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DNA Doe Project
Formation2017
FoundersColleen M. Fitzpatrick and Margaret Press
PurposeBody identification
HeadquartersSebastopol, California, United States
Location
  • United States
Volunteers
60+
Websitewww.dnadoeproject.org

DNA Doe Project (also DNA Doe Project, Inc. or DDP) is an American nonprofit volunteer organization formed to identify unidentified deceased persons (commonly known as John Doe or Jane Doe) using forensic genealogy. Volunteers identify victims of automobile accidents, homicide, and unusual circumstances and persons who committed suicide under an alias.[1] The group was founded in 2017 by Colleen M. Fitzpatrick and Margaret Press.

History

[edit]

Colleen M. Fitzpatrick, who has a doctorate in physics and worked as a nuclear physicist with NASA and the US Department of Defense,[2] was the founder of IdentiFinders, an organization that used Y-chromosomal testing to attempt to identify male killers in unsolved homicides.[2]

Margaret Press is a novelist who has also had careers in computer programming and speech and language consulting.[3] She retired from computer programming in 2015 and relocated from Salem, Massachusetts, to Sebastopol, California to live near family.[3] As a hobby, Press had begun working in genetic genealogy in 2007, helping friends and acquaintances find relatives, as well as helping adoptees find their biological parents.[3] After reading Sue Grafton's novel "Q" Is for Quarry, about a Jane Doe, Press hoped to use genetic genealogy to also identify unidentified homicide victims.[2]

In 2017, Fitzpatrick, Press, and a small group of volunteers formed the volunteer-based, nonprofit DNA Doe Project (DDP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Sebastopol, California.[3] The two, along with many volunteers, use genetic and traditional genealogy sources in conjunction with DNA from unidentified victims and working with local law enforcement agencies to build family trees through GEDmatch, a free public DNA database. Through this process, they have been able to identify several individuals in cold cases.[2]

In March 2018, the DDP announced it had solved its first case. Known for decades as the "Buckskin Girl", the victim was identified as Marcia Lenore Sossoman (King). Her father had died in 2018, a few months before the identification was made, but other family members gathered to commemorate King when they unveiled a new gravestone bearing her name at her grave in Riverside Cemetery, Miami County, Ohio.[4]

In May 2019, GEDmatch required people who had uploaded their DNA to its site to specifically opt in to allow law enforcement agencies to access their information. This change in privacy policy was forecast to make it much more difficult in the future for law enforcement agencies to solve cold cases using genetic genealogy.[5]

As of 2021, the organization has assisted in discovering the identity of more than 50 individuals, with 44 cases being publicized as identified.[6]

Procedure

[edit]

Typical steps

[edit]

Each genetic genealogy case at the DDP generally is conducted by the following steps:

  1. Acceptance of case from law enforcement
  2. Extraction of DNA sample (sometimes repeated if the first sample proves too degraded for analysis)
  3. Fundraising for DNA sequencing
  4. Sequencing of DNA sample
  5. Bioinformatics "translates" the DNA sequencing into a digital data file that is compatible with GEDmatch
  6. Uploading DNA data file to GEDmatch
  7. Genealogical analysis using GEDmatch and other tools
  8. Tentative identification of the Doe
  9. Law enforcement verifies identity, typically using fingerprints or a DNA sample provided by an immediate relative

Difficulties

[edit]

Some of the difficulties the DDP has encountered when using genetic genealogy to identify bodies have been:[7][8]

