On the afternoon of Saturday, January 28, 2012, in an overgrown wooded lot behind a mobile home park on Hurst Street in Opelika, Lee County, Alabama, a teenage boy found the skeletal remains of a small African American child. For eleven years, she was known across the nation as "Opelika Baby Jane Doe"—one of the most horrific cases of chronic, severe pediatric torture in modern American death investigation.
Forensic Anthropology & Evidence of Torture
Forensic anthropologists at the FBI Laboratory and the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences uncovered a devastating medical profile. The child was approximately 2 to 3 years old, standing roughly 3 feet tall. Bone histology revealed at least 15 to 20 healed and healing fractures across her rib cage, clavicles, shoulders, and legs, inflicted at various stages throughout her short life.
Most distinctively, pathologists discovered an untreated, catastrophic injury to her left eye socket (retinopathy and microphthalmia), causing severe permanent blindness, scarring, and noticeable eyelid ptosis. Despite widespread media distribution of enhanced photos of her facial features, over 100 tips yielded no missing child matches.
Chronological Case Timeline
| Date / Year | Location | Event / Investigative Milestone |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 28, 2012 | Hurst St, Opelika, AL | Remains of abused child discovered behind mobile home park. |
| 2012–2016 | FBI / NCMEC | Nationwide campaign featuring distinctive left-eye ptosis composite; zero leads. |
| Jan 2022 | The Woodlands, TX | Opelika Police partner with Othram Inc.; ultra-low-template DNA sequencing begins. |
| Oct 2022 | Othram Lab | Genealogists identify biological father as 50-year-old Navy veteran Lamar Vickerstaff. |
| Jan 19, 2023 | Opelika, AL | Police Chief Shane Healey announces Baby Jane Doe is Amore J. Wiggins; parents arrested. |