that the young man was from or had spent a significant amount of time around the Great Lakes area, which includes the states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan.[155] In 2018, by request of authorities, the DNA Doe Project took on case in collaboration with NCMEC, Fulgent Genetics, Aerodyne Research Inc., and Full Genomes Corporation and attempted to identify the body by using autosomal DNA, the web site GEDmatch and genetic genealogy to trace relatives.[156] In February 2019, DNA samples were gathered from the decedent's potential half-siblings and analyzed. By May 2021, his potential father was exhumed and DNA samples from him were gathered. All the samples were then compared, and the Rock County Sheriff's Department confirmed his identity in May 2022. On June 14, 2022, the Rock County Sheriff's Department publicly announced the identity of the decedent as 20-year-old Carl J. Isaacs Jr. of Delavan, Wisconsin.[153] Authorities are currently investigating the circumstances of Isaac's death.[153] |
Susan Lund | 1992/1993 | Murder | US | On January 27, 1993, two girls found the severed head of a woman alongside a road within Wayne Fitzgerrell State Park in southern Illinois. The woman, known as the Ina Jane Doe, was believed to be between 30 and 50 years of age, had long, reddish hair, a mole on her left cheek, and may had a condition known as torticollis, which caused her head to tilt down on one side. Numerous attempts have been made to identify her, all to no avail.
In February 2021, the case was reopened with the goal of identifying Ina Jane Doe through genetic genealogy. Samples of her DNA were extracted and analysed by Redgrave Research in Massachusetts. The newly generated DNA profile was uploaded to GEDmatch and within hours resulted in a probable match to Susan Hope Lund of Indiana. A comparison with a DNA sample of her family member confirmed Lund's identification. Susan Hope Lund was 25 years old at the time of her disappearance. She had been living in Clarksville, Tennessee with her husband, Paul, and their three children. Susan was last seen alive on Christmas Eve 1992 as she went out grocery shopping. She was 3 months pregnant at the time. The investigation into her abduction and murder is ongoing.[157] | |
Susan Poole | 1972 | Suspected homicide | US | On June 16, 1974, a man and his two teenage sons were searching for driftwood off of Florida State Road A1A on Singer Island in North Palm Beach, Florida, when they discovered scattered, skeletal remains and called authorities. Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office investigators were able to recover partial remains and some deteriorated clothing. There was evidence that the decedent had been tied to a tree with wire before death. Investigators were unable to determine how long the remains had been there or how the decedent died, since there was no obvious trauma to the remains. There was evidence to speculate homicide, as holes shaped like bullet holes were discovered in the remains of a shirt found with the decedent. Female clothing found near the remains included a long-sleeved black pullover shirt with grey sleeves and a grey stripe on the midsection, size 5 yellow underwear, and denim believed to have originated from a pair of high-cropped ("Daisy Duke" type) shorts. The decedent appeared to have blond hair with a possible reddish tint. An autopsy determined that the deceased was most likely female and a teenager. She had dental work based on fillings in some of her teeth and may have had a prominent overbite. Her cause of death could not be determined.[158][159]
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office created a poster that was circulated with her dental records which yielded few clues to her identity and the case grew cold. The deceased was given the moniker "Singer Island Jane Doe". In December 2021, her remains were delivered to Othram, a company specializing in forensic genealogy. In May 2022, Othram announced that the identity of the victim had been determined. On June 2, 2022, her identity was publicly announced as 15-year-old Susan Gayle Poole of Broward County, Florida. Poole, who had lived with her parents and brothers, disappeared from an apartment of a friend where she occasionally stayed. She had left behind her clothing and pocketbook. Investigators believe Poole's death to be a homicide and have tentatively linked her death to serial killer Gerald Schaefer. The investigation into her disappearance and death is currently ongoing.[159][160] | |
Robert Soden | c. 1996 | Murder | US | This victim ("Victim H") of serial killer Daniel Conahan was found dead on March 23, 2007. He was determined to be white with possible unknown admixture, 20-35 years old, 5'6" to 6'1", with a possible muscular build. His body was reduced to a partial skeleton.[161]
He was identified in September 2022 as 30-year-old Robert Ronald "Bobbie" Soden, who disappeared from Fort Myers, Florida in 1996.[162] | |
Tracy Sue Walker | c. 1978 | Undetermined | US | On April 3, 1985, the skeletal remains of a white female were found by a passerby in the Big Wheel Gap area of Elk Valley in Campbell County, Tennessee. She was believed to have been dead between 1-4 years prior to discovery. Thirty-two bones were eventually recovered from the scene. Forensic anthropologists determined that the decedent was between the ages of 9 and 15. However, investigators couldn't identify her and she became known as "Baby Girl". A necklace and bracelet made of plastic buttons were found nearby, as well as a pair of size 5 boots and a few scraps of clothing. These items may or may not have belonged to the decedent.[163]
In 2007, a sample of her remains was submitted to the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification. A DNA profile was developed for the victim and entered into CODIS as well as NamUs in hopes that she would be identified. In 2013, a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) agent and intelligence analyst revisited the case and began searching for new leads regarding the girl's identity. In 2022, working with the University of Tennessee Anthropology Department, a sample of the child's remains was sent to Othram after multiple attempts at other labs failed due to age and degradation of the remains. A genealogical profile was eventually constructed which lead to a possible relative of the child in June of 2022. Using that information, a TBI intelligence analyst located potential family members in Lafayette, Indiana. A TBI agent contacted these individuals who confirmed they had a teen family member go missing from that area in 1978. With assistance from the Lafayette Police Department, TBI agents were able to obtain DNA from the family. They entered the DNA into CODIS which matched that of the decedent. On August 30, 2022, "Baby Girl" was identified as 15-year-old Tracy Sue Walker. She was last seen at Tippecanoe Mall with a friend. Walker's mother twice reported her as running away from their Eisenhower Court home. The investigation into her disappearance and death is currently ongoing.[164][165][166] |
See also
- List of formerly unidentified decedents, 2000-2009
- List of formerly unidentified decedents, 2010-2019
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{{cite web}}
: Missing or empty|url=
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{{cite web}}
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- ^ James, Lacey (24 March 2022). "Michigan Woman Missing for 34 Years Identified as Jane Doe in Georgia". Retrieved 25 March 2022.
- ^ Martinez, Gina (6 September 2022). "Stunt driver identified as man who killed Michigan woman in Georgia 34 years ago". CBS News. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
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