Scanning the Doe Network at 3AM
Are you a true crime addict, like me? No, I haven’t lost a loved one but I am constantly drawn to the podcasts, TV shows, and Documentaries detailing cases of missing persons. I sympathize with every case I come across, and the ragged voices, and heartbreaking tone of those searching for a missing person just pull at my heartstrings. I have an innate sense instilled in my fundamental being of right and wrong, and the cases that send up the red flags of foul play particularly bother me.
So, by day I am a regular civilian working a 9–5 job, but when I come home I can’t let go. I get online and scan the Jane Doe or John Doe pics and descriptions on the Doe Network for any hint or clue to their identity based on the individuals I remember through all the media I consume on a daily basis. I have no idea why but I can recall almost every case I have ever heard or read about from the past 10 years or so. Believe me, it get’s on my husband’s nerves that I can’t remember what he told me to pick up at the grocery store, but I can recall in vivid detail the recordings of Josh Powell from the “Ice Cold” podcast on Spotify. Information, facts, and MO’s concerning Keith Jesperson, Richard Ramirez, Ted Bundy, Ed Gein and others just going around in my brain. Wondering if there are more potential victims out there that remain that disconnected part of the nameless. It frustrates and aggravates me when victims are not given an identity. This was a person with hopes, dreams and a life that was taken away whether it be murder, suicide, or accident. These people deserve a name.
No, I have never matched up remains with an identity. That doesn’t mean I stop trying. I don’t know why I have this drive. However, in recent years with all the forensic advancements something else has me VERY excited — forensic genealogy in locating victims and in certain instances a killer. I think this would be a huge advancement in breaking cases and look forward to seeing more of this technology utilized.
Have you ever gone on the Doe Network and just looked around? Not gonna lie, it is pretty depressing to see the thousands of nameless faces. There seems to be a fundamental disconnect where we just sweep these people under the rug. Sure, they may be in the media for a few months but then the case is put on the back burner. Law enforcement in most cases don’t have the manpower to continue and with new cases pouring in the older files go cold. But they only go cold, they don’t disappear. These people had a voice in life; a voice that belonged to a name. When the harsh light from my laptop is glowing at 3AM this is why, and this is where I will be.