Six-decade-old USA mystery finally solved in ID’ing Tasmanian woman

A six-decade-old mystery has finally been solved with the identification of the remains of a former Hobart woman whose body was found in California.

Dorothy Jean Vaillancourt

A six decade old mystery has been solved with the identification of the remains of a former Hobart woman whose body was found in California.

A body, dubbed “Marin County Jane Doe”, was found on a cliff on Paradise Drive in Tiburon, California in December 1966, forensic genetic genealogy company Othram reported.

Media reports at the time said the remains were found by a hunter and has been in underbrush for several months.

They were described as being those of a woman aged between 45 and 60 with auburn red hair, but there were no identifying documents found and no match with any person reported missing.

The woman was wearing a red cotton dress and an off-white trench coat. A cause of death could not be determined, the company said.

Investigations revealed a woman matching the description had appeared at a fire station some months prior saying she was stranded and had no money but had been turned away after asking if she could stay there.

The Tiburon Fire Station in Tiburon, California. Picture: supplied

Over the ensuring decades, attempts to identify the remains were unsuccessful.

The California Department of Justice and the Marin County Sheriff-Coroner enlisted Othram into the search in 2022 and the company developed a DNA sample

“This profile was used in a forensic search, by Othram’s in-house forensic genetic genealogy team, which led to relatives of the woman, who is now identified as Dorothy Jean Williams,” the company’s website said.

“Her married name was Dorothy Jean Vaillancourt.” She was formerly from New Town.

“From the perspective of the family of this woman, she just disappeared and they may have thought they’d never know where she went, but now, almost 60 years later, they know the truth,” Othram chief development officer Kristen Mittelman told Yahoo news.

“It doesn’t matter how old a case is, or whether it was hopeless in the past, there is technology here today that works, and it is able to give answers to a lot of families, like in this case.”

A Californian newspaper article from 1966 discussing the location of Ms Vaillancourt's body.

Dorothy Williams married American Marine sergeant Arthur Vaillancourt during WWII.

The Mercury recorded their wedding at East Malvern, in Melbourne, in July 1943.

“The bride, who was given away by her brother, Cpl C. L. Williams, RAAF, wore a trained gown of Chantilly lace cut on tailored lines,” the newspaper’s report read.

“Her full-length veil of Limerick lace was held in place by a spray of gardenias, and she carried a shower bouquet of orchids, gardenias, and azaleas.

“For travelling the bride wore a black frock beneath a musquash coat.

“Her hat and handbag were of cyclamen and blue velvet, and her accessories were black.”

Dorothy Jean Vaillancourt is buried at Mt Tamalpais Cemetery and Mortuary in San Rafael, California.