Jane Doe and John Doe Cases
People who were known for years only by a placeholder name because their remains could not be identified. Some have since been given their names back, usually through DNA; the rest are still waiting. The type hub for unidentified persons lists every case of that type, named or not. ColdCaseIndex lists 21 cases on this theme, of which 13 are recorded as unsolved.
- Unsolved 13 (62%)
- Partly resolved 4 (19%)
- Charges or trial pending 1 (5%)
- Solved or convicted 2 (10%)
- Closed without conviction 1 (5%)
By type
By state or country
All 21 cases
York County Jane Doe (Biddeford Jane Doe)
On July 25, 2009, the cranium of a teenage girl or young woman was found wrapped in seaweed near the tide line on a beach in Biddeford, Maine.
"Lyle Stevik" (John Doe)
A man who checked into a Grays Harbor County, Washington, motel under the alias "Lyle Stevik" was found hanged in his room in September 2001, and his identity eluded investigators for nearly 17 years.
Glenn Powers (Quincy John Doe)
Skeletal remains of a man were found in a shallow grave in woods off Quarry Street in Quincy, Massachusetts, on March 21, 1991; the medical examiner ruled the death a homicide by blunt force trauma.
New Britain Jane Doe
On October 11, 1991, a survey crew found the badly decomposed body of a woman in garbage bags near railroad tracks off Myrtle Street in New Britain, Connecticut, across from the former Fafnir Bearing plant.
Toni Gordon & Sheila Cummings (Charlotte Avenue Jane Does)
On November 17, 1987, Nashville police found the skeletons of two women buried beneath the dirt-floor basement of a house at 3509 Charlotte Avenue.
Janet Lee Lucas (formerly "Christy Crystal Creek")
Skeletal remains of a woman with two gunshot wounds to the skull were found by a bear hunter in the Crystal Creek drainage near Missoula, Montana, in September 1985.
Vernon County Jane Doe
On May 4, 1984, three teenagers found the body of an unidentified middle-aged woman beside a rural road near Westby, Wisconsin. She had been beaten to death and both of her hands had been removed, apparently to prevent…
St. Louis Jane Doe (Precious Hope)
On February 28, 1983, the decapitated body of an African-American girl, estimated to be 8 to 11 years old, was found in the basement of an abandoned apartment building at 5635 Clemens Avenue in St. Louis, Missouri.
Alisha Heinrich (Delta Dawn)
On December 5, 1982, the body of an unidentified toddler was recovered from the Escatawpa River near the Interstate 10 bridge in Moss Point, Mississippi.
Dawn Olanick (Princess Doe)
The body of a teenage girl, beaten beyond recognition, was found beside Cedar Ridge Cemetery in Blairstown Township, New Jersey, on July 15, 1982.
Mary Edith Silvani (Sheep's Flat Jane Doe)
On July 17, 1982, hikers found the body of an unidentified woman in the Sheep's Flat area off the Mount Rose Highway above Incline Village, Nevada; she had been sexually assaulted and shot in the back of the head.
Matthew Isaac Doe (Northfield Baby Boy Doe)
On April 1, 1982, schoolchildren waiting for a bus in Northfield, Vermont, found a deceased newborn boy inside a plastic garbage bag after a dog dragged it along the road.
Marcia King (Buckskin Girl)
Marcia King, 21, of Arkansas, was found strangled beside Greenlee Road near Troy, Ohio, on April 24, 1981. Unidentified for nearly 37 years, she was known as Buckskin Girl for her fringed jacket.
Eklutna Annie
Eklutna Annie is the name given to an unidentified young woman whose body was found on July 17, 1980, in a shallow grave near Eklutna Lake Road outside Anchorage, Alaska.
Sherri Ann Jarvis (Walker County Jane Doe)
On November 1, 1980, the body of a teenage girl who had been raped and strangled was found beside Interstate 45 north of Huntsville, Texas.
Patricia Ann Tucker ("Granby Girl")
On November 15, 1978, the skeletal remains of a woman who had been shot in the temple were found buried under leaves off a logging road in Granby, Massachusetts.
Lisa Christine Staes
On January 24, 1976, a fisherman found the nude, frozen body of a young woman under the Mirror Lake Road bridge near Lake Delton in Sauk County, Wisconsin.
Margaret Fetterolf (Woodlawn Jane Doe)
On September 12, 1976, the body of a teenage girl who had been beaten, sexually assaulted, and strangled was found near Lorraine Park Cemetery in Woodlawn, Baltimore County, Maryland.
Patricia 'Trisha' Meleady Newsom (East Haven Jane Doe)
On August 16, 1975, a truck driver found the body of a young woman — bound, gagged, and wrapped in a tarp — in a drainage ditch behind the Bradlees department store on Frontage Road in East Haven, Connecticut.
Katherine Ann Alston (Bedford Jane Doe)
On October 6, 1971, the decomposing body of a young woman was found off a logging road in a wooded area of Bedford, New Hampshire.
Little Miss Lake Panasoffkee (Maureen "Cookie" Rowan)
On February 19, 1971, hitchhikers found the body of a young woman beneath the Interstate 75 bridge over Lake Panasoffkee in Sumter County, Florida; she had been strangled with a man's belt.