Mystery Woman Found Dead at Tucson Bus Station in 1999 Finally Identified After 25 Years

In a remarkable revelation, authorities have identified a woman who collapsed at a Tucson Greyhound bus station on November 9, 1999. This mysterious figure, once known only as Jane Doe, has been confirmed as Charlotte Mae Petreikis, a 59-year-old from Chicago, Illinois.

On that fateful morning, paramedics found Petreikis in a state of confusion, carrying multiple identification cards with various names, including Dorothy Railla Peterson. Her belongings included hundreds of dollars in cash, used bus tickets for cities across the United States, and ID cards from several universities. Despite these clues, she fell into a coma at University Medical Center, where her true identity remained undiscovered.

After three weeks in a coma, Petreikis succumbed to an infection that spread through her body, leaving behind a mystery that persisted for 25 years. She was buried anonymously in Pima County under a headstone marked “Jane Doe.”

Recently, advancements in forensic investigative genetic genealogy have led to a breakthrough. The Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office has successfully identified 16 Jane and John Does, with Petreikis being the latest. Dr. Bruce Anderson, a forensic anthropologist working alongside the genetics company DNA Hawkshaw, described the process as transformative. It involves matching a deceased person’s DNA with living relatives who have submitted their own DNA to public genealogical databases.

In Petreikis’s case, a match was found with her nephew, Hezekiah Israel, who recounted his father’s efforts to reconnect with his sister, long presumed lost. Israel noted that Petreikis had a troubled past, which led to her estrangement from her family. Her last known activities included allegations of theft and her mysterious disappearance in the late 1980s.

Born on January 31, 1940, Petreikis lived a life marked by both academic promise and personal struggle. As a bright student in Chicago, she excelled in school, with achievements like being salutatorian and running for class vice president. However, the deaths of her parents left her orphaned by age 25, marking a significant turning point in her life.

Petreikis briefly appeared in the public eye in the 1960s, featured in news articles for various incidents, including a sailing mishap and a fishing event in Buffalo, New York, where she engaged with local children. Yet, after this, records of her life fade, indicating a withdrawal from public life.

At the time of her death, Petreikis weighed 263 pounds and carried various personal items, casting hints about her life. Though Israel and other relatives speculate she may have sought to hide from her troubled past, the details remain unclear.

Dr. Anderson, who has worked at the Medical Examiner’s Office since shortly after Petreikis’s death, reflects on the complex nature of identifying the deceased and reconnecting them to their families. While the test results can reveal distant relatives, the deeper emotional ties and family narratives often remain obscured by estrangement.

As efforts continue to identify more unidentified cases, the aim is to shed light on the stories behind these lost individuals. In Charlotte Petreikis’s instance, the quest for truth has uncovered a life lived in shadows, revealing both the struggles and the humanity that defined her existence.