Has
Tahiya Florence Sheikh been ruled out? Her father was Muslim from Tanzania but had very fair skin. He passed in 2019, his obit is easy to find.
I am circling back to my previous comment regarding Tahiya Shiekh.
I am now quite confident that this Jane Doe is Tahiya Shiekh, who last seen in Scarborough Ontario in July of 1985. There are a lot of things that line up and make me certain this is her, but it requires a bit of explanation. So apologies for the novel I am about to write, but hopefully it makes sense once I explain it all.
When I started digging into Tahiya Shiekh and her ancestry, I was able to find her father's obituary:
Naseem Ahamed Shiek's Obituary
Born in Dodoma, Tanzania, Africa. Son of Atta Mohamed and Nazir Shiekh. Grandson of Rahim Baksh Shiekh. Husband to Leocadia Mbaiya Shiekh and father of five children, Florence Tahiya Shiekh....(obit continues)
His heritage is interesting and important to follow. It explains why I am
positive that she is Bowmanville Jane Doe.
As per her father's obituary, Tahiya is the great-granddaughter of Rahim
Baksh Shiekh. That is very important. Baksh is an Indian variant of the
Persian "
Bakhsh" and is unique to a handful of locations. Mainly the Indian subcontinent;
and Trinidad and Tobago, & Guyana.
I remember this quote from the Dna Doe Project:
“It wasn’t until we sequenced her DNA recently that we discovered that her heritage is largely African (with some South-East Asian as well),” stated C. Lauritsen of the DNA Doe Project. “We have reason to believe she has at least extended family from or still in the Caribbean, possibly St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, although not necessarily exclusively. We don’t yet know if she, herself, might’ve lived there prior to her death or not, but because of this connection, we would love to be able to specifically reach the Caribbean-Canadian community –and beyond– to ask if anyone can help us identify her.”
Interesting that there is also a connection to Persia (now known as Iran). I wonder if this accounts for the
0.48% Western Asia DNA in our Jane Doe? (Western Asia is more commonly known as the Middle East)
- Tahiya's paternal grandmother is
Atta Mohammed. "Atta" is a forename Muslim name (primarily within
Pakistan and
Egypt) and is a variant of "Ata" a West African name.
I wonder if this accounts for the 1.82% North-East African DNA.
- So according to the obit and also my research, Tahiya's father is Tanzanian & Pakistani (
50% Sub-Saharan Africa & 50% South Asian). Looking into her mother side, she is primarily Sub-Saharan African as well (Tanzania), but she appears to have some roots in the
Mediterranean and around the Baltic Sea (Greece/Portugal/Spain) but not by much.
Knowing all this, we can deduce that Tayhia is approximately 75% sub-Saharan African and roughly 25% South Asian give or take a few percentages or so.
Let's look at Bowmanville Jane Doe's admixture again.
It's not exact but it matches up pretty darn well if you ask me. I also tried to account for the smaller dna percentages that were found in Bowmanville Jane Doe's admixture.
A few more things are connecting Bowmanvile Jane Doe to Tahiya Sheikh.
1. Jane Doe's watch
"Investigators determined that the watch was manufactured by the Omni Watch Company in the early 1980s. It was sold exclusively at the now-defunct Consumers Distributing from 1981 to 1983.
Jane Doe's watch looks like very similar to the one Tahiya is seen wearing in this picture taken before she went missing in 1985.
Jane Doe Watch
Photo of Tahiya
(IMHO she also really looks like the recon with the brown afro hair in this photo)
2. The Distance
Tahiya was last seen in Scarborough, Ontario. From Scarborough it is only a 25-minute drive to Oshawa where the watch is believed to have been purchased.
Honestly, I feel like a lot lines up here. And if this is Tahiya the next question is what have happened to her?
According to Tahiya's case file on Canada's Missing:
On July 10, 1985, Tahiya Shiekh was last seen in Scarborough, Ontario. The family doesn't know why she left home. It is believed she left in the middle of the night while her mother and siblings were sleeping. The next morning, she was to take her younger siblings to the zoo. It was then that the family realized she wasn't at home.
We know Bowmanville Jane Doe had a previous nose fracture and is believed to have been the victim of a homicide. If this is her, did Tahiaya experience any domestic abuse? Maybe from A boyfriend? Or a relative?
I have my suspicions, but I won't speculate much further. What I will say is that it is very common to live in Scarborough but work in a neighbouring city like Oshawa. I am curious to know who exactly it was that reported her missing and when. (one of her siblings is a criminal defence lawyer in a neighbouring city).
I hope once she is formally identified whoever did this is persecuted for their crimes. Assuming they are still alive to be held accountable that is.
Lastly, I have sent all this information to the Dna Doe Project and also to Detective Paul Grigoriou. However, I would not be surprised if they already know this is her and are waiting on DNA to confirm. I get that impression somehow.
en.wikipedia.org
drive.google.com
