reconstruction of Lincoln County Rail Car John Doe done by Carl Koppelman.

on October 31, 1961, an unknown man was found inside of a train car in North Platte, Nebraska. his body had been found under 2,500 pounds of ice. the train had come from Roseville, California earlier that month. he was thought to have died the same year (1961), and his PMI was 1 month. he was Black, and believed to have been 60 at the time of his death, meaning he would have been born in 1900/1901; however, investigators now believe he could be much younger, as age estimates at the time were prone to error. his weight and height couldn't be estimated, and his eye and hair color is unknown.

none of the locals recognized him. the clothing he was wearing is not available online, but he was found with at least one item - a package of cigarettes with a California tax stamp. he was buried in Lincoln County, Nebraska, and his true identity has been unknown for 63 years.

in 2024, the DNA Doe Project made a breakthrough in his case - volunteer investigative genetic genealogists discovered that John Doe was likely from Texas and had recent ancestors in St. Landry Parish in Virginia. while he had ancestors in Louisiana, he most likely grew up in Texas, and multiple branches of his family moved to Houston and Beaumont; he may still have living family in those cities today. there have been no genealogical links to Nebraska, but investigators believe he lived in California prior to his death due to the cigarette package and origin of the train.

the DNA Doe Project is urging anyone who may recognize him or with familial ties to St. Landry Parish or the Houston/Beaumont areas to reach out and upload their DNA profiles to GEDmatch, FamilyTreeDNA, and DNAJustice.

According to Janel Daniels, one of the researchers on this case, “During the second wave of the Great Migration from the South, starting around the 1940s, many African Americans leaving Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas moved to California. If there’s someone in your family who left around that time and was never heard from again, he could be this John Doe.”

thank you for taking the time out of your day to read about Lincoln County Rail Car John Doe.

The public can contact DNA Doe Project researchers at case-tips@dnadoeproject.org.

NAMUS

DNA Doe Project

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMnNyVpoWQxfM7fw7GZC-OHaB1t09L2c-&si=6oj6_vm1CGzw0oHL

Happy Halloween everyone, and what better way to celebrate spooky season than to share the new season of my YouTube podcast covering unidentified decedents in the United States! Be sure to check this out and if you like please like, share, subscribe and hit the notification bell for more updates.

Thank you!

I am happy to announce that the DNA Doe Project has been able to identify Lansing Street John Doe 1996 as David Brown. Below is some additional information about our work on this identification:

David Brown died after being doused in kerosene and set on fire just a few blocks from his home in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996, but without identification or clues to his identity, his disappearance wasn’t connected to his remains until now. In October, 2023, the case was referred to DNA Doe Project by Danielle DiPasquale, Founder of the Find Our Missing Facebook group. Earlier this year, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office provided a sample for DNA testing. Once a genetic profile was developed, volunteer investigative genetic genealogists with the DNA Doe Project spent a little more than four months researching complex genealogy to come up with his name. 

Brown was known as Fulton County John Doe, and buried without his name, while his family had reported him missing at the time he disappeared. Even though there was DNA testing available in the mid-90s, techniques used in investigative genetic genealogy didn’t emerge until after the explosion of direct-to-consumer sites like Ancestry.com and FamilyTreeDNA.com and the identification of Marcia King, formerly known as Buckskin Girl, in 2018. 

“The lack of records prior to 1870 makes African American genealogical research very challenging,” said genetic genealogist Lance Daly. “We discovered an ancestor from the 19th century who was born in Lincoln County, GA, but later died in Atlanta. This led us to hypothesize that our John Doe had deep family ties to Atlanta and may have been born there.”

Investigative genetic genealogy is a set of techniques using advanced DNA testing and online DNA databases to discover “matching” genetic relatives of an unknown person. By building the family trees for these sometimes distant relatives, investigators with the DNA Doe Project were able to locate the correct branch of the family tree to find David Brown. These techniques have been used to identify hundreds of former Jane and John Does since 2017.

“We are proud to have been able to finally identify him after so many years.” said team co-leader Rebecca Somerhalder. “Most of our cases are very complex and we are extremely grateful to those who upload their DNA to GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA to assist us in our work.”

