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The 2006 murder of Dana Dodd, which went unsolved for decades, will be revisited in the upcoming episode of NBC's Dateline. With the help of genetic genealogy, the case was finally solved 13 years after Dodd's death.
The episode that will cover her tragic demise is titled The Woman With No Name. It first aired on January 25, 2023, and will reair on NBC on December 6, 2024, at 10:15 pm ET.
The murder of Dana Dodd shocked her family, especially her half-brother John Dodd, and half-sister Amanda Dodd Gadd. After she tragically disappeared, the half-siblings did everything they could to locate her but failed. In 2019, when the case was finally solved and the victim was recognized and connected to her family, her half-siblings gave her a dignified funeral and paid a visit to her grave at White Cemetery in Texas.
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Dana Dodd's half-siblings, who still grieve for her and are dealing with her death, reside in Jacksonville, Florida.
Everything we know about Dana Dodd's family
Dana Lynn Dodd had a difficult upbringing. She lived with her half-sister, Amanda Gadd as her parents abandoned her after she was born. She later lived with her half-brother John Dodd. She then left the city with her boyfriend, found work at a magazine firm, and began working as a subscription salesperson. As per reports by Oxygen True Crime, she "wanted to strike out on her own."
While her half-sister and half-brother were concerned when Dana Dodd vanished, the family was equally devastated when they received a phone call decades later informing them that she was no more.
Amanda Dodd Gadd currently works at Nader’s Pest Raiders, as a customer care representative. She is married to Joel Gadd and has three sons. On the other hand, John Dodd married Debbie Christy and has a son named Kameron, who is also married. Both families live in Florida.
What happened to Dana Dodd?
As per reports by Oxygen True Crime, Dana Dodd’s corpse was found on October 29, 2006, in the woods in Kilgore, Texas. Her body was so terribly burnt and damaged that the men who found it were unable to identify the victim. The victim was also not recognized by the authorities when they were called. However, she was given the name 'Lavender Doe,' based on the lavender t-shirt she was wearing at the time of her death.
As per reports by Oxygen True Crime, $40 was also recovered from the victim's body. The autopsy report stated that there was semen found inside her body.
Who killed Lavender Doe?
As per reports by Oxygen True Crime, the investigation into Lavender Doe's death was on a halt for a decade as there was no lead whatsoever and the identity of the victim was also unknown. Around that time, a nonprofit organization named DNA Doe Project was formed which helped to identify unidentified crime victims with the help of genetic genealogy.
Kevin Lord, a former software developer showed interest in this case and came to crack it by joining hands with the DNA Doe Project. As per reports by Oxygen True Crime, in the summer of 2018, the case got a breakthrough as a woman named Felisha Pearson went missing. Allegedly, she was last seen with her ex-boyfriend Joseph Wayne Burnette.
When taken in for interrogation, Joseph Wayne Burnette confessed that he killed Felisha Pearson, and also confessed to the murder of Lavender Doe. Reportedly, when Doe was killed, Brunette was interrogated but was never arrested. Even after the arrest, the real identity of the victim (Dodd) remained unknown and she was still referred to as Lavender Doe.
But thanks to Doe's DNA profile in 2018 and the assistance of amateur investigators, a distant relative of the victim was located, and a family tree was made with which the case was ultimately resolved as it led the authorities to Dodd, and her family was finally informed about the same.
Dana Dodd's killer was sentenced to 50 years each for the double homicide.
To learn more about this case, watch the upcoming episode of Dateline on NBC titled The Woman With No Name. The logline for the same reads as:
"An investigator employs the help of armchair detectives and new DNA technology to find a killer."
The Woman With No Name airs on NBC on December 6, 2024, at 10:15 pm ET.
