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NEED TO KNOW
- A woman’s body was discovered in La Vergne, Tenn. in 2007
- The Jane Doe has been identified nearly 20 years later through the DNA Doe Project
- The woman was identified as Mary Alice Maloney, who lived near Nashville at the time of her disappearance
Human remains found in the woods of La Vergne, Tenn., in 2007 have been identified as Mary Alice Maloney.
The DNA Doe Project identified the remains as Maloney, 40, through genetic research. Police discovered her body on Nov. 14, 2007. Originally from Connecticut, Maloney was living in the Greater Nashville area at the time of her disappearance. Police estimated that she had died in the spring or summer of 2007.
“Our work is often complicated by the lack of people who have uploaded their DNA profiles to the public databases we can use for our cases,” DNA Doe team leader Jenny Lecus wrote in a statement. in the DNA Doe Project’s website. “That’s why one of the recommendations we make to families of the missing is to make sure your DNA profile is in GEDmatch.com, FamilyTreeDNA.com and DNA Justice.org.”
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The genetic genealogists at the DNA Doe Project identified distant relatives of Maloney’s. The team later “immediately began building out her family tree” when a new closer DNA match, a distant cousin, emerged in 2021. Maloney was of mixed Puerto Rican and African descent and was estimated to be between 25 and 49 years of age when LVPD discovered her remains.
DNA Doe Project
The statement continued, “The DNA Doe Project is grateful for the contributions of the groups and individuals who helped solve this case: the La Vergne Police Department and the late Sergeant Bob Hayes, for entrusting this case to the DNA Doe Project; the University of North Texas for DNA extraction; HudsonAlpha Discovery for whole genome sequencing; Kevin Lord for bioinformatics; GEDmatch Pro and FamilyTreeDNA for providing their databases; and our dedicated teams of investigative genetic genealogists who work tirelessly to bring all our Jane and John Does home.”
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La Vergne Police have determined that a cold case investigation into Maloney’s death remains underway, according to News Channel 5 Nashville.
PEOPLE has reached out to the La Vergne Police Department for further comment.
