Naming the Dead: A Box of Bones on Disney+: The Story Behind the Discovery in Tyler
Documentary series about genetic genealogy and the identification of a murder victim after 38 years in a cardboard box
What is the series about?
Naming the Dead is a documentary series from National Geographic that can be streamed on Disney+ and Hulu, depicting the groundbreaking work done by the nonprofit organization DNA Doe Project. In the series' second episode, titled 'A Box of Bones', we follow the technical and emotional process of giving a name back to a person who has been forgotten by the system for nearly four decades. The series highlights the fact that there are over 50,000 unidentified bodies in the USA, lying in cold storage or archives without an identity. Through advanced genetic genealogy, investigators attempt to match DNA profiles with public genealogy databases to find living relatives of the deceased.
The real case
The real case behind the episode begins in 1987 in Tyler, Texas. Here, the earthly remains of a young woman were found discarded beside a highway. Despite an initial investigation, the police never managed to establish her identity or find her murderer. For 38 years, her remains were kept hidden away in a simple cardboard box in the police evidence storage, labeled as an anonymous victim. The case was categorized as a cold case until DNA Doe Project stepped in. By extracting DNA from the old bones and cross-referencing the material with databases like GEDmatch, genealogists were able to map out a family tree that led directly to the woman's biological family.
Timeline of the case
The investigation of the case in Tyler has spanned several generations. After the discovery in 1987, the police were left without leads as the woman did not match any local missing persons reports. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the case was regularly reviewed, but without technological breakthroughs, the box remained on the shelf. It was only with the breakthrough in genetic genealogy — the same technology used to catch Golden State Killer — that things started to progress. The documentary showcases the tireless work of volunteers reviewing thousands of distant cousins to narrow down the search to a specific family in Texas.