Into the Water: The Story of Portland Jane Doe
On May 22, 2015 a passerby who was walking along the East End trail near Casco Bay located a water-logged body of a woman on the rocks of the beach.
She was an Asian female who was between the ages of 30 and 50. Jane Doe was around 5'1" tall and weighed around 99 pounds. She had straight brown hair around 12 inches in length that was pulled back into a ponytail, and she had brown eyes. Jane Doe also had a 6 inch long horizontal scar on the middle of her lower abdomen that appeared to be well-healed, suggesting that she could have gotten it some time ago. She also had expensive dental work. One strange detail about Jane Doe was that her eyebrows had been cosmetically tattooed in place of her natural eyebrows.
She was found wearing a nude colored lace thong, nude colored mid-length tights, turquoise jeans, a white long sleeved shirt, a white zip-up sweatshirt with “Bride” written on the back of it in white rhinestones, and a jean jacket. According to internet sleuths the sweatshirt was originally sold at Victoria’s Secret back in the early 2010s, so it was likely thrifted. She was not found wearing any shoes.
Jane Doe was also found wearing a yellow metal quartz watch with white stones, white metal bird dangle earrings, a yellow metal flower ring with white stones in the middle of the flowers, and a black butterfly hairclip.
She was also found carrying $500.
Jane Doe’s cause of death was ruled to be drowning and is believed to be a suicide. She had likely only been deceased for around one day.
Despite a detailed description about what Jane Doe looked like and was wearing, but we know little to nothing about her. As medical examiner Lindsey Chasteen put it “what we know about her at this point is not very much…which is unfortunate”.
Her DNA was run through CODIS in 2015, 2017, and 2021. Chasteen stated “we don’t want to miss out on an opportunity to make a match. So we’re run them several times and no match”.
Where She was Found
The area in old Portland near where Jane Doe was found is known for bar-hopping, specifically south west from where Jane Doe was found. There is also a ferry nearby that takes people to Nova Scotia and Peak Island. This could mean that Jane Doe could possibly be Canadian. There is even a gambling cruise that goes from Nova Scotia to Portland and back, but it does not operate in May.
Gambling could possibly explain why Jane Doe had that much cash on her when she died.
As the Case Goes On
In 2018 her case was taken on by the DNA Doe Project a company that performs crowd-funded genetic genealogy to identify Jane and John Does. They found that she is likely a recent Korean immigrant and likely lived in the tri-state area, New York state in particular.
A problem they have run into is that there are not a lot of Korean DNA samples in genealogy databases which makes it nearly impossible to completely trace her family.
However, investigators aren’t giving up on identifying this woman. But they implore people who are not worried about loved ones they might have lost contact with to report them missing.
Rule-Outs:
As in many Jane and John Doe cases there are people who have been ruled out as being Portland Jane Doe. I have compiled a list of them below. All but one of them are still missing.
Possible Identities:
These are some suggestions via Websleuths as to possible identities of Portland Jane Doe.
Jian Ping Li
Li and her son were reported missing by her husband in Broussard, Montreal, Canada on April 30, 2014.
Li is an Asian female who is 42 years old is 4 feet 9 inches tall and 143 pounds. She has black hair and brown eyes, wears prescription glasses, and was likely wearing a long black coat with yellow sneakers.
Li speaks Mandarin, French, and English.
Foul play is suspected in both Li and her son’s disappearance. If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Jian Ping Li and her son you are asked to contact the Longueuil police department.
Ling Jung Zheng
Ling Jung Zheng was last contacted by family on July 4, 2014 in San Mateo, California. She was 35 years old with black hair and brown eyes. Zheng was 5 feet 5 inches tall and 120 pounds.
She was last known to be working at massage parlors in California, Texas, and Louisiana. Unfortunately, it is believed that Zheng is a victim of human trafficking.
A few Websleuths have pointed out that a group of illegal massage parlors were shut down in the tri-state area around New York in 2014 and 2015 which could connect Zheng to Portland Jane Doe.
If you have any information regarding the disappearance of Ling Jung Zheng please contact the San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office at (650)-363–4525 regarding case number 14006381.
Conclusions:
Jane Doe remains unidentified after over 8 years of searching. While the details about her are few and far between, this doesn’t make her case any less important.
If you have information regarding the identity of Portland Jane Doe or the circumstances surrounding her death, please contact:
- Lt. James Sweatt of the Portland Police Department at (207)-874–8479 regarding case number 01–015–004049
- Medicolegal Death Investigator Linda Chasteen of the Maine Office of the Chief Medical Examiner at (207)-624–7180
Sources:
- NamUs: UP15135
- DNA Doe Project: Jane Doe Portland Maine
- Unidentified Wiki: Portland Jane Doe (2015)
- WGME CBS 13: “Genealogy Experts Try to Identify Woman Found Dead in Portland in 2015” May 18, 2021
- Reddit: Portland, Maine Jane Doe (2015)
- Websleuths: ME-Portland, Fore River, AsianFem, 30–50, UP15135, tattooed eyebrows, $500, ‘Bride’ sweatshirt, May’15
- Dark Down East: Portland Jane Doe by Kyle Low
- CBC: “Jian Ping Li and her son from Broussard still missing” April 30, 2015
- State of California Department of Justice: Ling Jung Zheng
