PHOENIX (AZFamily) — The remains of a teen girl who was brutally murdered in Phoenix have been positively identified, more than four decades after her death.
On Wednesday, the DNA Doe Project identified her as 14-year-old Renee Isabel Nilsson, who was reported missing about two weeks before her unidentified remains were found.
On June 10, 1984, the partial remains of the teen girl were found in a dumpster on 21st Avenue, just south of McDowell Road. Her head and other parts of her body were reportedly missing and never recovered.
Unable to identify her at the time, investigators believed she was a white female, approximately 5′4″ tall, with brown hair, and likely between 16 and 18 years old. She was known for the next several decades as “Del Rey Jane Doe.”
The DNA Doe Project has identified the victim of a decades-old murder in Phoenix as a missing 14-year-old girl named Renee Isabel Nilsson.(DNA Doe Project)
Two years ago, the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner contacted the DNA Doe Project about the cold case. Genetic genealogists then worked to develop a DNA profile on the remains, which was completed in May 2024.
Investigators were then able to identify two families who were related to the girl. That led to the discovery of a 1968 marriage record between a man from one of those families and a woman from the other in Los Angeles.
Records showed that the couple had one daughter, Renee Nilsson, who reportedly got married in 1987—three years after the teen’s remains were found. Digging deeper, investigators learned that the person who got married was using Nilsson’s identity.
The real Renee Nilsson was reported missing in May 1984 after she left her home to go swimming and never returned. And through further DNA testing, investigators later confirmed that Del Rey Jane Doe was indeed Nilsson.
“When her remains were found in 1984, Del Rey Jane Doe was believed to be substantially older than 14,” team leader Trish Bird said in a news release. “But science has now caught up, with modern forensic anthropology and investigative genetic genealogy finally leading us to Renee.”
Nilsson’s murder remains under investigation.
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