On April 18th, 1984 an unidentified white female was located off a dirt road near Lake Dorr, in Altoona. She was given the name “Judy Doe”. This case has been listed as a cold case by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and has been reviewed and investigated by numerous detectives for over 40 years. Multiple efforts were made to identify the remains based off of skeletal recreations, dental records, and DNA. All of these efforts were unsuccessful.

In November of 2023 the Lake County Sheriff’s Office contracted Othram, Inc, a private laboratory that specializes in Forensic Genetic Genealogy, in an attempt to provide new leads or information. Over a year was spent working through the genealogy of Judy Doe and possible family members were identified. Detectives contacted these suspected family members, in an attempt to gather information and obtain samples to further the genealogical testing.

In November of 2024 detectives were able to make contact with a suspected close relative of Judy Doe. The cooperation of the family member led to them submitting DNA for comparison. This DNA was sent to Othram, Inc. for analysis.

In December of 2024 Othram Inc. was able to verify that Judy Doe was the sister of the family member, and that Judy Doe’s real name is Rebecca Sue Hill. Detectives have been able to establish that Rebecca has been missing from Arkansas since sometime in 1981, which would make her 16 or 17 years old at the time of her disappearance. Rebecca was not in any database as missing due to remains being found in Little Rock, AR and misidentified as Rebecca by a family member sometime in 1981 or 1982. Contact has been made with the Little Rock Police Department regarding our findings.

Detectives are continuing to investigate the circumstances of Rebecca’s disappearance and death. Her death is a suspected homicide and it’s the hope of the Lake County Sheriff’s Office to bring the investigation to a resolution.
https://dnasolves.com/articles/rebecca-sue-hill-florida/

LCSO case number: 84-04-1983