Episode 22 Mary Silvani
In 1982, hikers in the Sheep’s Flat area of Nevada, near Lake Tahoe, found the body of a woman who had been shot in the head. No one was able to identify her, and she became known as Sheep’s Flat Jane Doe. She was buried in an unmarked grave, and would remain unidentified for nearly four decades. DNA from the crime scene was preserved. In 2018, the Washoe County Sheriff’s office teamed up with the DNA Doe project and Identifinders International to try to give Sheep’s Flat Jane Doe her name back, and find her killer. And it worked. This case was the first in which forensic genealogy was utilized to identify both the victim and the killer.
Photo credits Washoe County Sheriff; Reno Gazette; Detroit Free Press