  • Adoptions into the family tree, which interrupt the genetic genealogy. Fitzpatrick described this as having to "solve a mystery to solve a mystery". This was the case with a key match of Anthony John Armbrust III, a man found in Park County, Colorado, in 1974.
  • Ethnicities for which there are not yet large DNA databases, such as Native American, Hispanic, and African American. Trabuco Canyon John Doe, found in 1996, has not yet been identified for this reason.[9] It took extra time to identify Lyle Stevik. Stevik was believed to be of Native-American ancestry while Melody Harrison was of African-American ancestry. Trabuco Canyon John Doe was found to most likely be from a remote part of Latin America, and genealogy research results were too sparse to continue research.[10] Shirley Soosay, previously known as Kern County Jane Doe, was of First Nations ancestry and was only identified when the project released information about her ancestry and possible origins, when a family member recognized her. Even among certain Europeans are difficult to pin down like Eastern Europeans and First and Second World Jews.[11]
  • Persons descended from or who are themselves recent immigrants to the US, for whom there would not be ancestral genealogy records in the US. For example, Philadelphia Jane Doe is now thought to have had ancestors from Australia and Malta; St. Tammany Parish John Doe is believed to have had ancestors in various Mediterranean Sea countries, including Greece, Italy, Turkey, Romania, and Moldova.
  • Intermarriage among related families (endogamy), making discernment of the lines of descent and individuals more difficult. Such families were encountered by researchers in the "Belle in the Well", Broadway Street Jane Doe, and Lyle Stevik cases.
  • Amounts of available DNA too small for adequate testing, especially those involving difficult bone extractions. Multiple extractions may be required to obtain a suitable sample.
  • Degraded DNA. This was a condition encountered in the Joseph Newton Chandler III case, as well as with Sue Ann Huskey and Tamara Tigard.
  • Bacterial/human contamination reducing the amounts of Doe's DNA that can be used for analysis, a problem not usually discovered until sequencing is complete. James Freund and Pamela Buckley's DNA was contaminated with bacteria, and two Does from Washington had their investigations put on hold due to contamination.
  • Exceedingly large family trees, which can cause investigations to take weeks or months. This was the case with Joseph Henry Loveless, Karen Knippers, and Kings County and Kern County (2011) Jane Doe and Richard Bunts/Bunce, born in 1793 in New York. Richard's case was very difficult because of bacterial contamination which was on his body, for many years.
  • In 2020, Margaret Press stated that the COVID-19 pandemic had hampered investigations, particularly those that had been solved and now needed law enforcement to make contact with the families. She stated that many agencies prefer to do these announcements in person but had not been able due to the pandemic and its associated travel restrictions. She added that volunteers and laboratories had also been affected by the pandemic.

Notable identifications

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Marcia King, a.k.a. "Buckskin Girl"

[edit]
Main article: Murder of Marcia King
Postmortem rendering of Marcia King by Carl Koppelman

In 1981, three passersby found a female murder victim in a ditch in Troy, Ohio. Because the victim was found wearing a distinctive buckskin coat, she was given the name "Buckskin Girl" as the investigation continued. For decades, authorities sought the woman's identity, but to no avail.[4][12]

At the 2017 American Academy of Forensic Sciences conference, Elizabeth Murray, an Ohio forensic anthropologist, met Colleen M. Fitzpatrick and Margaret Press, founders of the DDP, who discussed what genetic genealogy techniques could do for this case. The victim's body had long since been buried, but a vial of blood had been held in a lab for 37 years. The vial had not been refrigerated, however, resulting in the DNA becoming highly degraded, with only 50 to 75 percent of markers remaining. With the help of Greg Magoon, a senior researcher at Aerodyne Research, they were able to upload this DNA data to GEDmatch.[4][12]

From this point, the DDP was able to identify the "Buckskin Girl", based on a very close DNA match (to a first cousin once removed).[13] Her name was Marcia Lenore Sossoman (King) from Arkansas, aged 21 at the time of her death. DDP volunteers provided law enforcement with the name of a close relative of King's who lived in Florida. This relative volunteered a DNA sample that confirmed Sossoman's identity. This sample proved to be a match.[4]

After 37 years, her mother was still living at the house where Sossoman had grown up. She had refused to move or change her phone number in hopes that her daughter might return or try to contact her.[4][12]

"Lyle Stevik"

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Main article: Lyle Stevik
Reconstruction of "Lyle Stevik" by Carl Koppelman

In September 2001, a man was found to have hanged himself in a motel in Amanda Park, Washington, a town on the Olympic Peninsula. The man had checked in as "Lyle Stevik," which appeared to be an alias. This name appeared drawn from "Lyle Stevick", a character in a Joyce Carol Oates's novel You Must Remember This (1987).

The Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Office spent countless hours in search of the man's true identity but to no avail.[14][15][16][17]

In 2018, the DDP took the case at the request of the county sheriff's office. To raise the funds required to complete the necessary DNA analysis, the DDP set up its first-ever "Doe Fund Me" campaign on behalf of the victim. The campaign was a quick success, as, by this time, "Stevik" had gained internet fame among web sleuths. Adequate funds were raised within 24 hours. By March 22, 2018, DDP volunteers had obtained his DNA results and began analyzing through GEDmatch and related genetic genealogy research.[14][15][16][17]

After about 20 volunteers put hundreds of hours into the case, they found a candidate in a 25-year-old young man from California. DNA tests indicated he was of mixed Native-American and Hispanic descent. Authorities contacted the man's family, who conclusively verified his identity using fingerprint samples taken in his childhood, having previously thought the man distanced himself from them. The family has requested that Stevik's identity remain private.[14][15][16][17]

Robert Nichols, aka Joseph Newton Chandler III

[edit]
Main article: Joseph Newton Chandler III

Joseph Newton Chandler III, a resident of Eastlake, Ohio, died by suicide in his apartment on July 24, 2002. As authorities sought to identify his heirs, they discovered that his name and identity were fake. The real Joseph Newton Chandler III had died in a Sherman, Texas, car accident at age eight on December 21, 1945. The suicide victim had stolen the boy's identity in 1978 while living in South Dakota. Authorities began a search for the man's true identity.[18][19][20][21][22]

Extracting DNA proved difficult, as the victim's remains had been cremated. In the year 2000, however, two years before his death, the victim had had a tissue sample taken for a medical treatment. Authorities obtained this sample, but genetic analysis of the sample using traditional law enforcement techniques yielded few clues. In 2016, authorities contacted IdentiFinders, a company run by Colleen M. Fitzpatrick, for help. In examining the man's Y-DNA signature, they determined that his true last name was likely "Nicholas" or some variation.[18][19][20][21][22]

Chandler became the first case for the DDP. They analyzed the autosomal DNA[4] of the highly degraded sample of the man's DNA, which had been stored in paraffin for about 15 years. Despite the obstacles and after over 2,500 hours of work,[2] the DDP researchers were able to conclusively determine in June 2018[20] that Joseph Newton Chandler III was Robert Ivan Nichols, son of Silas and Alpha Nichols of New Albany, Indiana. This identification was verified when Robert's son, Phillip Nichols, volunteered a DNA sample, which proved to be a match.[18][19][20][21][22]

Mary Silvani, aka "Washoe County Jane Doe"

[edit]
Main article: Murder of Mary Silvani
Postmortem rendering of Mary Silvani by Carl Koppelman

The body of a woman aged between 25 and 35 years was found by hikers on July 17, 1982, in Sheep Flats, Washoe County, Nevada. The woman had been shot in the back of the head as she was bending over, possibly to tie her shoes. The bullet hole on her head had been covered with men's underwear.

The victim wore a light pair of tennis shoes, a sleeveless blue shirt, jeans with a blue bikini bottom in a pocket, and a blue swimsuit underneath. The shirt had been sold at stores in California, Washington, and Oregon.

At the victim's autopsy, a vaccination scar was found on her left arm and another on her abdomen. In addition, one of her toenails had a large bruise underneath. Evidence from the style of dental work she had received indicated she may have lived in Europe at some point during her life. This theory has since been disproved. The woman had hazel eyes, was around five feet five inches (165 cm) in height, weighed 112 pounds (51 kg), and had brown hair tied back in a bun. As possible identities of the decedent, 231 people have been ruled out.

During the years when police struggled to identify her, she was known as "Sheep Flats Jane Doe" or "Washoe County Jane Doe".

In July 2018, it was announced she had been tentatively identified through genetic genealogy by the DDP. In September 2018, her identity was confirmed by the Washoe County Sheriff's Office. However, the sheriff's office withheld further information due to its ongoing homicide investigation.

In May 2019, the Washoe County Sheriff's Office announced that Washoe County Jane Doe is 33-year-old Mary Edith Silvani. She was born in Pontiac, Michigan, and grew up in Metro Detroit. She later moved to California as an adult.[23]

The perpetrator, James Richard Curry, was also found through forensic genealogy. Curry committed suicide in prison the day following his arrest after being charged with another murder in January 1983.[24]

Dana Dodd, aka "Lavender Doe"

[edit]
Main article: Murder of Dana Dodd
Reconstruction of Dana Dodd by Carl Koppelman

On October 29, 2006, the badly burned body of a female aged 17 to 25 was discovered in Kilgore, Texas. The victim's cause of death remained undetermined, yet the manner of death was ruled a homicide due to the body having been set on fire deliberately and the victim had been raped.[25]

