WARNING: This post involves details of corpse mutilation. Viewer discretion advised!
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| Undated image of Alyce Peterson (1909 - 2001) |
Another Doe has been identified this year, which always brings me a bittersweet joy. However, upon reading the details on this Doe before their death, it actually astonished and kind of disturbed me. And it will perturb you to, once you hear about it.
Today's post is about Alyce Catharnia Peterson (née: Philen), an elderly women who-...well, she actually died naturally, and had family who knew of her...but became a Doe anyway. How? Let me let you in on it.
Decedent Background
Alyce Philen (Peterson upon marriage) was born in 1909 and lived in South Dokata for most of her life. She later moved to Stillwater, Minnesota. She lived a long 92 years before her untimely death on July 23rd, 2001...of natural causes, keep that in mind. In specific, she died at Regions Hospital, St. Paul Minnesota. Her cause of death was an aortic aneurysm. This was on her death certificate.
Alyce was going to be cremated for her family. This was scheduled to be done two days later, in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Maplewood, Minnesota.
Her body was scheduled to be cremated at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Maplewood, Minnesota, two days later. The crematorium later gave her family her cremated remains.
At least...they thought so.
St. Croix County Jane Doe
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| Crime scene |
On October 21st, 2002, a group of hiking boy scouts were walking in a wooded path of Houlton, Wisconsin, when they came across a rather unfortunate sight. It was someone's skull inside of a plastic bag in a garbage pail.
A cause of death couldn't be determined, and there was no trauma, but it appeared the decedent had been beheaded using a hand saw. Suspicious and disturbing. She had been dead for around a year.
The skull belonged to a woman, estimated to be middle aged or elderly, 35 - 60 years to be specific. Initially, it was also thought she was Asian or Native American.
She had mousy brown hair, and other unique characteristics included wide-set eyes, a pronounced forehead, flat nose, and no teeth. It was also thought she may have had a mental disability.
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| Original reconstructions, depicting her with Asian / Aboriginal features |
DNA Doe Project
The case went under the radar until 2022, about 20 years later, when the well-known DNA Doe Project began working on the case. Their testing would prove more things about the decedent.
First of all, it was thought the victim was more likely of White ancestry as opposed to Asian or Indigenous ancestry. It was also believed her family may have had ties to Twin Cities in Minnesota, possible immigrants. Further testing would prove something surprising: the decedent may have been of Swedish heritage as well.
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| Up-to-date Carl Koppelman reconstruction |
This surprise would help narrow down the search for this woman's identity. In specific, a woman from Stockholm, who's DNA matched the decedent, meaning she may have been a cousin. Researches then built her family tree based on that, which proved convoluted as there were no missing people in her family.
However, the search wouldn't end. Further testing would find the great great grand-uncle of the match, who moved to the USA in 1890s, and- married a Swedish immigrant in 1902. They had 7 children. Eventually, it was limited to one of these children for the victim: Alyce Philen.
Even though she was much older the age estimate, DNA testing was still an option, as Alyce had living nieces. Ultimately, the nieces would match 25% of the genetic information of the decedent, prompting further testing. And soon enough, this month, it was confirmed:
Alyce Peterson was St. Croix County Jane Doe.
Identified (But Still Open)
The identification was amazing, bringing another poor woman her name back. It was also a bit surprisng; as I mentioned, she was WAY older than what was once thought; nearly 100, yet her estimates put her around middle age or early elderly years.
Of course though, knowing she was identified only made the case more disturbing. Because, well, as I mentioned, she had died naturally, was thought to be cremated, and had her remains given to her family.
So... how the HELL did her decapitated skull end up discarded in a trash bin in Wisconsin?!? And did the family ACTUALLY have her remains for all this time?!?
Things like this is what made this case weirdly disturbing to me. We don't have any answers yet, but I hope we do soon. I feel like something happened behind the scenes of her "cremation" that resulted in her skull being found far away.
This case is kind of unsettling to me. What really happened to her body? Was it cremated? Had a hospital or morgue worker done something to it? And why was she decapitated? Where is the rest of her skeleton? SO MANY QUESTIONS I hope can be resolved soon.
It's one thing she died naturally, but what happened to her after the fact only confuses and creeps me out. I really do hope there will be explanations for this, because by her only photo, Alyce just seems like an innocent, normal elderly woman who just passed. She had a family who had her (alleged) ashes for all this time, only to find out this actually just happened to her. Freaky.
Huge thanks for the DNA Doe Project and other genetic genealogists who assisted in giving this woman her name back. Rest in peace, Alyce Peterson, loved by your family.
