AZ AZ - Tempe, HispFem, UP1987, 15-19, hitchhiking, overdose, Apr'02

[John/Jane Doe]

501UFAZ

 

[AguaFlorida2001]

I wonder if the genealogical match is in the United States or somewhere else?

 

[TempeSleuth75]

I'm pleased to see they are still working on this. If there is any chance of identifying her, it will be through a genealogical match. This case has always bothered me. I simply cannot believe that the guy could just dump her and face no repercussions. A single shred of human decency might have even saved her. Such a shame.

 

[beubeubeu]

So he stumbles on desperate, vulnerable, underage, homeless girl in horrible situation and he figures that it may be a good idea to fed her cocaine and sexually assault her, her body reacts as any teenager's with no drug use experience would, as he's struggling to get her clothes off, so poor guy gets scared and dumps her on the side of the road to die, but then as he figures that he can be traced and his dna will be all over her, he tells his ridiculous tale and he's believed cause hiya, she was the one with cocaine in her system? Ya know, cocaine, favourite drug of choice for homeless kids. This is unbelievable. I can't even read about it not having a rage stroke.

 

[AguaFlorida2001]

No updates from DoeNetwork, said they would get back to me by the 9th of June. It's been almost a month, what should I do?

EDIT: My bad y'all -- they said it would go before the panel prior to the 15th of June. I misinterpreted her words and thought she would get back to me before the 15th (and I got the date wrong, I thought it was the 9th lol). She said they have a backlog. I'll give it some more time.

 

[Grungster]

"Unbuttoned her pants to help her breathe"....that guy is so suspicious. Hopefully they track down whoever was with him so they can give a statement.

 

[John/Jane Doe]

https://www.facebook.com/2011009255824516/posts/3220580704867359

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Tempe Girl 2002 - DNA Doe Project

Description: On April 27, 2002, the body of a young woman was discovered behind a business on East University Drive in Tempe, Arizona. She is believed to have been between 15 and 19 years old and possibly of Hispanic, Latino or Native American descent. The young woman was approximately 5’1” and...

dnadoeproject.org

 

[imstilla.grandma]

2010 article for review:
…
She was wearing a red halter top, blue jeans with a side zipper, blue underwear and one black shoe. She was about 5 feet tall, weighed 125 pounds and her fingernails were partially coated with purple nail polish. A case of CDs was found near her body.

We've done everything we absolutely could have to try and identify this person.
--Christen Eggers, investigator

"We looked at those CDs to see if there were any fingerprints on it and there were," Thompson said. The prints led police to a local woman who said the CDs belonged to her and that she had last seen them in her vehicle.

She said she had no idea who the dead woman was, but that her boyfriend had access to her vehicle on the day the body was found, Thompson said, recounting what the woman told police.

<modsnip for copyright>

Teen died 8 years ago. Who is she? - CNN.com

No one has come forward to identify the young woman whose body was found more than eight years ago behind a strip mall in Tempe, Arizona.

www.cnn.com

2019 article:
…
While investigating the scene on East University Drive, authorities found a CD not far from Tempe Girl’s body. The CD had clear fingerprints on it, and investigators were able to trace the fingerprints back to a woman living in Phoenix. When they found her alive, they had more questions — especially when her boyfriend claimed he had seen Tempe Girl the night before.

The woman’s boyfriend, who remains unnamed, claimed that he picked up Tempe Girl at 32nd and Greenway Road the following night. She was hitchhiking to Tempe and was trying to buy some concert tickets. He said she spoke primarily in Spanish and asked if he could help her procure drugs. He obliged.

The man picked up another passenger, a drug dealer who sold Tempe Girl cocaine. Soon after she ingested the drug, she had a negative reaction and began convulsing in the back seat.

<modsnip for copyright>

Who Is Tempe Girl?

On April 27, 2002, a store employee found the body of a woman. Who was Tempe Girl?

popculturecrime.medium.com

 

[PezCandy]

They didn’t question the driver more?

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Description:
On April 27, 2002, the body of a young woman was discovered behind a business on East University Drive in Tempe, Arizona. She is believed to have been between 15 and 19 years old and possibly of Hispanic, Latino or Native American descent. The young woman was approximately 5’1” and weighed 125 lbs. She had long, straight, dark hair and brown eyes. Scars were visible on her left hand and left shoulder.

She was wearing blue jeans with a side zipper and eyelets near the waistband, a red tank top and black wedge heels, size 6.5. She had purple fingernail polish and a purple bracelet and hair tie on her right wrist.

The young woman may have been hitchhiking in the area of 32nd Street and Greenway Road in Phoenix the previous day. According to the driver, she spoke Spanish and may have recently been asked to leave her home due to drug use. She died as a result of a cocaine overdose.

NamUs ID:UP1987
Date Body Found: April 27, 2002
Race: Hispanic/Latino/Native American
Gender: Female
Estimated Age: 15-19
Estimated PMI: months
Agency of Jurisdiction:
Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office
Christen Eggers
602-506-3322
christen.eggers@maricopa.gov
Links to More Information:
The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)
Have you seen this child?
501UFAZ
Status: Research in Progress
Image Credit: NCMEC
Doe-Nate Fund Goal: $2,100

Tempe Girl 2002 - DNA Doe Project

Description: On April 27, 2002, the body of a young woman was discovered behind a business on East University Drive in Tempe, Arizona. She is believed to have been between 15 and 19 years old and possibly of Hispanic, Latino or Native American descent. The young woman was approximately 5’1” and...

dnadoeproject.org

 

[Horsegirl2745]

I was contacted in May 2022 by DNA Doe informing me I am a DNA match for Tempe Girl, likely a 4th or 5th cousin. I gave DNA Doe access to all my DNA contacts, but from what I have been told, they were not able to find a closer match. If anyone out there has ideas on how to help find this girl’s identity given my connection, please let me know.

