SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – We hear how detectives identified a 40-year-old missing persons case in Pulaski County.
“Jane Doe” was ultimately identified as Karen Knippers.
“Our mission is to make names anonymous,” said Franchesca Werden of the DNA Doe Project.
She says there are nearly 60,000 unidentified people across the country.
“These are the cases that prevent the law enforcement officers who watch them from sleeping at night,” she said.
Pulaski County Sheriff’s detectives have asked for help with the organization.
A woman’s body was found at a low water crossing in Dixon in 1981. Decades later, the “Jane Doe” buried in Waynesville Cemetery was named Karen Knippers.
“It’s always a pleasure when the resolution is made,” said Cairenn Binder.
She was responsible for the Pulaski County case.
“I’m a nurse educator by day and a detective by night,” she says.
The volunteer genetic investigative genealogist says resolving these cases often takes a long time.
“There’s a lot going on before we even get involved,” Binder said.
Investigators reopened Knippers’ case in 2012. His remains were exhumed to obtain DNA samples.
Then anthropologists successfully developed a genetic profile.
This information has been converted into data which is compared electronically to other samples.
“We take a game from here and a game from here. We are building their family trees to see who their most recent common ancestor is. In this one, we were lucky that we got this close DNA match and because of that we were able to solve it pretty quickly, ”Binder said.
She matched Knippers’ DNA profile to a first cousin. This profile was then compared to his brothers.
This ended not only the authorities and the community, but also Knippers’ relatives.
“A lot of these cases that we solve, 20, 30, 40, 50 years later, parents have always been looking for them. The family has always looked for them and never got those answers, ”Binder said.
“I really think this is a humanitarian effort. It is good for every community we reach, ”said Werden.
The DNA Doe project has only been around since 2017, but has already identified more than 50 John and Jane Does across the country. They are working on 70 other cases.
They even help small law enforcement agencies, like the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Office, with funds to resolve cases.
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