SARASOTA, Fla. — The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office has identified the bones of a woman that were found sixteen years ago in Sarasota County. Now they are trying to figure out how she died.
On February 6, 2007, a woman's skeleton was found buried in a shallow grave in a wooded part of Ashton Court in Sarasota. The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death was a cold case until November of 2022 when the sheriff's office was able to use DNA testing to positively identify the remains.
"She was found buried in a shallow grave, she was dressed in a shirt and a skirt, no shoes or anything like that to indicate she got there on her own and you can imagine the body was there, we predict for probably a year to a year and a half," Sarasota County Sheriff's Office Lt. Mark LeFebvre said.
They identified the woman as Jeana Lynn Burrus and determined that she was 39 years old at the time of her death. She lived on Pauline Avenue in Sarasota with her husband, James Burrus, and her son, James Burrus Jr. Her husband worked at a local body shop. Her son went to Gulf Gate Elementary School between 2005 and 2006.
The investigation into Jeana’s death proved complicated and difficult. Her family had never reported her missing, and no one had questioned her whereabouts.
"They were shocked, they hadn't had any relationship with her for several years and they were actually very surprised at how close James Junior was to where they were. He was always told that his mother abandoned him so now he is finding this out and struggling with that," LeFebvre said.
"They had a very volatile marriage back at that time. Things were financially difficult for them at the time. They struggled with raising their children and holding down jobs here in the state of Florida," he said.
Before moving to Sarasota County, the Burruses lived in Citrus County and Frederick, Maryland.
Detectives said over the years they had tried various methods to try to extract DNA from the skeletal remains.
"Just within the year 2022 DNA Labs International begin to use a new process where they can now remove the calcium from the cloudy mixture within the DNA and that's something that's never been done before. Once the calcium was removed they now had a much readable clearer picture of a DNA sample and from there it was able to go into the family tree and genetic genealogy to produce DNA sampling for relatives," LeFebvre said. "Jeana remained a Jane Doe with our agency and her remains had always been with the medical examiner's office still to this day. So we've never given up any hope of identifying who she was.
"Sheriff Hoffman is always committed to solving our cold cases and we are not going to stop on the investigative level on any one of our cold cases so we are very excited to get this information out there and develop these leads."
The Sarasota County Sheriff's Office is asking to hear from anyone who may have known either Jeana or James Burrus or has any information regarding her death. Anyone with a tip is asked to contact SCSO Detective Brian Ng at 941.861.4900.