Dateline: Secrets Uncovered, season 11 episode 15 - How did they identify the killer?

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered, season 11 episode 15, titled The Woman with No Name, explores a Texas cold case that remained unsolved for over a decade. In October 2006, two men discovered a young woman's burning body in a wooded area near Kilgore, Texas. The victim, wearing a lavender shirt, was unidentified and nicknamed Lavender Doe by investigators and online sleuths.

She had been strangled and set on fire in an attempt to destroy evidence. Despite entering her DNA into national databases and following numerous tips, authorities could not determine her name or find her killer initially, leaving the case cold.

A breakthrough came in 2018 when forensic evidence, including semen found on the body, linked the crime to Joseph Wayne Burnette during an investigation into another woman's murder. Burnette confessed to killing Lavender Doe after his arrest, providing details about meeting her at a Walmart where she sold magazines.

In 2019, genetic genealogy through the DNA Doe Project identified her as Dana Lynn Dodd, a 21-year-old from Florida with a transient lifestyle. Season 11, episode 15 of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered highlights how DNA technology and volunteer efforts brought closure to the case. It re-aired on Oxygen on October 1, 2025.

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Dateline: Secrets Uncovered: Discovery of the body and initial investigation

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered, season 11 episode 15 (Image via Unsplash/ @JOSHUA COLEMAN)

In Kilgore, Gregg County, Texas, on October 29, 2006, two men were target shooting in a secluded wooded area along Fritz Swanson Road when they detected smoke and an unpleasant odor, according to the case description by the DNA Doe Project.

As they got closer, they discovered a young woman's partially burned body. Wood was piled on top of the body and beneath it, and a lid from a gas can was nearby. The remains had not yet been completely consumed by the fire, which had just been started.

The victim was a Caucasian woman who weighed approximately 96-120 pounds, stood about five feet five inches tall, and was believed to be in her late teens or early twenties, according to the DNA Doe Project. She wore a lavender-colored shirt that eventually gave rise to her nickname, and she had brown hair.

Semen was taken as evidence, and an autopsy showed that she had been strangled before being burned. There were also indications of s*xual assault. Investigators hoped that her unusual dental feature, retained baby teeth, would help identify her, as per Oxygen.

The Texas Rangers helped the Gregg County Sheriff's Office in leading the investigation. No matches were found when fingerprints and dental records were entered into national databases. After composite sketches were made public, more tips were received, some of which included potential connections to missing people in neighboring states. But none worked out.

Since there was no proof that the murder took place there, the location suggested the body was dumped there.

The victim was buried in Longview, Texas, in an unmarked grave without identification. By 2008, the case had stalled, despite periodic reviews of the file by detectives. In 2013, online forums, such as Websleuths, began discussing the case, referring to her as Lavender Doe and sustaining public interest. Her identity and killer were unknown for years in spite of these efforts, according to Oxygen.

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Identification of the victim

Victim's identity was unidentified for over 12 years (Image via Unsplash/ @ Julia Koblitz/ Dateline)

For over 12 years, the victim known as Lavender Doe remained unidentified, her case drawing attention from amateur sleuths online. In 2018, the DNA Doe Project, a nonprofit specializing in genetic genealogy, took on the case at the request of Gregg County authorities. Volunteers uploaded her DNA profile to public genealogy databases like GEDmatch.

They identified a distant relative, likely a cousin, who had once lived in East Texas, approximately 30 miles from the crime scene. By building family trees from these matches, tracing both maternal and paternal lines, they narrowed down possibilities. T

Three key volunteers, Kevin Lord, a former software developer, Lori Gaff, and Missy Koski, collaborated closely. Lord had followed the case online and pushed for DNA analysis. They discovered the victim had Czech ancestry and pieced together connections leading to a family in Florida, as per Oxygen.

In February 2019, DNA testing confirmed her identity as Dana Lynn Dodd, born on October 22, 1985, in Jacksonville, Florida. Dodd had a challenging upbringing; her mother left when she was young, and she lived with half-siblings Amanda Gadd and John Dodd.

Conflicts, including issues with a boyfriend, led her to a transient life. At the time of her death, she worked for a magazine subscription company, traveling and selling door-to-door, which exposed her to risks.

Her family had lost contact with her and assumed she had moved on. The identification allowed her remains to be exhumed and properly buried with her name.

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Apprehension and conviction of the killer

Joseph was given three life sentences in prison (Image via Unsplash/ @ Emiliano Bar/ Dateline)

In summer 2018, before the victim's identification, a separate case provided the key break. Felisha Pearson, 30, disappeared from Longview, Texas. Her body was found in a wooded area, and suspicion fell on her boyfriend, Joseph Wayne Burnette, 41, an ex-convict with a history of violence.

During the investigation, forensic tests matched semen found on Lavender Doe's body in 2006 to Burnette, whose DNA was in the system from prior offenses, as per Oxygen.

After his arrest for Pearson's murder, Burnette confessed to both killings. He described meeting the unidentified woman at a Longview Walmart, where she was selling magazines. He claimed her name might have been Ashley, but he did not know her true identity. He admitted to strangling the Dateline subject and dumping her body.

Burnette was indicted for capital murder in August 2018, still referring to the victim as Lavender Doe. Following Dodd's identification in 2019, the case proceeded. In December 2020, in Gregg County court, Burnette pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and a s*x offender charge, as per Oxygen.

He received three 50-year sentences, served concurrently, making him eligible for parole after 25 years, according to CBS 19. In court, he stated his plea was to "get it over with" and provide closure for everyone.

District Attorney Tom Watson noted that there was no clear motive beyond Burnette's character, calling him "pure evil," according to KLTV. The confessions and DNA evidence were central to the resolution.

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Dateline: Secrets Uncovered season 11 episode 15, featuring Dana Lynn Dodd's case, re-aired on Oxygen on October 1, 2025.