Remains found July 31, 1997, in a roadside park east of Ada, Michigan, were long unidentified and the death was ruled a homicide. For nearly 25 years the woman’s identity was unknown, hampering efforts to trace her last movements and potential suspects.

She was identified in January 2022 as Stephanie Renee Judson, originally from Benton Harbor, who had moved to the Grand Rapids area in the late 1980s and was 31 at the time of her death. The identification resulted from forensic DNA work and genealogy after DNA extractions from a tooth and a femur. Investigators traced family connections as far as Mississippi before confirming her identity.

The homicide investigation remains open. Authorities have examined possible links to a serial killer active in western Michigan in the mid-1990s who targeted female sex workers in Kent, Muskegon, and Ottawa counties, and have noted a violent repeat offender with whom she was last seen; that person was later convicted of sex trafficking and died in prison in 2020. Has anyone who knew Stephanie or who was in the Ada and Grand Rapids area in 1997 seen or heard anything that could help the investigation?