Body found in 2007 identified as Florida mom. She never was reported missing, cops say
A 16-year mystery continues as deputies identify a Jane Doe as a Florida mother – but she was never reported missing.
In February 2007, human remains were found in a shallow grave in the woods by a Sarasota neighborhood, according to an Aug. 2 release from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.
The body was found by a teenager, the Herald-Tribune reported, and was lying on its side in a 3-foot hole.
“This is not your normal homicide area,” Lt. Skip Wood with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office told the outlet in 2010. “This is an area that someone has obviously taken great care to obfuscate the fact that there is a body here.”
In the months after the body was discovered, medical examiners determined the person had died from blunt force trauma, the Herald-Tribune reported. They also knew the body belonged to a white woman between 30 and 40 years old, and had been buried for at least seven months before she was discovered.
For more than a decade, law enforcement did not know who the remains belonged to, or how they came to be buried.
In 2022, with advancements to genetic technology, the sheriff’s office worked with DNA Labs International Inc. to create a genetic profile for the body, according to the release.
The Florida based company created a DNA profile that was used to discover the woman’s identity 16 years later.
The body was that of 39-year-old Jeana Lynn Burrus, the sheriff’s office announced.
Burrus was unemployed and lived with her husband James and son in Sarasota, just a few miles from where the body was found, according to the release.
Her husband worked at a local body shop nearby, and her son attended the local elementary school.
The Burrus’ had previously lived in Citrus County before moving to Maryland and then back down to Sarasota County, according to the release.
“The investigation into Jeana’s death was further complicated as she was never reported missing by family, and her whereabouts had not been questioned,” the sheriff’s office said.
The home where the Burrus’ used to live and the body shop where James had been employed were searched as part of the investigation, the sheriff’s office told McClatchy News in an email.
“We know (James) abruptly left Sarasota and moved to California,” Det. Mark Lefebve of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office told WWSB. “He was there for a short time and we believe there was a crime stoppers report submitted to the media around that time relating to this case. Then he abruptly left California and went back to Maryland.”
James is currently living in Maryland, the sheriff’s office confirmed to McClatchy News.
Investigators told WWSB James’ story had changed between times they spoke with him.
The couple’s son also said he had been told his mother had abandoned their family, the sheriff’s office confirmed.
Now, the sheriff’s office is asking the public for any information about Jeana, her husband or the circumstances around her death.
Those with information should call 941-861-4900.
Sarasota is about 60 miles south of Tampa.
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