More than a decade after her body was discovered in Thurston County, Washington, Peter Kalama Lane Jane Doe has been identified as Jennifer Elaine Vawter. Vawter was born in 1981 in Oregon, and her last known residence was in Yelm, Washington, just a few miles from where her remains were found.
Jennifer Vawter
On November 9, 2013, a dog returned to its home near the Nisqually Indian Reservation with a human leg bone in its mouth. The Thurston County Sheriff’s Office then conducted a search of the area, recovering additional human remains. A forensic scientist determined that the remains belonged to a Caucasian woman who was between 30 and 60 years old when she was killed and dismembered.
Years later, this case was brought to the DNA Doe Project, whose expert volunteer investigative genetic genealogists work pro bono to identify Jane and John Does. A DNA profile was generated from the Doe’s remains and uploaded to GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA, but it then became clear that this would not be a straightforward case.
“This case was complicated both by very distant matches in general and by recent immigration from Poland on one side of the family tree,” said Harmony Vollmer, the team co-leader. “But in spite of these hurdles, our team persevered.”
The team on this case built out a family tree for the Doe that eventually grew to contain over 12,000 people. Finally, after months of research, they made a crucial connection. A marriage announcement from 1960 recorded a couple marrying in Indiana, and the team’s research connected the Doe’s DNA to the families of both the husband and wife.
After this breakthrough, it wasn’t long before the team discovered that this couple had a granddaughter, whose last known residence was just miles from where the Doe’s remains were found. Her name was Jennifer Elaine Vawter, and the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office later confirmed that she was indeed the woman formerly known as Peter Kalama Lane Jane Doe. Investigators are asking the public to come forward with any information they have related to her death.
This identification was only possible due to the hard work of the DNA Doe Project’s volunteers, who had a top DNA match of just 43 centimorgans to work with. Cairenn Binder, the then co-team leader, said that despite the low matches, “the dedicated and skilled genetic genealogy team for this case did not give up, and eventually identified Jennifer”.
The DNA Doe Project is grateful to the groups and individuals who helped solve this case: the Thurston County Sheriff’s Office, who entrusted the case to the DNA Doe Project; DNA Solutions for extraction of DNA; HudsonAlpha Discovery for sequencing; Kevin Lord for bioinformatics; GEDmatch Pro and FamilyTreeDNA.com for providing their databases; our generous donors who joined our mission and contributed to this case; and DDP’s dedicated teams of volunteer investigative genetic genealogists who work tirelessly to bring all our Jane and John Does home.
Description
On November 6, 2013 Thurston County sheriff’s office completed a search for human body parts in a wooded area on the Nisqually Indian Reservation near Yelm, Washington. The four-day search involving 30 search and rescue volunteers and dog teams, was initiated after a dog returned a leg bone to the home of its owner on Peter Kalama Lane. From the parts that were located, a forensic scientist was only able to determine that the deceased was a White/ Caucasian female between 30-60 years old. Close examination revealed the woman had been dismembered by human means, so homicide is suspected.
NamUs ID: UP12017
Date Body Found: November 6, 2013
Race: White / Caucasian
Gender: Female
Estimated Age: 30-60
Estimated PMI: Unknown
Location: Yelm, WA
Agency of Jurisdiction
Thurston County Sheriff’s Office
Frank Frawley, Detective
360-786-5599
frank.frawley@co.thurston.wa.us
Link to More Information
https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/12017/
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/nov/12/body-parts-found-on-nisqually-reservation/
https://q13fox.com/2013/11/14/remains-found-near-nisqually-identified-as-woman-dismembered-by-human-means/comment-page-1/
Status: Identified
Image Credit: Background photo courtesy of Mocah Wallpapers; Image compiled by Jack Friess, DNA Doe Project
Last Updated: June 6, 2025
