This Powerful New Dateline Episode Will Make You Think Differently About DNA
⚠️ UPDATE! Dateline NBC’s “The Woman with No Name” aired on Thursday, 18 March 2021. Hope everyone had a chance to catch the program, and please feel free to share your thoughts on The LGFC Facebook page! 💗🌻😊
📖 A true Story. One day in 2018, some friends casually asked if I wanted to ride along on a trip to East Texas. Heck yeah, I did! I gave the occasion very little thought as we started, but that would soon change.
We ate kolaches (err—Klobásníky) at Green’s Sausage House in Zabcikville, Texas as we started on our epic road trip to Longview in Gregg County, Texas. Then we had lunch with Lt. Eddie Hope, and did all the things people do on an epic road trip — but that’s where the normality ended.
Because visiting a murder scene, standing at the gravesite of a Jane Doe, and being one of the few to know her real name in that moment is rather exceptional.
The next thing we know, there is a spell-binding article in “The Atlantic” by Sarah Zhang. Sarah poignantly crafted the story of Lavender Doe’s heart-breaking murder, as well as how our participation as volunteer forensic genealogists with the DNA Doe Project helped the Gregg County Sheriff’s Office to return the identity of this young girl.
Her name was Dana Lynn Dodd. She was 21.
Then, last October, several of us gathered again in Austin to interview with Keith Morrison of Dateline NBC. Meeting Keith — even virtually — was incredibly surreal! 🤩
I am beyond humbled and incredibly honored to have been a tiny part of the fantastic team of volunteers at the DNA Doe Project.
The DDP is a ground-breaking organization founded by the brilliant Margaret Press and fueled by dozens of passionate heroes who invest their time and resources to fulfill this labor of love — and hopefully nudge long-overdue justice.
One of our primary goals in publicly telling our stories of these victims is to raise awareness of over 40,000 unidentified persons in the US. We also hope to encourage others to help by participating in genetic genealogy at GEDmatch and FTDNA.
So, for those interested, remember to set your DVRs to record Dateline NBC!
We will be live-tweeting during the episode, so feel free to follow along! @loridgaff on twitter. I’m also on Insta too.
Although returning a name to an unknown victim is rewarding, my thoughts remain with the friends and families of the these victims who have become very dear to us as we learn about their stories. 💗
Read Sarah Zhang’s article in “The Atlantic” which started this surreal ride:
Dateline NBC website. (where the episode will be when after it airs!)
#DanaLynnDodd #DNADoeProject #LavenderDoe #TheAtlantic #SarahZhang #MirandaBarnes #DatelineNBC #KeithMorrison #LongviewTX #GreggCounty #SaberInvestigations #TheLGFC #GeneticGenealogy #SilentEpidemic #EpicRoadTrip