Remains of "Delta Jane Doe" found in delta 14 years ago identified through DNA as Shannon Vielguth
SACRAMENTO COUNTY - A woman known only as "Delta Jane Doe" for the last 14 years has been identified through genetic genealogy. The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office says she is Shannon Vielguth.
Vielguth's body was found in 2008 in the area of Tyler Island and Georgianna Slough. But investigators believe she was killed in 2004.
When her remains were originally discovered, deputies at the scene determined the remains appeared to be human and requested sheriff's homicide investigators respond to the scene, according to a statement from the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office.
Over the following three days, investigators processed the scene and exhumed the remains. The coroner classified the case as a homicide and determined the victim was most likely killed in the fall of 2004.
After years of searching for the identity of the remains, investigators in 2021 began a genetic genealogy investigation, the sheriff's office says. As a result of this investigation, Vielguth's identity has been confirmed via the DNA of a close family member. Vielguth used several last names, including Judkins, Hutchings and Joyce. Investigators learned Velguth was transient during the six months prior to her murder, staying in Missouri, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Colorado, Nevada, and California.
Based on law enforcement records, Vielguth was most likely in Reno and Sacramento in October 2004, which coincides with the time she was most likely killed, the sheriff's office says.
Anyone with information regarding Vielguth's murder or her whereabouts during this time is asked to call the Sacramento County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau at (916) 874-5057 or Sacramento Valley Crime Stoppers at (916) 443-help.
