Canadian woman identified as the deceased in decades-old Florida cold case

The skeleton of a woman found in rural Florida 41 years ago has been identified as that of Jeanette Marcotte, a Canadian woman last seen in Saskatchewan in the early 1980s.

When her body was first found in January 1985 in “a densely wooded area” of Malabar, a small town southeast of Orlando, she had no identification and Brevard County Sheriff’s Office and the local medical examiner’s office were unable to establish her identity, as reported by DNASolves.com last week . The website is part of Othram, a Texas-based forensic DNA laboratory that works with law enforcement agencies to help solve cold cases, be they murders, disappearances and or unidentified remains.

At the time, the woman’s height was estimated at between five feet and five-foot-seven, though her age could have been anywhere from 20 to 50. 

FDLE working with Othram and local law enforcement, identified Jeanette Marcotte, who was missing from Vancouver, British Columbia since the early 1980s. This work was funded by a 2022 MUHR grant awarded to the FDLE. #dnasolveshttps://t.co/h04BUaMNu0

— Othram Inc. (@othram) January 30, 2026

It’s not clear how old Marcotte was when she went missing in 1981 or 1982, but it’s believed she was headed to Vancouver before her disappearance.

“Despite extensive investigative efforts at the time, the case went cold,” the website reads, noting the case of Malabar Jane Doe, as she’d become known, was placed in the U.S. National Missing and Unidentified Persons System.

In 2024, with the aid of a federal grant, the Florida state law enforcement officials submitted the evidence to Othram for testing. 

Using its patented genome sequencing technology, Othram developed a DNA profile that allowed the state genealogical scientist to “generate investigative leads, enabling law enforcement to conduct a follow-up investigation and narrow in” on Marcotte’s true identity.

DNASolves counts it as the 51st case Othram has helped resolve in Florida. 

“In a cold case like this, where a woman is reported missing in Canada and her remains are found in Florida, there is almost no way for investigators to piece that together except through DNA,” Kristen Mittelman, Chief Development Officer at Othram, said in a statement to National Post. “These are difficult cases to solve, but the technology is here and it works.”

Neither the website nor the police have released any details about the circumstances of Marcotte’s death or how she came to be in Florida.

National Post has contacted Brevard County police and Global Affairs Canada for more information. 

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