Genetic genealogy is the blend of family history and DNA. It uses your genetic code to trace ancestors, uncover hidden branches of the family tree, and sometimes even rewrite what you thought you knew about your roots.
In recent years, genetic genealogy has been used to identify remains in decades long cold cases — ones like Julie Doe.
“Just to finally have a name for her was very important,” Eric Hendershott with the DNA Doe Project told Dateline.
Julie Doe
On September 25, 1988, while searching for cypress wood to make lawn furniture, a passerby came across a body near Route 474, about four miles east of Highway 33, west of Orlando, Florida, the DNA Doe Project’s websitestates.
It looked as though the body had been dragged to the location where it was found. The victim’s pantyhose and skirt had been rolled down, and she may have been sexually assaulted.
The DNA Doe Project’s website says that an autopsy conducted in 1988 revealed that the victim had a “previously fractured cheekbone and a broken nose. She also had a healed rib fracture.”
The autopsy also initially concluded that the victim was a cisgender female, someone who for years would only be known as Julie Doe.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the case. According to their website, 27 years after Julie Doe’s remains were found, additional DNA testing revealed that she was “biologically male.”
Their site states that the victim was found with breast implants, and there was “evidence she may have been taking female hormone injections.” They also note that it is unclear if the victim underwent any additional gender reassignment surgery.
Julie Doe was described by authorities as having long strawberry-blonde hair, likely dyed, with visible brown roots. Her nails were well-manicured and believed to be artificial, and she had silicone breast implants dating from 1983 or earlier. Medical evidence showed she had undergone rhinoplasty — a nose job. “Isotope testing of her bones, teeth and hair revealed she is from South Florida,” the Lake County Sheriff’s Office website states.
In 2019, armed with the information gathered through the decades, the sheriff’s office reached out to the DNA Doe Project to help identify Julie Doe.
The DNA Doe Project
Margaret Press is the co-founder of the DNA Doe Project. Dateline first spoke with her in 2021 for the episode “The Woman with No Name.” In that episode, she sat down with Keith Morrison to discuss the steps her organization’s volunteers took to help identify murder victim Lavender Doe, who was confirmed in 2019 to be Dana Lynn Dodd.
Keith spoke with Press again in August 2025 for Dateline’s After the Verdict podcast to talk about how the DNA Doe Project has grown in the years since their earlier conversation. At that time, Press also brought Dateline’s attention to one of the most memorable cases her organization has worked on: Julie Doe.
According to the DNA Doe Project’s website, in 2019 they took on Julie Doe’s case and collaborated with volunteers from the Trans Doe Task Force to help restore her identity.
One of the volunteers on the case was Eric Hendershott. He serves as the acting director of case management for the DNA Doe Project. He’s also a detective with the Twinsburg Police Department in Ohio.
Hendershott started volunteering with the DNA Doe Project in 2019. “I actually started as a police officer with a case of mine that the DNA Doe Project was working on,” he told Dateline.
The case Hendershott brought to the group was a John Doe found in a trash bag in Twinsburg in February 1982. “We had made several attempts [to identify him] over the years and it just hadn’t worked out,” he said. “So then we brought it to the DNA Doe Project.”
In 2021, they helped identify that man as Frankie Little Jr. — a former songwriter and guitarist for the O’Jays. “Sort of learned the process through them, learned investigative genealogy and just stayed on even after that,” Hendershott said.
That same year he was pulled into the Julie Doe case. “I joined the team initially just as a researcher,” he said.
That research led to Julie Doe’s real identity.
Pamela Leigh Walton
According to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, years of genealogical research by the DNA Doe Project eventually led to relatives of Julie Doe, who provided DNA for comparison. In February 2025, the results confirmed her identity as Pamela Leigh Walton. She was 25 years old when she died.
Pamela was born in Kentucky, placed for adoption, and given the name Lee Allen Walton. As an adult, she changed her name to Pamela and began her transition.
Volunteers with the DNA Doe Projectspent nearly five years piecing together her family tree, facing challenges such as sealed adoption records, unknown parentage, and what Hendershott describes as Kentucky’s complex genealogical patterns. “It was definitely a difficult case,” he said.
Pamela’s story, however, is not over. According to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office website, her manner of death remains undetermined, and investigators are still gathering information. The Lake County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged Dateline’s interview request last week but has not yet responded further.
“We’ve been able to identify who she is but we can’t really answer the questions why or how,” Eric Hendershott told Dateline. “That becomes, ultimately, the responsibility of the investigating agency.”
Anyone with information about Pamela Walton’s case is asked to call the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Team at 352-343-9529 or email [email protected]. You may also call Crimeline at 800-423-8477 (TIPS) to report any tips anonymously.
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