Credit: Ramapo College IGG Center
Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center and the Albuquerque Police Department announce the identification of “Becca Doe” as Becca Mallekoote, born on March 4, 1973.
A young woman — later known as “Becca Doe” — died by suicide in an Albuquerque motel in 1991. Although her personal effects were examined and a young man who had been traveling with her was interviewed, her identity was unable to be determined. In addition to the Albuquerque Police Department, her case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the investigators determined that the woman’s may have been “Becca”, thus leading to the moniker “Becca Doe”.
In 2025, Ramapo College IGG Center worked with members of the New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator and the Albuquerque Police Department to perform investigative genetic genealogy to identify “Becca”. A forensic sample was sent to Genologue in Tucker, Georgia for DNA extraction and whole genome sequencing, and the sequencing data was subsequently transferred to Parabon Nanolabs for bioinformatics and generation of a SNP profile. The profile was uploaded to GEDmatch Pro in January of 2026.
Staff at Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center identified a candidate for “Becca” within days – Becca Mallekoote, who would have been 18 years old in 1991. Her identity was confirmed through testing of a close relative on what would have been her 53rd birthday — March 4, 2026.
Republished courtesy of Ramapo College IGG Center