Unamused Cat
September 6th, 2008, 03:15 AM
This case has haunted me for years. I tried to match up her morgue photo with missing women a couple of years ago. I am glad she has been identified.
Flyer: http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?U200500042S
On January 26th, 1999 a car is driving east on 1-10 south of Chandler. Suddenly the car swerves and a girl goes flying out the window.
Detective Michael Lancaster with the Gila River Police Department is investigating the case.
“It looks like by all accounts that she jumped out of the vehicle at highway speeds,” said Detective Lancaster.
A day later she’s dead. She left home just six days earlier.
For nine years her identity has been a mystery. She has been known only as Jane Doe 0042.
Detective Lancaster brought new life to this cold case. Getting special permission to work on it. Opening up old case files and making contact with people who might have clues about that January day in 1999.
Why would she jump? Lancaster said the man driving the vehicle was a known pimp. Jane Doe might have been new to the prostitution scene. The passenger in the vehicle, another prostitute, told investigators the girl was begging to get out.
“The guy was always the next exit, the next exit and the next exit never came,” said Detective Lancaster.
Suzi Dodt is an Investigative Medical Examiner with Maricopa County. She had little to work with; a tattoo on Jane Doe’s chest, earrings, a necklace, a ring with initials on it.
“It’s just one of those files that gets your attention, because it’s a young girl,” said Dodt.
She has already been compared and ruled out over 51 missing girls.
Dodt has dedicated herself to the search.
“Everybody deserves to have a name when they get buried and they deserve to have a family claim those remains.”
Now Jane Doe 0042 has what she deserves.
“Her names is Tawni Lee Mazzone, she is my sister,” said Michael Mazzone.
Tawni was only 17-years-old.
Michael says he never gave up.
“The feeling of not knowing, was the worst.”
He told us in a way she helped him find her when he found a morgue picture of a young girl on the medical examiner’s website.
“It felt as if it was her,” Michael said.
Little did he know another website had been tracking the case for years. A site dedicated to identifying unknown victims would play a critical role in cracking the case.
Christine 2448, as she is known on the Websleuths site, lives in Georgia and has lead the site’s investigation into Jane Doe 0042 for the past four years.
“She was just so beautiful and to see her like that in the cold morgue, nobody cared, so we just made the decision we were gonna figure out who she was.”
Within 24 hours of Michael finding that first picture, the site helped the family to make a positive identification.
“The thanks from the family has been overwhelming,” said Christine.
She cried as she told us she stared at the picture of Jane Doe everyday. Her son has asked her to take the morgue picture down and put up her “pretty picture” now that they know Jane Doe is Tawni Mazzone.
For Michael memories come flooding back.
“Obviously a beautiful girl… smart… she was tough,” said Michael.
The family has some answers now, but still questions remain. Like, what about the driver?
Michael was disappointed to learn William Walker, otherwise known as Alanzo Fernandez, got just four years probation for leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
Police said he violated that probation and has been on the run for the past nine years. Detective Lancaster was able to track him down and have him extradited back to Arizona days ago.
A hearing is scheduled for September. Walker faces up to 4 years in prison.
Video and photo: http://www.abc15.com/content/news/investigators/story.aspx?content_id=95f51585-1817-4b35-a66c-c0ff7835d010
Flyer: http://www.theyaremissed.org/ncma/gallery/ncmaprofile_all.php?U200500042S
On January 26th, 1999 a car is driving east on 1-10 south of Chandler. Suddenly the car swerves and a girl goes flying out the window.
Detective Michael Lancaster with the Gila River Police Department is investigating the case.
“It looks like by all accounts that she jumped out of the vehicle at highway speeds,” said Detective Lancaster.
A day later she’s dead. She left home just six days earlier.
For nine years her identity has been a mystery. She has been known only as Jane Doe 0042.
Detective Lancaster brought new life to this cold case. Getting special permission to work on it. Opening up old case files and making contact with people who might have clues about that January day in 1999.
Why would she jump? Lancaster said the man driving the vehicle was a known pimp. Jane Doe might have been new to the prostitution scene. The passenger in the vehicle, another prostitute, told investigators the girl was begging to get out.
“The guy was always the next exit, the next exit and the next exit never came,” said Detective Lancaster.
Suzi Dodt is an Investigative Medical Examiner with Maricopa County. She had little to work with; a tattoo on Jane Doe’s chest, earrings, a necklace, a ring with initials on it.
“It’s just one of those files that gets your attention, because it’s a young girl,” said Dodt.
She has already been compared and ruled out over 51 missing girls.
Dodt has dedicated herself to the search.
“Everybody deserves to have a name when they get buried and they deserve to have a family claim those remains.”
Now Jane Doe 0042 has what she deserves.
“Her names is Tawni Lee Mazzone, she is my sister,” said Michael Mazzone.
Tawni was only 17-years-old.
Michael says he never gave up.
“The feeling of not knowing, was the worst.”
He told us in a way she helped him find her when he found a morgue picture of a young girl on the medical examiner’s website.
“It felt as if it was her,” Michael said.
Little did he know another website had been tracking the case for years. A site dedicated to identifying unknown victims would play a critical role in cracking the case.
Christine 2448, as she is known on the Websleuths site, lives in Georgia and has lead the site’s investigation into Jane Doe 0042 for the past four years.
“She was just so beautiful and to see her like that in the cold morgue, nobody cared, so we just made the decision we were gonna figure out who she was.”
Within 24 hours of Michael finding that first picture, the site helped the family to make a positive identification.
“The thanks from the family has been overwhelming,” said Christine.
She cried as she told us she stared at the picture of Jane Doe everyday. Her son has asked her to take the morgue picture down and put up her “pretty picture” now that they know Jane Doe is Tawni Mazzone.
For Michael memories come flooding back.
“Obviously a beautiful girl… smart… she was tough,” said Michael.
The family has some answers now, but still questions remain. Like, what about the driver?
Michael was disappointed to learn William Walker, otherwise known as Alanzo Fernandez, got just four years probation for leaving the scene of a fatal accident.
Police said he violated that probation and has been on the run for the past nine years. Detective Lancaster was able to track him down and have him extradited back to Arizona days ago.
A hearing is scheduled for September. Walker faces up to 4 years in prison.
Video and photo: http://www.abc15.com/content/news/investigators/story.aspx?content_id=95f51585-1817-4b35-a66c-c0ff7835d010