The DNA Doe Project is grateful to the groups and individuals who helped solve this case: the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office, who entrusted the case to the DNA Doe Project; Genologue for extraction of DNA and whole-genome sequencing; Kevin Lord for bioinformatics; GEDmatch Pro and FTDNA for providing their databases; and DDP’s dedicated teams of volunteer investigative genetic genealogists who work tirelessly to bring all our Jane and John Does home.

https://dnadoeproject.org/case/lansing-street-john-doe-1996/

https://medium.com/the-mystery-box/the-unsolved-murder-and-lost-identity-of-a-man-in-flames-ef945466ef0c

And if you want to help us solve more cases and you've already taken a consumer DNA test, please consider uploading your DNA profile to the databases we can use - GEDmatch, FamilyTreeDNA and DNA Justice. Thank you!

Nearly everything adds up, or could add up. Though there is a bit of a plausibility issue with timing.

21 year old Gary Mullinax disappeared from Little Rock Arkansas on May 9th, 1976.

Shepardsville John Doe was found on the exact same day in Shepardsville Kentucky.

Similarities:

John Doe was 18-22 years old. Gary was 21. ✔️

John Doe weighed between 140-150lbs. Gary weighed 130-160lbs. ✔️

John Doe was 5 ft 6 - 5 ft 7. Gary was 5 ft 4 - 5 ft 9 (or 5 ft 4 - 5 ft 6 on Doe Network). ✔️

John Doe had a mustache. So did Gary. ✔️

John Doe's hair is described as red/auburn, but was determined to ultimately be brown. Investigators are unsure if it if would appear that colour in specific lighting, or if the auburn shade was a result of burning. Gary's hair was described as brown. ✔️

John Doe's shoe size was determined to likely be size 8. Gary's family said he wore size 8. ✔️

This is a bit more of a tenuous connection - But John Doe had a healed fracture to his lower left side of his jaw. Gary had fractured both sides of his jaw. It seems from goggling that it is possible for a jaw fracture to heal enough to not be noticeable. And one side can heal faster than another. Although I am not 100% sure.

John Doe's hands had been badly burned and severed from his body, which seems like excessive lengths for a killer to go to, unless they knew that the victim had their fingerprints in a police database and would be easily identified/linked back to them. Gary is believed to have been involved in drug activity before his disappearance and his fingerprints are still available today. Though the hands must have still been found near the body, as John Doe has fingerprints available too.

The make or break for this match would depend on what time Gary was last seen, and what time the John Doe's body was found. The drive between locations is about 7½ to 8 hours. (Maybe 7 if driving fast in light traffic?) So Gary would have had to have been last seen in the morning or very early in the afternoon. And the Doe would have had to have been found in the later evening or at night. And unfortunately, these times are unconfirmed in both cases. Despite the substantial delay in reporting him missing, Gary Mullinax's disappearance date is very unlikely to be wrong. As he was last seen on mother's day, which was definitely on May 9th that year. If a date was going to be wrong to make this more plausible it would have to be the Doe's date of discovery. Although there is no obvious reason to doubt the accuracy of this date.

https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/14560,

https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/8386.

Hi everyone. I’m with Locate International, a charity focused on identifying missing and unidentified persons in the UK. I wanted to bring you new developments in the tragic case of Wembley Point Woman, who fell from Wembley Point, London, on 29th October 2004. Even now, her identity remains unknown, but we’ve uncovered critical updates we’re sharing publicly to help drive awareness.

Case Background

When found, Wembley Point Woman had only a few items on her—a bus pass from Seven Sisters, £5.20 in cash, and a Guardian newspaper dated that same day. She reportedly moved through Wembley Point confidently, suggesting she might have been familiar with the building or worked there.

Recent Updates

Here’s what we now know but have yet to confirm fully:

•	Distress Over Boyfriend’s Health: A witness reported she seemed visibly upset over her boyfriend’s health on the day she died. This significant detail suggests a relationship where someone close to her may still have the key to her identity.
•	Symbolic Cowrie Shell Ring: She wore a cowrie shell ring, often associated with fertility or maternal desires, possibly hinting at a personal struggle.
•	Building Familiarity: Her confidence within Wembley Point suggests she may have been employed there, possibly as a cleaner or contractor.
•	Bus Pass Origin: The 7-day pass, likely for regular travel, was purchased early on the day of her death from a newsagent at 223 Seven Sisters Road.
•	Arts and Community Links: Several tips link her to the Chestnuts Arts & Community Centre near Seven Sisters, possibly connected to a West African asylum seeker support group.

