She Died Alone At A Bus Stop. Mahwah Students Helped Solve Cold Case

MAHWAH, NJ — After a woman was found dead at a bus stop in Arizona in 2023, detectives couldn't determine who she was, or if family was looking for her.

But she still had a name and a life.

Thanks to a Mahwah-based college program that uses investigative genealogy, "Bus Stop Jane Doe" was recently identified. And the team that helped crack the case say they will use the lessons to help others seeking to identify people who were unhoused.

Back on Feb. 8, of 2023 — according to the Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center program at Ramapo College in Mahwah — a woman died at a bus stop located at 711 West Grande Avenue in Phoenix, Arizona.

Her death was investigated by the Phoenix Police Department and the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner.

She wasn't carrying any identification, and her fingerprints didn't match anyone on file.

She did a tattoo of a heart on her left arm with two unspecified names, and a rose tattoo on her right calf, with writing beneath the flower. Those details also didn't help.

In April 2023, the police made a public appeal for information, sharing her description. The media in Arizona said she had died of a drug overdose.

It was in September 2024 that a blood sample from "Bus Stop Jane Doe" was sent to a company called Genologue in Tucker, Ga. for DNA extraction. Information was sent to Parabon Nanolabs for a genotype profile.

The fall 2024 IGG certificate program students began working on the case that year, and then volunteers took over after the end of the semester.

In July 2025, program members had a possible candidate — Jennifer Ann Koons, 48, of Phoenix.

Det. Scott Fey of the Phoenix Police Department collected a sample from a relative of Koons, and officials confirmed her identity in February of this year.

The IGG program posted about Koons on social media this month, saying the case can teach lessons about identifying those who are homeless.

The program's faculty posted on social media this month, "Last week we announced the identification of Jennifer Koons, who was the fourth unhoused individual our team has worked to identify in the past year alone. This September at Advocacy Con, our Assistant Director Cairenn Binder will describe the challenges in identifying transient individuals and what advocates can do to help."

Binder is heading to New Mexico for the conference — about advocating for missing people — in September.

One commenter questioned why it took so long to identify Koons, asking if someone had filed a missing persons report, or if a landlord was missing her.

The program responded that often, neither is true, and that they had identified several homeless people who died in Arizona.

"We believe Ms. Koons was most likely unhoused at the time of her death," the faculty wrote, "but we do not know the answers to your other questions. Most of the formerly unidentified people that we help to provide names to are folks who were not reported missing."

"May Jennifer finally rest," wrote a member of the IGG staff this month. "This case is particular special for me, since I was able to be in the Phoenix area when we had worked on this."

"We thank the team of students and volunteers who worked on this case, as well as collaborators," the IGG program said.

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