Shortly after midnight on May 28, 1985, Jawed Ahmed, a 32-year-old taxi driver, picked up a man at a Quik Stop gas station at Northern Lights Boulevard and Boniface Parkway. A while later, bystanders found the taxi crashed in a yard on the northeast corner of Muldoon Road and Boundary Avenue. The taxi was still running and Ahmed was at the wheel with fatal gunshot wounds.
Police reports state witnesses described a “white person with dark complexion, possibly Latino or Native descent” fleeing the scene west on Boundary. Detectives say the man escaped, but K9 officer Timothy Taylor and his dog Toklat discovered a blood-stained shirt sleeve close to Oklahoma Street. Shortly thereafter, a gray sweater with blood on it was found near where the shirt sleeve was discovered. In 2009, DNA testing revealed the sweater had been in the cab where Ahmed was found. An STR profile was developed from the t-shirt sleeve, which was entered into CODIS in 2009 but there was no hit to a known identity.
In 2020, Anchorage PD investigators submitted evidence to Othram in hopes that advanced DNA testing would help identify the man responsible for Ahmed's death. Othram scientists used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing to build a comprehensive genealogical profile from the crime scene evidence and this profile was returned to Anchorage Police Department investigators. The Anchorage Police Department investigators performed a genealogical search to generate leads.
The results of the genealogical investigation resulted in the identification of Eric Lane Jones as a person of interest. It was discovered that Jones was living in Idaho and Anchorage PD worked with the Idaho State Troopers to continue the investigation. Working together, the agencies confirmed that it was Jones’ blood on the shirt sleeve from 36 years earlier. The confirmation led to the arrest of Jones and the subsequent confession that he had shot Jawed Ahmed.
Special thanks to Season of Justice for providing funding to assist with the advanced DNA testing work.
Republished courtesy of DNASolves/Othram. You can view more cases that need help with funding here.