The Questions We’re Now Asking

We believe these new details may prompt further information. Here’s what we’re looking to answer:

1.	Can anyone identify her boyfriend or connect her to the Seven Sisters area?
2.	Has anyone seen a woman matching her description at Chestnuts Arts & Community Centre or similar hubs?
3.	Did local businesses near Seven Sisters have ties to West African communities in 2004?
4.	Could she have worked at Wembley Point in a lesser-seen role, such as security, cleaning, or contracting?
5.	Has anyone supplied art materials that match the painting she left behind?
6.	Does anyone recognise her distinctive cowrie shell ring in West African cultural contexts?
7.	Could she have been involved in art therapy or art-related classes in Seven Sisters?
8.	Were refugee/asylum seeker groups active in the area during the early 2000s?
9.	Does her story sound familiar to anyone in community outreach, hospitals, or social services?
10.	Could anyone in hospitality or event services have had links with her?

We’d love to hear your thoughts and insights on this case.

Ref / more information: https://locate.international/appeals/wembley-point-woman

“On June 4, 1981, an unidentified Black female was recovered at the Richmond City Waste Treatment Plant in Richmond, Virginia. She is described as approximately 5'0" tall, weighing 110 to 120 pounds, with black, shorter than collar length hair. The female was wearing a maroon terry cloth skirt, black bra, and a long black sock. She had a hysterectomy and a bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. On the inside of her right forearm was a tattoo that says "D.R." or "O.R.". Investigators are asking anyone with information regarding this case or identification of the victim to contact them.”

Source: https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/vicap/unidentified-persons/jane-doe---richmond-virginia

https://www.doenetwork.org/cases/1107umco.html

Namus link: https://namus.nij.ojp.gov/case/UP9272

I found this case after looking online for “worst forensic facial reconstruction” and I’m going to be honest? Something about the image made me scream out loud. I don’t know how to explain but since then the case has stuck with me and I really can’t stop thinking about it. I was trying for a little bit to see if i could find decent matches and I found two that could fit but since I’m from Canada I don’t think I can register for Namus to see if they’ve already been excluded (since I don’t have a U.S. address and I don’t feel so good about lying).

I was wondering if anyone is able to provide me the exclusions list for this doe (if there are any???)

Thanks for your time 😊

As far as I can see this person was never ruled out, but they were found 3 months after she went missing and they have a ton of similarities. I know that she's a famous missing person and the likelihood of this being her is slim because of that but it's interesting to think about none the less.

https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/1339/details?nav

https://www.namus.gov/MissingPersons/Case#/5852/details

KIRKLARELI Gendarmerie Command drew a sketch of a woman whose body was found on the side of the road in Vize district last October to determine her identity.

The gendarmerie was notified about the body of a woman noticed by a shepherd herding a flock in the area on October 20th on the roadside of "Kıyıköy Balkaya Village" in Vize. Initial examination determined that the woman, who did not have any identification on her, was killed by being hit in the head with a blunt object. The examination conducted by the gendarmerie determined that the woman was 30-35 years old, 1.50 tall and weighed 70 kg. It was determined that the woman, who had black hair and was wearing a colorful t-shirt and pajamas, was killed and dumped on the side of the road approximately 4 days before she was found.

The gendarmerie launched an investigation into the incident, examined missing persons reports in the surrounding provinces and districts but could not reach a conclusion.

The gendarmerie has not been able to receive a missing persons report to date and released a sketch of the woman who was killed. The sketch of the woman was distributed to the surrounding villages and towns, and law enforcement orders anyone who recognizes the woman to contact the security forces as soon as possible.

https://www.milliyet.com.tr/gundem/savci-yavuz-enginin-ardindan-bir-cesur-yurek-daha-ozel-cocuklar-uzerinden-vurgunu-mudur-ortaya-cikardi-7219040

I’m grateful to the people who devote their time to identifying Does as well.

I know MANY professional efforts have been made to identify Little St Louis Jane Doe AKA Precious Hope.

I know how hard St Louis PD has always worked on her case and I’m grateful to Captain Leroy Adkins and Homicide Detective Joe Burgeon specifically.

The ONLY person(s) responsible for Precious Hope’s heinous attack, rape and murder and that’s her killer(s).

Maybe bc professionals have been unable to identify her but I don’t believe Precious will ever be identified.

There is an excellent documentary Our Precious Hope. The documentary has so much information, pretty much nobody knew that Ms CeCe Moore of Parabon had been working with Hope’s DNA for almost a decade. The documentary provides so much information and interviews a homicide detective who worked Hope’s case from day one.

I know the investigation was flawed but St Louis PD really has tried to overcome their mistakes for this child. Detective’s were first to admit they made mistakes and discussed that in the documentary.

Everyone wants this little girl to get her name back and so many people care but I think everything has been done sadly.

I don’t know the legalities of anything regarding genetic genealogy. I don’t understand why the family member that Ms Moore identified and contacted can’t be legally compelled to talk to police?

