In October 2002, a group of Boy Scouts discovered a human skull in a wooded area of St. Croix County, Wisconsin. The remains, found inside a plastic bag, became known as “St. Croix County Jane Doe.”
For more than two decades, her identity remained unknown until advances in DNA technology and investigative genetic genealogy changed the course of the investigation.
In 2021, the DNA Doe Project reached out to Astrea Forenescis to extract DNA from the skeletal remains, preparing the sample for sequencing and downstream analysis with partner organizations. The resulting DNA profile revealed an unexpected clue: the woman had recent Swedish ancestry, providing investigators with a new direction.
Through forensic genetic genealogy, the remains were ultimately identified as Alyce Catharina Peterson, a 92-year-old woman from Stillwater, Minnesota.
The identification raised new and unexpected questions. Peterson had died of natural causes in 2001 and was believed to have been cremated—yet her skull was discovered more than a year later in a wooded area across state lines.
While the mystery of how her remains came to be there is still under investigation, her identity has now been restored.
This case highlights both the power and complexity of modern forensic DNA analysis—demonstrating how even long-standing assumptions can be overturned, and how answers can sometimes lead to entirely new questions.
Further Reading & Sources