I'm so confused, who named this woman Lyra Jade? It's nice to give her a nickname, I guess, but it completely fails to account for her ethnicity and lived identity. We know she was of Mexican and indigenous origin and embraced the Chola lifestyle to whatever extent. I'm curious why someone would give her a nickname that takes this away from her.
It wasn't meant to be reflective of her heritage or take it away from her either; it was just a nickname coined by DNA Doe Project volunteers to simplify research/make it easier to communicate about her case. Apparently, it is a common practice for DDP, and the Does are often nicknamed after fictional characters just for ease of communication and to ease up clunkiness. Apparently, her name came from a video game character, which I can't speak to since I'm unfamiliar with. Typically, we (the public) never know the Doe nicknames, but Det. Rhods referred to her by her nickname when talking to journalists, so now we know it.
My hope is that we are able to retire the name soon when we find her TRUE name - but in the meantime, I think it is a nice placeholder, but nobody is under obligation to use it!
Do we know if she was raising her first kid? Do we know if her first kid was even alive when she got murdered? If the first kid is still around then finding them would probably be a big key to find who she was.
How I wish we did. Nope, we sadly are left in the dark on this. The only evidence we know that she had had at least one baby prior was from the autopsy showing she had had a live birth (episotomy scar). Her child could still be alive and well (God willing), they may be deceased, nobody knows.
It is very possible, maybe probable, that her child was being cared for at the time by her family, or by the child's father's family, or another relative. They may have figured she just abandoned her child and wanted to cut ties with her family entirely when she never came home - which breaks my heart! It is also possible they were adopted out. I have to wonder if it's possible her child(ren) were in the foster care system, but I do lean against this, since it is more likely they were kept in the family.
One of my big hopes with this case is,
when she gets ID'd (yes, I said
when and not
if because I feel in my heart & soul that it's coming soon) - if her child is still alive, they will learn that their mom didn't abandon them and they will be able to know the truth about what happened to their mother. Her family deserves that.
What would be excellent was if her child (probably now in their mid-40s) happened to see, hear, watch, read, etc. about similar cases, such as Shirley Soosay's, being solved with forensic genealogy and deciding to get a kit done to see if they can find out what happened to mom. Especially if they have kids who are wondering "What happened to abuela? Why did we never get to meet her?"
I am just so grateful for her and for her family, as well as for Shirley and for her family, that the sick, vile, deranged, rotting
MONSTER that did this is locked up. I am literally grateful everyday for this. I understand there is no such thing as closure, in these cases, not really, but I am SO GLAD Chouest is living out the rest of his pathetic, worthless life behind bars so he cannot hurt any other victims. My wish and hope is that he burns in the flames of Hell!!!
www.rollingstone.com
)