The DDP took the case in 2018.[26][27] In January, the organization announced a tentative identification in the case, which would not be released until the suspect's trial concluded.[28] Despite this, Dodd's identity was released on February 11, 2019. She was 21 and last seen in Jacksonville, Florida.[29] Joseph Wayne Burnette, a long-term person of interest in the case, confessed to the murder in August 2018, leading him to be charged with her death (and that of another woman, 28-year-old Felisha Pearson).[30][31]

Debra Jackson, aka "Orange Socks"

[edit]
Main article: Murder of Debra Jackson
Postmortem rendering of Debra Jackson by Natalie Murry

Debra Jackson's body was found face-down and nude in a culvert along a highway in Georgetown, Texas, on October 31, 1979. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Along with the pair of socks on her body, she also wore an abalone/mother of pearl stone on a ring.

At the time, Jackson was believed to have been a transient or a runaway. Strong evidence supported this, as she had keys from an Oklahoma motel, long, dirty nails, insect bites (revealed to actually be impetigo scars post-identification),[32] unshaven legs, and a makeshift sanitary pad. She had salpingitis due to having untreated gonorrhea.

Henry Lee Lucas confessed to her murder and was sentenced to death. It was later discovered that police officers from the area had him look at crime scene photos and then confess during interviews, which they would use to gain recognition for solving cold cases.

The DDP took on the case in 2018. On August 6, 2019, "Orange Socks" was identified as 23-year-old Debra Louise Jackson, who was from Abilene, Texas.[33]

Joseph Henry Loveless, aka "Clark County John Doe (1979)"

[edit]
Main article: Joseph Henry Loveless

The headless torso of a man was found in 1979, stashed in a burlap sack in Buffalo Cave, near Boise, Idaho. In 1991, a hand was located on the same site, leading to further excavations from which the other hand, one arm, and two legs were discovered. Identification was thought to be impossible, due to the missing head and the huge family tree of the deceased. However, thanks to an 87-year-old California man who agreed to take a DNA test, the remains were identified as those of his grandfather—bootlegger and accused murderer Joseph Henry Loveless. He had been accused of murdering his common-law wife, Agnes Loveless, on May 16, 1916, but had managed to escape imprisonment on May 18, 1916, by using a sawblade hidden in his shoe to cut the prison bar cells. It is unknown what happened to Loveless next, though it was reported in 1916, the year Loveless escaped prison, that he was discovered living at the outskirts of Dubois, Idaho, in a small-sized tent in the Idaho desert. The circumstances surrounding Loveless' death are, at present, suspected to be murder due to his torso and limbs being separated from his body, and his head and other arm being missing and nowhere to be found. However, it is believed that he died soon after his prison escape in May 1916, as he was found wearing the same clothing detailed in his wanted poster, with Loveless' cowboy-like hat, his brown coat, and his socks and shoes not being found with his remains in the cave his body was discovered in. Only his red maroon sweater and trousers were found, and a white-pinstripe collar shirt, not mentioned in the wanted poster, was found with the remains as well.[34]

James Freund and Pamela Buckley, aka "Sumter County Does"

[edit]
Main article: Murders of Pamela Buckley and James Freund
Reconstruction of Pamela Buckley and James Freund by Carl Koppelman

On August 9, 1976, a pair of young adults were found on a narrow frontage road between Sumter and Florence, South Carolina. They had been shot multiple times. The DDP was contacted on July 24, 2019, to assist with identification, and both were identified on January 19, 2021.[35]

The male, nicknamed "Jock Doe", was identified as James Paul Freund, last seen in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

The female was identified as Pamela Mae Buckley, last seen in Colorado Springs, Colorado.[36]

Shirley Soosay, aka "Kern County Jane Doe (1980)"

[edit]
Main article: Wilson Chouest
Reconstruction of Shirley Soosay by Carl Koppelman, which helped to aid in her identification
External image
image icon Photo of Shirley Soosay

On July 14, 1980, the body of a woman originally thought to be of Hispanic ethnicity was found in an almond orchard in Delano, California. She had been sexually assaulted, stabbed to death, and deceased for approximately one day. She was estimated to be five feet four inches (163 cm) tall and weighed 115 pounds (52 kg). She had shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes, as well as two professionally done tattoos, one of a heart with the name "Shirley" inside, and the words "Love you" and "Seattle" on one arm, and the other of a rose with the words "Mother" and "I love you" above and beneath the rose, respectively, on the other arm. She was found wearing a pink blouse, a pair of blue denim pants, blue socks, white slip-on shoes, a white panty girdle, and multicolor panties. She may have used the names "Becky" or "Rebecca Ochoa" and may have been employed at an apple orchard.

