The search for answers: Madera County Sheriff's Office looks to identify Jane Doe found in 1989

MADERA COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- As fall moved into Madera County in 1989 a woman's body was discovered in a rural area.

Since September 24th of that year, her identity has been unknown.

The case has haunted the Madera County Sheriff's Office for more than 35 years as they wonder who she is and where is the family that misses her.

In 2020, they exhumed her body hoping DNA could provide answers, but no match was found.

This week, they released an artist's rendering of the woman showing dark hair parted in the middle and a gap in the front of her smile.

"She's not missing a tooth. That tooth hadn't come in. So that's very specific to this Jane Doe," said Madera County Sheriff's Detective Luis Padgett.

The case has gone unsolved longer than the woman likely lived.

Detectives said she was probably between 16 and 28 years old and stood at 5'3 and 130 pounds.

"We have reason to believe possibly this person was from Mexico because we have no missing person cases on file that match this particular female," said Lt. Ian Weaver with the Madera County Sheriff's Office.

"So, that's kind of a cause of concern."

By releasing the images of her face and a ring she was said to be wearing detectives are hopeful someone will come forward with answers.

"The picture and the ring should jog somebody's memory. Hopefully," said Padgett.

"It's nice little ring that somebody, a family member, could have made, or something special to somebody that gave it to her."

At the same time, detectives began the DNA search for this Jane Doe, another Jane Doe found in May 1987 was also exhumed.

They had more success with her DNA linking 24-year-old Christine Lester to a family member in Arizona.

Though grateful to know who she is, Padgett says the information is bittersweet.

"They want to believe that their family member is still alive and happy somewhere, but sometimes that's not the case," said Padgett.

The Madera County Sheriff's Office is not releasing details of the criminal cases to protect their investigations.

Now, they're counting on the public for answers to help finally close these cases.

If you have a missing family member, the Madera County Sheriff's Office is encouraging people to submit their DNA to the state's Missing Persons DNA Database.

It doesn't cost anything.

They claim the DNA is only used to match unidentified people and that it is purged from the system once a match is found.

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