Scottsdale Jane Doe was a teenager or young woman whose skull was discovered northeast of Scottsdale, Arizona on October 2, 1982.
Case[]
The victim's skull was discovered by hunters camping under a fallen cactus in a rural desert area east of Pima Road and north of Bell Road at 9:30 AM. The skull had marks indicating it was gnawed and had a five-inch fracture near its base, possibly from blunt force trauma or a fall. No other bones, clothing, or identification were located. The skull was then transferred to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.
Maricopa County Sheriff's spokeswoman Myrna Froning stated her jawbone was located in the same area earlier in February of 1982, and she died of undetermined causes. Two dentists in Phoenix and a University of Arizona anthropologist matched the jawbone and skull.
The MCSO investigators compared dental charts with about a hundred and twenty missing women from across the United States, but nothing matched. However, they were informed by Texas authorities of a possible connection between the skull and the remains of Debra Mackey, found northeast of Plainview, Texas on February 16, 1982. Pathologist Ralph Erdmann stated he was "ninety-five percent certain" the Scottsdale victim and Mackey were the same based on similar characteristics and postmortem intervals. Mackey's remains and the skull were eventually buried together in a Plainview cemetery under the marker "Jane Doe".
Henry Lee Lucas confessed to killing Mackey in 1983 after being convicted of killing Becky Powell and Kate Rich, but was never charged with Mackey's murder. At the time of the Lucas Report's publishing in 1986[1], it stated her head was found in Scottsdale, Arizona.[2] Although Lucas would later recant most of his confessions, it was still assumed that Mackey and the Scottsdale victim were one and the same.
However, Erdmann was discovered to have falsified autopsies and was convicted on counts of evidence tampering and perjury, which damaged the theory that the skull and the decapitated body belonged to the same woman. In 2015, the remains were exhumed and sent to the Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas. According to the DNA Doe Project, the theory that the Scottsdale victim and the Plainview victim were one and the same was officially disproven.[3] Although the DNA Doe Project took Mackey's case, it is unclear if they took the Scottsdale case too.
Characteristics[]
- Brown hair.
- Small-framed.
- Thin face.
- Possibly protruding upper teeth.
- Recent dental fillings.
Gallery[]
Exclusions[]
Sources[]
- Scottsdale Jane Doe at the Doe Network
- Scottsdale Jane Doe at NamUs
- Gone Cold Podcast
- My High Plains
Footnotes[]
- ↑ The Lucas Report
- ↑ The Lucas Report states her skull was found on February 24, 1982. This is presumably the date when the jawbone was found.
- ↑ DNA Doe Project