In 2015, it was announced that DNA found on the woman's body, as well as DNA from a woman found in Ventura County, California, were linked to murderer Wilson Chouest. He was convicted in 2018 of their murders and sentenced to life in prison. Chouest claimed that he did not know the victims.[37]

The DDP was tasked with assisting in the woman's identification in July 2018, but genealogy research did not begin until May 2019. It was discovered at that point that the decedent was not Hispanic but of First Nations ancestry, most likely Cree. On April 23, 2021, it was announced that Kern County Jane Doe had been identified as Shirley Ann Soosay of Maskwacis, Alberta, Canada, after Soosay's niece recognized a reconstruction of her on a public outreach announcement by the DDP. Soosay is one of the first decedents of First Nations ancestry to be identified by forensic genealogy, as well as the first to be identified after the project reached out to the public for potential leads.[38]

John Brandenburg Jr., aka "Brad"

[edit]
Main article: Murders of John Brandenburg and Keith Bibbs
External images
image icon Photo of John Brandenburg Jr.
image icon NCMEC Reconstruction (Note: remains were skeletal upon discovery, so hair style was an estimation)

On October 18, 1983, the bodies of four young men were discovered partially buried in a shallow grave near US 41 in rural Newton County, Indiana, by a pair of mushroom hunters. Each victim was discovered to have been buried for several months, buried face upward, with sections of their bodies exposed and loosely covered in loose soil and brush. The victims were linked to a serial killer known as the "Highway Murderer". One victim wore a parka, while the others wore clothing implying that they had died in the spring or summer. Two of the victims were soon identified as Michael Bauer and John Bartlett—both murdered in March 1983. The DDP was tasked with the identifications of both unidentified decedents—known as "Adam" and "Brad"—in late 2020 and March 2021, respectively.

The individual responsible for all four murders was later identified as Larry Eyler, who ultimately confessed to having murdered 22 young men across the Midwestern US. Eyler later confessed to his attorney that he had met the two unidentified victims by chance, and that "Brad" had been introduced to him by his alleged accomplice, Robert Little, in mid- or late-May 1983.

"Brad" was found to be a young white male, most likely aged between 17 and 28 years old. He was between 5 feet 11 inches and 6 feet 1 inch (180 and 185 cm) tall and weighed between 130 and 180 pounds (59 and 82 kg). He had medium length, reddish or auburn, wavy hair. He had received several dental fillings and had severely fractured his nose and left ankle during his life. He also had two known tattoos on his right forearm: one a crudely inscribed cross with two circular marks, the other a rectangle or U-shape with a single circular mark.[39]

On April 2, 2021, DNA from this individual was uploaded to GEDmatch.[40] Less than a month later, "Brad" was conclusively identified as 19-year-old John Ingram Brandenburg Jr. of Chicago, Illinois.[41]

Francis Wayne Alexander, aka "Body 5"

[edit]
Main article: John Wayne Gacy

Francis Wayne Alexander (b. March 11, 1955[42]) was one of the final six unidentified victims of serial killer John Wayne Gacy. His remains were recovered from the crawlspace of Gacy's house in Norwood Park Township, Cook County, Illinois, on December 26, 1978, and labeled simply as Body 5, as his were the fifth set of remains unearthed from beneath Gacy's property. His identification was announced on October 25, 2021. Alexander had been living in Chicago at the time of his death but was originally from North Carolina.[43]

Alexander's precise date of death is estimated to have occurred anytime between early 1976 and March 15, 1977. However, no evidence exists of his being alive after 1976.[44] Moreover, the fact the trench in which his body was discovered was dug by Gacy employee and victim Gregory Godzik shortly after the commencement of Godzik's employment at Gacy's contracting firm on or about November 22, 1976, and before Godzik's own murder on December 12, 1976, indicates Alexander's death most likely occurred between November 1976 and March 15, 1977 (the date the victim discovered directly above the body of Alexander was murdered).[45]

Carl Junior Isaacs Jr., aka "Rock County John Doe"

[edit]
Main article: Death of Carl Isaacs Jr.
2014 reconstruction of Isaacs by the Federal Bureau of Investigation

