PHOENIX — No one knew who Amelia Muñoz Loera was.
The 41-year-old, born in Mexico, was killed in a 2004 hit-and-run crash in Phoenix. At the time of her death, investigators could find no clues to her identity, and the case went cold for 16 years.
Now, a DNA test provided the final piece to the puzzle of her Jane Doe case, and gave Loera's family some of the answers they deserved.
In 2020, detectives with the Phoenix Police Department brought Loera, then unidentified, to the DNA Doe Project (DDP). It's a volunteer research organization of investigative genetic genealogists dedicated to returning unidentified human remains to their families.
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Although it was "relatively straightforward" to assemble a working DNA profile for Loera, the organization said in a press release, finding the people who would know her was the real challenge.
Loera's family came from the Aguascalientes region of Mexico, which DDP described as a tightly-woven community with a complicated genetic background.
Picking her family out of that web would be tough.
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"This was one of the most challenging cases of endogamy imaginable - our closest matches shared two close relationship paths with our Doe,” said investigative genetic genealogist Lisa Ivany. “One of those paths led to a New Yorker who served in the American Revolutionary War, which was quite a surprise in a case with deep Mexican roots!”
The DDP noted that recent immigrants and minority populations posed an extra investigative challenge. Far fewer of their relatives tend to upload DNA information to online databases.
After three years and 1,300 hours of investigation, the case remained unsolved, DDP said. But then, a lead.
Loera's niece tested her own DNA on FamilyTreeDNA and in a single weekend, the DDP had their match.
“Ultimately, we are so grateful that a close member of Amelia’s family made the decision to test in an effort to locate her,” Ivany added. “The more people that choose to test at FamilyTreeDNA or upload to GEDmatch means that we have a better chance of reuniting these individuals with their families."
After almost two decades, Loera's family was finally given some closure. To date, DDP has helped resolve more than 100 cases of unidentified human remains.
Unfortunately, no arrests have been made in the original hit-and-run case, a spokesman with Phoenix police told 12News. The crash happened at the intersection of 15th Street and Broadway Road in November of 2004.
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