Unidentified Persons
Recovered remains that were, or still are, without a name. Several have since been identified through forensic genetic genealogy. ColdCaseIndex documents 35 cases of this type, of which 15 are recorded as unsolved.
- Unsolved 15 (43%)
- Partly resolved 13 (37%)
- Charges or trial pending 1 (3%)
- Solved or convicted 3 (9%)
- Closed without conviction 3 (9%)
By state or country
All 35 cases
The West Mesa Murders (West Mesa Bone Collector)
In February 2009, the buried remains of 11 women and one unborn child were discovered on Albuquerque's West Mesa, victims of an unidentified killer nicknamed the 'West Mesa Bone Collector.' The women, mostly connected to sex…
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.
Dana Lynn Dodd (Lavender Doe)
On October 29, 2006, the burning body of an unidentified young woman was found on an oil lease near Kilgore, Texas; she became known as Lavender Doe after the sweater she wore.
"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.
Peggy Lynn Johnson (Racine County Jane Doe)
The battered body of a young woman was found in a cornfield in Raymond, Racine County, Wisconsin, in July 1999, and she was known only as "Racine County Jane Doe" for two decades.
Jason Callahan ("Grateful Doe")
A young man killed in a 1995 car crash near Emporia, Virginia, went unidentified for two decades and became known as "Grateful Doe" for the Grateful Dead concert tickets found with him.
Anjelica Castillo ("Baby Hope")
The body of a malnourished young girl was found in a cooler beside the Henry Hudson Parkway in Manhattan in July 1991, and detectives who nicknamed her "Baby Hope" could not identify her for 22 years.
Kelly (El Dorado Jane Doe)
A young woman using several aliases was killed in a room at the Whitehall Motel in El Dorado, Arkansas on July 10, 1991. Her ex-boyfriend James McAlphin was convicted in her death, but her true identity remained unknown for more…
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.
Julie Doe (Pamela Leigh Walton)
On September 25, 1988, the remains of an unidentified woman were found in the Green Swamp off County Road 474 near Clermont, Florida.
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.
Lily Janelle (Frenchville Baby Jane Doe)
On December 7, 1985, a dog carried the frozen body of a newborn girl from a gravel pit in Frenchville, Maine, to a nearby home. The infant, known for decades as Baby Jane Doe, was identified through genetic genealogy in 2022…
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.
Carolyn Celeste Eaton ("Valentine Sally")
A teenage girl's body was found beside Interstate 40 near Williams, Arizona, on Valentine's Day 1982, and she was known for nearly 40 years as "Valentine Sally." In February 2021 genetic genealogy identified her as 17-year-old…
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.
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.
Louise Virginia Peterson Flesher ("Belle in the Well")
A woman's body was found weighted down in a rural well in Lawrence County, Ohio, in April 1981, and for 38 years she was known only as "Belle in the Well." In 2019 the DNA Doe Project identified her as Louise Virginia Peterson…
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.
Tammy Terrell
The body of a teenage girl found in the desert in Henderson, Nevada, on October 5, 1980, was identified in 2021 as Tammy Terrell, 17, of Roswell, New Mexico.
Debra Jackson ("Orange Socks")
A young woman's body was found in a culvert off Interstate 35 near Georgetown, Texas, on Halloween 1979, wearing nothing but a pair of orange socks.
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.
Evelyn Colon ("Beth Doe")
The dismembered remains of a pregnant young woman were found in three suitcases along the Lehigh River near White Haven, Pennsylvania, in December 1976.
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.
Springfield Jane Doe
The nude body of a young woman was found wrapped in a shower curtain in a ditch in Springfield Township, Pennsylvania. Despite distinctive physical features and evidence of pregnancy, she has never been identified.
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.
Ruth Marie Terry (Lady of the Dunes)
On July 26, 1974, the mutilated body of a woman was found in the Race Point dunes of Cape Cod National Seashore in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
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.
Barbara Ann Hackmann Taylor ("Tent Girl")
On May 17, 1968, a well digger found the decomposing body of a young woman wrapped in a green canvas tarp along U.S. Route 25 near Georgetown, Kentucky.
Sharon Lee Gallegos
The remains of a young girl were found near Congress, Arizona in 1960. Known as 'Little Miss Nobody' for over 60 years, she was identified in 2022 as Sharon Lee Gallegos, a child who had been abducted from New Mexico.
Bobby Dunbar
Four-year-old Bobby Dunbar vanished during a 1912 fishing trip at Swayze Lake, Louisiana. A boy recovered months later was claimed and raised as Bobby, but 2004 DNA testing proved he was not a Dunbar, confirming a century-old…