Dana Lynn Dodd (September 6, 1985 - October 28, 2006), formerly known as Lavender Doe, was a young woman whose burning body was found hours after her murder in 2006, in Kilgore, Gregg County, Texas. Her cause of death is undetermined, but her case was classified as a homicide.
On January 29, 2019, the DNA Doe Project announced her identification and her identity was released on February 11.
Background[]
Before being last seen in 2003, she left her family in Florida after a period of drug use and legal trouble at the approximate age of 14. Dodd's parents were estranged from her when she relocated; her mother left the household around 1987, and her father rarely had stable housing and often left her in the care of others. They both reportedly misused substances.
Dodd’s older half-sister and friends described her as having as positive, upbeat personality, despite having a difficult upbringing. By her teens, it became evident that partying had escalated to addiction. Upon reaching legal age, Dodd declined assistance from loved ones for treatment, then left Florida with a companion to work as salespeople for a magazine company.
Her disappearance is believed to have been unreported.
Discovery[]
Dodd's body was recovered in a wooded area not long after her death, although she was not in recognizable condition. The remains were placed on a woodpile, covered with diesel fuel, and then ignited. Very little was left untouched by the flames; smoke reportedly still rose from the site when police arrived. Some fragments of clothing, including jeans and a light purple sweater (later inspiring her nickname) were recovered from the scene. Cash was found in her pockets, indicating robbery was not a factor in her death. A canister of the accelerant used was present at the scene.
The presence of seminal fluid suggested she was the victim of rape; a sample was recovered and a profile was successfully obtained.
Early investigation[]
An autopsy revealed details about the victim obscured by fire damage. Her approximate age was originally set between 17 and 22 years, her race was white and/or Hispanic, and she had a petite body type. While a possible hair color said to have ranged from light brown to reddish blond by some sources, her eye color was impossible to determine.
No soot residue was recovered from the lungs, establishing that she was deceased when the fire was set, and the location she was disposed of was likely a secondary crime scene, as it is believed she died elsewhere. Injuries were discovered on her neck, suggesting strangulation, but her cause of death is widely said to be listed as undetermined. Police would still investigate the case as a homicide, based on the circumstances of her discovery.
A potential identity of the victim came to light quickly, as Brandi Wells, a 23-year-old with similar physical characteristics, had disappeared from Tyler, Texas months before. Dental records would later exclude her as being the unidentified young woman; Wells' case is still unsolved. As more missing people were excluded from the case, authorities concluded that the victim was not native to the area, or may have spent much of her life away from the general public, including being potentially home schooled.
The DNA profile from the semen taken from the body was matched via CODIS to Joseph Burnette, a local felon with a history of sexual violence. When questioned, he described encountering a female in the parking lot of a Walmart in Longview, Texas. After she made contact with him to sell magazines, Burnette claimed he permitted her to enter his vehicle for what he maintained was a consensual sexual encounter at a different location. Without more evidence to link him to her death, the investigation into him as a suspect stalled, but he would be found in violation of his parole requirements to register as a sex offender. For this offense, he would serve about ten years in prison.
As a way to appeal to the public for information, a clay reconstruction was created from the victim's skull and included on documents describing the case, about a month after the the body was found. She was buried at a local cemetery in December 2006, and a forensic sketch was released in January 2007.
Later investigation and identification[]
In October 2013, Dodd was exhumed for additional examination and a CT scan was taken of her skull, which the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children used to create a digital likeness of her in life. They released the finished rendering in January 2014 and included her in their database of missing and unidentified youths, as well as on the organization's social media accounts. The approximate age of the victim was expanded to being up to 25 years old in 2015.
The case was accepted by the DNA Doe Project in the summer of 2018, following several successful identifications in the preceding months. To cover the costs of obtaining a usable DNA file for research, fundraising was conducted and proved successful. After analysis began, Hispanic ancestry was excluded from the victim's racial background, and a small amount of Middle Eastern heritage was discovered.
In August 2018, Joseph Burnette resurfaced in the case, as he had been released from prison only to fall under the suspicion of an ex-girlfriend's murder, to which he confessed responsibility when questioned. He then admitted to have murdered the then-unidentified victim, stating he recalled her possibly using the name "Ashley."
The DNA Doe Project eventually found a suitable match for the victim, which was confirmed by law enforcement in January 2019. They stated her identity would not be released until the trial of Burnette concluded, but it was announced in February 2019.
In December 2020, Burnette pleaded guilty to her murder and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Gallery[]
Media[]
- Dodd’s case was discussed on Cold Case Files: Dead West in 2025.
Sources[]
- Dana Dodd on Wikipedia
- Dana Dodd at the DNA Doe Project
- Dana Dodd at the Doe Network
- NamUs (archived)
- Dana Dodd at Find a Grave
- Longview News-Journal
- KTLV
- KETK
- The Atlantic
- MamaMia
- CBS19
- Cold Case Files: Dead West