On April 18th, 1984, an unidentified white female was located off a dirt road near Lake Dorr, in Altoona. She was given the name “Judy Doe”. This case has been listed as a cold case by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and has been reviewed and investigated by numerous detectives for over 40 years. Multiple efforts were made to identify the remains based off of skeletal recreations, dental records, and DNA. All of these efforts were unsuccessful.
In November of 2023, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office contracted Othram, Inc., a private laboratory that specializes in Forensic Genetic Genealogy, in an attempt to provide new leads or information. Over a year was spent working through the genealogy of Judy Doe, and possible family members were identified. Detectives contacted these suspected family members in an attempt to gather information and obtain samples to further the genealogical testing.
In November of 2024 detectives were able to make contact with a suspected close relative of Judy Doe. The cooperation of the family member led to them submitting DNA for comparison. This DNA was sent to Othram, Inc. for analysis.
In December 2024, Othram Inc. verified that Judy Doe was the sister of the family member and that Judy Doe’s real name is Rebecca Sue Hill. Detectives have been able to establish that Rebecca has been missing from Arkansas since sometime in 1981, which would make her 16 or 17 years old at the time of her disappearance. Rebecca was not in any database as missing due to remains being found in Little Rock, AR and misidentified as Rebecca by a family member sometime in 1981 or 1982. Contact has been made with the Little Rock Police Department regarding our findings.
Detectives are continuing to investigate the circumstances of Rebecca’s disappearance and death. Her death is a suspected homicide, and it’s the hope of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office to bring the investigation to a resolution.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office currently has three other cases in the genetic genealogy process. The first is “Julie Doe,” who was located in Clermont on September 25th, 1988, and is being investigated in conjunction with the DNA Doe Project. The second is “Jane Doe,” who was located in Sorrento on December 7th, 1991, and is being investigated with Othram Inc. The third is a sexual battery suspect from 2007, which is being worked with the help of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Parabon Nanolabs.
