It was September 8, 2018, when a Jane Doe was found along Sulphur Creek Road in the Whites Creek area of Davidson County in Tennessee. Dateline featured her story in our “Cold Case Spotlight” series in 2025. Detective Matthew Filter, now retired, of the Metropolitan Nashville Police told Dateline at the time that the Jane Doe was “in a very advanced state of decomposition” and “definitely unrecognizable.”
Her body was fully clothed — decked out in Vanderbilt University gear. She became known as “Vandy Jane Doe” for more than seven years.
Just this week, she got her name back. On February 4, the MNPD posted a press release with the news: Vandy Jane Doe has been identified as 25-year-old Yadezia Jones of Nashville.
According to MNPD, over the course of the investigation, their department worked with the University of North Texas Center for Human Identification (UNTCHI) to develop DNA profiles that were entered into a national database, but there were no matches. “In 2022, new biological samples were collected for Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy (FIGG) for analysis,” the press release states. “The samples were sent that same year to Othram Lab which developed a comprehensive DNA profile. That profile was uploaded to Family Tree DNA and GED Match Pro.”…