DNA Doe Project raising funds needed to identify 1993 Bone Lake victim

Shortly after the head was found in Bone Lake, a foot was found on the bank of Pig’s Eye Lake approximately 20 miles southwest in St. Paul. According to Washington County Sheriff’s Lt. David Heuer, who investigated the case at the time, the Washington County Medical Examiner believes the foot and head belonged to the same woman partly because they were both cleanly cut. DNA tests on tissue samples were done to determine whether they came from the same victim. Police ultimately connected the foot to the head and conducted further searches of the areas surrounding the two locations. No further body parts were located.

The woman was Caucasian and had dark brown spiky hair and brown eyes. Her ears were triple pierced (with no earrings) and she had red toenail polish on her toes. At the time, Washington County Sheriff’s department reported that the woman had been deceased for two to four days before her head was found on the shore of Bone Lake. She was in her mid-20s to early 30s. The report indicated the victim was between 25 to 32 years old. 

The only tip police received was from a phone call they received early on June 21, 1993, from a man who said he killed the woman and left her body under the Mendota Bridge near the Minnesota River. Heuer said the police searched the area for eight hours that day before the river began flooding. The caller said the woman was from Wisconsin and “he was very sorry the police did not find the rest of her.” The man called on a tip line and the police hoped he all back with a more specific location. Heuer said the call could have been a prank but that the man “sounded real” and the tip “is all we have.” Authorities sent the woman’s description, including dental work, to the National Crime Information Center and every police department in the five-state area. Her dental work was compared with dental records in a computer bank. Nothing showed up. 

The case became cold, lacking any further attention from the Star Tribune past July of that year.

The DNA Doe Project has received the case and needs funds to help try to identify the victim and find out who her perpetrator was. The DNA Doe Project is a nonprofit volunteer-based initiative that uses investigative genetic genealogy to identify John and Jane Doe unidentified remains.

Wes Eisenchenk, a resident of North Branch, brought this case to the Country Messenger’s attention. Eisenchenk lives approximately 17 miles from the location on Bone Lake where the victim was discovered. Originally from Cold Spring, Minnesota, Eisenchenk was the same age of Jacob Wetterling when he was abducted. Eisenchenk said he also had a classmate that was abducted by the same perpetrator in Wetterling’s case. “Since the time, I have had an interest in cold cases and follow the DNA Doe Network. The organization has an impressive success rate in identifying victims.”

Eisenchenk also has a side hustle called “Lost Muscle Cars” where he helps people locate old muscle cars or find more information about them for their owners. “Believe it or not, there are a lot of parallels between researching old cars and cold cases. The process involves the same components of backtracking through history to find location, registration and car history,” he said. 

According to Eisenchenk, “Approximately 2.7% of the funding goal has been met for Bone Lake Jane Doe, an apparent victim of homicide. So far, $597 has been raised and $3,500 is needed to begin the DNA sequencing.”

For more information visit DNA Doe Project Facebook page athttps://www.facebook.com/DNADoeProject/posts/pfbid03XGTwNn2G5dqLXnXYK8fftQkn5Q1m6gATPSfu91EZWAtWF4KCGvdirUCfP4KehZDl

For more information about the DNA Doe Project visit https://dnadoeproject.org