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#Post#: 298--------------------------------------------------
TALLADEGA COUNTY JANE DOE: WF, 45-65 - Found in Abandoned house
in Lincoln, AL - May 5 2012 - *Jean Turner Ponders*
By: Scorpio Date: November 26, 2018, 2:12 am
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HTML https://i.imgur.com/qw2lUj7.png
HTML https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/10508
Body of decomposed white female discovered in an adandoned
house located in Lincoln, Talladega County, Alabama.
#Post#: 299--------------------------------------------------
Re: TALLADEGA COUNTY JANE DOE: WF, 45-65 - Found in Abandoned ho
use in Lincoln, Alabama - May 5, 201
By: Scorpio Date: November 26, 2018, 2:16 am
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HTML https://www.namus.gov/UnidentifiedPersons/Case#/10508
Demographics
Sex: Female
Race / Ethnicity: White / Caucasian
Estimated Age Group: Cannot Determine
Estimated Age Range: 45-65
Height: 5' 6"(66 inches) , Measured
Weight: 116 lbs, Measured
Circumstances:
Type: Unidentified Deceased
Date Found: May 5, 2012
NamUs Case Created: August 8, 2012
ME/C QA Reviewed: August 9, 2012
Location Found: Map
Street Address: 14 Allred Road Lincoln, Alabama 35096
County: Talladega County
GPS Coordinates--
Circumstances of Recovery: Body of decomposed white female
discovered in an adandoned house located in Lincoln, Talladega
County, Alabama.
Details of Recovery
Inventory of Remains: All parts recovered
Condition of Remains: Not recognizable -
Decomposing/putrefaction
Circumstance Notes: Decomposed body discovered in vacant house
Physical Description: Hair Color Gray or Partially Gray
Head Hair Description: Brown / Gray
From NCIC entry: "HAIR IS SANDY BUT GRAYING"
Body Hair Description: None
Facial Hair Description: None
Left Eye Color: Unknown or Missing
Right Eye Color: Unknown or Missing
Eye Description: Decomposed
Distinctive Physical Features: No Known Information
Clothing and Accessories
Clothing: Pair sweatpants, shirt and panties
NCIC entry: "WEARING DK BLUE SWEAT PANTS AND A NAVY BLUE SHIRT"
On the Body
Footwear: slippers
#Post#: 9823--------------------------------------------------
Re: TALLADEGA COUNTY JANE DOE: WF, 45-65 - Found in Abandoned ho
use in Lincoln, Alabama - May 5, 2012
By: Scorpio Date: December 4, 2020, 4:17 am
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HTML https://www.wbrc.com/2020/12/02/cold-case-lincoln-forensic-lab-gives-new-hope-identifying-woman/
Cold Case in Lincoln: Forensic lab gives new hope for
identifying woman
Othram, Inc tries to find clues when other techniques have
failed
LINCOLN, Ala. (WBRC) – Less than five miles from Talladega
Superspeedway, and behind an abandoned house at the corner of
State Route 77 and Allred Road is where this mystery begins.
A law enforcement officer was patrolling the area and saw the
familiar abandoned house with the door wide open. In the
backyard, the officer found the remains of woman. She was
wearing a navy sweatshirt, blue sweatpants and slippers. She had
no identification, no belongings and no reason to be in this
backyard.
Her remains were found two days before the 2012 Aaron’s 499
NASCAR race, and now eight years later, officers still don’t
know who she is.
“It could literally be anybody,” said Captain Zack Tutten with
Lincoln Police Department.
Tutten doesn’t know how long the woman was in the backyard
before an officer found her, but says by the time she was
discovered, her body was so badly decomposed that identification
through fingerprinting wasn’t an option.
Dental records only led to more questions after a forensic
odonatologist found the word “Powders” engraved on her dentures.
“Which could be a last name, it could be the manufacturer of the
dentures, we don’t know,” said Tutten.
Her autopsy revealed a few clues. Her cause of death was lung
cancer, and she had a scar from a prior brain surgery.
She was five-feet-six-inches tall and estimated to be between 45
and 65 years old. The coroner was unable to determine the color
of her eyes, but said her hair was sandy brown and graying.
“Pretty much every lead you could think of that we ran down was
a no-go, we had nothing at the end of it so it was just sitting
here, a cold case.”
Then, this summer, someone reached out to a lab in Texas after
reading about the mysterious case on NamUS, a “national
information clearinghouse and resource center” for missing,
unidentified and unclaimed person cases.
“Someone sent us the link,” said Michael Vogen, Director of Case
Management, Othram, Inc. “I think they’re from the area and said
‘Hey, this is one I felt wasn’t necessarily getting attention
because there’s not a wild story to it necessarily.’”
Othram is a private DNA laboratory built specifically to solve
cases like this one.
“Othram is the first and only lab in the U.S. that was built
from the ground up to work in a forensic laboratory setting,
specifically with forensic evidence. What that means is Othram
is able to basically access information from DNA evidence that
is unsuitable for evidence at other labs or traditional labs
that have worked in this space.”
