Human remains previously discovered in 2007 were confirmed to be a missing Connecticut woman. Authorities confirmed the identity a Mary Alice Maloney.
The remains were discovered in the forest of La Vergne, Tennessee. Prior to her disappearance, Maloney had been living in Nashville. According to the remains, she died sometime in the summer of 2007. The DNA Doe Project identified the remains as the missing woman.
"Our work is often complicated by the lack of people who have uploaded their DNA profiles to the public databases we can use for our cases," DNA Doe team leader Jenny Lecus wrote in a statement. "That's why one of the recommendations we make to families of the missing is to make sure your DNA profile is in GEDmatch.com, FamilyTreeDNA.com and DNA Justice.org."
Human Remains Identified
So how were they able to discover the identity? Well, the DNA Doe Project's genealogists used distant relatives to help figure it was Maloney. They "immediately began building out her family tree." A distant cousin in 2021 helped authorities close in and figure out it was Maloney. It brings to a close an almost two decades mystery of what happened to the woman.
Solving the identity of the remains involved many moving parts.
The statement also continued, "The DNA Doe Project is grateful for the contributions of the groups and individuals who helped solve this case: the La Vergne Police Department and the late Sergeant Bob Hayes, for entrusting this case to the DNA Doe Project; the University of North Texas for DNA extraction; HudsonAlpha Discovery for whole genome sequencing; Kevin Lord for bioinformatics; GEDmatch Pro and FamilyTreeDNA for providing their databases; and our dedicated teams of investigative genetic genealogists who work tirelessly to bring all our Jane and John Does home."
However, this is just the end of one chapter and not the close of the book. Police are continuing their investigation into the death Maloney and what happened to her.
