Description
On April 21, 2004 a rolled up carpet was discovered by an ROTC cleanup crew on the side of the road near 43rd Avenue and Baseline Road in Phoenix, Arizona. Inside the carpet were the skeletal remains of a white female. She was between 35 and 50 years old, stood 5’1 to 5’5, and had brown hair. There was evidence she has some kind of trauma to her face and throat which happened prior, and unrelated, to her death. At the time of death she wore a blue zip-up jacket, t-shirt, sports bra, plaid purple or blue flannel shirt, a diamond earring, and a black plastic watch. Found with the body were non-prescription eyeglasses on a chain.
NamUs: UP2017
Date Found: April 21, 2004
Gender: Female
Race: White/Caucasian
Estimated Age: 35-50
Estimated PMI: 2 Months
Location: Phoenix, AZ
Agency of Jurisdiction
Phoenix Police Department, Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit
Stuart Somershoe, Detective
602-261-8065
stuart.somershoe@phoenix.gov
Links to More Information
https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/2017
https://unidentified.wikia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Jane_Doe_(April_21,_2004)
Image Credit: Image Credit: Stephen Missal
Status
Identified
The DNA Doe Project (DDP), working with the Phoenix Police Department (PPD), has identified a previously unnamed middle-aged female whose remains were found on April 21, 2004 in a rolled-up carpet near 43rd Avenue and Baseline Road in Phoenix as Ginger Lynn Bibb. Attempts by PPD to identify her via fingerprints were unsuccessful, and the case went cold.
Ginger Lynn Bibb Photo courtesy of Phoenix Police Department
In April 2019 Det. Stuart Somershoe of PPD contacted the DNA Doe Project. DDP received the autosomal SNP profile in September 2019. Using the genetic genealogy database GEDmatch and an extensive search of available records, DDP’s team of volunteer genetic genealogists developed Bibb as a likely candidate within a day and a half. As Cairenn Binder, the team leader for the case, explained, “Ginger’s DNA matches were not very close, but our team was lucky and found a link between families which helped us to solve her case quickly.” Several weeks later Det. Somershoe contacted the victim’s family who agreed to submit DNA for testing. In January 2020 the test results confirmed the Phoenix Jane Doe as Ginger Lynn Bibb.
DDP wishes to acknowledge the groups and individuals who helped solve this case: Det. Stuart Somershoe and the Phoenix Police Department, who entrusted the case to us; Investigator Christen Eggers of the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office; Bode Cellmark Forensics, Inc., who performed the DNA extraction; HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology who completed the sequencing; Dr. Gregory Magoon, Senior Research Engineer, Aerodyne Research Corp. (contracting through Full Genomes Corp.) for his bioinformatics work; GEDmatch for providing their database; and the DNA Doe Project’s team of talented volunteers.
We also thank family members for their assistance and cooperation. Our sincere sympathies go out to them for their loss.
For more information on the search for the identity of Phoenix Jane Doe 2004:
