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Her body has been unidentified for decades. Her Ashkenazi DNA may explain why

JL;DR SUMMARY Authorities in Arizona are grappling with the challenges of solving a cold case from 1989 involving an unidentified woman, whose Ashkenazi Jewish DNA presents unique issues. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish CommunityCold CaseAshkenazi JewsGenealogyGenetic TestingDnaPrivacy ConcernsEndogamyMojave CountyUnidentified Bodies

Places mentioned

Arizona, United States
"Murder investigators in Arizona are encountering a stubborn obstacle to solving a decades-old cold case involving an unidentified dead body: The womans Ashkenazi Jewish DNA."
New Jersey, United States
"The Mohave County Sheriffs Office enlisted the help of the Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center at Ramapo College in New Jersey, which last week released an artistic rendering of what the woman may have looked like based on her remains."
Olympia, Washington, United States
"An artistic rendering of a woman found dead in 1981 in Olympia, Washington."
California, United States
"In 2024, investigators working with the DNA Doe Project finally identified the body of a Jewish woman found murdered in a California vineyard in 2011 as Ada Beth Kaplan."
Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States
"It also took more than a decade to identify Mitchell Mendelson, a Jewish man whose body was found in a wooded area near his home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in 2012."
Lake Havasu City, Arizona, United States
"Those challenges compelled Rabbi Mendel Super, who leads Chabad of Lake Havasu City in Mojave County, Arizona about an hours drive away from where the womans body was found in 1989 to spread the word about the case in the Jewish community."

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Cairo Item ID 81625
Cairo Source ID 35
Retrieved 2026-05-06 05:30:52 UTC
Curated 2026-05-06 08:30:44 UTC