Officials seek help identifying girl with possible Arizona ties whose remains were found
Five years ago, the bones of an unidentified female child known simply as the "Madisonville Jane Doe" were found in a suitcase near an interstate in Madisonville, Texas.
Investigators are asking Arizonans for help identifying the child because evidence found after 2016 suggests that the unnamed child might have ties to areas of southeast Arizona.
Investigations of the body found pollen that is normally found in the southwest United States, particularly southeast Arizona, or northern parts of Mexico.
On September 17, 2016, a man found the skeletal remains of a young girl inside plastic bags in a suitcase while mowing his lawn near Interstate 45 in Texas, according to a news release from Amber Alert Network Brazos Valley in partnership with the Madison County Sheriff’s Office. The interstate is a major thoroughfare that connects parts of Houston and Dallas.
The young girl was believed to be somewhere between 2 to 6 years old and possibly white or Hispanic with thick dark hair at the time of her death, according to the news release. Genealogy research revealed that she has a Native American lineage.
She is believed to have been dead for at least three to five months prior to her discovery which would place the time of her death between April and June 2016.
She had a medical condition known as micrognathia, where her jaw was found to be smaller than normal which may have affected the young girl's ability to eat on her own and would have required her to have a feeding tube.
The Madison County Sheriff’s Office and the Amber Alert Network Brazos Valley continue to request information that may help in identifying the young Jane Doe.
"Someone knows something and we need to continue to work to give this young child her name again," the news release said.
Anyone with information can contact the Madison County Sheriff’s Office at 936-348-2755 or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.
Reach breaking news reporter Steven Hernandez at steven.hernandez@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @The_HdzCo.
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