DNA genealogy team helps identify Cumberland County Jane Doe

A knife near her skull, a wig beside the remains and a narrow trail of DNA are now the clues in a Cumberland County mystery that has outlasted a year. Investigators in South Jersey are still trying to identify the woman whose skeletal remains were found in Deerfield Township, and a Ramapo College genetic genealogy team is helping the New Jersey State Police cold case unit piece together who she was and how she died.

State Police said troopers responded to the wooded area near Lebanon Road shortly before 5:30 p.m. on March 6, 2025. Little else was recovered at the scene, leaving forensic specialists with few physical clues beyond the remains, the knife and the wig.

Forensic analysis estimated that the woman was Black, between 25 and 35 years old, and about 4 feet 6 inches to 5 feet 2 inches tall. Investigators also believe she may be of Guatemalan descent, with possible family ties to western Guatemala and the Motozintla, Chiapas, Mexico area. That ancestry clue has become central to the case, because it may point to relatives who never knew what happened to her.

Ramapo College’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center is using DNA databases such as GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA to build out a family tree and generate leads. The college says investigative genetic genealogy combines traditional genealogy with genetic genealogy to help identify violent-crime victims and unidentified human remains, using publicly available DNA data alongside conventional family research. Ramapo’s program also trains students in a 15-week remote certificate course, and the center says it has already helped solve at least one New Jersey cold-case identification with State Police, including a Warren County case.

The Cumberland County case remains unresolved more than a year after the remains were found, underscoring how long unidentified-remains cases can linger even when investigators have some forensic markers. For South Jersey families with long-missing relatives, the most useful step is to compare family history against the profile investigators have released: a Black woman, roughly 25 to 35 years old, short in stature, with possible roots in western Guatemala or the Motozintla area. Any missing-person reports, old photographs, family names, immigration records or DNA profiles that could fit that background may help close the gap between an unknown set of remains and a woman who still has no name.