Murder of Elizabeth Roberts

Elizabeth "Lisa" Ann Roberts (née Elder; November 3, 1959 – August 9, 1977), otherwise known as Precious Jane Doe, was an American homicide victim found near Everett, Washington on August 14, 1977, who was an unidentified decedent for 43 years until being identified on June 16, 2020. She had been picked up by a male driver while hitchhiking and killed after refusing sex. Her assailant had strangled her with a cord and then emptied his gun into her head, complicating identification.

Disappearance Roberts ran away from home aged 17 and 8 months in summer 1977, following a disagreement with her parents over a confiscated bag of marijuana. It was rumored the disagreement was over discovering she was adopted, which was refuted when her father stated she was already aware of her adoption. Her father reported her as a runaway to the Roseburg Police Department on July 25, 1977. Roth then dragged the body into the bushes, where he emptied 7 bullets from the clip of his .22 caliber rifle into her head, disfiguring her face.

Roberts' body was found by blackberry pickers on August 14, 1977, in brambles off the roadside in unincorporated south Everett. Investigators determined the victim was 5'10, weighed 155 pounds, and had light reddish-brown hair. Her pants pockets contained 17 cents, an open pack of Marlboro cigarettes, and an empty plastic bag.

Perpetrator On August 13, 1977, 4 days after Roberts' murder, David Roth was arrested after police received a call about a different man waving a rifle in a park outside Gold Bar. On the way to the scene, officer Fred Vanderpool stopped Roth for a traffic violation on US route 2, and realized that Roth's Chevy Nova smelled of cannabis. Roth was arrested briefly on a weapons charge and then released on August 15, 1977. Roberts' body had not yet been connected to Roth at this time. missing persons listings for runaways in the USA were removed from the National Crime Information Center system once the listed person reached age of majority, since the listed person was no longer considered an endangered dependant. 4 months after Roberts was reported missing, her 18th birthday arrived and her listing was wiped from the system. Cold case detective Jim Scharf took on the case. The victim's remains were exhumed in 2008 for testing and were examined by Dr. Kathy Taylor, State Forensic Anthropologist at the King County Medical Examiner's Office.

A University of Texas lab extracted a partial genetic profile from a femur. However, this profile received no hits in the Combined DNA Index System. Her case is the oldest case of unidentified remains in Snohomish County to be solved with genetic forensics.

Roberts' case is notable for being one of the first cold cases in the world to be solved using DNA extracted from rootless hair. Due to the DNA of Roberts' bones being too deteriorated to successfully extract a complete profile, the profile was completed using new developments in rootless hair sequencing, methods pioneered by paleogenomics expert Dr. Richard "Ed" Green of the University of California, Santa Cruz. He co-founded Astrea Forensics which now employs this technique and pipeline on other cases.

The team that identified Roberts was led by Barbara Rae-Venter and her Firebird Forensic Group, using public genetic genealogy websites. After sufficient DNA had been extracted from the hair, Rae-Venter and her team turned to public genealogy websites such as Ancestry.com to search for matches that could prove a relationship, and from there lead to Jane Doe's identity.

After identification, Roberts' remains were exhumed again and sent to Hood River, Oregon, for a memorial service and burial in a family plot at Pine Grove Cemetery.