DNA Doe Project - General Discussion #2

[doggybag2355]

Also Ramsey county Jane Doe (Minnesota) and Gwinnett County John Doe 2003 (Georgia) both have very good highest matches. They have a good chance to be identified by now.

I'm hopeful for more Georgia counties to pick up using the DDP to help identify victims, as well as Hennepin County in Minnesota. Hennepin County has at least a dozen vague cases with so little information that it doesn't even list the date of discovery, only the year.

 

[djanga]

Just wondering why DDP did not choose Kelly Lawson’s reconstruction of Gwinnett County John Doe to post on their website, I think Lawson's reconstructions are amazing!

 

[doggybag2355]

Just wondering why DDP did not choose Kelly Lawson’s reconstruction of Gwinnett County John Doe to post on their website, I think Lawson's reconstructions are amazing!
View attachment 332090

I think the 3D one was actually from her sister or other relative, Marla Lawson.

 

[Susikatze]

Can be legal reasons why one recon is chosen over the other.

 

[doggybag2355]

Can be legal reasons why one recon is chosen over the other.

I doubt it here, since they've used Marla's reconstructions already

 

[doggybag2355]

Just wondering why DDP did not choose Kelly Lawson’s reconstruction of Gwinnett County John Doe to post on their website, I think Lawson's reconstructions are amazing!
View attachment 332090

My best guess as to why they chose that one is it might be closer to how he looked? Since both reconstructions seem vastly different.

 

[doggybag2355]

Freeborn Co John Doe 2015 - DNA Doe Project Cases

Another new case from our new friends in Minnesota

Also @DNA_Sleuth the links are accidentally in plaintext again

 

[JovanSrna]

Freeborn County has another John Doe that is very interesting but it's a very old case. I hope they take that one too. It's a man who hung himself inside a clock tower in 1938.

 

[djanga]

My best guess as to why they chose that one is it might be closer to how he looked? Since both reconstructions seem vastly different.

I think they still don’t know how he looked, they know it only after the identification.

 

[djanga]

There is un update on St Croix County Jane Doe:
St. Croix County Sheriff’s Office seeks public assistance in Jane Doe cold case
It was initially believed the woman was of Asian descent, but investigative genetic genealogist with the DNA Doe Project have now determined she was of Swedish descent. It is believed her relatives may have emigrated to the Minneapolis/St.Paul area.

 

[djanga]

New identification! According to the DDP pinned post Gwinnett County John Doe 2003 has been identified, I hope that the announcement is coming soon! By the way, he has Kelly Lawson’s reconstruction on the DDP website. Marsha Lawson also made a reconstruction of him:

 

[djanga]

Gwinnett County John Doe 2003 was identified as Gerard Rexrode, who was around 70 years old when he was found

 

[djanga]

Sorry his name was Gordon Rexrode.

 

[doggybag2355]

Gwinnett County John Doe 2003 was identified as Gerard Rexrode, who was around 70 years old when he was found

The family is planning on holding a celebration of life, I hope they release a photo of him then.

Also the Gwinnet County ME said that they plan on having the DDP help identify all of their cases, there's two others on NamUs (technically 3 but two are determined to be the same person).

Gwinnett County John Doe (1972)
Gwinnett County John Doe (2009)

 

[djanga]

From the DDP website, he was identified within a week after his profile was uploaded to Gedmatch:

Gwinnett Co John Doe 2003 - DNA Doe Project Cases

In May, 2021, Pathologist Dr. Carol Terry of the Gwinnett County Medical Examiner’s office reached out to the DNA Doe Project for help identifying the remains that had been unidentified since 2003. A DNA sample was submitted to laboratory analysis and a profile was created and uploaded to GEDmatch, a public database. In November, genealogy work began on the case and the DNA Doe Project’s volunteer investigative genetic genealogists were able to use DNA matches to identify Gordon Rexrode as the likely candidate within a week.

“The Gwinnett County John Doe case was particularly interesting because we actually had some pretty strong numbers to work with,” DNA Doe Project Team Co-Leader Trish Hurtibise shared. Co-Leader Eric Hendershott added, “We quickly narrowed our search down to a particular county in West Virginia and discovered a number of common ancestors. The case also involved some endogamy, which was a bit intimidating at first.”

 

[JovanSrna]

Kelly Lawson's reconstructions are not only amazing but she's done reconstructions for some really obscure cases that didn't even have a NamUs profile when I first discovered them. This one still doesn't have a NamUs page:
Grady County John Doe (1983)

 

[djanga]

Interesting, as Rexrode was reported missing in 1998
Gwinnett Investigators ID 20 Year Old Skeletal Remains

A missing person report was filed in 1998, reported WAGA-TV, but that information was never connected to the remains found in 2003. He disappeared from public records in 2002

 

[doggybag2355]

Lilydale Jane Doe has been ID'd as Roberta Seyfert:

Lilydale Jane Doe 1976 - DNA Doe Project Cases

 

[JovanSrna]

Lilydale Jane Doe has been ID'd as Roberta Seyfert:

Lilydale Jane Doe 1976 - DNA Doe Project Cases

I had a good hunch about her. A Luxembourger American, now that's a revelation.

 

[djanga]

I had a good hunch about her. A Luxembourger American, now that's a revelation.

I think that the second Jane Doe from Ramsey County looks promising as well.
Also nice that Lilydale Jane Doe is fully funded