A middle aged woman woman passed away on or about Feb. 8, 2023 at a bus stop located at 711 West Grande Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona. Her death was investigated by the Phoenix Police Department and the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner but as she was carrying no identification and her fingerprints did not match to any known person, she remained unidentified.
The case was referred to the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center in 2024 and in September of that year, a blood sample for Jane Doe was sent to Genologue in Tucker, Georgia for DNA extraction and whole genome sequencing. Sequencing data was later sent to Parabon Nanolabs for bioinformatics and a genotype profile was successfully developed.
This case was initially worked by students in the Fall 2024 Investigative Genetic Genealogy Certificate Program. A small number of volunteers continued work on the case after the program concluded, and in July of 2025 a candidate—Jennifer Ann Koons of Phoenix, Arizona—was identified.
Detective Scott Fey of the Phoenix Police Department collected a reference sample for a known family member of Koons, which confirmed her identity in February of 2026.
Republished courtesy of Ramapo IGG Center