Episode 147 Doe ID: 'Dumpster Jane Doe' Laurie Potter

On October 5th, 2003, a maintenance worker at at the Country Hills Apartment complex in Rancho San Diego, made a horrific discovery in a dumpster when he found a set of severed legs. It was just the beginning of a shocking and perplexing mystery. The legs were found to have come from an adult woman who was deemed to be a homicide victim. Although police did not find any more of her remains, they did find an important clue; the military-style bag that had held her legs was also recovered, and years later, it would lead to the woman's killer.

When police ran out of clues early on, and could not match the legs to any missing person in the area, they buried the remains, but not before collecting DNA from them. Years later, investigators employed investigative genetic genealogy and were able to learn that 'Dumpster Jane Doe' was actually Laurie Potter. She had gone missing from Temecula CA not long before her legs were found in the dumpster. Most troubling to detectives, was that her husband Jack Potter had never reported her missing. They began an investigation of him that revealed surprising details, and a 'concerned neighbor' helped them fill in some blanks. When Jack Potter's DNA was found on the bag which had contained his wife's legs, that combined with his neighbor's story, was enough to arrest him. He pled guilty to her murder, and was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

'Dumpster Jane Doe' now has her name back, it's Laurie Potter, and this is her story.

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