The first thing we learn from the report is that Dr. Dirkmaat determined in 1991 that Penny was somewhere between 22 and 29 years old. This is different than what has been reported previously. Penny Doe’s listing on NamUS, the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, lists her age range as somewhere between 20 and 40. This is likely due to the reporting on the case back in 1990. Sometimes a police officer will tell a reporter an opinion, and it just sticks. So now, for the first time, we can confirm her age range is much narrower.
Penny’s NamUS listing also shows her height to be 4’ 10” tall. Dr. Dirkmaat’s report shows her estimated height to be about 5’ 3”. Again, early estimates of Penny’s height were given to the press, and that has become gospel over time. But, now we know her actual height.
My next step is to find a lab who can extract Penny’s DNA from a sample from Dr. Dirkmaat’s curated bones, test it using a method that’s compatible with genetic genealogy, and upload the results to GEDMatch. The next time I update you on this case, that’s what I’ll be doing.
