Cold Case Solved Using Genetic Genealogy | Jane Doe Identified After 8 Years

For nearly eight years, all investigators had was a single human foot inside a sneaker, recovered from the Delaware River in New Jersey. There was no body, no witnesses, and no way to identify who it belonged to. Traditional forensic methods failed. DNA was extracted, but national databases returned no matches.

This case became known as Warren County Foot Jane Doe.

In 2024, investigative genetic genealogy succeeded where every other method had stalled. Using bone DNA and public, opt-in genealogy databases, students at the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center built family trees from distant relatives and traced them back to a woman reported missing in Pennsylvania in 2014.
Her name was Maria Quinones Garcia.

This documentary examines the full investigation, including:
• The discovery of the foot and why the case stalled
• Why CODIS could not identify the victim
• How genetic genealogy works in unidentified remains cases
• The role of public DNA databases and family tree research
• How distant relatives led investigators to a confirmed identity
• Why the circumstances of her death remain unresolved

All information presented is based on publicly available law-enforcement statements, confirmed forensic genealogy findings, and official case announcements. Where details have not been released or remain unknown, that uncertainty is clearly stated.

Genetic genealogy is changing how cold cases are solved—restoring names to the unidentified and providing answers that once seemed impossible.

If you follow true crime cases where DNA and family trees uncover the truth, this story shows how a single piece of evidence can finally speak.