I’m so thankful that Ms Moore actually found and made contact with a family member of Precious Hope’s!

That person will not speak to Ms Moore, they are the blood relative of a murdered child! Why can’t police question them in relation to an open murder case?

On Saturday, March 24th, 1973, a resident of 2371 E. 63rd Street on the East side of Cleveland, Ohio, was exploring 2357 E. 63rd St, an abandoned home in his neighborhood. At the abandoned house, he discovered five wallets that contained various ID cards and called the police. While searching the building, police officers discovered the remains of an unidentified male seated on a couch. In spite of the various wallets with identification, the decedent could not be positively identified.

The decedent was an unidentified male between the approximate ages of 57 and 65 years old. His height was 5 ft 5 in (65 inches) and his weight was 88 lbs. The decedent had graying black hair (¾ bald), with a beard and mustache. The post-mortem interval was 2 weeks, and the condition of the decedent’s were described as “not recognizable - decomposing/putrefaction”. His eye color could not be ascertained due to the eyes being “missing due to decomposition”.The decedent’s cause of death could not be ascertained.

The decedent was wearing a brown “Rider” brand “leather - like” jacket (size L), a dark gray “gabardine - like” cap with ear flaps, blue work type pants, a 100% wool navy “Campus” brand cardigan sweater, a light gray “Work Wear Corporation” brand light weight jacket with a tag that stated “Property of Ohio Garment Rental, Inc” (size 36) and the name “William” on it, a light gray long-sleeved shirt with the name “Ed” above the right front pocket and a tag that stated “size small Work Wear 14-121/2 Rental Incl, size 30x29x14” and the name “E. McGee” on it, green boxer shorts, a white undershirt, and a green undershirt.

51 years on, this is where the case stands today. Thank you so much for giving the Cuyahoga County John Doe (1973) a moment of your day.

Sources: Unidentified Awareness Wiki
NamUs

I am happy to announce that the DNA Doe Project has been able to identify Florence Junction Jane Doe 1988 as Evelyn "Dottie" Lees. Below is some additional information about our work on this identification:

After 36 years of anonymity as a Jane Doe discovered buried in a shallow grave near Florence Junction, Arizona, Evelyn “Dottie” Lees has been identified by the DNA Doe Project. Born in 1898 in Salt Lake City, Utah, Lees was living in Scottsdale before her disappearance. The investigation into the circumstances of her death was handled by the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office.

At the time of the discovery of her remains in 1988, authorities estimated that the unknown woman was between 50 and 99 years old at the time of her death, but believed that she would be on the younger side of that estimate. In actuality, she was 88 or 89 years old when she died. Her father was British, and her DNA relatives were spread across a broad geographic area. 

Dr. Bruce Anderson, Forensic Anthropologist with the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, brought the case to the DNA Doe Project in 2023, hoping that genetic genealogy analysis of the remains would yield leads to her identity. “I responded in 1988 to the desert clandestine grave and have been trying to get her identified for nearly 35 years,” he explained in an email to the non-profit group’s Director of Case Management.

Like many DNA Doe Project cases, the work to identify Dottie Lees was funded by donors to the non-profit, who contributed nearly $5,000 toward the lab fees and case management costs. 

The process of investigative genetic genealogy involves creating a DNA profile for the unidentified person, then analyzing the lists of people whose profiles are a partial match to the unknown person to build a family tree. Using traditional genealogy techniques and records, researchers typically go back many generations and sometimes hundreds of years to identify common ancestors before they start to build forward in time to find the identity of the Jane or John Doe. 

After bone samples from the remains were processed to produce a DNA profile uploaded to GEDmatch Pro and FamilyTreeDNA, it took a team of expert volunteer investigative genetic genealogists a matter of hours to find Dottie’s branch of the family tree. 

A team of nine investigative genetic genealogists worked on the case together during a weekend retreat. “The case really started to heat up when we identified a married couple from the 19th century who shared DNA with the Doe,” said Lance Daly, team co-leader. “The Doe's estimated year of birth was about 1900; therefore, we knew we were looking at the names of her possible grandparents."

“Her recent British heritage meant that her DNA matches came from all over the world,” said team co-leader Matthew Waterfield. “Although they were fairly distant relatives of hers, our team quickly found connections between them, and they led us to Dottie within hours."

