Murder by the Boat Ramp

A cold case murder dating back to 1998 has been solved in Florida, thanks to genetic genealogy and new testing of evidence found at the crime scene.

It was revealed back in May 2023 that an unidentified body known only as Jane Doe had been named as Eileen Trapner, Broward County Sheriff's Office said at a news conference.

Eileen was a Puerto Rican native who had moved to South Florida to take English classes.

She had two children and was much loved by her relatives and friends.

who said she was a kind and caring young woman.

However, she disappeared in 1998 and was never seen again.

Unbeknown to her loved ones, Eileen's body was discovered by a boater near a boat ramp close to US Route 27, but it could not be identified, and she was recorded only as Jane Doe by the sheriff's office.

Decades passed, and the case went cold, but authorities decided to revisit the murder after it was suggested Jane Doe may have been the victim of a Brazilian suspect named Roberto Fernandez, who was linked to two killings in Florida in the early 2000s.

That lead proved to be a dead end, but it resulted in Jane Doe finally being identified as Eileen Trapner.

She is no longer faceless.

She is no longer nameless, said Sheriff Gregory Toney.

With Eileen's identity revealed, authorities set to work to see if they could also track down her killer.

They used genetic genealogy and samples from her relatives and her crime scene to trace back the family tree of the man they knew had brutally murdered her.

Now it has been announced that the hard work has paid off.

A cold case murder dating back to 1998 has been solved in Florida, thanks to genetic genealogy and new testing of evidence found at the crime scene.

It was revealed back in May 2023 that an unidentified body known only as Jane Doe had been named as Eileen Trapner, Broward County Sheriff's Office said at a news conference.

Eileen was a Puerto Rican native who had moved to South Florida to take English classes.

She had two children and was much loved by her relatives and friends.

who said she was a kind and caring young woman.

However, she disappeared in 1998 and was never seen again.

Unbeknown to her loved ones, Eileen's body was discovered by a boater near a boat ramp close to US Route 27, but it could not be identified, and she was recorded only as Jane Doe by the sheriff's office.

Decades passed, and the case went cold, but authorities decided to revisit the murder after it was suggested Jane Doe may have been the victim of a Brazilian suspect named Roberto Fernandez, who was linked to two killings in Florida in the early 2000s.

That lead proved to be a dead end, but it resulted in Jane Doe finally being identified as Eileen Trapner.

She is no longer faceless.

She is no longer nameless, said Sheriff Gregory Toney.

With Eileen's identity revealed, authorities set to work to see if they could also track down her killer.

They used genetic genealogy and samples from her relatives and her crime scene to trace back the family tree of the man they knew had brutally murdered her.

Now it has been announced that the hard work has paid off.