Finding the real identity of Jane Seneca Doe is a mystery that has taken over 47 years to resolve.
Who killed JoAnn Vickie Smith is still a mystery.
In an unincorporated section of Grundy County, Illinois, close to the community of Seneca, a young woman’s body was discovered slain and dumped in a ditch along Highway 6 on October 2, 1976. One bullet to the back of her head had killed her.
In 2021, Grundy County Deputy Chief Coroner Brandon Johnson informed Dateline that despite their best efforts, the initial investigators were unable to identify the woman. The Jane Doe was buried in an unmarked grave in a cemetery in Braceville, Illinois, where she remained until 2018 following nearly two months of fruitless efforts to identify her.
Johnson stated at a 2024 press conference, “I immediately realized when I started working on this case that the only way to identify this victim was to obtain DNA.”
Johnson got in touch with the DNA Doe Project, a group that helps identify Jane and John Does through genetic ancestry, in June 2018. In order to retrieve Jane Seneca Doe’s DNA, investigators had her body exhumed. The genealogy investigation eventually started once her DNA was added to GEDmatch.
Johnson stated at the 2024 press conference that a DNA profile was created in a matter of months and added to the national DNA database CODIS. Unfortunately, the results of these efforts were unfavorable.
However, those unfavorable outcomes did not deter them.
According to Johnson, distant matches were beginning to be found and quickly demonstrated that the case would not be simple because of a challenging family tree.
Jane Seneca Doe was at the top of Margaret Press’s list of cases she wanted to see identified, according to Press, who established the DNA Doe Project in 2017.
That wish has now been granted.
On June 27, 2024, Jane Seneca Doe was identified as JoAnn Vickie Smith, according to a press release posted on the Grundy County website. According to the announcement, it would require four and a half years of devoted labor to focus the search on the correct branch of Vickie Smith’s tree and locate her name.
The news announcement enumerated some of the hurdles encountered in this case, such as the fact that Vickie had been adopted and the issues with African American Jane and John Does since they were underrepresented in public databases.
According to the announcement, the majority of her birth family was unaware of her existence, even though her DNA profile matched that of several distant biological relatives. After the team uncovered a branch of her tree with three sisters, including her birth mother, they were able to finally find her name.
Investigators then found Vickie’s original adoption documents and birth certificate.
More than 20 knowledgeable genetic genealogists from the DNA Doe Project collaborated on the investigation. It is an honor for all of us to say her name is Vickie Smith and to know she is headed home, said Pam Lauritzen, Executive Director of Media and Communications, in the press release.
At the 2024 press announcement, coroner Johnson stated, “I am honored and privileged to stand here today and announce that this victim has finally been identified after 47 years.” After that, he gave them a rundown of some of the information they had discovered regarding Vickie’s life. She was adopted by a family with numerous adoptive children after being born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in February 1956.
Before going missing, she had been enrolled in Southern Ohio College after graduating from high school. Vickie participated in the local church choir and worked as a housekeeper at a Marriott hotel.
According to Johnson, Vickie vanished from the family home sometime in the evening of June 14, 1976, and was never seen again. Regretfully, the remainder is still unknown.
One of the most fulfilling days of his life, according to the coroner, was announcing that Jane Seneca Doe’s name had finally been restored. Johnson stated during the news conference that Vickie’s devoted family has been missing her and wondering where she is for nearly fifty years.
He went on to say, “I find comfort in being able to return Vickie’s name to her and give her family the long-awaited closure, even though I would love to see justice served for this heinous crime.”
Vickie’s family and the coroner thanked everyone who helped with the identification.
Ronnie Smith, Vickie’s brother, also gave a speech during the press conference. “Our family has had a very difficult time over the years not knowing what happened,” he stated.
Vickie’s brother is grateful to know where she is, even if there are still a lot of unanswered concerns about what happened to her.
He remarked that she might now be buried with her true name, JoAnn Vickie Smith.
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