The DNA Doe Project is grateful to the groups and individuals who helped solve this case: the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, who entrusted the case to the DNA Doe Project; Astrea Forensics for extraction of DNA from bone and sample prep for whole-genome sequencing; Azenta Life Sciences for sequencing; Kevin Lord for bioinformatics; GEDmatch Pro and FTDNA for providing their databases; our generous donors who joined our mission and contributed to this case; and DDP’s dedicated teams of volunteer investigative genetic genealogists who work tirelessly to bring all our Jane and John Does home.

https://dnadoeproject.org/case/florence-junction-clandestine-grave-jane-doe-1988/

A decomposed remains of a young man was found in an embankment in Pennsylvania, he died of homicide by gunshot.

What struck me is that this young man was wearing a suit, as if the young man was on his way to a party or prom then he met foul play and his body was thrown afterwards falling over the location we he was found. According to his Doe Network page, his jewelry originates from New York but it's unclear if he is from that state.

Since I don't have a namus account, I can't see if he has any match or rule outs.

https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Bear_Creek_John_Doe

On the Fourth of July in 1984, Wayne Mason, a biologist and instructor at Western Kentucky University set out to a local blackberry patch. After parking his car just off the northbound lanes of Interstate 65, Mason went to a wooded area about half a mile south of Interstate 165. The blackberry patch was located 40 feet behind a fence row just 40 feet from the Interstate.

As he approached, Mason made a horrific discovery - human skeletal remains lying on the ground. Found with the skeleton were strands of brown hair, a multi-colored long sleeved blouse, a pair of red Corduroy Levi’s and cotton panties. Forensic experts determined that the girl was between 14-20 years old and had been lying there for nearly 2 years.

Today thanks to Othram, this girl now has her name back - Patricia M Armentrout. She was born on April 20, 1964 in Bethesda, Maryland. Patricia was adopted and lived under a different name when she was alive. Her identification only came about when a family member who lived in another state gave investigators her birth certificate. Patricia was reportedly last seen in West Virginia in the 1970s.

Sources: https://dnasolves.com/articles/warren-county-patricia-armentrout-kentucky/

https://www.wbko.com/2024/10/22/ksp-makes-major-discovery-1984-cold-case/?outputType=amp

I saw this posted on Facebook and thought I’d share-

Links:

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02Q4qKubQE4beTr5E3TzXcAD26nMPtNqYMZpoAtrVuy6fDSc27C7DzPme4U2XtXFJdl&id=100051953260803&mibextid=cr9u03

https://dnasolves.com/articles/pamela-lee-hupp-louisiana/

On October 24, 1990. The skeletal remains of an adult male was discovered in a wooded area of Rutherfordton by a hunter. The remains were estimated to be around 5’7 in height and close to the age range of 50-60. On the remains were a blue knit sock, a metal belt buckle, 2 U.S. nickels (1941 and 1963), fragments of a leather belt, some white plastic buttons, yellow cufflinks, and two watches. One of the watches was made from white metal with the inscriptions “Kriael’s” and “made in France.” The other watch had a yellow metal case and expansion band, make of “Elgin.”

There are things I noticed that I would like to bring to attention.

The first thing the brought my attention when reading the Namus page, was that the decedent had 2 coins with 2 specific dates (1941 & 1962). I do not believe that these indicate the earliest year of death, but important events in the decedent’s life. 1941 could be the year he was born, and 1962 being the year he got married. If that were the case, and the PMI (3 years) is to be trusted. The decedent would’ve been around 47 years old at the time of his death.

The second thing that bought my attention was the fact that the decedent was wearing a cufflink and 2 watches. This could mean two things, both of which can be true. The decedent may had been wealthy in life and he attended a formal occasion before his death, where most people would be wearing cufflinks.

At this moment the decedent has been unidentified for nearly 34 years, following the “made in France” connection I checked the doe network for people missing from France, to no avail. But, seeing that it was written in English, it’s more likely that the decedent was a resident of the United States.

Namus page for decedent:

https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/2225/details?nav

If you can find other webpages regarding the decadent, please leave in comments.

A body in a wetsuit has been found, with no description given by police other than the remains appear to be male.

Police have had no luck in missing person comparisons, and it appears the male may have been in the water for 6-8 weeks.

A police spokesperson said: "If you have visited the Claerwen Reservoir or the surrounding area within the last six to eight weeks and noticed any unattended personal property such as bags, clothes, shoes, or anything else that stood out, please get in touch.

This is an area a couple of hours from me and I'll be following the case, it saddens me that someone was probably out doing their hobby, got into trouble, and no one has reported them missing. Hopefully this John Doe will get his name back

https://news.sky.com/story/body-in-wetsuit-found-in-wales-reservoir-as-police-appeal-for-help-in-identifying-remains-13238476