DNA Doe Project - General Discussion

[doggybag2355]

Also worth mentioning is they've picked up "Adam", one of Larry Eyler's victims in Newton County, as well as a Doe in Smith County, Texas who they are referring to as "Barn John Doe 2004".

Speaking of funding, do they normally do the extractions and then accept donations? I've just been racking my brain as to why the Delafield John Doe is still accepting donations despite being in the research phase.

 

[ntt1]

Also worth mentioning is they've picked up "Adam", one of Larry Eyler's victims in Newton County, as well as a Doe in Smith County, Texas who they are referring to as "Barn John Doe 2004".

Speaking of funding, do they normally do the extractions and then accept donations? I've just been racking my brain as to why the Delafield John Doe is still accepting donations despite being in the research phase.

Margaret said on the Facebook page that the donations are to cover his lab expenses, but the research is in progress.

 

[doggybag2355]

Margaret said on the Facebook page that the donations are to cover his lab expenses, but the research is in progress.

Ah, that makes sense.

 

[djanga]

There is an update on "Broadway St" Phoenix Jane Doe 2004, according to the DDP facebook page she may have family in Calvillo, Aguascalientes, Mexico.

 

[djanga]

And in regards to another case of DDP, Berrien county Jane Doe, there was an interesting article back in March, it was discussed in a different thread here. It seems DDP has some valuable leads in this Jane Doe case.
Unidentified, handless remains from ’92 to undergo genealogy testing

It’s been 27 years since a man driving on a rural road in New Buffalo near Michigan’s southwest border spotted the remains of an elderly woman.

She’d been wrapped in a sheet and placed inside two garbage bags secured by twine.

The skeletal remains were missing both hands, as well as a set of dentures.

“I saw a very obvious profile of a human wrapped in a black, plastic bag, obviously dumped,” recalled nearby resident Mark Henshaw in an interview with News 8 Wednesday afternoon.

“As I slowed to investigate, I noticed the bag had been partially ripped open and there was human hair protruding or poking through the bag at the opening. So, I knew right away what it was.”
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Last fall, Michigan State Police exhumed the remains to obtain DNA, which they then submitted to a genealogy testing organization that uses a nationwide, public, DNA database to make comparisons and reconstruct family trees.

“Right now, it sounds like they’ve got some leads,” Kill said.

“(DNA Doe Project) has sent out their investigators to follow up on the leads they have, so to me that indicates that they’ve found some family members some place and they’re working on it,” said Kill.

Based on the initial investigation, state police know the woman was white, 65 to 70 years old and had been deceased four to seven days before her body was left near the banks of the Galien River in New Buffalo.

Detectives believe the remains had been there for 24 hours before Henshaw discovered it.
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Her feet had been wrapped in a thin, institution-style towel, which led police to believe she may have come from a care facility across the nearby state line, either in Indiana or northern Illinois.
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Kill said the level of decomposition made it impossible to determine how she died — for instance, if she’d been shot, stabbed, beaten to death or anything else.

Unidentified, handless remains from ’92 to undergo genealogy testing

 

[doggybag2355]

It's also been revealed that the Broadway Phoenix Doe may have family in Calvillo, Aguascalientes, Mexico.

 

[djanga]

Also the Crime Junkie Podcast released an episode on one of the DDP cases "Flathead County Doe (Montana)" also called Marion County John Doe 2003, there is an update on his closest matches:
"Could you be related to the Flathead County Doe?

Based on his matches, the DNA Doe Project believes that he could have connections to these surnames and locations.

Saylor, Helton, Brock, or Blanton from Harlan County, Kentucky
Ward, Linn, or Barrett from Montgomery County, Indiana
Greene, Epperson, Seales, or Trent from Hancock County, Tennessee"

 

[doggybag2355]

Also the Crime Junkie Podcast released an episode on one of the DDP cases "Flathead County Doe (Montana)" also called Marion County John Doe 2003, there is an update on his closest matches:
"Could you be related to the Flathead County Doe?

Based on his matches, the DNA Doe Project believes that he could have connections to these surnames and locations.