Vogen added, “We have the technology out there now where there
shouldn’t be anyone out there without a name, there shouldn’t be
any gravestones that say ‘Unknown’ or ‘Jane Doe’ or ‘John Doe.’
We should be working to clear all those up.”
Lincoln Police tried to identify the woman through DNA using the
Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, which is the FBI’s criminal
justice DNA database.
“That basically is just criminals, so unless you’ve committed a
crime and been entered into that system, or been the victim of a
crime and been entered into that system, then there isn’t going
to be a record of your blood,” said Tutten. “It’s very limited
in that capacity.”
Othram is able to cast a wider net.
“CODIS looks at about 20 markers of DNA when they’re doing it,
looking at DNA. We are looking at tens-of-thousands to
hundreds-of-thousands of markers of DNA, so we are able to pull
a lot more data and useful information that can then be used to
build out family trees and help locate folks related to a DNA
source found at a crime scene or unidentified scene,” explained
Vogen.
Once it creates a “very clean DNA profile,” Vogen said
scientists try to find a match through its volunteer-built DNA
database, DNASolves. It also has access to commercial DNA
databases through its partnership with law enforcement agencies.
“We are going to try to help locate a individual by generating
an ID or the closest family member,” said Vogen.
He added, “It gives hope to a lot of these cases that were
previously thought to be unsolvable.”
Tutten added, “We are really hopeful this will give us a new
path to follow, or some new leads or opportunities that come
from it.”
Othram will start its analysis on the DNA in the Lincoln case
once it raises enough money to cover the costs for testing.
If you’re interested in donating money or your DNA to assist in
this investigation, click here.
Since the lab opened in 2018, Othram has helped solve dozens of
cases, including one dating back to the 1880s.
#Post#: 9824--------------------------------------------------
Re: TALLADEGA COUNTY JANE DOE: WF, 45-65 - Found in Abandoned ho
use in Lincoln, Alabama - May 5, 2012
By: Scorpio Date: December 4, 2020, 4:17 am
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HTML https://www.wbrc.com/resizer/iJ9h8XSYX7ZuSXl_yZqmk_X6HkE=/1400x0/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/raycom/ZK4MLX5CANEZNGRT2XMRJ62IDE.jpg
The remains of an unidentified woman were found in this backyard
in May 2012. (Source: Credit: Lincoln Police Dept.)
#Post#: 9976--------------------------------------------------
Re: TALLADEGA COUNTY JANE DOE: WF, 45-65 - Found in Abandoned ho
use in Lincoln, Alabama - May 5, 2012
By: Scorpio Date: January 20, 2022, 7:06 pm
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Identified as 67-year-old Jean Turner Ponders, of Roswell,
Georgia.
HTML https://www.cbs42.com/news/local/human-remains-found-outside-talladega-superspeedway-in-2012-identified-as-missing-georgia-woman/?fbclid=IwAR1VRtEE3RWlwV_-PMeG5_YOFJEVr0VARWnxdwxJQXlZDwcieewTAt_a_ww
Human remains found outside Talladega Superspeedway in 2012
identified as missing Georgia woman
[img]
HTML https://www.cbs42.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/81/2022/01/Jean-Ponders.jpg?w=876&h=493&crop=1[/img]
LINCOLN, Ala. (WIAT) — Human remains that were found in Lincoln
nearly a decade ago have now been identified as belonging to a
woman from Georgia who reportedly went missing around the same
time.
In a news release from the Lincoln Police Department, remains
that police found outside an abandoned building in Talladega
County on May 5, 2012 were recently identified as being those of
67-year-old Jean Turner Ponders, of Roswell, Georgia. According
to police, Ponders’ cause of death was determined to have been
from lung cancer by the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences.
According to Ofc. Tim Lupo with the Roswell (Georgia) Police
Department, Ponders was reported missing by her sister in
September 2015, approximately three years after she last heard
from her.
The case began in 2012 when a deputy with the Talladega County
Sheriff’s Office and a reserve officer working at the Talladega
Superspeedway during race week located human remains behind an
abandoned residence on Allred Road in Lincoln. At the time,
Ponders’ remains couldn’t be identified due to them being too
decomposed to collect fingerprint evidence. In August 2012,
Ponders’ remains were entered into NCIC and the National Missing
and Unidentified Persons System, but her description did not
match any local missing persons cases and the case went cold.
“If not for considerable assistance from Othram, Inc. located in
Texas, which is a forensic sequencing laboratory for law
enforcement and a forensic genetic genealogist named Carla
Davis, Lincoln Police Department would still have a cold case,”
the release stated. “Because of all this assistance and hundreds
of investigative hours put in by Lincoln Police investigators
over the years, Ms. Ponders has her identity back.”
Ponders’ case remains open and police continue to investigate
the circumstances surrounding her ending up in Alabama. Anyone
with information on Ponders and the circumstances leading to her
remains being left in Lincoln are encouraged to call Capt.
Shannon Hallmark with the LPD at 205-763-4064 or Investigator
Demarco Willis at 205-763-4070.
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