Investigators seek help identifying a woman after 24 years

KILGORE – Investigators are seeking help to identify a Jane Doe who has remained unidentified since December 2000. According to reports from our news partner KETK, investigative Genetic Genealogists with the DNA Doe project are currently working to identify the woman who was found over 24 years ago in a wooded area five miles northeast of Kilgore.

Investigators believe she would have been around 30 to 50-years-old, between 4’10” and 5’3” tall and weighing 115 pounds. Investigators also believe that the woman was dead for up to two years before she was found in 2000. The DNA Doe Project began working on this case in the fall of 2021, which was previously worked on by the team at Parabon Nanolabs. The case was taken on by a group of four genetic genealogists and six support staff members.

Investigators have worked to build a family tree based off the woman’s DNA. Investigators’ research on the woman’s DNA has been hindered due to many of her distant relatives being adopted and her heritage being 100% Amerindian. Lance Daly spoke about how Jane Doe’s heritage has made it difficult for investigators to discover her identity.

“It’s a tough road building a family tree that traces back to Central America – the records are hard to access and the databases we use don’t have a lot of matches we can work with,” Daly said. We need more people of Guatemalan and Central American heritage to upload DNA profiles to GEDmatch, FamilyTreeDNA and DNAJustice.”

In 2021, a facial reconstruction along with a phenotyping analysis of the DNA was conducted. The reconstruction aligns with the observations made by authorities at the time her remains were recovered. Team Co-leader and Indigenous Liaison for the DNA Doe Project Trish Bird said that they must find some kind of match in the database to be able to identify the woman.

“Someone out there is missing this woman,” Bird said. “We won’t give up our work to bring her home to her family and community, but we need to see that close relative match in the database to find her name”

Anyone who may have any information about this woman is encouraged to reach out to the DNA Doe Project at case-tips@dnadoeproject.org.