Becca Doe Identified After 35 Years: Victim Named as Becca Mallekoote

The woman found dead in the bathtub of a Super 8 Motel room in Albuquerque on June 6, 1991 has finally been given her name. On March 11, 2026, the Albuquerque Police Department and forensic partners announced that "Becca Doe" was Becca (Rebecca) Mallekoote, born in Tacoma, Washington in 1973 and just 18 years old at the time of her death.

Motel staff at the Super 8 on 2500 University NE discovered her body after she overstayed her reservation. She had no identification, but investigators found a suitcase of clothing, $500 in cash, and a Photo Booth picture inside the room. The New Mexico Office of the Medical Investigator ruled her death a suicide. Her autopsy detected heroin in her system, though not at a level sufficient to cause a fatal overdose, and showed abrasions on her face and leg that had already begun healing before she died, with no trauma indicating a struggle.

The name "Becca Doe" itself came from an early investigative lead. Police eventually identified a man pictured in a photograph found in the room, though his name was never officially released publicly. That man told investigators the woman was likely called Rebecca or Becca, which became her placeholder identity for the next three and a half decades. The same man also suggested she may have come from Reseda or Sylmar in California and had flown into Albuquerque from Los Angeles or Burbank shortly before her death. Motel records added another layer of mystery: a Hispanic man who had checked in with Becca wrote his name as "Eduardo Colin" on the paperwork and provided a fake license plate number for his vehicle. The pair had told reception staff they planned to check out by 11 a.m. on June 4.

The identification that ended her anonymity began in December 2025, when a New Mexico OMI investigator contacted the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center in New Jersey to conduct a genealogy investigation. By January 2026, that work had produced leads pointing toward a half-brother and a stepfather in California. The FBI and APD collaborated to locate the stepfather in Ventura, California, who told investigators he had last seen Becca in 1991 when she left the Los Angeles area. Detectives then located the half-brother, who provided a DNA sample and confirmed that Becca was his half-sister with 100 percent confidence. The technical work behind the match involved Parabon NanoLabs, the genealogy platform GEDmatch, and sequencing technology from Verogen.

The announcement carried a particular weight. According to the Ramapo College Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center, the identification was made public on what would have been Mallekoote's 53rd birthday, March 4, 1973 being the birth date on record. KOAT reported APD's statement placing the figure at 54, a discrepancy that has not been officially reconciled.

Chief Medical Examiner Heather Jarrell addressed the broader significance of the case. "Becca's identity was discovered through collaboration between multiple agencies and advancing technology," Jarrell said. "With this kind of partnership and a new frontier of forensic genealogy, I'm optimistic that we will be able to provide more answers to more families who mysteriously lost a loved one."

With Mallekoote finally named, investigators say their focus can shift toward understanding more about her life and the full circumstances surrounding her death.