Featured Cases

Jane Seneca Doe

On October 2, 1976, the body of an African-American female, who was estimated to be between fifteen and twenty-seven years of age, was discovered in a ditch alongside U.S. Route 6 near Holderman Hill in unincorporated Seneca, Illinois. The victim had been shot in the head and discarded in this rural area. After being unidentified for approximately a month, the victim was buried without her name in an unmarked grave at the Braceville-Gardner Cemetery in Braceville, Illinois, where she remained, until investigators from the Coroner’s Office exhumed her remains in December of 2018, to utilize modern-day Forensic Science and DNA techniques.

​

Due to an extensive family tree, the Grundy County Coroner’s Office and the DNA Doe Project are requesting the public’s assistance in helping to finally identify Jane Seneca Doe.

​

The following is the updated information known at this time:

• Jane Seneca Doe was likely born between 1948 and 1960 and would have been missing by October 1976.

• Her parents may have come from Selma, Alabama. One set of grandparents were from Selma, Alabama.

• One of her grandparent’s was likely named Calhoun. One great-grandparent may have been named Harris.

• Other possible areas her relatives reside: Dallas Co. or Wilcox Co., Alabama.

• At least one branch of the family moved to Ohio.

• She may have siblings who were unaware of her existence.
   

Anyone with any information that may lead to the identity of Jane Seneca Doe, is urged to contact Deputy Chief Coroner Brandon Johnson of the Grundy County Coroner’s Office at 815-941-3359 or

e-mail: bjohnson@grundycountyil.gov.

​

For more information, click here.