On November 26, 1995, the skeletal remains of a young man were found by hunters in a wooded area along Turtle Creek in Bradford, Wisconsin, near Clinton. His skeleton was lying on his stomach with his arms up over his head. The man was dressed in a plaid flannel jacket, a black Venom concert T-shirt, boxer underwear with a Bart Simpson design, and gray urban camouflage fatigues. The jacket partially covered the man's head and back. One black 1994 Nike Air Bond basketball shoe lay beside the skeleton. The man carried a pendant made from a dinner fork, shaped like the head of a goat. Other items found with the body were cigarette butts, a Budweiser disposable butane lighter with the caption "Proud to be Your Bud" printed on it, a tube of Carmex lip balm, and a black Aquatech watch. The official cause and manner of death remain undetermined. Investigators believe the young man passed out or went to sleep and was overcome by hypothermia.

The DDP was contacted in 2018 to help identify the young man. They announced a tentative identification in 2019. The man had been identified after only two weeks of genetic genealogy, however a confirmation of his identity did not occur until 2022. Margaret Press, co-founder of DDP, explained that there was no living relative close enough to meet the standards of the medical examiner.[46] In 2019, the University of North Texas performed additional testing on the man's half-siblings. In 2021, the man's father was exhumed to provide bone samples for researchers to compare with the young man and his half-siblings.[47]

On June 14, 2022, the Rock County Sheriff's Office announced the identification of the decedent as Carl Junior Isaacs Jr. of Delavan, Wisconsin. On April 16, 1995, Isaacs escaped from his mother's home in Walworth where he was under house arrest while serving a 5-year prison sentence for the 1991 burglary and vandalism of the Delbrook Golf Course in Delavan. He was immediately served with an arrest warrant for violating probation by a Walworth County judge that was renewed through August 2018.[48] The investigation into the manner and circumstances surrounding Isaacs' death is ongoing.

Keith Bibbs, aka "Adam Doe"

[edit]
Main article: Murders of John Brandenburg and Keith Bibbs

On October 18, 1983, the bodies of four young men were discovered partially buried in a shallow grave near US 41 in rural Newton County, Indiana, by a pair of mushroom hunters. Each victim was discovered to have been buried for several months, buried face upward, with sections of their bodies exposed and loosely covered in loose soil and brush. The victims were linked to a serial killer known as the "Highway Murderer". Two of the victims were soon identified as Michael Bauer and John Bartlett—both murdered in March 1983. The DDP was tasked with the identifications of both unidentified decedents—known as "Adam" and "Brad"—in late 2020 and March 2021, respectively.

The killer was later identified as Larry Eyler, who would later confess to murdering 22 young men in both Indiana and Illinois. He told his attorney that he met this victim in early or mid-July 1993, describing him as a hitchhiker he had picked up with the specific intention of murdering following a fight with his boyfriend.

"Adam" was found to be a young black male, believed to be as young as 15 or possibly in his early 20s. He had short-cut, black hair, was between five feet eight inches and six feet two inches tall and had several dental fillings. The decedent wore distinctive clothing, including a red and black belt inscribed with the word "devil" multiple times.

On July 24, 2023, the DNA Doe Project, working together with the Identify Indiana Initiative and the Indiana State Police Lab, identified the victim as 16-year-old Keith Lavell Bibbs of Chicago, Illinois.[49][50] Othram also assisted in this identification.[51]

Other case involvements and collaborations

[edit]

Around 2017 to 2018, the DDP tried to assist on identifying Snohomish County John Doe (2007) where he was found in the Sultan Basin, but, at some point, they failed to do it. Then it was stalled and removed from their list. After that, the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office sent his jaw and hipbone to DNA Solutions. They were successful and found that the man has ties to the Midwest's Amish and Mennonite communities, Texas, Louisiana, and patches in the Pacific Northwest.[52]

In October 2017, the organization was contacted by the Snohomish County Medical Examiner's Office and Sheriff's Office for assistance with the case of Beckler River Jane Doe, a woman whose partial cranium was discovered on October 10, 2009, north of Skykomish, Washington. Initial DNA extraction attempts were unsuccessful due to contamination with nonhuman DNA. In June 2021, investigators approached Othram, a company that has had success extracting DNA from more challenging skeletal remains. Jane Doe was identified by June 2022 as Alice Lou Williams, a woman who disappeared mysteriously from her recreational cabin near Lake Loma in July 1981.[53]