 

[Tired Professor]

I was contacted in May 2022 by DNA Doe informing me I am a DNA match for Tempe Girl, likely a 4th or 5th cousin. I gave DNA Doe access to all my DNA contacts, but from what I have been told, they were not able to find a closer match. If anyone out there has ideas on how to help find this girl’s identity given my connection, please let me know.

Thank you for letting us know. I’m glad they found you! My only advice is to share her story with cousins (close or distant) that you are able to contact, and encourage them to share her story with more cousins down the line. Hopefully it will encourage a very close match (like a first or second cousin or a sibling) to get tested and upload to GED Match. Thanks again for all that you are doing to help her get her name back.

 

[Springrain]

I was contacted in May 2022 by DNA Doe informing me I am a DNA match for Tempe Girl, likely a 4th or 5th cousin. I gave DNA Doe access to all my DNA contacts, but from what I have been told, they were not able to find a closer match. If anyone out there has ideas on how to help find this girl’s identity given my connection, please let me know.

Welcome to Websleuths, Horsegirl2745!

I would recommend reaching out to DNA Doe Project and asking if they have any recommendations for you to help find Tempe Girl's identity. The suggestions by Tired Professor would also be great, I think! @CarlK90245 may be a good person to ask.

 

[beubeubeu]

It may not be the best guess but with a Christian family whose members werent travelling Worldwide it's possible to track ancestors and distant relatives by following marriage and baptisms entries in the church books. It'd be a huge task to discover identity of 32 sets of grandparents, but as far as I know it was one of the ways to track ancestry while DNA wasn't a thing yet.
If all given DNA contacts are not resulted with a closer match, then some ancestors could be ruled out as the set of great-great-great-great-(great?)-grandparents in question. Maybe some data provided by church evidence could lead to a closer match.

I'm sorry cause I'm not even sure if I'm thinking right but...
I was trying to visualise - each set of circles "is" a couple and one set of circles in first row are common ancestors if for example mother (green circle) of fourth cousin is not a match, does it mean that common ancestors could be only on the father's side?

 

[Hochman]

NCMEC Recon

 

[CarlK90245]

It may not ...

Here is a very simplified illustration of how FG works assuming that all matches are second cousins once removed (2C1Rs) to the Doe. (It is rarely this simple):

Here are four matches to the Doe - Labeled "Match #1", 2, 3, and 4. Matches #1 and #2 are on the Doe's Paternal side, and Matches #3 and #4 are on the Doe's Maternal side.

After building the trees out for all four matches, you discover that Matches # 1 and #2 are second cousins to each other, They share the same great-grandparents (highlighted in yellow).

Matches # 3 and #4 are also second cousins to each other, They also share the same great-grandparents (highlighted in yellow).

Matches # 1 & #2 are unrelated to Matches #3 and #4.

Once you've identified the paternal-side and maternal-side MRCAs (Most Recent Common Ancestors), you then build the tree downward, identifying all of the children and grandchildren of the MRCAs, until you find a couple consisting of a male descendant of MRCA Couple #1 and a female descendant of MRCA Couple #2, to whom children were born. The Unidentified Doe will be one of those children born to that couple.

 

[CarlK90245]

It may not be the best guess but with a Christian family whose members werent travelling Worldwide it's possible to track ancestors and distant relatives by following marriage and baptisms entries in the church books. It'd be a huge task to discover identity of 32 sets of grandparents, but as far as I know it was one of the ways to track ancestry while DNA wasn't a thing yet.
If all given DNA contacts are not resulted with a closer match, then some ancestors could be ruled out as the set of great-great-great-great-(great?)-grandparents in question. Maybe some data provided by church evidence could lead to a closer match.

One thing I've discovered from all the work I've done on the Ventura Jane Doe case is that Mexico has amazing research material available for persons who were born prior to about 1930. Mexico had a very thorough network of Civil Registry offices and churches where very meticulous records were kept on all persons who were born, married, and died in any given Mexican community.

Mexico is much better in that regard than the other Central American countries, such as Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Almost all of these records are available on FamilySearch.com with a free subscription, and also in Ancestry with an international subscription.

Very often, especially with births and marriages, the civil registry and church logs will name not just the persons born or married, but also their respective parents. And quite often the grandparents (paternal and maternal) are named too. It is not unusual to find a marriage record for a couple that names all eight grandparents for the bride and groom. Family trees can be very quickly built out to the 1700s (and sometimes earlier) to a person who can read Spanish.

The problem isn't with pre-1930 information. The problem lies with post-1930 information on marriages and births. Some death information is available post-1930, but it is hit and miss. Also, when persons migrated to the United States, they would often change their names, DOBs, and other information that could be used to connect their Mexican existence with their USA existence. Obituaries are rarely published in Mexico, though they are very common in the United States. So obituaries in American publications for persons of Mexican descent can often provide clues. But again, it is hit and miss.

 

[Horsegirl2745]

Tempe Girl is related on my mother’s side, I am certain. My mother is from Peru, where her family lived for generations. My mother says that some of her family moved to Mexico, and she has a last name for that group: Savarain. I wrote to the coroner in charge of the case and offered this information, but received no response. I wish I knew Spanish so I could try to find these family members in Mexico. It’s like a needle in a haystack.

 

[Seeker2022]

You have to have a Namus account and be logged in. Then there's a "Comparisons" tab that shows up.

Thank you, i was not aware that they had that...