The Maury County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO), in conjunction with a nonprofit, identified the remains of a woman murdered nearly 50 years ago.
On February 14, 1975, hunters found the remains of a woman near Highway 99 East in Maury County, according to the DNA Doe Project.
“A forensic anthropologist concluded the deceased was a Black/African American female about 5’ 4″ tall, weighing approximately 132 pounds, with black hair,” according to that group. “Authorities speculate she had been in an automobile accident or run over by a car during the autumn of 1974, 6-9 months prior to being found.”
Labeled the “Maury County Jane Doe,” the woman’s identity remained a mystery for 48 years.
In 2019, MCSO brought the case to the DNA Doe Project, a privately funded nonprofit whose genetic genealogists would spend 530 hours dedicated to genealogical research into the woman’s family tree.
“In April 2024 DNA Doe Project provided a potential sibling. After making contact with the sibling we were able to confirm that she was a full sibling by DNA match,” MCSO said. “She relayed to us that she had a sister that went missing in the fall of 1974 but was never officially reported as missing. Her sister was a black female, 19 years old. The family had been searching for her since that time. All other siblings are accounted for.”
The Jane Doe was identified as Annie Carolyn Jenkins of Memphis.
MCSO said Jenkins had been visiting relatives in Chicago in 1974 and was last seen when she boarded a flight to Tennessee.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be a small part of this incredible team effort to return the identity of Annie Carolyn Jenkins, and to ensure that her family has some answers,” said DNA Doe Project volunteer Traci Onders. “The pain of the ambiguity of a missing sister or daughter is hard to even imagine, and our hearts are with the Lipscomb family as they absorb the news of Annie’s loss.”
This effort was separate from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Unidentified Human Remains Initiative, which has been responsible for numerous identifications of cold case victims in the past two years.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter/X.
