A woman who first disappeared more than a quarter-century ago and is believed to have been a victim of a homicide has been identified, the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office said Monday.
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Cold case breakthrough: Calaveras sheriff identifies woman who disappeared decades ago
A woman who first disappeared more than a quarter-century ago and is believed to have been a victim of a homicide has been identified, the Calaveras County Sheriff's Office said Monday.
Anita Kathleen Ranker, 57, for years has been known as the "Parrots Ferry Jane Doe." The sheriff's office said someone discovered her remains on Oct. 9, 2015, beneath the Parrotts Ferry Bridge in the Stanislaus River, which had reached historically low levels due to the drought at the time. But she is believed to have
disappeared sometime before 2000, and she was never reported missing.
Despite investigating for years, the sheriff's office said Ranker's case went cold until 2021, with the creation of the Calaveras Cold Case Task Force.
The agency cited years of work with multiple labs, the California Department of Justice and more than $50,000 worth of donations to the task force that helped propel the case forward.
“Every unidentified person represents a family, friends, and a life story that deserves to be known,” Calaveras Sheriff Rachelle Whiting said in a news release. “The identification of Parrotts Ferry Jane Doe is a testament to the dedication and perseverance of the Cold Case Task Force and the forensic partners who continued working toward the goal of restoring Anita Ranker’s name.”
Because Ranker's remains had gone through much degradation over the years—they were partially submerged in the Stanislaus River for years—the sheriff's office said extracting usable DNA was a challenge.
In June of this year, the sheriff's office said a lab had managed to extract DNA, which was used in helping identify Ranker's relatives. They were able to provide a DNA sample of their own to corroborate their relation to Ranker, who was believed to have been living in the Murphys area before she disappeared.
Ranker's death investigation is ongoing, and the sheriff's office said it identified a person of interest in connection with the case.
"Task Force members will continue working to gather additional information, identify those responsible, and bring accountability for the crime committed against her," the sheriff's office said.
