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For 45 years, the identity of a young woman found murdered and dumped in a ditch along a highway in a rural area near Seneca, Ill., Has remained a mystery.
She is only known as Jane Seneca Doe. But authorities in Grundy County haven’t given up and a dedicated coroner believes he’s about to find out who she is. He was born 15 years after the murder of the unidentified woman, but he made it his mission to give her her name back.
“I think everyone deserves closure, justice and absolutely deserves their name,” Grundy County Deputy Chief Coroner Brandon Johnson told Dateline. “For someone to be buried without any of that, especially without their name, it’s really sad. And being forgotten for 45 years, it’s just heartbreaking.
The Jane Seneca Doe mystery began in the fall of 1976. Gerald Ford was President of the United States, “Play That Funky Music” topped the Billboard charts, and forensic DNA technology in criminal investigations did not exist not yet.
So when the body of an unidentified black woman was discovered on October 2, 1976, no one could determine who she was. She was buried without a name.
Johnson told Dateline it was between 3:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. on October 2, when a farmer and his granddaughter were walking through a field and came across the woman’s body in a ditch along Highway 6 in an unincorporated area of Grundy County near Seneca. , Illinois. She had died from a single gunshot to the back of the head.
Johnson further explained to Dateline that the victim, who was around 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighed around 150 pounds, appeared to have been dumped at the site where she was found. Wrapped around her head was a multicolored red and black and white knit sweater. In the pocket of the sweater, which may have been a cardigan, was a bottle of TJ Swann wine.
Johnson told Dateline that investigators at the time did everything they could, but were unable to identify the woman. After nearly two months of unsuccessful attempts to do so, she was buried in an unmarked grave at the Braceville-Gardner Cemetery in Braceville, Illinois, where she remained until 2018.
Time has passed, her case has cooled. Johnson told Dateline that several artist renderings have been made public over the years in the hope that someone will recognize her. To this day, the woman remains anonymous.
But Johnson hopes to change that.
In June 2018, after exhausting all leads, Johnson partnered with the DNA Doe Project, an organization that uses genetic genealogy to help identify the unidentified.
“We have solved cases based on third degree cousins, or even more distant ones,” DNA Doe co-founder Colleen Fitzpatrick told NBC 5 in 2019. “It’s quite a network of parents that you are trying to piece together and figure out how they connect, and then how they connect with your John and Jane Doe.
Johnson told Dateline he often thinks back to one of the most infamous cases solved thanks to genetic geology – that of the accused Golden State Killer, suspected of a series of rapes and murders over a period of 12 years from 1974.
“We have hope and that is why we have not given up,” he said.
Investigators had Jane Seneca Doe’s body exhumed and between May and August 2019, DNA was extracted, sequenced and bioinformatics, which analyzes and interprets biological data, was completed.
On September 16, 2019, his DNA file was uploaded to GEDmatch and genealogical research began.
Johnson told Dateline that using investigative genetic genealogy to identify John and Jane Does is a powerful tool. But added that some cases can be resolved quickly and others take longer. He said there were challenges such as weak DNA matches, lack of records, erroneous parentage and broken families.
But they quickly started to progress. And this month, as the 45th anniversary of the murder approaches, more clues have been revealed about Jane Seneca Doe’s past.
Johnson told Dateline that a woman whose DNA provided at least a partial match to her Jane Doe purchased an Ancestry.com DNA kit and uploaded her profile to an online database. But the family tree was vast and complicated.
“In Jane Doe’s case, her family tree is very large and complicated,” Johnson said, adding that she may have siblings who were unaware of her existence. “We have found that the greatest DNA match is a close relative on his father’s side. But unfortunately he has little knowledge of the family.
According to the most recent report released by Johnson, the genealogy suggests that Jane Doe’s grandparents or possibly great-grandparents had very large families and raised them primarily in Dallas County, Alabama. They may also have lived in Wilcox County, Alabama.
Some family members remained in Alabama, while others moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and Detroit, Michigan. He said it’s also possible that Jane Doe’s parents lived in Selma, Alabama. The last names Calhoun and Harris are important in Jane Doe’s family tree.
“I always wondered how she could go away without nobody missing her,” Johnson said. “But now, knowing how complicated his family tree is, that makes a little more sense. The family dynamic was everywhere. Chances are many in her family have never heard of her. “
After getting the results of the woman’s family in Selma, Johnson sent information to churches in the area, hoping someone would recognize a name from the family tree. Johnson does not yet have a name for his murder victim, but has said he believes he is close.
Due to the extensive family tree, the Grundy County Coroner’s Office and Project DNA Doe continue to seek the public’s help to help finally identify Jane Seneca Doe.
In 2019, an image rendered by the artist by Carl Koppelman of how the victim may have appeared in life was released.
“All we ask is that you look at the photos and read the news,” he said. “Maybe it’s someone you went to school with.” Maybe you were next to her at a bus stop. Maybe she was a neighbor.
Last month, authorities in Jackson County, Mississippi, identified skeletal remains – still known only at the time as “Escatawpa Jane Doe” – found nearly 44 years ago at a construction site. building the Mississippi as Clara Birdlong, a woman they believe to be a victim of the late Samuel Little, the most prolific killer in US history.
Johnson told Dateline that the news raised hopes that his Jane Doe could also be linked to the serial killer, which could have helped with his identification. But Johnson said investigators had confirmed they were not related and that she was not believed to be one of his victims.
Of course, even after “Jane Seneca Doe” ‘s true identity is revealed, investigators face yet another mystery. Who killed her? Johnson told Dateline that while he would like justice to be served for Jane Doe with the arrest of her killer, that is not his goal.
“I would like to give him his name back,” he said. “It’s what she deserves. She doesn’t deserve to be forgotten or buried without a name. It’s time we gave her her name back.”
If you recognize this woman or have any information that could help identify Jane Seneca Doe, please contact Deputy Chief Coroner Brandon Johnson of the Grundy County Coroner’s Office at 815-941-3359 or email [email protected] . To follow the case, visit the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/grundycountycoldcase/
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