Hancock County Jane Doe identified through DNA after nearly three decades

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The female remains found in 1994 under a county bridge have been identified as Doreen M. Tiedman, a former Ohio resident.

HANCOCK COUNTY — Due to a strong desire to find answers and the sophistication of technology through genealogy and DNA testing, officials with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department have been able to identify the remains of a woman who has been known for nearly three decades as “Hancock County Jane Doe.”

The female remains found under a county bridge in 1994 have been identified as Doreen M. Tiedman, a former Ohio resident.

Tiedman was born on June 8, 1959, officials said. She would have been 34 years old at the time of her death. From the Cleveland, Ohio area, the woman was known to hitchhike throughout the United States, officials said. Her last contact with family was in January of 1994. Tiedman was officially listed as missing in May of 1996 by the Cleveland Police Department and entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons system in 2013.

Officials with the Sheriff’s Department stated in a press release much of the credit for the official identification of “Hancock County Jane Doe” goes to the hard work of investigator Det. Ted Munden, backed by Sheriff Brad Burkhart and Major Bobby Campbell. The administrative staff allowed Munden to pick up the cold case and pursue leads to help identify Tiedman.

“Finding answers to old cases is rare, but with the new technology, we’re getting things solved throughout the country and it’s an outstanding thing to be able to do that because it brings some clarification to the family,” Burkhart said.

Munden, working in conjunction with the Indiana State Police Laboratory, used genetic genealogy to develop investigative leads pointing to the unknown woman’s identity. The leads were confirmed through additional testing via family members of the woman, determining “Hancock County Jane Doe” as Tiedman.

Munden noted a while back he and Campbell had noticed how numerous cold cases throughout the state and nation were being solved through newer genealogy and DNA technology and decided to try to find answers surrounding “Hancock County Jane Doe” through the latest methods.

“It was very rewarding to finally be able to put everything in place,” Munden said. “Once we got the profile developed from a lab in Texas, that’s where the real leg work began.”

In October 1994, human remains belonging to an unknown woman were found in a wooded area under a bridge in Hancock County. Investigators thought the remains were likely there for several months before discovery, making it difficult to determine exactly what happened to the woman.

The remains however appeared to be a white female with short brown hair, approximately 5’1” to 5’4” in height, and between 30-50 years old at the time of death, officials said.

Hancock County detectives subsequently opened an investigation into the unknown woman’s death. The unknown woman was eventually referred to as “Hancock County Jane Doe.” With few clues to the woman’s identity, the case went cold.

The unidentified persons case was originally entered into the NamUs system in 2009, but traditional forensic methods did not yield answers on the case.

Although early investigation into the case was hampered by a lack of basic information or viable clues, members of the Sheriff’s Department remained open to new methods and opportunities to identify the deceased.

In Aug. 2021, Munden picked up the case and contacted Joanna Johnson a forensic scientist with the Indiana State Police Laboratory and inquired about genealogy, DNA testing. The Indiana State Police Laboratory performed some initial DNA extraction, and the sample was provided to Othram Inc., Justice Through Genomics, located in Texas in March 2022.

Othram scientists used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing to build a comprehensive DNA profile for the woman. In the summer of 2022, Othram scientists returned the profile and the investigation continued.

“They had to do some enhancing to make it searchable through the data bases,” Munden said. “But, once I received the profile, we paid some extra money to put it into a database to find potential family members.”

From the time Munden received lab results, it took him about a week and a half to find a relative in Florida who was willing to work with him.

“I got lucky with a female in Florida who was very knowledgeable in genealogy and between the two of us we were confident we had a match,” Munden said.

From there Munden did dental research and was able to find a biological sister in Cleveland who provided DNA to state officials that ended in a perfect match.

“It was bittersweet because it was nice for the family to finally have closure, but for a long time they suspected she was deceased and that’s sad,” Munden said.

While the identify of “Hancock County Jane Doe” has been solved, now officials say they want to try and determine what happened to Tiedman and what caused her death.

“That part, hopefully we can get some more information,” Munden said.

Burkhart noted the location of the body, off the side of the road and near a bridge, he suspects someone knows how she got there.

“We may never know, but at least we were able to get her identified after so many years,” Burkhart said. “That’s the first step.”

The Sheriff’s office is asking members of the public to share any information they may have regarding the life and death of Tiedman. Anyone with information about the case, including events or circumstances leading to the disappearance or death of Tiedman, is asked to call the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department at (317) 477-1199.