Saylor, Helton, Brock, or Blanton from Harlan County, Kentucky
Ward, Linn, or Barrett from Montgomery County, Indiana
Greene, Epperson, Seales, or Trent from Hancock County, Tennessee"

That's good to hear that they have an update on him, that seemed like a difficult case

 

[djanga]

Also there are updates on another DDP case: according to Namus the DDP research revealed that York John Doe (also called West Manchester John Doe) is actually African American and not White/Hispanic as it was thought before, all the reconstructions depict his as Caucasian. Also DDP sees his distant relatives in Florida.

 

[doggybag2355]

Seems that there's no new changes to the highest matches in the spreadsheet this week which is unfortunate. However, they did announce a new case, the Healdsburg Jane Doe

 

[Suglo]

Seems that there's no new changes to the highest matches in the spreadsheet this week which is unfortunate. However, they did announce a new case, the Healdsburg Jane Doe

Here’s her WS thread:

CA - CA - Healdsburg, WhtFem 961UFCA, 29-39, in Foss Creek, Jan'83

 

[doggybag2355]

I wonder if the DDP will put out announcements for tentative identifications, due to LE not being able to contact families for pandemic reasons

 

[djanga]

I wonder if the DDP will put out announcements for tentative identifications, due to LE not being able to contact families for pandemic reasons

A few months ago I saw Margaret's comment that the DDP had solved 30 cases. Time passed and there was just one announcement (Barron county John Doe 2017), so I hope there will be a few announcements later this year

 

[doggybag2355]

A few months ago I saw Margaret's comment that the DDP had solved 30 cases. Time passed and there was just one announcement (Barron county John Doe 2017), so I hope there will be a few announcements later this year

Interesting, now I'm wondering which ones they are. Is that counting the 3 that they announced were tentatively identified?

 

[djanga]

From a different thread on websleuth: the Houston John Doe 1973 (Corll victim) according to the DDP website his status was changed to “Indefinite hold. This case has been placed on indefinite hold per agency request“

 

[djanga]

Interesting, now I'm wondering which ones they are. Is that counting the 3 that they announced were tentatively identified?

According to the pined post on their facebook page they have 27 cases listed as “identified”, which includes cases where official announcement is still pending (Pillar Point Doe, Philadelphia Jane Doe).

 

[doggybag2355]

According to the pined post on their facebook page they have 27 cases listed as “identified”, which includes cases where official announcement is still pending (Pillar Point Doe, Philadelphia Jane Doe).

That leaves 3 then, I wonder if the Harper Jane Doe is one of them since her NamUs has been down for awhile

 

[djanga]

That leaves 3 then, I wonder if the Harper Jane Doe is one of them since her NamUs has been down for awhile

I think so too, and I always wonder if there is any progress on Pulaski county Jane Doe, as this is one of the DDP oldest cases and has relatively high matches.

 

[doggybag2355]

I think so too, and I always wonder if there is any progress on Pulaski county Jane Doe, as this is one of the DDP oldest cases and has relatively high matches.

It's possible, but I also remember that she had a HUGE family tree, same with the King's County Jane Doe. It might take a long time to sift through all that information. I think the Tom Green Doe and Plainview Doe could be the others since they haven't been on their spreadsheet in months. I think the same thing happened with the Peoria Doe since he was identified relatively fast.

 

[djanga]

It's possible, but I also remember that she had a HUGE family tree, same with the King's County Jane Doe. It might take a long time to sift through all that information. I think the Tom Green Doe and Plainview Doe could be the others since they haven't been on their spreadsheet in months. I think the same thing happened with the Peoria Doe since he was identified relatively fast.

In regards to Tom Green John Doe there was an update from Sheriff office which says:
“In May of 2019, John Doe's DNA was submitted to the DNA Doe Project with hopes of located any ancestors related to Doe. While close ancestors were not located, it was determined that Doe is of Columbian and European decent (see below). In December of 2019 Doe's remains were sent to University of South Florida for stable isotope analysis in order to determine where the Doe had been residing before his death. These tests are still ongoing”