The project was involved in the case of Phoenix Jane Doe (1997). However, she was sooner identified as Bertha Alicia Holguín Barroterán after relatives in New Mexico found out about the case due to greater media exposure.[54]

The project was involved in the case of Kingsport John Doe (2003). The case was solved through an amateur sleuth's tip and the decedent identified as Jerry D. Holbert from Charleston, West Virginia.[55]

The project was involved in the identification of a severed leg found floating in Buena Vista Lake in Kern County, California, on July 28, 2018. No other body parts were located after an extensive search. The leg was later matched to remains found on July 12, 2020, belonging to Shirley Mae Cassel from Santa Ana, California. Cassel was reported missing on August 21, 2017, after leaving her residence in Santa Ana.[56]

The project was involved in the case of Gwinnett County Jane Doe (2021), but she was identified while still in the "pending" phase as Brittany Michelle Davis, who was reported missing by her family on March 16, 2020. Her fiancé, Michael Lee Wilkerson, was arrested and charged with her murder.[57]

The project was involved in the case of "John Lehman" (Burnett Co John Doe 1999), a man who lived under an alias. In March 2022, he was identified as a drifter named Robert James Pearson, who had never been reported missing by his family, using his fingerprint before the sequencing of his DNA was completed.[58]

In April 2022, the project and Wyndham Forensic Group signed a contract with the Canadian Armed Forces's Casualty Identification Program to help the Canadian Department of National Defence in its mandate to identify Canadian service personnel from World Wars I and II, as well as the Korean War.[59]

The project partnered with Intermountain Forensics by June 2022 to help on the 1921 Tulsa Identification Project in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The goal of the collaboration and the latter project is to identify victims of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. The city of Tulsa organized several exhumations in mid-2021.[60] Tulsa's city government announced the collaboration's first successful identification. His name was C.L. Daniel, and he was a World War I veteran from Georgia.[61]

Press and Fitzpatrick worked with Lawrence Wein, professor of operations, information, and technology at Stanford Graduate School of Business and Mine Su Ertürk, a PhD student, on a paper proposing a new mathematical search method to help genealogists in forensic genealogy investigations.[62][63]

On September 19, 2022, Othram announced that Alachua County John Doe, a skeleton discovered in Alachua County, Florida, in 1979 with a noose near it, was identified as Ralph Tufano of New York. It is unknown why he traveled to Alachua County and if his death was murder, accidental, or suicide.[64] The case was originally handled by the DDP. Sequencing of the decedent's genetic material was difficult in this case.[65]

The project worked on the case of a dismembered unidentified male found in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana in 2016 but the decedent was identified by the police in October 2022 as Kleanthis Konstantinidis after the decedent's severed foot was discovered in a different location.[66]

On December 20, 2022, DNA Doe Project announced a collaboration with Ramapo College of New Jersey and Palisades Interstate Parkway Police. They were launched 19 days before that reveal.[67] They would begin their program on Spring 2023 for 15 weeks. The first 2 John Does were revealed for the program. So far, this partnership had run four semesters with a fifth and sixth planned for next year.[68] So far, they assisted more than 65 unidentified decedents with six successful identification. About three dozen of them were publicly announced.[69][70] 5 of them were in this collaboration with one successful identification.[71]

The project was involved in the case of Jonesport John Doe (2000); however, the lack of close matches on DNA databases couldn't lead to any further investigation. The decedent was identified in December 2022 as Phillip Kahn by the FBI, using fingerprints and dental records.[68][72]

On June 21, 2023, the project accepted the task of identifying Frisco, Texas John Doe 1988. His profile was already submitted and analyzed by the time his webpage and announcement were posted. On August 9, 2024, his case was dropped for unknown reasons.[73] It is unclear who would take on the mantle or how long he would be shelved for unknown amount of time.

So far, 12 unidentified decedents, 10 on the site, were dropped by DNA Doe Project's requesting law enforcement partners. They were transferred to other forensic genealogy services like Tammie Liles in Othram who was formerly known as Bones 20.[74][75]

Around early August 2024, Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office and DNA Doe Project had started a collaboration to identify the remaining Cleveland Torso Killer’s unidentified victims.[76] Two of the victims, Kingsbury Run John Doe #4 a.k.a. The Tattooed Man and Kingsbury Run John Doe #6, are the first to investigated.[77]

See also

[edit]

References

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