Cold Case Solved Using GEDmatch DNA | Jane Doe Identified After 37 Years Through Genetic Genealogy

For more than four decades, she was known only as Walker County Jane Doe — a teenage girl found murdered along Interstate 45 in Huntsville, Texas, in 1980. She had no identification, no reported missing person match, and no name.

In 2021, genetic genealogy finally changed that.

This documentary follows the full investigation into how advanced DNA testing and public family trees led to the identification of Sherri Ann Jarvis, a 14-year-old girl reported missing from Minnesota, more than 1,000 miles away. Using forensic-grade DNA sequencing and distant relative matches from public genealogy databases, investigators were able to do what decades of traditional police work could not — restore her identity.

This video focuses on:
• The original crime and early investigation
• Why the case went cold for over 40 years
• How genetic genealogy works in cold cases
• The role of public DNA databases like GEDmatch
• How distant family matches led to identification
• Why the case remains an active homicide investigation

All information in this video is drawn from publicly available law-enforcement statements, court records, and confirmed forensic genealogy findings. Where details remain unclear or undisclosed, that uncertainty is stated.

Genetic genealogy is reshaping cold case investigations across the United States — identifying the unidentified and reopening cases long thought unsolvable.

If you follow true crime cases where DNA exposes the truth, you’re in the right place.