Identified! CA - Delano, Hisp/Ntv Fem 59UFCA, 30-34, 'Shirley, Seattle' tattoo, Jul'80 - Shirley Ann Soosay

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Hadn't Kern County Jane Doe given birth? I haven't seen anything mentioned about Shirley having kids but if she had given birth I assume she did. Haven't heard much else about her though.
 
madamx said:
That is really great news. Wow. I remember this case. Now I wonder where they got the info in the original post saying her name was Becky or Rebecca?
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That was a fake name that Shirley may have used while working at an apple orchard (if it was in fact Shirley and not a case of mistaken identity). But I did think it may have been her name and just spelled differently...didn't expect her to be a Shirley.
 
And her case is such a great example how a LE who never gives up on any victim, genetic genealogy and the power of social media can crack very cold cases together.

I just wonder how she ended up in California? She was born and grew up in Alberta and apparently left her tribal community and moved to Seattle at some point. She was missing all her top teeth and has had a severe fracture of her femur head that had to be surgically repaired with metal plates- something that is really rare in a woman so young. She must have gone through some terrible times, lack of medical/dental care and premature bone loss that can be caused by illness, genetics, malnutrition or sometimes also substance abuse. The poor woman. And having to give a child up for adoption.
And what made her end up in some bar in California just to meet her killer?
My heart breaks for her and all other missing and abused indigenous people.
So happy she is home. Condolences to her family.
 
Susikatze said:
And her case is such a great example how a LE who never gives up on any victim, genetic genealogy and the power of social media can crack very cold cases together.

I just wonder how she ended up in California? She was born and grew up in Alberta and apparently left her tribal community and moved to Seattle at some point. She was missing all her top teeth and has had a severe fracture of her femur head that had to be surgically repaired with metal plates- something that is really rare in a woman so young. She must have gone through some terrible times, lack of medical/dental care and premature bone loss that can be caused by illness, genetics, malnutrition or sometimes also substance abuse. The poor woman. And having to give a child up for adoption.
And what made her end up in some bar in California just to meet her killer?
My heart breaks for her and all other missing and abused indigenous people.
So happy she is home. Condolences to her family.
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Yeah, you can tell by her PM photo that she has lost a lot of weight, her complexion had darkened probably due to being in the sun a lot compared to the only photo we have of her, as an adult, when she was alive. Plus, with her missing significant amount of teeth, all signs point to a transient lifestyle.
 
Also she is dressed up for a festive occasion in the b/w photo (maybe graduation?), hair styled, festive clothing, stylish 1960s glasses....
She was an attractive lady.

Her PM is heartbreaking. People never look like in life in their PM, lividity and beginning bloat/decomp/dehydration make the skin spongy and hanging.
But you can tell she is missing all her top teeth and she was beaten before she was killed.
Horrific.
 
According to her niece, Shirley never lost contact with her mom. She wrote her several times a year. When in 1980 the letters stopped, the mom got suspicious and asked all family members to search.
That makes Shirleys "I Love You, Mom" tattoo even more heartbreaking.

I wonder if Shirley was pushed into some sort of homeless lifestyle because she as a Native American was banned from many opportunities regarding education and work. Despite her likely originally moving to the US in search of more opportunities.
 
From DDP’s site. What a milestone!!

“On April 23, 2021 the Kern County Sheriff-Coroner (KCSCO) and the DNA Doe Project (DDP) announced the identification of Kern County Jane Doe 1980 as Shirley Ann Soosay, a member of the Cree Nation. She is one of the first Indigenous Peoples Does to be identified using genetic genealogy.”
 
From my understanding of the video, it was actually a mix of many factors and not solely genealogy. The DDP researchers were able to find out she had close to full blooded Cree heritage from Alberta and posted that on social media in search for people who knew her. But had no really close matches for her. Her niece, who is also a very active educator in the Cree community, came across that post and immediately thought it must be her missing aunt. She then contacted LE and gave a DNA sample to the DDP who subsequently confirmed the match.

So, even if the matches are low and distant for someone, there is still hope. Actually, Vance Rodriguez was also identified that way. His Cajun heritage was discovered by genetic genealogy by Othram and posted on social media. A former colleague saw it and contacted them (all the info is in his thread, David of Othram also explained the identification process in a press conference). If all the factors work together, one technique can absolutely fill the gaps of the other and vice versa. Beautiful.
 
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Susikatze said:
I wonder if Shirley was pushed into some sort of homeless lifestyle because she as a Native American was banned from many opportunities regarding education and work. Despite her likely originally moving to the US in search of more opportunities.
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It seems like she left Alberta in the hopes for new opportunity and ultimately, her best option was working in an apple orchard. :( Very sad.

I wonder what Shirley was doing while in Seattle. I don't know what it was like then, but now there aren't many, if any, agriculture and labor jobs. There are much more on the eastern side of the state. The Spokane area has a much higher population of both indigenous people and people working in agriculture jobs with low pay; there is a high number of migrant and farm workers there and Seattle is much more white collar and "techy" at least now. So I am curious about that.
 
Springrain said:
It seems like she left Alberta in the hopes for new opportunity and ultimately, her best option was working in an apple orchard. :( Very sad.

I wonder what Shirley was doing while in Seattle. I don't know what it was like then, but now there aren't many, if any, agriculture and labor jobs. There are much more on the eastern side of the state. The Spokane area has a much higher population of both indigenous people and people working in agriculture jobs with low pay; there is a high number of migrant and farm workers there and Seattle is much more white collar and "techy" at least now. So I am curious about that.
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It seems that she might have resided in Vancouver at least from the 1960s (there are some newspaper references to her having a child at that time as well), which might explain her connection with Seattle.
 
ntt1 said:
It seems that she might have resided in Vancouver at least from the 1960s (there are some newspaper references to her having a child at that time as well), which might explain her connection with Seattle.
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Vancouver, WA or BC? Vancouver, BC is closer to Seattle but not that close, Bellingham is the closest bigger WA city to Vancouver, BC.
 
Susikatze said:
From my understanding of the video, it was actually a mix of many factors and not solely genealogy. The DDP researchers were able to find out she had close to full blooded Cree heritage from Alberta and posted that on social media in search for people who knew her. But had no really close matches for her. Her niece, who is also a very active educator in the Cree community, came across that post and immediately thought it must be her missing aunt. She then contacted LE and gave a DNA sample to the DDP who subsequently confirmed the match.

So, even if the matches are low and distant for someone, there is still hope. Actually, Vance Rodriguez was also identified that way. His Cajun heritage was discovered by genetic genealogy by Othram and posted on social media. A former colleague saw it and contacted them (all the info is in his thread, David of Othram also explained the identification process in a press conference). If all the factors work together, one technique can absolutely fill the gaps of the other and vice versa. Beautiful.
Click to expand...
I love this post. You said it best....BEAUTIFUL. There is hope!
 
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